Hi Kat,

Michael and I were very pleased to meet our son, David Finsbury, on April 25.   Below is our story!

All the best,

Zoe, Michael and David

I awoke at 2am on April 25 (39 weeks and 6 days gestation) with discomfort in my abdomen of the menstrual cramp variety.  I went to the toilet and realised my birth show had made an appearance.  I had had occasional cramps and abdominal tightening all week so I only began to think “this could be it” when the cramps reoccurred 15 minutes later.  Michael awoke at 3am and I told him I thought labour was starting.  We lay in bed listening to the hypnobirthing recordings for the next 3 hours.  Sometimes I was able to breathe through the surges in bed while other times I needed to leap up and pace the house or run to the loo.  By 6am, lying in bed wasn’t an option so I decided to shower while Michael made himself breakfast (I wasn’t hungry).  The shower was very pleasant – especially running warm water on my lower back.  Michael decided to start timing my surges to get an idea of how far along I was.  I wasn’t good at communicating when the surges were happening so he had to estimate based on my behaviour.  By this point, I had constant discomfort in my lower back that would peak periodically during the surges.  During the height of discomfort I would lie against an exercise ball with Michael applying pressure to my lower back and using “horse lips” breathe from my pregnancy yoga class.  Based on my behaviour, Michael estimated that my surges were about 5-7 mins apart and 45 secs long.  In other words, it was too early to go to the hospital.  

I was finding it harder and harder to cope by 8am and Michael suggested he run me a bath.  I got in the tub and immediately felt a surge with the urge to push.  I was upset by this because it was far too early to start pushing and the intensity was so high that I was afraid I couldn’t cope with the rest of labour.  As Michael helped me out of the tub I told him with complete sincerity that we were going to throw out the birth plan and I wanted an epidural.  The goal was now to cope at home long enough to get the hospital far enough along to be given an epidural. (In retrospect, this was the “transition” you had warned us about).

After a few more surges, I again had the urge to push which resulted in my waters breaking at about 8:30am.  I said to Michael “let’s go to the hospital”.  At this point I was extremely worried about how I would cope during the 15 min taxi ride to the hospital.  My hope was that even though I was still in early labour, the hospital would admit me for monitoring because my waters had broken so it was better to go now then later.  Michael calmly gathered our bags and called the UCLH to say we were on the way.

I had four contractions with the urge to push while in the car.  (Michael’s uber rating has no doubt suffered!). I continued to have contractions with the urge to push in the Maternal Fetal Assessment waiting room and the hallway walking to the exam room.  When we were seen by the doctor, Michael calmly providing my details and explained the frequency of my surges while I interrupted with “I am having lots of contracting with the urge to push!” The doctor suggested we start with the vaginal exam and Michael and I were both shocked to be told that I was fully dilated followed by the doctor saying “please don’t push yet!”  The doctor asked where we wanted to have the baby and thankfully Michael ignored my previous instructions about an epidural and answered “birth centre please!”  I was wrapped in a towel (thankfully I didn’t have to put my trousers back on – that was beyond me by this point!) and rushed to the birth centre in a wheel chair.  I don’t remember much of this except the Doctor’s assistant commenting on how calm Michael and I were for being in such advanced labour.

I arrived at the birth centre in mid-surge and took a gulp of gas and air offered by the surprised midwife on duty.  (This ended up being the only pain relief I received during labour).  When the surge passed, I skipped the introductions and asked the midwife “what is the best position for pushing?!”  He suggested on all fours on the bed and I hopped up.  Meanwhile, Michael dimmed the lights and put on the hypnobirthing recording through speakers.  I pushed on all fours and in the “puppy dog” yoga position using the hypnobirthing down breathing for about 30 mins.  The baby was moving down, but I was getting frustrated with the slow progress and the midwife suggested I push more aggressively, holding my breathe during pushes extending the pushes as long as possible.  This was effective at moving the baby down faster (I could feel the difference) but left me sweat-soaked and gasping for air after each surge.  Michael kindly wiped my brow and fed me water and apple juice through a bendy straw.  The hypnobirthing recordings playing on a loop also helped keep me calm.  After another 30 minutes, baby still wasn’t out and the midwife suggested I move to a kneeling position holding myself up on a bar on the wall.  I immediately felt pressure against my perineum and a few surges later David arrived at 11:14am.  It had been just over 9 hours since labour started at home and less than 90 minutes since arriving at hospital.

I had immediate skin to skin contact with David and Michael cut the cord once it finished pulsating.  I had a physiological 3rd stage which took about 45 minutes.  It might have been faster except I was too exhausted to push at all so I just waited for the placenta to fall out on its own.

Afterward, the midwife stitched some mild second degree tears while I swallowed hard on the gas and air.  David weighed 3.62 kilos and the midwife commented that the pushing stage had been particularly difficult due to David’s size (the midwife recognised this during the delivery but very wisely did not tell me as it would have been very discouraging).  I can’t say for sure if the perineal massage made a difference (perhaps the tearing might have been worse without it.)  The perineal massage did familiarise me with the sensation of pressure on my perineum which gave me confidence during the final pushing that David was almost out.

We had a beautiful few hours with our baby boy in the birth centre, recovering from the shock of how quickly labour had progressed and phoning family to tell them the news.  At the six hour check, the dr identified some breathing difficulties and David was admitted to the neonatal unit for monitoring and treatment for a possible lung infection.  This turned into a five day stay in hospital for the whole family (David had two nights in the neonatal unit and three nights with us) while David received a course of antibiotics for suspected chest infection.  This stay was very stressful but there was also a bright side – we received a lot of breastfeeding support and other tips on caring for David while in hospital which might have taken us much longer to figure out had we been gone home very soon after the birth.  We were very happy to to be discharged after five days with David well recovered from the infection.  

We had a great birth experience thanks in large part to you hypnobirthing class.  We really enjoyed the class and will gladly recommend it to friends.