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20 Feb 2021
Our POSITIVE but not perfect birth.
After booking Anna’s course, after each session I felt more and more informed about options during birth and had knowledge I had no idea of before being a first time mum.
My contractions woke me up at 2am and my husband was working nights. I started timing them and contacted Andy to come home an hour later and we contacted triage. We were told to stay at home longer if we could and we did, but by 5:30 we were at the hospital. Luckily with recent changes in COVID restrictions Andy was able to be with me the whole time. I was assessed and knew from the course that this was my choice. I was 4/5 cm so was told to stay but had to wait for a room on delivery. We waited and even went for a walk and had some food and drink before moving to delivery.
I requested a pool straight away as this was what I wanted and they said they would be able to accommodate later. I used the birthing ball and set up my music and lighting to help with the atmosphere which I had learned on the course and this made me much more relaxed.
I used breathing techniques to help with contractions and didn’t use gas and air until much later in the day. My midwife commented how calm I was.
I was assessed later and was told I had not dilated any further. This was initially disappointing but I remembered from the course it’s just a number and not to get disappointed. They offered to break my waters and I agreed but Andy checked and confirmed I wanted this multiple times before as he knew from the course he was also there to ensure I didn’t feel pressured into anything and his support helped so much. My waters were broken and when I was assessed later I was 7cm and we moved to a room with a pool and set up the room again to suit the atmosphere we wanted. Although I had always wanted a water birth, I found the pool comforting but very warm and labour did not seem to progress as well in there for me. I made my choice to come out of the pool and I always felt I would not have been good at making decisions in such circumstances but I knew from Anna’s course that the choices were mine to make.
Later, I was fully dilated but struggling to get Chester out (he was a big baby!). At this point I started becoming more anxious and stressed and the pain was increasing and I felt I was losing control, but Andy reminded me of my breathing and although it seemed impossible and after requesting intervention, I was told I would not need any and to continue to push. I felt this was impossible at the time but Andy reminded me of my breathing and eventually Chester was born just after midnight the following day.
I had skin to skin and delayed cord clamping which I had requested before Andy had skin to skin whilst I then birthed the placenta naturally. After this, things began to go wrong and my uterus would not contract and I lost a lot of blood. The emergency button was pressed and lots of doctors rushed in and both Andy and I were terrified. It was hard at this point as there’s no time for questions or answers but you trust the professionals and I reminded myself I had my beautiful boy and we had a family and kept thinking positive things to help. After the bleeding had stopped, Andy and I had a while together before I was moved to post natal and monitored for 24 hours and then I was allowed to come home.
My birth was not as expected but had lots of positive elements but what was most important was how the knowledge and techniques from the course helped in the most stressful situations of the birth which made those situations bearable to cope with and overcome.
Joanna and Andrew - Malvern, Worcestershire