Positive Birth Story: Labour Ward Water Birth
“I completed the birth-ed online course and couldn't recommend enough. The tools and knowledge I gained were totally invaluable and lead me to have the most positive birth experience possible. Thank you Megan!”
Positive Labour Ward Birth Story
“My daughter was born 2 years ago and although I had a very good, straightforward experience I wanted to be more informed this time round about my options and confident about saying what I want for my birth. I was also just desperate to give hypnobirthing a go!! I am happy for my story to be shared as I hope it's a positive one for mamas who wish to have their baby on a labour ward.
Second Baby Birth Story
My surges started about 4am at 40 plus 4 weeks. They were obviously perfectly manageable at this stage and I stayed in bed using my up breathing until my daughter woke up at 6.30. My daughter was looked after by my mam downstairs and I stayed upstairs with my partner keeping the room dark and using my birthing ball. At around 9.30 I decided to go in the bath to help with the surges. My partner sat in the bathroom with me and we listened to music we enjoy together...I was even singing in between my surges! I continued to use my up breathing and told myself positive affirmations. I kept reminding myself that my body has done this before and is good at it so to trust what it is doing and that each surge was one closer to meeting my baby. I felt confident and excited.
I stayed in the bath until around 11.30am. At this point I went to the toilet and seemed to be passing small amounts of blood. This had started around 7am and I believed it to be my show just coming out much slower than it did with my daughter however I rang the assessment unit at the hospital just to check this was OK. I was put through to the labour ward who asked me how often I was contracting and at this point it was every 2 minutes with each surge lasting for around 30 seconds to a minute. The midwife asked if I felt I needed pain relief and I said that I was coping well at home at the moment without pain relief however the midwife advised me to go down to see them. To be honest I was rather annoyed at this point because I was managing the pain well at home I really didn't want to get to hospital, to be examined and then sent home again if I wasn't yet in what they call established labour but I wanted the blood to be looked at so made the decision to go down to see them using my BRAIN tool.
Heading to the Labour Ward
We arrived at the hospital around 12pm. The midwife who was to be looking after me informed me of all the tests she would like to do like my blood pressure, fetal heartbeat etc which I was happy with and she finally asked me if I consent to an internal examination or not. I had made the decision to accept the examination as I thought it may give me an idea of how far I had come in my labour so that I can focus my mind a little better on the end goal. Surges had really ramped up by this point but I felt I was managing well using my breathing!! Midwife confirmed that the blood was just my show, I was 5cm dilated and that she wouldn't ask to examine me again for another 4 hours however she believed I will have a baby here long before then. I took this as a real positive and focused on getting through the next few hours.
Labour Ward Water Birth
My midwife then asked me if I had thought about pain relief and asked if I would like to use the pool which I confirmed I did. She advised me the pool will take around 30 minutes to fill up and took my partner and I to the birthing pool room around 1pm (which was a lovely room it was very close to what I've seen on midwifery led units... The pool was huge!!! ). I used the birthing ball while the pool was filling up and my midwife gave me some gas and air which I didn't end up using as it made me feel extremely sick after a couple of puffs!!! I felt better able to focus on getting through my surges without it and at this point I was still using my up breathing for every surge and I found that picturing holding my baby in my arms at the peak of every surge helped.
The pool took a little longer than 30 mins to fill up and once I got in around 1.35pm I felt an amazing sense of relief from pressure down below! I then very quickly had a surge which was the most difficult to deal with yet and for the first time I thought 'I can't do this!!!' and wanted to burst into tears and go home (transitioning!!!). No sooner did this thought cross my mind than did I have another surge and my body began to push uncontrollably. I could feel babies head immediately! One more surge and head was out and one final one and my beautiful baby boy was born at 1.46pm weighing 9lb 10oz. The final one was the hardest as he got a little stuck and had cord around his neck and body but we got there with some serious effort on my part!!
Having my baby boy passed to me through my legs in the pool was euphoric.
My midwife was amazing. I felt totally unobserved whilst she was with us and when I was pushing I actually turned around in between surges to check she was there because I didn't think she was watching what was happening!! She allowed me to trust in my body.. No coached pushing or telling me where to put my body and when!
“I found my labour particularly easy”
Megan - I found my labour particularly easy this time round and I attribute that to the techniques I learnt from your online course. I felt armed with information from the moment I purchased - from knowing I can say no to induction to the little bit of info about relaxing my jaw during labour!! I felt like a superwoman throughout and afterwards! The course is more than worth the small amount of money it costs. I can't imagine what women take from in person courses with you when I took so much from the online one. Thank you!!
“I felt like a superwoman throughout and afterwards!”
To join us for the birth-ed online hypnobirthing and antenatal course like Amy did, sign up below.