Birth story - Sophie and baby Bowie

*Trigger warning* - use of word contractions as not negative for me.

After using hypnobirthing for the birth of my first son I knew it was definitely something I wanted to utilise again when I fell pregnant with our second son. I came across the PBC through Instagram & purchased the online course when I saw it was reduced for the day! Even though I had read a hypnobirthing book in the past, I found the course so so useful and learned even more about the science of hypnobirthing & my husband found it really useful too! We listened to the mp3 tracks most evenings which really helped us relax.

My first son was born on his due date, after a VERY long latent stage, so I was half expecting to go into labour early or at least on time, especially as I had been having Braxton hicks on & off throughout the third trimester, but due date came & went. I saw my midwife on my due date (Tuesday) & he was fully engaged so we knew it could be soon. I suffered through my whole pregnancy with SPD & sciatica so I treated myself to a due date pregnancy massage which was amazing 🤩

On the Thursday afternoon I was kneeling on the floor in the lounge tidying my three year olds toys with my dad who was checking in on me & I felt a trickling down my legs, I had just been to the toilet so I was pretty sure it was my waters, although I was not expecting it to happen (my waters broke in the birthing pool last time). I went to the toilet but the trickling just continued so I put on a pad & called my husband to come home from work!

I started having cramps pretty quickly & then very mild contractions which continued throughout the evening. I decided to go to bed around 11pm as they were still fairly mild, after a few hours they intensified so I went back downstairs to bounce on my ball and started using the Freya app to time the contractions. By 5am they were every 3 minutes & lasting 50 or so seconds so I called the labour line & was told to head in ASAP & there was a room waiting for me.

At the birthing centre I was examined at 5.30am and was only 3cm dilated but for some reason this didn’t upset me, I was using my up breathing through the contractions & coping fine so felt prepared for things to intensify. The next few hours I walked around the room a lot & used the birthing pool to lean on as well as a chair & aromatherapy oils which the midwife brought in for me. My hubby was great and reminded me to breath & relax my body as much as possible, I was still using the Freya app which helped a lot!

At 9am I was 8cm dilated so they started filling the birthing pool for me, I was starting to struggle a bit more with just the breathing so was ready to get in the pool! I got in the pool & I had a couple of very intense contractions so I asked to use the gas & air. It wasn’t long until I felt my body trying to push, I told the midwifes & they said to go with it. The gas & air helped a lot! Although I definitely started to feel a little panicky & was crying a lot at this point, saying I couldn’t do it 😩 I guess this was me going through transition. My hubby Ben & the midwifes really helped to calm me & I knew there was no turning back haha 😂 I used my down breathing & was only pushing for about 12 minutes & out he came! Born at 12.17 🥰

There was a lot more crying & also shaking but it was just so amazing to hold my baby boy in my arms & such a relief! His cord was huge so it took Ben a few goes to cut it 😂 the placenta came pretty quickly which was a relief.

The after pains were pretty horrendous & almost worse than the actual labour 🙈 but once I had some painkillers & rested for a few hours they were much better. I had a small tear so needed some stitches but made use of the gas & air again! After some food & a shower we were ready to take our gorgeous boy home that evening! The best part was that we were in the same room as when I had my first little boy 4 years ago which was also a water birth, so both my boys were born in the exact same birthing pool! 🥰

Using hypnobirthing & the Freya app was absolutely the best thing I could have done & definitely helped me have the positive birth I had hoped for!