Kate's Free-Birthing of baby Ocean

Josie meets Ocean

In her own words...

On Saturday i asked Mum to have the girls overnight so that we could go walk on the beach, and hopefully get things moving.  Well, 35mins walking at James' speed in the freezing cold wind was enough to do me in!  I went home to bed and had a fantastic nights sleep. The girls came home the next morning and as Freya was feeling ill we had a a quiet indoor day.  Rest, rest and more rest, it felt perfect.  I think inside, by mid-afternoon I knew that the baby was going to come that night.  I was having regular tightenings but no pain, and I made a conscious decision not to time them or pay too much attention to them as I didn't want to feel like I was 'in' labour until my body was really ready to do something about it.

The girls went to bed early and easily that night and I felt like you do just before an exam. - There was nothing more I could do, no more meditating, journalling or researching unnassisted birth would make a blind bit of difference. Instead I kicked back to watch junk television and eat biscuits, I went to bed early.

At 2am I went for a wee and even before I got there I knew it had started, although i'd still felt nothing.  I did a wee, stood up and felt a trickle.  I smiled.  Hmm, what now?  I went downstairs and sat on the edge of the sofa for a few minutes wondering if I should light the fire, or wake James.  I felt a surge and stood up, no, I'm just gonna ride with this.  I liked the dark and I felt that doing it on my own was what I had really planned deep down inside for a while.  I wanted to own this birth completely and not have to worry about what anyone else was thinking or feeling at that time.

For quite a time I stood and spiralled my hips through each surge, singing 'the river is flowing' gently to myself and feeling ecstatic that I was going to meet my baby soon. When they started to ramp up a little i got into meditation mode and called the energy from the Great Mother, grounding myself deeply before asking for healing gold light from the father above and calling in my spirit guide who is at this time an ancient midwife.  I felt ready to move forward.  I got some water and went and sat on my birthing ball leaning on the stair pillar.  I remembered reading somewhere that your contractions can never be bigger than you because they are you, and so I thought I would focus on getting my breathing down to a really gentle level, really relaxing in to each contraction.  This gave me a break for quite a while.  I felt the desire to stand and my waters went with a gush.  I remember thinking 'great, we're really going to get on with it now', and sure enough the next surge was a lot more powerful.  I moved on to a kneeling crouch hanging over pillows in the corner of the sofa and working with each surge.  My singing was getting louder now and i had to work hard to stay in control, I didn't want to wake the family too early and have to concentrate on anything other than what I was doing.  When i felt I needed a poo I got up and had another full on surge.  Walking up the stairs was hard work!

When I got there I had to cling on the bannister and sing.  There was no being quiet now.  This woke Lilly and I called James, he came out and told me he'd been listening for about half an hour waiting for me to call him, he told me he was proud of me, I sounded like I was doing great.  This really helped to reassure me, and i moved in to the bathroom as he went to sort out the girls.

Thankfully having read 'Hello, baby' many times they weren't at all phased and were soon settled down to watch Mary Poppins in their bedroom whilst I was roaring away in the bathroom.  I had tried to sit on the loo and it felt really wrong. 

James came to check on me and i asked him to get the shower going and put some towels down in the bath.  I had felt for a while that Ocean wanted to be born in to water, but having a bit of a phobia of baths I didn't do anything about.  Getting in the shower was bliss, it gave me a few moments peace before i had a really strong urge to push, i reached down and felt I wasn't quite ready but the urge told me to push.  I went in to a full deep squat and the urge to push just wouldn't stop.  I roared and out came the head, but so did a load of blood, I yelled to James to call the hospital to send a midwife as I was bleeding.  ( Throughout my whole unassisted pregnancy my only fear had been hemorrage).  James called them and they and told him to call the paramedics whilst they kept the line open, meanwhile I had another urge to push.  I roared again and out came his little body, with a lot more blood.  I remember looking down and noticing that he had two arms, two legs, everything was where it should be.  I couldn't believe it, i had done it!!!! I'd freebirthed!!!!

I yelled to James and the girls that he was here, but the girls were watching a good bit of Mary Poppins and James was still on the phone.  I got out of the shower with Ocean in my arms feeling amazing, but there was another big spolsh of blood come out.  James ran upstairs and wrapped us both in towels, the paramedics had advised him that i needed to lie on my left and they would be there in three minutes.  They turned up and a minute after that a midwife turned up.  I consented to her checking me and it turns out that although i had some tears there was nothing to major to worry about, she sent the paramedics away and James set about cleaning up the blood (the girls were fascinated by it all and ran around saying there's more blood here, and here, pointing it out to each other).

