18 Jul 2021

I cannot believe how amazing the whole labour turned out to be!

I have always known that I wanted to be a mom some day, and after a year of hoping to become pregnant I was worried it may not happen for us. One day I had a strange feeling to take a pregnancy test and was thrilled to see a positive result!

I am a reasonably organised person, but when it came to pregnancy and birth I was very go with the flow. It wasn’t until my husband booked the Rock Your Birth hypnobirthing course that I realised how many options I had at my disposal when heading towards my due date.

After considering our options, we decided to plan a home water birth. Ideally as naturally and calmly as possible. Thanks to Anna’s guidance I also had back up plans and truly believed that I could control what I could, and let go of the things that I could not. I can say that one affirmation alone is truly what helped me through this labour.

At 40+4, I woke up Saturday morning and lost my mucus plug and hoped that meant things were happening soon! After monitoring my contractions for a couple of hours they were close enough together to call the midwife. She arrived in good time but after my first check I was only 1 cm dilated, so she decided to go home and asked me to call when I felt them become more intense when my waters broke. About five minutes after she left my waters broke and within the hour my contractions were more intense so I was hopeful that soon would be the right time.

She returned back to the house in the early evening and we filled up the birthing pool ready for a nice calm homebirth. After contracting for what seems like forever I was shocked to find out I was only dilated about 6cm. I started feeling like I needed to push but my body just wasn’t progressing enough to get to that stage. The pool felt great and the gas and air did help with slight relief from my surges. I pushed through the night but at about 10am or so the midwife gave me a choice to either give it a couple more hours at home or transfer to the hospital as this baby just wasn’t cooperating and I was exhausted. At that point I thought I needed extra support so we got the transfer to the hospital.

Once there they checked me again and I was still only 6 cm dilated. At that point they asked if I wanted an epidural which I gladly accepted. Once I felt the medicine kick in I felt much more comfortable. I was still able to feel the contractions but they were more pressure and less pain, everything was so calm.

They also gave me something to help make my contractions more effective, but after four hours I was still only 6-7cm and my waters had been broken for almost 20 hours. This is when they prepared me to start considering our options as our little baby was not cooperating. At this point the baby was still stable but I was definitely tired they said they would give it two more hours to monitor and check in again. After about 30 minutes they popped in and noticed the baby wasn’t doing as well as they had hoped.

But upon a further check they realised I was 10cm and ready to push. I ended up having an episiotomy as well as a forceps delivery which was never part of my birth plan. But after two pushes our beautiful baby girl was born into the world.

Unfortunately when she came out she was very stressed and wasn’t crying they put her straight on oxygen and had to cut the cord immediately I also didn’t get my desired skin on skin time. However my doctor was amazing and assured me they were doing everything in the best interest of our baby and she’s doing great!

At almost 2 weeks old I cannot believe how amazing the whole labour turned out to be, albeit a little long. With Anna’s help, I took what I thought was going to be a daunting experience and tailored it to me. Having all the tools at my disposal and being able to remain calm at every step was key to me getting the most from my labour.
I look at our little girl now and know every second was worth it.

Julia and Sam - Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

First BirthVaginal BirthHome BirthOverdueHospital BirthWater Birth