Baby Eloise was born on Wednesday after being in pre-labour for two days. I was getting worked up and felt like labour would never happen, I needed to reset!
So I sat down and listened to my birth affirmations and MP3’s on repeat for several hours whilst the surges were progressing. I ignored the timings of the surges or their length, and just focused on my breathing when I did have one! I needed to take my head out of labour and focus on my body and breathing.
Later that evening my waters broke and within 3 hours Eloise had arrived!
I’m sure that relaxing and listening to my MP3’s and affirmations is what got me through the surges.
When I got to hospital I was 7cm dilated and got into the water after the necessary checks. The water was amazing and whilst the surges were strong, the water really helped!
Everything was going according to plan until the midwife noticed there was a bum and not a head! By this point there was no going back so I was swiftly exited out of the water and I delivered Eloise 10 mins later.
Due to the nature of the breech birth, the medical team default to a standard ’emergency mode.’ She spent a little bit of time in neonatal just as a precaution, but was back with us within a few hours with the all clear.
Whilst this all sounds scary and at the time it was alarming, it turned out to be a really positive outcome and I’m really happy with the birth of my baby.
Had the doctors noticed earlier that her head was down it would’ve been an emergency c-section with a long recovery in front of me. Instead I was home later the same day, all without pain relief and without any stitches.
I loved hypnobirthing, it got me through the sleepless nights of pregnancy and lengthy labour – I would highly recommend that everyone takes the time to do it.
