I always find when I near by daughters birthday I reflect on the birth I had with her, my first experience of birth. I always feel in awe of my body and amazed at what it achieved both growing and birthing a baby. She is 3 this week and this blog definitely should have been written a while ago but better late then never!!!
I would say our birth story started on Friday the 16th of June 2017, I was convinced our baby was going to be making an early arrival that weekend so I was gearing myself up for that. After ambitiously attending a party on the Saturday it dawned on me that she may not come early and that I just needed to let go of that thought and relax! Sunday came and my husband Tim decided to go skateboarding, after a couple of hours soaking up the sun on what felt like the hottest day ever, Tim came limping back declaring he thought his ankle was broken- not what you need when you are a week away from your due date! Being a totally head in the sand about the situation he refused to go to the hospital to get it checked out.
That evening I couldn't sleep and realised I hadn't written any sort of birth plan so in the early hours of Monday the 19th of June I stared jotting a few key words down on my phone ready to elaborate on the next day, and started to feel what I thought was trapped gas. After hours of up and down on the toilet I couldn’t really shake the feeling and just went to sleep on the sofa
At 8am Tim woke up and decided that now was the time to be seen at the hospital so we hobbled the 10min walk to the nearest hospital(not the hospital we were having the baby in)- he had an X-ray but couldn't be seen until 6pm that evening to discuss the X-ray, so we went home - at this point I was getting pressure in my lower back that was making me stop walking so I thought it was best to get to my mums which was closer to our hospital.
At my mums Tim dimmed the lights and the best thing that made the surges easier was standing in a warm shower. I spent a lot of time in the loo, jumping in and out of the shower and bath and found most comfort when standing.
We decided it was time to head to the hospital about 3pm, once we got there I was told I was 3cm dilated and was given the choice to stay on labour ward(not what I fancied) or head home and to come back at 8pm- we went home which was the best thing to do as I could relax in the bath however by 5 I knew if I didn't get back to the hospital the baby would be born in my mums bath! On the way there I focused on zoning out with Tim and my mum being told by me not to speak! Tim took the lead with the midwives and all I had to do was focus on bringing our baby into the world.
I think the midwife was shocked to see me back so soon but could see the labour had progressed quite quickly.We got into the room by 6 and I had a real urge to use the loo, I could feel my waters bulging and worried I was about give birth on the loo! Whilst we waited for the birthing pool to be filled my mum nipped out to get tea and ice pops. The midwives were struggling to get the birthing pool to the right temperature as it was so hot (the hottest day of the year so far!). At 7pm I felt an overwhelming pushing sensation and I was finally able to jump in the pool.
Having a water birth was the most fantastic experience ever, and it allowed me to focus deeply on my breathing, something I truly believed relieved me of pain and gave me something to focus on. At 7.34pm Archer Rae was with us in the most peaceful way, no crying and very ready to be in the world. I felt so empowered to catch my beautiful water baby in such a calm way with no pain relief (I was encouraged not to use gas and air as it was slowing me down!) I think embracing everything that was happening to my body and understanding what was going on due to the hypnobirthing techniques I used allowed me not to fear the most natural thing in the world. By the time Archer had arrived our tea was still warm and ice pops were still frozen!
When people ask me how my birth was I take such pride in telling them it was wonderful, I still get strange looks and I can tell people do not believe me until my mum backs me up and tells them Archer and I were warriors!
We never made it back to a+e and still don't know if Tim broke his ankle!
