Eliza's birth story

I just wrote this up for the lady who ran our hypnobirthing course so thought I'd copy it here! It was aimed at her so there are lots of reference to how hypnosis techniques helped and I mention the name of the company we used - let me know if I should delete that NBP!

This was my fourth pregnancy and my first three babies had arrived close to their due dates so I was surprised to go overdue this time – my baby, Eliza, was born at 11 days past my due date. I had been having strong braxton hicks for at least a couple of weeks and had many nights of thinking 'this is it' only to wake up in the morning still pregnant and with nothing happening! I listened to my Easibirthing CDs a lot and, for the most part, just tried to stay as relaxed and positive as possible to encourage my baby's arrival (not a pineapple in sight!). I had a membrane sweep at 9 days past my due date and lost some mucus plug that evening and again the following day. That night I woke at around 2am as my eldest son had fallen out of his bed and I noticed I was having some contractions. I was also hungry so I went downstairs for a bowl of cereal and became quite sure that I was going in to labour. I had worried that I wouldn't recognise labour having had so many strong braxton hicks but these felt different somehow. I made the
decision to wake DH and tell him that we should take the boys to my mum's and he mumbled something about how he didn't think we needed to do that and went back to sleep! I was relaxed and in no great hurry so I went and finished packing our bags and then woke him up again - he asked if he had time for a shower, whether he should have breakfast and then went and put some washing in the tumble dryer and I was relaxed enough to find this very amusing! I was also excited about meeting our baby but not half as excited as our boys when we woke them to tell them the baby was coming!

We took the boys to my mum's and I was in two minds whether to drive back home or go straight to the hospital. I called the hospital and explained that my contractions were still pretty erratic - anywhere between around 5 and 10 minutes apart - but that some were quite powerful (others weren't!). They were happy for me to go in and I'm glad we did! On arrival I was still very 'with it' and the midwife left us to settle in. DH got toast and coffee! The midwife was fantastic and really didn't impose on us at all. I was never even examined and I was grateful for this as I found progress examinations very disheartening in the past. My contractions got closer together and stronger very quickly and I started using gas and air. I was slightly disappointed that the birthing pool was busy but I asked for a birthing ball and moved on from it very quickly. I sat on the birthing ball for one or two contractions but found that way too much so I got on all
fours on the floor and lent over the ball. Very soon after getting in that position I found myself pushing and before long Eliza was out! I reached down and felt her little head and face as she was born and she was passed to me between my legs. I blew on her eyelids to help her to breathe (I had seen this on a documentary once and obviously it had stuck in my mind!) and I put her straight to the breast.

We arrived at hospital at 4.50am and she was born at 6.20am - I pushed for 5 minutes and delivered the placenta naturally 20 minutes after that. This was the only time I had the energy for a physiological third stage and I cut the cord myself after the placenta had been delivered. No stitches! We left hospital just 6 hours later and it would have been earlier but Eliza had passed meconium before she was born so they wanted to monitor her a short while. There was no cause for concern though. She was very alert and was awake and feeding for a good 3 hours after her arrival!

During my contractions I envisioned my cervix opening to the colours of the rainbow and I told myself that each contraction was bringing me closer to my baby. I listened to my Easibirthing track in the car on the way to hospital and stayed very relaxed. I didn't feel like putting the CD on once we arrived at hospital but I played some other relaxing music (when we put the CD in there was already an Easibirthing CD in the player though!). I had asked DH to use light touch massage during my labour but I found that I didn't like it and asked him to provide some quite hard counter pressure to the small of my back instead. There were a couple of moments towards the end where I lost my focus but I was able to bring myself back with the next contraction. I remember wondering whether I was in transition and briefly trying to count down as
I'd practiced with the CD. I also tried quite briefly to breathe the baby down but my body was pushing so I went with that. I felt very in touch with the baby during the pushing stage and I pictured her moving down the birth canal as we'd seen in the diagram on the course. I was very 'with it' and remember thinking how noisy the woman next door was and how great it was that I was pushing so soon. I wasn't as 'away with the fairies' as I had been in previous labours despite only using gas and air for those too – though they had all been much longer and those babies had been in a back to back position. Eliza was my only baby not back to back!

Eliza is the sweetest and easiest baby. She was sleeping 6-8 hours between feeds at night almost as soon as my milk came in (only 2 days!) and at 11 weeks I can't remember the last time I had to feed her during the night. She smiles at everyone (particularly her brothers!) and is just a complete joy to care for and to spend time with.

Wonderful birth story! It went so quickly and easily. Congrats again on Eliza!

Oooh jealous! Everything from the labour and night feedings to the girl ending!! I hope I can get a little of any of those;)
Congrats on your little girl:)

Great birth story:)

Sweet birth story! Eliza sounds like a fantastic baby. :o

oh how perfect - thank you inspiring me to stick at i,t you are living our dream so pleased for you

Fantastic birth story

Great birth story, so endearing, and love that Eliza is so happy and content!

What a beautiful birth story and how relaxed well done you :o xx

Fantastic birth story! I love reading the ones with hypnosis since I used it with both of my boys' births.