We are approaching a year from when this special birth took place. A physiological birth from start to finish, no drama, no midwives- it was perfect.
“When I found out I was pregnant, the first (and best) thing I did was hire our lovely Doula, Sheryl, who talked to us about my previous traumatic birth. We booked in some sessions for hypnobirthing and birth planning. I already knew I would like a home birth and Sheryl was very supportive of this. I immediately felt more confident that there would be someone by my side throughout pregnancy as from previous experience, I knew midwives were likely to change and that it probably wouldn't be someone I knew attending the birth. I wanted to be very prepared for birth so I practised yoga and also had some appointments with an osteopath. This helped to keep my muscles loose and my body in good shape. I also downloaded a video from spinning babies which has tips on getting baby into a good position.
Fast-forward to Eddie's birthday - things started with my waters breaking at lunch time on the day before my due date. This came as quite a surprise because I was fully expecting to be at least a week beyond my due date and I hadn't had any pains or Braxton Hicks beforehand. I phoned Sheryl to keep her up to date but we had no immediate plans for her to come round as I was expecting to have a long early labour.
We arranged for our other son to be picked up by his grandparents just in case things progressed quickly. I had started to feel tightenings in the afternoon but these were very manageable. I caught up on some housework while I had the chance. Although I didn't have much appetite I ate some samosas to keep up strength. By the evening my contractions had become more regular and intense, so Sheryl came round.
I coped with the contractions by moving around and using breathing techniques. My husband also read me a relaxation script and I looked at old photos as I knew this could help move things along by boosting oxytocin.
At around 9pm I decided to get in the birth pool. It was so nice being in the warm water. We phoned the midwives as I was definitely in active labour by this point. It wasn't long before the contractions turned into pushing that I couldn't have stopped if I tried. Sheryl chased the midwives up as they hadn't yet arrived. Luckily I was so in the zone I didn't consider that I might want pain relief. A few more contractions Eddie's head was out. I felt him turn and his body slid out into the water. He was born just before 11pm and the midwives arrived about half an hour later (checking the clock wasn't a priorty - in fact it was in my birth plan that I didn't want to know the time at any point during labour as I thought this might stress me out).
We had a beautiful golden hour (or 2) skin to skin on the bed and having a go at breastfeeding. We struggled with latching but I'd collected some colostrum beforehand so was able to feed him this with a syringe. The midwives waited on the landing until the placenta came, at which point she came in to clamp the cord and have a look at Eddie. By around 2am everyone had left. I couldn't quite believe what had just happened as everything felt so normal and relaxed. What surprised me the most was not feeling like I'd been hit by a bus (like I did last time). I was so excited with our new arrival and proud of what I'd managed to do with the help of my husband and Sheryl. I think the key was never doubting myself or my body's ability to do something so natural.”
Yesterday, Jenny sent me some pictures of her planting, not so little, Eddie’s placenta under a cherry tree in the garden, and I finally got the nudge I needed to add this story to the blog.
There’s a special place in my heart for this story. Thank you for allowing me to share it. xx
