The Positive Birth of Prudence Flowers
I was so lucky to teach gorgeous Jorja and Thom for their first baby (read that story HERE) Eddie. They had such a good birth, Jorja contacted me to refresh the techniques - so we had a coffee and mostly just talked about toddlers LOL. When I got this gorgeous story I was so excited. Grab a cuppa and put your feet up for five minutes with this one... Enjoy, N
I’ve been wanting to share my birth story for a while now so here goes!
I was BIG with baby number two.. it was February and HOT. My due date was the 15th of Feb and that came and went like any other day. I was in the care of the midwives at RDH and when seeing them at 40 weeks they informed me I was already 3cm dilated. ‘Awesome’ I thought, as I took the 8 flights of stairs down to the car park, ‘won’t be long’ I thought. Days went by and nothing.. not even a niggle, although I lost pieces of my mucus plug over the next week. I was scheduled to go in at 41 weeks for some monitoring but they called on the Sunday to see if I wanted to come in then as they were having a slow day. We went in, stuck the monitors on and settled in to see what was happening which was nothing. I was offered and accepted a stretch and sweep, where again was told I was around 3cm dilated. I spoke to the OB and she encouraged me to come back the following morning for an induction. I had thought hard over the past week about this and had, after trying everything decided that if I could have an induction ‘my way’ I would do it.
So, 5am on the 24/02 rolls around and I call the hospital to ask about coming in - they are expecting me so I wake my husband and we head over. I have my birth preferences form filled to the brim with sections for induction, pain relief, cesarean, etc... I bashfully hand it over to the midwife Lucy and half expect an eye roll but I get the opposite, she is so kind and proud of my research and effort and reassures me that my birth preferences will be honoured.
I sit with the monitors on for a couple of hours trying to get a steady heart rate of the baby and finally we can go ahead with having my waters broken. I discuss with the OB about having my waters broken and then allowing me time to see if my baby/body will kick things off on their own without the oxytocin drip - it’s agreed I will have a couple hours and then they will check in on me again and we can see how things are going. I put on my ‘Upbeat labour’ playlist I had made and start dancing around the room, wanting to dance this baby out! About 20 minutes pass and I start to feel some surges, not quite convinced I kept on my feet dancing around and moving around the room. My husband heads down to get something to eat and comes back with food for me, I timidly have a mouthful but quickly realise this is definitely happening and a ham cheese croissant is not going to stay down. The OB comes back to see how things are and asks if Im progressing, i tell her I am but she doesn't seem convinced, which I think is strange as I’m literally having surges in front of her while we are talking. This was at 9:30am and she let me know she would be back at 10:30 to check in. I move around the room a bit more and the playlist gets changed to ‘calm birth’ as I lean over the bed resting my head on a pillow and feet on the ground.
My midwife Lucy goes to lunch and her cover starts timing my contractions, I realise then they are coming fast. I hop up onto the bed and on to my side where I close my eyes, following the relaxation breaths through surges and willing myself to totally let go and flop during each one. I ask the midwives to run my birth pool and I voice how I don’t think I can do this, it was just too much. It was becoming very overwhelming, the senior midwife let me know that the baby’s heart rate was dropping a little and that they needed to keep monitoring closely, anxious and scared, i was semi relieved at the idea being whisked away for a Caesarean. I was reassured I was breathing through it so well and I could do it!
Amazingly, the babies heart rate settled and soon I start to feel like pushing and my waters gush out. I get up with some help from my husband and successfully make it to the toilet and empty my bladder and then hop into the birth pool. The warm water is amazing, but I have a little trouble finding a comfortable position. I flop over the side of the pool, facing my husband. The urge to push is back to back, i hold my husbands hand and breathe down through each push, at one point I cry saying ‘ I just wish someone could help me’ but I know it was all me! This baby wasn’t coming any other way. I instinctively reach down to feel for the head, and there it is, ‘won’t be long’ I think. A few more pushes and breaths of gas and my little baby floats up into the water and into my arms. I got to catch her and cut the cord. Our little Prudence Flowers was born at 11:57am and was a healthy 4.24kg, they even weighed her three times as we were in disbelief.
The hypnobirth course with Nicole does more than just teach you about hypnobirthing. It provides vital evidence based information on what is best for you and your baby during and after birth. She provides the opportunity to become totally informed on the process of birth and the options you have as a birthing mother. The course was completely empowering and I can’t recommend it and Nicole enough.
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