Stanley was a planned pregnancy and I fell pregnant very quickly with him. My husband Jack and I were so excited to be having a baby! We found out his gender at a private scan and were thrilled to be having a boy. My pregnancy was very straight forward and I was told I could have him on the maternity led ward which was fine with me.
I did no preparation for my birth, and had no expectations. When my contractions started at 40+2 weeks, I was overwhelmed by the intensity and immediately went to hospital demanding an epidural.
After a cascade of intervention, my contractions stopped and eventually I was given an epidural and my baby was pulled out with forceps.
My recovery was awful. I was in so much pain for weeks. I found the whole experience very traumatic and suffered from severe post-natal anxiety.
When I became pregnant with my second baby, I knew I couldn’t go through that again, so I decided to read a hypnobirthing book, and then another one, and then book onto a 1:1 course.
When my hypnobirthing teacher asked me what I wanted to be different, I said I need to know what’s happening to my body at each stage of labour, how to help my body and my baby, and have a nice calm environment… I wanted a beautiful birth!
The more I started learning about labour and birth, the more I started to understand about my previous birth with Stanley.
It was the knowledge and confidence from that course, that made me start to question my rights, what I wanted to achieve and how to do so. That lead to making the decision to have a home birth; guaranteed water, Jack not having to leave my side and a nice calm environment.
At nearly 42 weeks pregnant I was batting away induction offers, I knew my baby was healthy and my choice was to wait.
And I’m so glad I did!
I put Stanley to bed at 7pm on Thursday 1st July 2021, he fell asleep in my arms and I kissed his gorgeous smelling head, and felt my first contraction (the power of oxytocin!).
My contractions came steadily and grew more intense quickly, but with my learnt hypnobirthing techniques I stayed calm and in control. Jack prepared our beautiful birth space and by 10pm I was in my birth pool, with Jack, my mum and my doula by my side, and 2 (+ a student) of the loveliest midwives keeping themselves quietly busy.
The lights were dim, fairy lights glowing, my special birth play list playing, and my favourite smelling candle was burning. I felt so protected and cared for! I felt the urge to push just after midnight, and with just 2 easy pushes, Stella was born calmly in the water at 12.24am on the 2nd July 2021.
THIS is what birth can be like! At that point I felt like I could do anything! I felt so in control, and confident throughout my entire labour. I didn’t need any stitches, my recovery was incredible and I had no signs of PND this time.
We were all beyond elated at what has just happened and stayed up in awe of our new baby for the next few hours, before climbing into our bed and introducing Stanley to his brand new baby sister the next morning, he had slept through the whole thing!
