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03 Feb 2022
We arrived at the hospital fully dilated and ready to birth our baby
Our birth story started on a Monday evening, after a busy day on my feet; just before I went to bed I started to lose my mucus plug. We were excited but knew it could be a while before baby made an appearance so I got myself into bed and listened to one of the positive affirmation mp3s to help me drift off to sleep and get a good night’s rest. I woke during the night with some mild cramps but otherwise the night was uneventful.
On Tuesday, I tried to make sure I spent the day doing things to boost my happy hormones! I took my dogs out for a walk, had a nice lunch, and tried to rest, while continuing to notice mild cramps which got stronger during the day.
By 7pm on Tuesday evening I was tracking the contractions that were coming every 6 or 7 minutes, but I was able to easily breathe through them.
While I didn’t get a great night’s sleep, I did make sure to rest and much as possible through the night on Tuesday and used another tool Anna recommended which was a calm playlist I’d put together to help me stay relaxed.
By mid-morning on Wednesday my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and while I was still breathing through them my waters broke so we contacted the maternity ward to let them know!
This is where my labour got a bit more challenging for me; we visited triage to be assessed which meant leaving the house and the calm environment we had created! We were waiting for a while at the hospital, and I was examined but not checked to see how dilated I was and asked to stay near the hospital for a few hours while things progressed. This really threw me off! We’d expected either to be admitted or sent home, so managing through contractions in a less than ideal environment - our car, was tough! That said, we had our playlist, heated seats and snacks, and I tried to stay as positive as possible. After a few hours I was re-examined and found out I was just 3cm dilated after what felt like forever! I’ll admit I was disappointed but had to remind myself that every contraction was getting us closer to baby arriving. So after a long afternoon at the hospital, we returned home.
After a pit stop at McDonalds on the way (great carb heavy food for energy!) we got home at around 9.30pm, dimmed the lights, turned the heating up and I spent time on my birthing ball continuing to breathe through contractions. I’d still had no pain relief by this time, and just tried to rest as much as I could, as by this time I was really tired!
Over the next few hours my labour progressed, until I felt I needed to return to the hospital, as while my contractions weren’t quite as close together or as long as the hospital suggested they’d be when I was in ‘active labour’ I was starting to find it harder to breathe through each one.
On arrival at the hospital it turned out I was fully dilated and ready to birth our baby! I think because I’d been able to breathe through without pain relief until then we were all a little surprised. I don’t doubt that was because of the tools we took away from the course - all the things we did to create the right environment, and my focus on breathing and positive affirmations getting me through.
After a whirlwind 3 hours in delivery suite Rupert arrived at 5.16am on Thursday 3 February weighing exactly 7lb and Tom and I were overjoyed. I was really proud of myself for having laboured at home calmly for so long before arriving at hospital. It wasn’t the water birth I’d originally hoped for, but once I’d arrived at delivery suite my focus was totally on birthing my baby and I didn’t give it another thought.
Tom was an incredible support throughout, making sure to protect the environment around me as much as possible and reminding me I could do it, giving me the reassurance I needed. The tools and techniques we took from the course had a huge impact on how we approached the labour, which was with a positive mindset focussing on the things we could control. I’m so proud of how we both handled it, and we were over the moon to have our son Rupert arrive safe and well.
Katie & Tom - Kidderminster, Worcestershire