Effortless Dream Birth
Beth describes her perfect birth.
After attending antenatal classes at around 30 weeks and learning about the science behind birth, I realised birth isn’t something that just ‘happens’ to you; it can be actively participated in! I wanted to give myself the best chance to cope with whatever my labor would throw at me and spent some time researching how best to prepare my body and mind for the main event.
I was lucky enough to have been able to remain really active throughout my pregnancy and continued working out at the gym right up until the day before I went into labor. I stretched and spent time on the yoga ball most days and went to my physio a couple of weeks before my due date to make sure everything was well aligned. I had a feeling keeping my body in good condition would be the easy part and that my mind would be a little harder to train!!
I had heard of hypnobirthing and liked the sound of it but in all honesty had no idea what it actually was. After looking into it, there were books I could read that didn’t really go into how to hypnobirth, and courses I could go on that were well out of my price range. I discovered the GentleBirth app and was over the moon to have an affordable option that had endless options to help me prepare.
After only a day of using it I was already recommending it to everyone! I liked the affirmations as I got ready in the morning, the hypnobirthing tracks in place of an afternoon nap, and the meditation tracks before bed. I used the app religiously from around 32 weeks, and loved reading all the positive birth stories on the blog, and did my utmost to avoid all the traumatic stories people love telling!
The night I went into labour I was woken up at around midnight with a contraction. I had been having Braxton Hicks for around 2 weeks so went to the bathroom and thought nothing of it. I got back into bed and had another fairly strong contraction so got out of bed and started timing them to see if they could be the real deal. The contractions kept coming and were around 2.5 minutes apart and lasting around 45 seconds. My midwife had told me that it usually takes a long time for contractions to fall into a rhythm and to call her once they were 3 minutes apart, so we were already past that!
After only laboring for around half an hour I called her and she said to keep track of the contractions and call back once they’d been coming for an hour (she later told me she didn’t expect to hear from me for another 6 hours at least!!)
Contractions kept coming thick and fast and I floated around the house to see where my body would feel most comfortable. I had put on the labour companion track and it was the perfect reminder that I could do this and to just listen to my body. I spent a few minutes in the shower and on the bed and eventually gravitated to the nursery, the cosiest & darkest room. I put my favourite composer (Einaudi) on the speaker and knelt over the chair and breathed through my contractions; I found vocalising with a low hum to be incredibly helpful. The rush of endorphins between contractions was almost euphoric.
My partner stayed with me in the nursery, timing my contractions and regularly heating up a wheat bag for me. My waters broke and the contraction timer app kept telling us to go to the hospital, so he called the midwife back and said it was possibly close to time to leave. She said she’d be over shortly and to keep breathing through the contractions. While she was on her way, our big dog Norman joined me for some moral support! The midwife arrived and measured all my vitals and checked how dilated I was. I was already 8cm after only 3 hours so with the birth centre nearly half an hour away it was definitely time to leave! The drive to the birth centre was possibly the most difficult part of the whole labour, as the seated position felt so unnatural!
As we drove up to the birth centre I felt the pressure really build, and when we arrived I hopped into the bath almost immediately. After only a couple of minutes my body told me it was time to push. Pushing wasn’t a speedy process for me and I felt like I had lots of time between contractions to fully relax and share a giggle with my partner. The hot water of of bath was incredibly relaxing and I felt so in control of the process. After an hour of pushing, and only 5 and a half hours of labour, our beautiful boy Finn made his way earthside. He was so calm and comfortable in the water.
There is a line in the Birth Rehearsal track along the lines of - “You can hardly believe you’ve had your perfect birth”, which I relate to so much. With the help of the brain training of the GentleBirth app, I was able to access a place of calm confidence without any effort and can truly say that I had my dream birth.
Download the new GentleBirth Contraction Timer today
