First Baby - Can't Wait to Do It Again!
This is the first GentleBirth birth story of 3 incredibly empowering experiences - a hat trick for these very happy parents.
First Experience using GentleBirth
I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks and am super excited to post my Gentlebirth story here after all the fantastic stories I read throughout my pregnancy.
On Wednesday morning Feb 4th I was 39 weeks and woke up to my 'show' although there was nothing else going on and up to this point and I hadn't even really had any Braxton Hicks. The day passed with nothing but excitement that things were beginning to move in the right direction!
I woke up at 1.30am to go to the bathroom and realized when I got back into bed that I was having regular cramps - I didn't pass too much notice for about an hour and then decided to time them to see how regular they were. The surges were lasting about a minute and were about 7 minutes apart. I stayed in bed for a couple of hours with my DH fast asleep beside me. As things went on I had to start sitting up and then get out of bed to roll my hips around during the surges. (And went to the loo about a million times!!) At about 5am all my moving about woke up my hubby but I told him there wasn't much to do right now but that it looked like we were going to have a baby today.
I was using an app to time and track the surges which in itself was a good focus.
I kept the affirmation of 'I can do anything for 1 minute in my head and was amazed that you really could feel each surge rising and falling.
I found the surges very manageable and looking back on the app rated most of them as moderate as opposed to strong. Some time before 10am I got into the bath, which was lovely but I found it harder to move during surges so I didn't stay there too long. When I got out I needed the loo again and POP went my waters!! I'm convinced I could hear them but not sure if that's actually true!!
It was about 10.20am now and at this point we decided we needed to get to the hospital. It took me nearly 30 minutes to dry off and get dressed as the surges were ramping up and coming more quickly. We put the Tens on - which was amazing and off we headed with me in the back of the car stretched all over the place
It was maybe 11.20 when we got to the hospital (Green lights all the way and missed out on morning traffic!!) Got parked right outside the door and in we toddled. It was only after that I realized we were so calm and relaxed that we actually stood there waiting for one of the ladies on reception to become available.
My surges were maybe 3 mins apart by now. A lady walked out of one of the offices across from reception and maybe noticed I was in a puddle, looked at me and said ....you are?... I finished her sentence with 'very much in labor'. I was directed into the A&E area where I was asked for a urine sample - needless to say that didn't happen but obliging as ever I tried, had a couple of surges in the bathroom, realized just how soaked I was and emerged with a container of amniotic fluid... much to the surprise of the awaiting midwife. I just said 'oh yeah my waters went about an hour ago'.
I was taken in and put on the CTG, examined and was at 8cm!!! She told me she hadn't thought I was in labour at all when I walked in!!
So into a wheelchair and off to delivery for me. They were testing the elevator so we had to wait for a couple of minutes, I felt more calm than the midwife who was urging the elevator guy we needed to get to delivery.
I got into the delivery room at about noon and the two girls who looked after us were absolutely lovely. Very clear that I could move around and do whatever I wanted and one of them held the CTG in place as they hadn't been able to get the 20mins done when I arrived.
The not to plan bits that happened were: 1) there was work going on and on two occasions someone was drilling next door. This was all over very quickly and understandably there is never a good time for things like that to happen but I just thought 'noises around me deepen my relaxation' and told my hubby to stay focussed on me. 2) Baby's heart rate kept dropping so the doctor had come in and had a chat.
The girls were great motivating me that I had done so well getting to this point that I didn't want intervention now and that I needed to focus and go with my body to get the baby out.
I had spent most of my time on my side (almost on my hubby's lap!!) and squeezed the hell our of his hands and he kept me breathing but that and the Tens was all I needed, I started pushing at 12.48, three surges later we had a head and our baby girl was born at 13.02 and I actually ended up pushing on my back/side as that felt more comfortable for me
I had a small tear and she had the cord around her neck which is why her HR had been dropping.
We had delayed cord clamping, immediate skin to skin, she latched on after about half an hour and stayed there for 45mins!!
It was an amazing experience, I was thrilled to do it without any pain relief and have the most chilled out and alert little girl...
Can't wait to do it again!!! (Read about M’s next birth).