A positive vaginal labour: Rosa’s birth story
I was induced at 39 weeks because of slightly high blood pressure towards the end of my pregnancy. I know I felt quite upset to begin with about Nick not being there for the induction but as soon as I got to the hospital, I felt so safe and secure. In terms of coronavirus, the only difference I could tell was that staff were in PPE but apart from that, there really was no other indication – it really felt like everything was about me and the baby. I was given the pessary for the induction and that can take quite a long time to kick in. Nick would have been a bit of a spare part and it really wasn’t the be all and end all that he wasn’t there, it was genuinely okay.
In terms of the actual labour, my contractions started quite late on the day that I’d been given the pessary and overnight they increased with intensity. When I was examined the following morning, I’d dilated two centimetres. My waters broke and I said to the midwife I really feel like I need to push. I’d gone from two centimetres to eight centimetres in five minutes... Nick was with me in time for the first push and then half an hour of pushing later, Rosa was here. It was a real whirlwind. My body was working with the contractions, it felt like the most natural thing to do was to push and it really was a very positive and empowering experience and one of my proudest moments. A lot of the Happy Parents. Happy Baby. hypnobirthing came in and I’d been really practicing the breathing techniques.
Nick’s perspective
Nick did feel a bit helpless at times but kept himself busy. He’s over the moon to be a dad and also found labour the most amazing experience. He got to stay with us until early evening and then I was back in the maternity ward and discharged at two o’clock the next day. They were really thorough checking that we were okay to go home. We certainly didn’t feel rushed out.
The support from the midwives was just amazing, they were the biggest cheerleaders we could have asked for. Our midwife guided us through it all, talked us through every detail of what she was doing and why she needed to do it. She was unbelievably supportive.
Nick and I felt the Happy Parents. Happy Baby. course manual was a complete godsend, for re-reading information and preparing and packing the hospital bag, it was all absolutely brilliant. All of the advice we were given on the course, particularly when Will did his obstetric session about interventions, made us feel really prepared for any of the routes that labour might go down. We really did feel that knowledge is power so we appreciated being talked through everything in detail by a whole team of experts. We were able to mentally prepare and thought as long as we stay positive and focused, at the end of this we get the most amazing present, the ultimate prize, that’s what matters. And then when I was in hospital, going through contractions, all of the positive thinking that we’d really practised helped us so much, I really did feel calm and positive the whole way through. I’m naturally quite an anxious person and so it’s not that that came easily to me but I really feel like all the hypnobirthing techniques, and feeling as prepared as we were from the course, helped us hugely.
And what a story to tell Rosa!
You can read lots more Positive Birth Stories here. We have positive birth stories from all types of births, including homebirths, water births, induction of labour, instrumental deliveries and Caesarean section births.
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