It was a Thursday afternoon and i had just got back home after running around all morning looking at new kitchens. I sat in the front room with a cup of tea and did some light bounces on my ball which i had been using religiously from 34 weeks.
At 15:20pm i had a strong sensation in my lower abdomen, just like a mild period pain. It came again 5 minutes later. I was 41 weeks pregnant exactly and i just knew it was happening. My baby had decided he was ready to enter the world.
I didn’t tell anyone i just went and laid in bed to relax and stay calm & mostly preserve my energy as i knew my baby was coming and i might be up in the night. I put my headphones in and listened to the colour and calmness audio. The surges were coming every 5 minutes and each one was lasting a minute. I did my breathing which each surge which helped me focus.
At 6pm they were still coming regularly so i texted my partner and he rushed home from work so excited. At 8pm they were still coming every 5 minutes, but each surge felt more and more powerful. I was on all fours in my bedroom, concentrating on my breathing. At 10pm i sat on the toilet as this is where i felt most comfortable.
An hour later I rang the maternity ward and told them that I was having regular surges that were coming every five minutes and each one was lasting a minute. I was so calm on the phone that the midwife didn’t really know if I should come in. I knew that most first time mums end up going to hospital too early and end up going home; i did not want that to be me.
After 12 minutes of being on the phone the midwife said to me to come in as the hospital was only 10 minutes down the road and I could always go home if need be.
At exactly 11:20pm I got to the hospital. I could tell that she thought I’d came in way too early and she said to me that I should go for a walk for an hour and come back to see if anything had progressed. She didn’t examine me at any point.
I went into the hospital corridor, but I could not walk I had such strong surges which were going around to my back at this point, so I just sat on all fours and moved my hips.
An hour later I felt like I needed to go to the toilet, so I went back into the birth centre and sat on the toilet. All of a sudden, I felt my babies head drop lower into my pelvis and a trickle ran down my leg so i asked my mum to call the midwife. She told me to come back to the room and as i got there my body started to push I couldn’t control this feeling my body just took over. The midwife asked me to lay on the bed so she could see what was happening. She had a very surprised look on her face and the next thing she asked me if I wanted a water birth, so I replied yes so, she started filling up the pool.
The second midwife came in and sat down and told me that I was fully dilated, and my baby would be born very soon. At no point did i feel ‘pain’, make any noises or groans; i was even talking in between contractions and sipping Lucozade sport. Even my mum didn’t believe i was in active labour. With every surge I told myself this feeling was totally normal and each one meant I was one step closer to meeting my baby.
10 minutes later the head started crowning and the midwife told me that it was too late to get in the pool as the baby was already coming. I had gas and air to help me as the surges were really strong but nothing i couldn’t handle.
I remember thinking whilst this was all happening labour isn’t that bad, it’s nothing like the movies and nothing like people tell you and at no point was I told to push. My body knew exactly what to do and with my breathing I breathed my baby out. He came into the world at 03:20am weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces and it was the best feeling ever. I chose to do optical cord clamping and waited 40 minutes to birth my placenta naturally.
I was so lucky to have the birth i had and it was all down to KGHypnobirthing and i honestly am so excited to have another baby and do labour all over again.
Maisie, 2019
