“I really felt able to let my body and baby do their thing and trusted that it would work”

Hi Kat,

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get in touch – babies eat time!

Just to let you know that baby Cara arrived on 27 November at 7:26am and weighing 8lb 4oz.
We didn’t get to stay at home as I had some bleeding early on which meant I needed monitoring. However, it was a very straightforward and positive birth despite being in a very different setting from that I had wished for. I didn’t need pain relief or have any interventions. Above all, I really felt able to let my body and baby do their thing and trusted that it would work. I’m sure hypnobirthing had a lot to do with that. And having heard many more birth stories since I’ve realised that it is often much less positive for others.
I was really pleased with how good I felt about the birth – we’d opted for a homebirth and our wish list kind of centred around keeping examinations and monitoring to a minimum because I didn’t want that to interfere and put me off my stride. In the end the relaxation techniques bypassed all that – I was just doing my thing and didn’t even think to ask for the lights to be dimmed for quite a while. Though I do think it’s good to have thought through all the options as it means that you are taken a bit more seriously when you question advice and so on.

So a bit more detail:
I’d been booked for a sweep on Sunday 27 November but my baby clearly had other ideas, and my waters leaked a bit at 10:30pm on Saturday 26 November. I spoke to the homebirth midwife who told me to call again when I was having contractions 2 minutes apart. So tried to go to bed and sleep but it felt too intense. I listened to affirmations and rocked on hands and knees and was getting surges closer and closer. At about 2:30am I went to the toilet and realised that I had bled quite a lot so called the midwives to check what to do. They said that I needed to go in so they could check that the baby and placenta were OK and to come straight in. At 3am I was hooked up to a monitor and baby’s heartbeat was fine, exactly the same rate as all my antenatal checks. I had an ultrasound and the baby’s head was found to be very low, so agreed to an vaginal examination. The doctor then said ‘You’ve got a very high pain threshold, you’re 8cm dilated’.
Although everything looked fine and they thought the bleeding was because I’d opened up so quickly, the amount of blood meant that I was advised to stay in hospital to which I agreed. We went into a labour ward room (no pool because of the monitors) and I tried a little gas and air but it was just distracting, so carried on breathing instead. I found it quite annoying as the monitors kept losing contact when I stood so I was asked to stay on my back. Next time I would definitely ask for intermittent monitoring if there was not an immediate worry about baby. In the end I gave birth standing/squatting and everything was much easier and quicker – about 2 contractions on my feet and she was born (after an hour on my back). I was able to stay very calm and relaxed throughout despite some medical interferences (e.g. putting in a cannula in case I bled a lot after birth) and to insist on things that were important to me (like letting the cord stop pulsing even though I had agreed to a managed third stage). Cara was born without any intervention and her heartbeat remained constant throughout. It took about 9 hours from start to finish.

Kate W