So with everything I had left in me I pushed once and his head came out...
Hi Hypnomums!
I wanted to share my positive birth story with you. First-time mum - I started having period like pains on Thursday 21st at 2pm - I was 40 weeks and 4 days. I didn’t know if it was labour starting so just relaxed and tried not to get too excited! After an hour or two there was a definite pattern to them and they progressively got stronger so I knew this was it!
I had a big dinner that night and went to bed listening to prompts for birthing and surge of the sea on repeat. I laboured all night at home, doing my best surge breathing throughout and trying to rest in between. I hopped in the bath at around 2am to try and get some relief as the pressure was starting to become intense. My partner used light touch through every surge and drizzled water over me while in the bath.
At around 4am I asked my partner to call our midwife as I felt I was exhausted and wanted to go to the hospital to try some gas and get comfortable there. She advised that I was still quite far away and to continue at home for a while longer. So I listened to prompts for birthing and really tried to keep my mindset in a positive place.
At 7am I hit a point where I wanted to give up. I told my partner to call our midwife again as I was not coping and wanted to see how dilated I was and hopefully I was dilated enough to go to the hospital to get some gas. She arrived at 9am and checked me. She asked if I wanted to know how far along I was, and because she didn’t say ‘let’s go to the hospital’ and asked me if I wanted to know, I knew I mustn’t be as far as I wanted so I said no (which I’m glad I did because after the birth my partner told me I was only 4cm!).
After that, the surges started getting stronger and closer together. I continued with my breathing but at this stage my breaths turned a lot more vocal (they had always been very quiet controlled surge breaths until that point). I moved to backwards sitting on the toilet and my mum and partner were massaging my back. I said to my partner that the surges were changing, there was no break in between them, I was struggling to keep my mind in the game. Unbeknown to me, my midwife had said to my partner that I was probably still 6 or so hours away so she would go and come back in a few hours to check me again.
I moved from the toilet into the shower because it felt like the only place I could get relief. I was down on all fours in the shower when my partner noticed blood on the shower floor. My midwife was getting ready to leave and he asked her to come have a quick look. She had a look and said it was the bloody show. Then as she was standing there, I felt a pop and my waters broke. There was meconium in the waters. She said that we now needed to go to the hospital.
At that point it was 11am and the surges were coming strong and fast and I was trying to focus on my breathing. I was in transition and I was thinking I’m going to have this baby right here, there’s no way that I can get out of the shower, get dressed, get into the car and to the hospital. At that point I told myself that I couldn’t do anything but surrender to my body and try to leave my conscious mind so that my body could continue. This was the only way I managed to get out of the shower and get to the hospital.
When I was in the car I started bearing down. It was the only thing that felt right at that point. So with each surge, I felt my breathing change and I breathed him down. When we got to the hospital (worst 15 minute drive of my life!!) I got into a wheelchair and was still bearing down. I remember thinking ‘I can’t sit on my bum because this baby is coming out!’.
We got to the birth room at 11:30. I had to get onto the bed to get the monitor out on my tummy. Once that was done my body instinctively wanted to get off the bed and stand beside the bed with my head and arms resting on the bed. And with each surge I breathed my baby down. I could feel him coming and it was the most productive part of labour!
My midwife and I had complete control over the situation, my body was stretching well and I felt in control. Then all of a sudden 3 doctors burst into the room talking loudly and saying they weren’t happy with the baby’s heart rate and they wanted me up on the bed so they could forceps him out. This was completely against my birth plan and my midwife was trying to tell them that the baby’s heart rate was fine, and that I just needed 15-20 minutes more and the baby would be out.
They were not listening to her and were getting the forceps ready. So my midwife locked eyes with me and said ‘I need you to push this baby out right now’. And so with everything I had left in me I pushed once and his head came out, then one more push and his body followed. Our beautiful healthy boy was born at 11:26 (less then an hour after we got to the hospital!) weighing 6 pound 7 ounces.
We went home 4 hours later! Because I had to push him out so quickly, I ended up with a second degree tear. But honestly I couldn’t have cared less. I just gave birth with zero pain relief and I was on top of the world! The feeling is one that can’t be explained.
Although I prepared in every way I could, and followed the hypnobubs program diligently, I don’t know if I ever believed I would actually be able to do it. I’ve always had such a low pain threshold and coupled with having Vaginusmus I just thought I wouldn’t be able to have the natural birth I wanted. But I did and I’m so grateful for hypnobubs and for my midwife and for my amazing partner who did the entire course with me and was the reason I got through.
Don’t underestimate how much you need your birth partner to know the hypnobubs techniques! Good luck to all mammas out there about to embark on the labour journey. Trust your body and surrender to its power, and you will make it through. It is SO worth it not only because you get the most precious gift, but you will be reborn a whole new woman, empowered by the amazing strength of your body.
Danni
