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10 Mar 2023
Our positive birth experience!
I gave birth to Dottie vaginally in the Violet room in Meadow at 22:20pm, Friday 10th March, at 37+6 weeks pregnant after going into spontaneous labour.
From 36 weeks I had been getting on and off tightenings (Braxton Hicks) and a few loose bowel movements.
The night of Thursday 9th March I had a bad night sleep, waking to go to the toilet over 6 times.
Friday 10th March Stu and I decided to go for Breakfast at Goodroots before he packed to go to Liverpool for the weekend. I started to get very mild period type pains.
Exactly the same as I had experienced the previous week.
I thought nothing of it and sent Stu on his way.
I went round to my mum’s to see her and my sister. I realised I was still getting the period pains. This then became tightenings around 13:00pm but a sensation I could completely ignore so I assumed Braxton Hicks again.
By 4pm I thought that the tightenings were following more of a pattern. And by 5pm they were becoming a bit more intense, but still nothing I had to concentrate on. However I hadn’t been aware of losing a mucus plug, any waters breaking or any type of show.
By 18:00 I was back at my house, my mum had driven me and cooked me some food for energy at mine and decided to stay with me until Stu got home, as I had called him to say that I think he should get home as I might be in early Labour.
Then after this things ramped up quickly and I found myself having to stop and breathe through contractions. I found on my knees leaning into a birthing ball comfortable.
I asked my mum to run me a bath, I turned off the lights, diffused lavender and I lit candles in between my contractions. Before getting in the bath I realised that I had had a show in my underwear. I put on my calming playlist. My sister arrived and started timing my contractions. This is when things ramped up again, very very quickly!
I closed my eyes and continued the breathing techniques whilst thinking about my affirmations. I had a moment when I became scared and upset that Stu wasn’t there yet. But told myself ‘control what you can’.
At 19:50 I rang triage- they told me it sounded like I was coping so stay at home it’s too soon to go in and ring my midwife when I found I was coping less and she would come to my home to assess me.
At 20:20 my mum rang my midwife for me, I had 4 contractions 4 minutes apart lasting 1 min each. I got out of the bath and sat on the toilet- got a sensation that I needed to poo! My
Midwife told mum and sister to just get me to hospital and she would see us there.
I told them where my hospital bag was and
I was driven to hospital and Stu was called and told go straight there. No time to collect his hospital bag and do some of the things we had previously decided were going to be his birth partner jobs.
At this point I became worried I was going to have the baby on the way to the hospital, but continued calm breathing and affirmations. And actually said out loud to everyone in the car. ‘We all now need to remain calm’ as I could sense panic.
We got to hospital at 21:05, I was examined and told I was at least 9cm! Stu arrived 21:15 and my mum and sister left. My waters went at 21:25, and involuntarily my body just started pushing. My midwife got me in a chair and wheeled me into meadow. I tried a few different positions but actually liked lying on my back on the bed the best.
I requested gas and air and experienced the transition moment, Stu reassured me. There were a few moments where I felt myself losing composure but Stu got me to refocus and continue my breathing techniques and reminded me that this was to meet my baby. My midwife started saying affirmations too.
I birthed our baby at 22:20 and as we didn’t know the gender, Stu told me ‘Izzy our little girl Dottie is here’
Anna your hypnobirthing course gave me the coping techniques to deal with the situation that I found myself in and I had such a positive birth experience that I never thought was obtainable, despite my husband only just making it to the hospital in time and labouring without him.
Izzy and Stu - Worcester