This wonderful story comes from a Pregnancy Relaxation & Mindset Preparation graduate who learned a lot about herself and her previous birth experience through the course, and ultimately was so ready for it she almost missed it! I was actually texting her saying put the pool up NOW as she continued to take it all in her stride.
Anyway, enough from me, here is the story in her own words…
“Second baby Homebirth 16/11/19
My body began to prepare for labour in the night, I managed to get a few hours sleep as in the morning it was my daughter's 3rd birthday.
I got up and carried on with my day, took my daughter horse riding, helped her open her presents, visited my grandparents (had a cheeky cup of tea and biscuit) and joked about my children potentially having the same birthday (because what are the chances?)
I managed to help my mum prepare some food for the family members who were coming late afternoon to have a small celebration for my daughter, I was managing to breathe through my contractions as they weren't very strong and I had a lot of distractions throughout the day to keep me going, lots of laughing and things to enjoy, and I also didn't want to take any attention away from the fact it was my little girl’s birthday and I wanted to make the day special for her.
It got to about 4 pm, my family arrived at our house to celebrate, within around half an hour of them arriving my contractions began to get stronger, having my family around helped me laugh and joke and, actually, really enjoy being in early labour, I wasn't in pain, my body felt like it knew what it was doing and I just accepted this and allowed it to get on with it.
I then decided it was probably time to call the midwife as I was really having to focus and breathe through my contractions as they were every 4 minutes or less apart at this point, my family all rallied around to get my birthing pool up and ready. My daughter, who at this point was dressed as a princess and playing her toy guitar, got rather excited at the prospect of having a pool party for her birthday.
The midwife arrived around 5.30pm, she definitely wondered what she had walked into with balloons everywhere, my guitar-playing daughter dressed in her finest princess gear and a party food buffet that had taken over the kitchen! My family all said their goodbyes to us and left, my sister in law stayed with me and my mum to help look after my little girl so my mum could focus on helping me.
Around 6.30 I finally made it into my birthing pool and had a small helping of gas and air as I was feeling a lot of pressure at this point and it helped me control my breathing and stay focussed.
This is where the fun began, as I got into the pool my daughter decided to join me, thrashing from side to side, water flying out over the top and onto the floor, the midwives we're finding it all very amusing and to be honest so was I! I was laughing so much, mainly just at the bizarre situation we'd all found ourselves in, a few minutes later the pots and pans from her kitchen joined us, landing themselves in rather inappropriate and awkward positions within the pool.
The midwives decided it was probably a good idea for my daughter to get out of the pool at this point as I felt things were progressing, my waters were still intact so I was waiting for them to go as I predicted a similar situation to my first labour where my daughter was born within minutes of my waters going.
I felt my waters pop and my second daughter was born at 7.52 just a couple of minutes and small pushes after my waters went, with my mum, my sister in law and her big sister all watching her come into the world, I pulled her up onto my chest and soaked up everything about her.
My midwives were amazing, they left me to focus and kept my spirits up throughout, they respected that I didn't want to be examined and examined me only once when they arrived.
It was the perfect labour in every way, exactly how I desperately wanted it to be, I didn't find it a painful experience thanks to hypnobirthing techniques and the classes that I attended, it was enjoyable, it was hilarious, and it has left me with nothing but positive memories. I'm so grateful I was able to have my family with me and my daughter was able to watch her sister come into this world and now share a birthday with her too!”
Whatever you are hoping your birth experience to be like, a Simply Natal course can prepare you with Knowledge and Confidence, to book your FREE discovery call or your place on one of our courses click here.