Jane (the midwife) was fantastic and stayed for a cup of tea and wanted to check that the bleeding settled after I passed the placenta.  I did consent to having the injection (can't remember what it's called) after I had birthed the placenta, just because there had been a lot of blood loss already.  Ocean was here, beautiful, and his birth and placenta had not been affected by any drugs or interventions in any way..

All in all I can say that this was the most powerful experience of my life,  I had achieved everything that I wanted and I felt immense pride and satisfaction that my experience had confirmed to me everything that i had believed and worked toward in the last year.  I completely owned this birth experience, it is something that should be every woman's birth right.  James also feels that he got more out of this birth, even though he was less involved.  Having his role as protector and organiser made him really feel valuable and involved, and the girls loved being here when he was born.

Thank you Josie for all those classes, many times throughout the labour, and the weeks previously I used techniques and information I had learned to help me, Ocean was born at approx 6am on Lilly's third birthday 09-01-2012, our family is now complete.

Hannah's Unassisted Birthing of Freya

In her own words..

Hello, Freya is 3 days old now and I finally have time to write some words about her birth :)

So Friday 23rd my contractions started but it was stop-start-stop-start. The longest break I got was about half hour.

Labour didn't progress much over the weekend but Christmas Day Eve I started leaking fluid. On boxing Day Eve I informed labour ward as the contractions were also stronger. A lovely midwife came out and examined me (my choice as I had been contracting for so long I needed to know if anything had happened) I was 2-3cm but stretchy and between 50-75% effaced. Nothing much happened the rest of the night and I went to bed.

On 27th another MW was on call and she was awful, she wanted me to go in for a pitocin induction and cont monitoring due to PROM but I refused, she stalked me the whole day, ringing constantly, told me not to use birth pool as it increases risk of infection & even questioned my plans to tandem feed!! In the end my labour came to a halt, I knew she would arrive if things kicked off and I did not feel safe to birth my baby. She was still on duty on the Wednesday and I had had a big bloody show but I got OH to screen phonecalls and make excuses for me. She told him all the 'risks' and asked him what our plans were to which he replied 'to stay at home and have a baby'. We went out for a drive and came back to 5 missed calls from her and she had even turned up when we were out. We nick named her stalker madwife.

In the afternoon of the 28th another MW took over, she was amazing, came out to see me, trusted in me. She was happy with me & baby and told me to forget about having a baby, watch a film, order a takeaway & have an orgasm ;) She was the best thing that happened as I really relaxed.

Thursday 29th I woke up to a big contraction but went back to sleep. 10am I had another (OH got up with the kids) and went to the loo to have a gush of fluid - waters had def gone this time - yay!! I realised the leaking must have been a hind water leak.

Throughout the day contractions got stronger but whenever MW (the lovely one from boxing day who I really liked) arrived it all slowed down - think I had white coat syndrome! By 8pm I was in pain and asked her to examine me - I was 3-4cm and no more effaced than Monday! Could not believe it! I sent MW and my Doula home and we ordered Pizza, I was having painful contractions but I wasnt sure if this was it as nothing seemed to be happening!! I was sounding through every contraction and needing to rest on Toby. Toby said the sounding sounded so different when I was actually in labour than when I had practiced.

I called everyone back at 11 as I was in pain. we talked and labour seemed to carry on progressing so I wanted to get in the pool. MW advised best not to quite yet as it may slow labour down so I asked her to examine me at midnight to see where we were. I was still only 3-4 cm but cervix was more central. MW suggested I take some paracetamol and try to sleep, I was devastated and told her I was convinced baby was going to be born within a few hours so could not understand why I was not dilating.

Bed was a bad idea, could not sleep, asked DH to rub my back and he fell asleep mid contraction - I flew out of bed and ran downstairs! I had had enough! I told my Doula I needed more pain relief and she gave me some homeopathy to help back labour, I was upset as baby was no back to back yet the contractions were so intense I could feel them EVERYWHERE. She phoned the MW who said to let me get in the pool & she would be over about 4am. At 230 the pool was ready. Climbing in was a massive relief, the water seemed to absorb my contractions and finally I felt I could cope!

At about 3am I felt restless, I couldn't cope again and was telling myself I needed to get out the pool and transfer to hospital as a cesarean or epidural seemed like a good idea - I now realise this was transition but I had convinced myself it could not be as a few hours ago I was less than 5cm.

