Lisa, Ed & Baby

After a long, tiring 3 day birth with my first son, I knew this time around I needed to be more prepared. I decided to do a hypnobirthing course – I learned so much about my body and what to look out for during the stages of labour and the breathing techniques and positive affirmations were amazing. I begin to feel excited and empowered about giving birth again.

I’d had a few episodes of false labour, with surges starting in the night only to tail off again as day broke. However, at 40+2 weeks of pregnancy my surges finally continued into daylight hours, hurray I thought, today I’ll have my baby! From around 4 am to 10 am they were fairly mild, only coming every 20 – 30 mins, so I decided to stay in bed and sleep as much as I could.

At 10 am I thought it best to send my little one out for the day. My partner and I then went on a long relaxing walk, had a nice lunch and set up camp in the living room. A few box sets later and things were still moving slowly, however, I remained positive, breathing through my surges and remembering, ‘my baby will come, when my baby is ready!’

By 3pm I knew I needed a change of scenery so my partner suggested a bath. The water felt amazing and I continued to breath through my surges which felt like they were picking up in intensity and length. After a nice soak, we put on the fire and a film ready to power through the night.

However, just as the film started, something changed. I could no longer focus on the TV or engage in conversation, I needed to be on my feet, swaying and things really started to intensify. From the hypnobirthing course I knew I was crossing into active labour. I remained calm, breathing through each surge which were now coming every 3 minutes. After an hour we agreed it was time to call the birth centre, they suggested we come in but after being turned away and then stalling with my first birth I was hesitant to go.

I felt like I needed the toilet so headed up stairs, when it felt like someone had just switched the washing machine on in my stomach. Two seconds later and my water broke. At this point I decided it might be time to head to the Birth Centre!

We arrived at the birth centre at 7.30pm, Karen and Sarah met us in the lobby and wheel chaired me into the birth centre. I had decided early in pregnancy  to have my antenatal care at Huddersfield birth centre, which I’m so glad I did as I knew the route there, had already met a lot of the staff and once we got into the birth room it felt comfortable and familiar.

The pool was already filled and at first I was just happy standing in the warm water, a few surges later and after sitting down I decided to have some gas and air, which was a nice distraction.

Karen and Sarah were amazing at leaving us to breath through the surges and allowing me to trust my body when I needed to push, which again from the hypnobirthing course I knew was coming as my breathing started to shift. I was ready to push, I breathed down as hard as I could and with one push out came his head! I was so relieved and happy, I waited for my next surge and pushed when it felt right and at 9.30 pm, pop, out swam our gorgeous little baby boy, Leo, all squishy and delightful.

I stayed in the pool admiring my little baby boy and feeding. Again, Karen and Sarah were amazing at allowing us the time we needed and made me feel empowered to know when the time was right to try and push my placenta out.

I would like to thank all the staff at Huddersfield Birth centre for making my labour a truly positive and empowering experience!