2nd Wonderful GentleBirth for this family.

2018 - 3yrs on - read M’s first incredible birth here.

This is my second GentleBirth Baby and I’m delighted to say this time round went just as smoothly as when my little girl arrived in 2015. Although this pregnancy definitely took its toll on me more, I had a lot of hip and pelvic pain this time round, varicose veins and swelling was no fun but none of that impacted my feelings towards the actual birth. I found the most stressful bit was planning for our toddler

I had my 38 week appointment, all was well and the babies head was well down. I had finished work earlier than planned due to the discomfort and so had gotten my hair and beautician appointments moved up too. I left the hospital appointment feeling ready and sensed that I wouldn’t go to my due date. Little did I know going to bed that night what lay ahead....

My waters broke at 0010 on Thursday night/ Friday morning and took me completely by surprise! There had been no hint of anything and it took me a minute to wake up and realize ‘this is it!’ I jumped in the shower while my hubby arranged things for our little girl. Initially I was ‘I’m not actually in labor so maybe we should just call the hospital and see if we can wait a bit’ The hospital had a recording that says to come in for assessment if your waters have gone so that’s what we did. I had 2 minor cramps and then my first real surge just as we were leaving the house so decided to pop the tens machine on for the car ride.

Surges on the way to the hospital we’re about 3.5mins apart and lasting about 40 seconds. We arrived at the hospital at 01.15 - it was pretty quiet. Was put on the monitor for 20 mins and as expected lying down was not comfy.

Surges were ramping up and the midwife seemed surprised that I had to properly breath thru them. She examined me and declared I was ‘almost in labour’ - she said my cervix was still thick but very stretchy. She decided the labour ward was the best place to go so asked for my hubby to sort out paperwork and we’d head up. I went to the loo before we went.

Things intensified quickly and I had to stand up off the toilet during surges. I realized after that was my transition phase. I began to want to bear down and was slightly surprised at this as it happened so quickly. I came out of the loo and straight into a wheelchair to head upstairs. At this point it was like my waters broke again... I couldn’t believe the amount of fluid and reckoned the baby was going to be tiny. When we got into the room I leaned over the top of the bed and very quickly had a surge where I felt the baby move down. With the next surge I could feel he was crowning and two surges later our little man was with us. He came out with his hand beside his head - 7lb 13oz of perfection at 02.38am a mere 2.5hours after my waters went.

Again I managed with just the TENS machine, had a slight ‘graze’ but felt like the experience was so empowering and although it was super quick I felt in control and amazed that I used my breath to just ‘blow him out’.

Last time round my favorite affirmation was ‘I can do anything for 1 minute’, this time what I used most was defo the ‘Re-lax’ breathing technique.

Never under estimate the power within!

Read M’s first birth experience here.