Then at 305 I needed to push, Dana (my doula) and my other half heard the noise and immediately called my MW then 999 - with the first contraction I put my hand down and could feel her head, I was told by Dana to get out of the pool (she was talking to emergency services) but I refused, I felt it was safer for me to stay there. Dana jumped in the pool on the phone to emergency services and followed their instruction. Second contraction and the head was born - 3rd contraction and Freya was born at 315am.

I sat back in the pool and fed her, she was awake and alert. 5 mins later paramedics and MW arrived, MW asked to cut the cord as she wanted to check baby over, I let her as I wanted the reassurance she was ok. MW sent paramedics away and I got out of the pool - placenta arrived at 340 naturally and we cracked open the champagne at 345!

I was checked over and had no tears just a couple of internal grazes. I felt on top of the world!

It was the most intense, amazing experience of my life and had restored my faith in birth, such a healing experience after a traumatic first birth.

The only things I would have changed were the vaginal exams, they set me back emotionally which is why I did not recognise transition. I also would not have informed the hospital about the waters leaking and I would have refused to let the cord be cut so early - in fact the only things I would have changed were things involving the medical profession ;)

One thing I will say is that Freya is a completely different baby to Amelia, she fed immediately after the birth, she is more contented and alert. There has been no issues with breastfeeding and it feels like she has been here forever! I also feel differently, I was on a real after the birth and managed to get showered and dressed within a few hours. Amelia was poorly after her traumatic birth, didn;t breastfeed until about day 4 (she was admitted to SCBU) and I felt awful, drained, tired & uncomfortable. I don't know if that is coincidence but to me the two very different outcomes speaks volumes!
xxx

A Birth - baby Aidan Daniel Sothcott

Receiving the call on tuesday 21/09 from Bristol was the most crazy thing. The day we had been waiting for, the day that we were prepared to meet our baby boy for the first time. They told us to make our way there for 12.30 that afternoon and so we hurried around the house packing the last few bits and jumped in the car. A journey has never taken so long (or so it felt) and the whole way I put myself into my bubble and tried to regulate my breathing - no singing along to Robbie for me!


We arrived a little late and to our dismay, told by a midwife that they were really too busy and it may be a while before the induction could be started. However, 5 minutes later another midwife appeared with some rubber gloves and a pessary and told me to lay on my back! Baby was monitored for about 20 minutes and we were then left for the day. I began to feel definate cramps but was told that it was just pain from the drugs and so she inserted another at 8pm. After an hour, I was curled up in pain, breathing forgotten and crying my eyes out. I managed to forget everything I had been taught.

At 2am it all stopped and I was thrilled to get a little rest.. then I realised that it had stopped completely and our boy wasn't going to arrive anytime soon.

Wednesday, a stronger gel was inserted but still no luck other than small twinges.


The doctors decided to break my waters at 2.45am meaning minimal sleep for all of us (mum stayed with Dan and I until I had shown signs on progression).

I was settled with a little gas and air for the VE and breaking of waters as it was so painful due to my cervix not playing ball. The waters, however, should definately have been called rivers as there was the biggest explosion!

After 2 hours of walking around the delivery suite, there was still no progress so the Syntocin was inserted at 6am. This got things moving very quickly and the TENS was soon on. With the midwife trying to push the epidural saying that the two things "go together" I was determined to do it my way and declined, using a LOT of sounding and the TENS going up and up. I was having contractions hard and very close together, usually coming in pairs but still only 2cm dilated yet fully effaced.

At 1pm it all got a bit too much using only the sounding so I had the epidural. Gas and air helped me again to stay still and breathe through the contractions. I was immediately calm and sat in the upright position from the relaxation exercise practiced in class for the rest of the labour.


An hour later, things began to go downhill.. Baby's heartbeat had slown down to about 50 and into the room came an abundance of midwives, doctors plus the senior. She then decided to perform a FBS and did so, while finding out I had become fully dilated in the last hour and easily feel my boy's full head of hair. They then took no time in urging me to push. Dan came back in the room having grabbed a cup of tea while the on call team for my baby were made aware that he was going to be arriving soon.

Dan and a student doctor held each of my hands as I spent the next hour and 15 minutes pushing (the senior using the ventouse). The "newborn emergency stabalisation team" were in the room as he was delivered and immediately handed to them.

