Hi Katrina,

Further to my brief text … here is what happened … in full(ish)… amazing I could write so much for such a quick labour!

Monday morning I got up for breakfast and declared to all those sitting there (my parents, Adam and my daughter Audrey) that I had just had my show … ‘ignition’ my retired midwife Mum called it.  I wasn’t getting too excited as I’d felt like labour was imminent for the previous two weeks.

Around 8:00 I felt mild contractions starting, slightly more intense than the Braxton Hicks I’d been experiencing.  Slowly they began to come more frequently so I lay down on my side on my bed and started listening to rainbow relaxation music (which has been my bedtime listening for months now).

By 9:00 Mum came in after her shower and asked how I was … was I just relaxing into it?  She seemed a bit sceptical that I was having contractions as I was pretty relaxed, I was just slow deep breathing through them.  So she got me to put my finger up when I was having one and she sat at the end of my bed timing them.

Meanwhile Audrey decided to have a swim (swimmers and all) in the bath.  It was great fun for her and a relief for me.  She’d come in earlier and didn’t like it that I had all but ignored her as I lay with my eyes closed deep breathing.

It was actually all very nice this bit.  Contractions ebbed and flowed and the ‘balloon breathing’ I’d learnt in hypnobirthing helped me get through them … I figured Mum would tell me when things were at a point where we had to go to hospital … so I was pretty immersed in it.  Although I was drinking, smiling, talking, going to the toilet in between contractions and felt really relaxed.

I rang Adam and told him he ought to come home from work as things were happening and decided to get changed out of my pyjamas.  Fairly suddenly the contractions picked up a gear and I lost my relaxed state as they came quicker.  I found myself rocking on all fours to ease the intensity of them.  I was completely pulled in and talking, dressing myself or explaining my state became impossible.

Mum instantly knew things had changed and suddenly went into gear. Unprepared to organise my trip to the hospital she scrambled to find the hospital’s number then tried to phone a taxi … she was asking me to provide her with numbers, my postcode and explain what I was feeling.  I was effectively on another planet and could only say a few words at a time.  I felt much like I was in a glass jar that only opened for a moment when I could be heard.  She managed to find my hospital notes and rang the birthing centre, then got through to directory enquiries and got them to send a cab.  Our apartment is quite tricky to find in the complex and I was worried they wouldn’t find us, but was unable to remedy the situation.

Mum threw our bags into the lift then ordered me to follow her.  I was completely glued to the spot.  With Mum’s insistence I slowly, groaning, walked to the lift, half way there she got me to put my hands around her neck and we walked together.  She’s quite a lot smaller than me and I must have been an awful weight on her, but we made it.

Once downstairs I came out of the lift and felt unbelievably weird. Hot (supposedly my clothes were saturated), dizzy and nauseous.  I remember thinking that I would get an epidural when I got to the hospital, flag the birth plan … give me the drugs.  Mum got me to push my back into the cold wall and the relief was incredible.  She then ran out the door swearing as she saw the taxi turn and exit the car park, but she was too late.  I told her to ring an ambulance 999 or 111 or 911 I couldn’t remember … one of them worked.

I remembered that head down and bum up on all fours slows things down so I instantly assumed that position.  The contractions seemed to become rhythmic again, intense but some how manageable now there wasn’t a constant pain.  Suddenly Adam’s shoes appeared beside me and Mum and I both relaxed.  He started massaging my lower back (as I instructed ‘higher’ and ‘lower’), and the contractions became totally manageable and I went completely into myself again.  Mum and Adam discussed the lateness of the ambulance and sorted that out while I went to my birthing planet again.

Suddenly my waters splashed onto the floor and Adam got my pillow that I was taking to the hospital and placed it under me.  Mum went into midwife mode and told me the baby was on its way and to breathe the baby down … Adam continued to massage my back while talking to the emergency services.  Mum exclaimed that she could see the head, a contraction, then the head was out, a rest, then another couple of contractions and she was passing my beautiful baby through my legs to me as I took her and sat down on the pillow.  Amazing!  The relief and disbelief … an absolutely incredible moment.

About an hour and a half from lying down on the bed to holding Silvi in my arms.

Adam went up to the flat to tell a surprised Grandad and Audrey that the baby had arrived … downstairs … in the entrance way.  He got towels and blankets and returned to cover the tiles with towels so I could lie down.  He then ran off to find the ambulance (which 40 min later still hadn’t turned up).

Finally the ambulance turned up, then the postman delivering mail to the apartment letterboxes, a couple of residents walked through, a member of the conceirge team who happened to be passing was told to standby for instructions from Mum, and a couple of policemen that Dad had found when he went to look for the ambulance arrived too.  It was all very strange.

The ambulance drivers helped Adam to cut the cord, then the contractions for the placenta began … I found the pain of this awful and with the ambulance drivers standing back I got Mum to help out again.  She did some magical tummy massage and the placenta was birthed … what a relief that was.

Then the giggles started as I was wheeled into the ambulance, Silvi still in my arms.  What on earth had just happened?  It was magical and bizarre.  Actually pretty damn close to the birth plan, but then miles away from anything I was expecting.  Hilarious.

So yeah, Hypnobirthing should come with a warning on the packet … MAY CAUSE FAST DELIVERIES (Have midwife to hand at all times).  This was so different to my first lengthy, bewildering labour … and despite the location, a really amazing beautiful experience.  Thanks Katrina for your guidance, and reminding me of the importance of practicing!

xxss