Oli's Birth Story
“My ‘due date’ came and went, I felt like a little girl waiting for Christmas. Finally, thirteen days past when I was due, Oli was born. Here is his birth story..
I had been experiencing pre-labour warm-ups (Braxton Hicks) for several days, I knew that this was my body warming up for the birth and this gave me a sense of confidence that my body knew exactly what to do to let my baby out. On this particular night, I went to bed feeling just the same as I did any other night. However at 2am I awoke with a strong tightening in my pelvic and abdominal area, which was much stronger than I had been previously experiencing.
To be honest I didn’t really believe at first that I was in labour so I just put my breathing and relaxation techniques to practice as I had been doing during the pre-labour warm-ups. After about an hour of these tightenings I realised that this must be it. I continued to go within my birthing body and handed the process over to my body and baby. The only thing I consciously thought about was remaining deeply relaxed and breathing. I was aware of everything that was going on and I felt very in touch with my body, I loved feeling my baby kicking around between surges.
We called the midwife and made the trip into Birthcare so we could beat the rush hour traffic. I thought that I actually still had a long time to go and wondered if we would even be sent home, as the surges were so easy to manage and I was actually quite enjoying them. I listened to the Relaxation meditation on the way there and made sure my body stayed loose and limp.
At 7am we arrived at Birthcare and walked into the birthing room I felt very emotional and wanted to cry, tears rolled down my cheeks, but I reminded myself to remain relaxed. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to cry at the time, but in hindsight I realise it was because Oli was not far away.
I got in the pool and continued to relax, breathing deeply through each surge. Jeremy was right by my side, to totally support me every step of the way, and helping me go deeper into relaxation, I felt so safe and loved. The surges were very strong and powerful, however I took complete trust in my body and just let it do what it needed to do. After only being in the pool for about 45 minutes Oli was born at 8am.
He had the cord wrapped tightly around his body and his neck twice. Our midwife was amazing and moved quickly to untangle it. She said that if it wasn’t such a fast birth then things would have gone quite differently as Oli would have become very distressed. I am so grateful that I was so relaxed and able to allow him to descend as quickly as he needed to.
Thanks to a drug free birth, I was able to enjoy being fully alert and clear headed, able to walk and move around easily. I believe that the time spent doing massage was well worth it, as my perineum remained intact. After the birth I did not need any pain meds, as I was able to continue to put the hypnobirthing tools to practice.
Oli’s birth was everything I visualised and imagined. It couldn’t have been more perfect. I am left with amazing memories and feelings of elation and joy whenever I think about it.
Oli is so chilled out, he feeds really well and from very early on we got the most beautiful smiles, which continue to get bigger and brighter everyday. For me, the adjustment to life with a toddler and newborn has been so much easier than I anticipated and I find myself able to remain calm when things are all go. hypnobirthing has given me confidence in the power of my mind. I now feel like I can achieve anything that I desire!” – Claire