I can truly say that hearing the words "I'm so sorry, we can't start your baby's heart" was the worst moment of my entire life. I dived under the bed sheets while Dan continued to watch them work at him. After 20 minutes the machines kicked into action and there were huge sighs of relief filling the room. From the worst moment, came the best moment and after another hour, we were allowed to see our beautiful baby boy in NICU.

Tandi

A Birth - baby Effie Welch

Lyn’s Birthing Story
According to the sonographer my baby was due on the 16th September 2010. The date duly arrived and departed with no sign of bump putting in an appearance and having seen my midwife who desperately wanted to do a cervical sweep I was determined that this baby was coming out with as little medical interference as possible. I spent the weekend eating copious amounts of fresh pineapple, drinking raspberry leaf tea, having sex and smiling nicely at everyone who suggested that castor oil was the way to go!

I was delighted when on Monday morning I had a definite 'show' and spent the day gazing aimless at the fish tank whilst bouncing on my ball, all plans of going shopping forgotten whilst fielding phone calls and text messages from everyone asking if anything was happening (sixth sense seemed to have kicked in among female friends and relations!) Lack of food in the house resulted in us having to make a trip to Tesco, where I wandered aimlessly until at the checkout I had my first proper, unmistakeable contraction. I spent the rest of the evening leaning over my birth ball and slowly the contractions built during the night until they were coming regularly every 30 minutes. As dawn approached I began to get slightly longer gaps of about 45 minutes followed by 3 contractions which were closer together. Dan and I decided that he would go to work on the proviso that he wasn’t too far away and could drop everything if needed. The contractions continued with this pattern through the morning, and after a phone call from Josie advising that I went back to bed to help my hormone levels increase. That is exactly what I did. I spent the day watching chick flicks, and attempting to sleep but in reality doing little more than shutting my eyes.

By the time Dan returned from work the contractions were much more consistent and powerful at about 15 minute intervals. Dan cooked me tea and massaged my lower back while I continued lying over the birthing ball. By 10pm the contractions were 10 minutes apart and I decided I wanted to put on the Tens machine. I had it on level 2 as anything higher was highly irritating, but in all honesty didn’t do too much to help ease the pain.

At 11.30pm the contractions were approximately 7 minutes apart and taking my full attention, looking through the notes from the couples workshop we had attended

Dan thought I was probably in the deciding phase. By this point I was trying really hard to control my breathing and Dan was being a rock and trying to calm me down and encouraging me to remember what we had been taught in class and at the workshop.

At 12.30am on Wednesday with regular contractions at 5 min intervals Dan phoned the hospital. After talking to the midwife through a contraction she announced that I was probably only in the early stages of labour, at most 2 to 3 cms dilated, and that this could continue for another 24 hours! Her advice was to take 2 paracetamol and go to bed! At this point I do remember uttering the words "If this is only early labour I want a c-section" I was convinced I was actually further along.

Within the hour my contractions were 2 -3 minutes apart and we phoned the hospital again, we were told to come in before they phoned back to say they would send the on- call midwife to see me. As I wanted to stay at home for as long as possible this seemed like a good idea, although whilst waiting for her to arrive Dan started to believe we would be having a home birth! Pat arrived at 2.15am mid contraction (by now I was sounding through each one) and did an examination only to discover that I was actually 7-8cm dilated and maybe we should head to hospital fairly sharpish! She phoned ahead and arranged for us to have a room with a birthing pool and then we all headed up the bumpy lane to the hospital, having warned Dan that I wouldn’t sit in the van quietly and she would follow us just in case we needed to stop on the way!

Knowing that I had got to this stage with very little pain relief gave me a real boost and boded well for the natural birth I wanted. I was really excited and positive on my arrival at hospital that felt I could do this and that meeting bump was going to be happening sometime soon! With everything going to plan, and monitor showing that we had a very chilled out baby I quickly progressed to 9cm dilated and got into the pool. The warm water and the gas and air was working wonders and I was feeling really positive and empowered at 4am I had urges to push, and at 4.40am I was told that my waters had broken and baby would be with us shortly.

5 then 6 o’clock passed but still no sign of the baby. Monitoring via the Doppler showed she was still very relaxed and her heartbeat absolutely fine. At 7am I reluctantly got out of the pool, as contractions had slowed down again and I knew that gravity was going to help me deliver my baby so got myself into a kneeling position using the back of the bed for support. It was at this point I decided to tell the world that gas and air was fab and memorise the sign on the bottom of the bed during every contraction. I can’t remember the exact words now although I assured everyone at the time I definitely would but it was something about removing bits of the bed before moving it!

