2021 - 3rd GentleBirth (read M’s other 2 wonderful GentleBirth first birth here and 2nd birth experience.

This is my 3rd GentleBirth. I have secured my hat trick for 3 awesome births and have now completed my contribution to the worlds population

This pregnancy was definitely more anxiety provoking for me. With 3 previous miscarriages and an early scan that threw dates into slight disarray I was slightly unsure of myself and found myself expecting the worst for a lot of the early weeks. This was not helped by a bleed at 12 weeks or another minor one around New Years but the baby remained fine and I found myself recently at my 38 week appointment

Driving home from this appointment I had some lower back pain and a couple of cramps. I put this down to the walk I had done from the car to the hospital however after getting home at 5pm I realized the cramps were fairly consistent so it was likely labour had started. I called my mam to let her know it was likely she’d be needed for a sleepover that night to mind my other 2 smallies and set about bath and bedtime. By 8pm surges were regular but not really in any pattern although I’d had to properly breathe through a couple of them. After the kids went down I timed them for an hour, at about 9pm gave my mam the go ahead to come over and went downstairs to have a cup of tea. Every now and again there were fairly intense surges and the thought did cross my mind ‘if they’re like this so early what will it be like when I’m closer to the end’ (with 2 fast labors under my belt I should’ve known better!!)

My waters broke at 10.30pm while chatting and we made moves to go the hospital. I’ve had a 2 hour window on my previous labors from waters going. Popped on the trusty TENS machine and off we went. The car ride was very uncomfortable and I kept telling myself ‘just ride the wave’. We got to the hospital at 11.10pm and I went in to be examined. This was almost comical - the poor midwife was trying to check the heartbeat etc - I didn’t really realize how close we were, I had a lot of pressure and I couldn’t even lie back for the monitor to be put on so the lovely midwife did her best. She did a quick internal, with me in the most precarious of positions and announced I was fully dilated. I threw my phone at her to call my hubby who arrived in straight away and about 3 minutes before our baby girl shot our like a bullet after about 2 pushes at 11.32pm!! She was a tiny 5lbs 1oz but absolutely perfect and latched on straight away. Two weeks later she’s hardly latched off and is already half a pound over her birth weight.

My 3 births have all been different but fantastic experiences that have really shown me the power we have and to have trust in our bodies. I have breathed all three of them out using only the TENS machine and this time didn’t need any stitches I love that I have been able to give my babies such a gentle introduction into the world and to feel empowered doing it.