A positive delivery suite labour: Xander’s birth story
My pregnancy was textbook, I didn’t have morning sickness and all my scans went well. My view was to go into the birth with an open mind and deal with what happened on the day however a few months before my due date I decided that I probably should be more prepared and managed to get onto a HPHB course, with the last session just over a week before my due date.
As soon as I found out I was pregnant I decided that I really didn’t want an epidural, an episiotomy or assisted birth. Our obstetric doctor explained all the birthing options and scenarios so well during the sessions that I was no longer afraid of these options as I now knew the reasons that they were used. My contractions started 4 hours after I finished my last day at work at 1 am (8 days before my due date), so I had no rest and no sleep! Miles had downloaded a contraction timer app that he had been told about during the sessions and used that to time my contractions. He was amazing and I felt that the birth partner session during the course really helped him to know how to handle the situation. My contractions came on really strong and really close together from the start and within a few hours we were in hospital at the birthing centre. After a long labour I asked for an epidural and was transferred to a delivery suite. 22.5hours later our baby boy was born with the help of an episiotomy and a ventouse. We were both calm throughout and I felt that the sessions with HPHB really contributed to this!
I only saw my baby briefly after he was born as I had a high temperature during birth so they whisked him away to check him. I also bled quite heavily, so Miles did skin to skin as I was being seen to. However I felt a huge surge of love and to see Miles holding him was incredible.
We spent the first 5 days of Xander’s life in hospital as he was on antibiotics but we knew how to change a nappy, wind him and change him thanks to HPHB! There’s no doubt that having a newborn is daunting however we definitely felt confident because of the course and what we had learnt.
We would recommend HPHB to all expectant parents! You learn a range of vital information including baby first aid (which NCT standard classes didn’t offer). Everyone was so lovely and we met some great couples!
Top Tips:
Get your sleep in now!
Just enjoy every second as time flies and before you know it they’re getting teeth and walking!