8am brought a midwife change and at 9am after another examination I was told I was still only 9cm dilated and that my waters hadn’t broken and that this was stopping me from dilating fully.

She also began to question whether bump was actually back out as she had a feeling that it was back to back. Waters broken I continued in the forward kneeling posture in the hope that making a hammock would encourage bump to move around. 10,11, 12.00 o’clock passed and contractions had died off slightly but baby was still very chilled. Jane the midwife did another examination only to find I was still only 9cm dilated. With very little sleep for 36 hrs I was exhausted and running low on energy despite Lucozade glucose tablets and snacks.

Jane my midwife was aware of my birth plan and respected it but advised it maybe time to try something else in order to help me get bump out sooner. After consulting with another midwife they advised Syntocine and an epidural (my biggest fear) I knew that this would mean that baby needed to be monitored continuously. I really didn’t want to give in but had nothing left to give. I was petrified of the epidural but Dan talked me into it and supported me whilst the epidural was administered. Fortunately he had been investigating different forms of induction and knew that I would really struggle without the relief from the epidural.

I was really surprised by my epidural as I had expected not to be able to feel anything, but I was aware of the consistency of my contractions and could still move my legs which meant that when I was told at 2.30pm I was fully dilated and could begin pushing I was able to get myself into several different positions on the bed where I was able to bear down etc despite the wires and tubes attached to various bits of me. Jane was really supportive of this and chased bump around with the monitoring equipment as best she could.

4pm saw another midwife change and I was really pleased that it was Josie one of the Ilfracombe midwives that I had seen during the course of my pregnancy. She came in with a fresh boost of energy and enthusiasm which really helped lift my spirits. After an hour and a half of pushing there was still no baby. Baby’s head was visible but not shifting and I was exhausted. After consulting the doctor it was decided that a ventouse delivery was required as baby was most definitely back to back. By this point I was in my own little bubble and was only vaguely aware of what was going on around me all I knew was that I was going to meet my baby soon and that this time it would actually happen! The world and his neighbour seemed to enter the delivery room at this point and I remember being told that it all depended on me to listen to instructions. Apparently I was told the ventouse delivery was a 50/50 chance and I had to put everything I had into getting this baby out next contraction I pushed with all I had left.

At 5.32pm, 48 hours after the contractions started, I had my beautiful daughter Effie weighing 9lb2oz with a 38.5cm circumference head in my hands plus an episiotomy cut and third degree tear and it didn’t matter a bit!

It wasn’t the delivery I had hoped for by any means but I wouldn't change the experience I had for the world. I learnt so much about myself and Dan and I'm really proud of the fact that I managed to get to 8cm dilated at home with no pain relief. I stayed calm and relaxed and knew what was coming so was prepared for the next stage of labour and knew how to help myself by using different positions thanks to classes and the couples’s workshop.

I am so thankful that Dan and I attended the couple’s workshop as Dan took everything on board and researched everything. As a result he was the best birth partner I could have wished for, and his support was what got me through.

I also like to say a huge thank you to Josie and everyone in class for all their words of wisdom. I learnt so much from you all and I know that if I hadn’t attended active birth classes, I would have given in and ended up demanding a caesarean probably on Monday

A Birth - Baby Ithan Saul Hancock

In his mothers words;

Ithan Saul Hancock 31st of July 2010


I woke up at 7 in the morning, despite having been up half the night with Rosa, my teethy two year old. I thought that I felt a tiny pop but thought I’d probably imagined it as Ithan wasn’t due for another 10 days.

 I tried to go back to sleep and drifted a bit but started to feel like the baby was poking me really low down and so decided to get up and make tea. When I got out of bed I noticed a small wet patch and started to wonder if baby might on his way.

I wrote my diary for a while wondering if it was really happening and cursing the fact that we had decided to start decorating the dining room the day before so the house was total chaos. Not the lovely clean tidy environment I’d imagined giving birth in at all!

By 8.30 the poking feelings had turned into definite period type cramps and I had to go to the loo for a huge pooh so I thought it really must be happening and I’d better wake Gareth up and tell him the baby was on his way. As things were still really quite mellow I didn’t feel any urgency as my labour with Rosa had been about 14 hours, the first 6 or so were fairly relaxed.

 However by halfway through Rosa’s breakfast I was starting to find it hard to concentrate and the contractions were definitely getting stronger. Gareth phoned the hospice, where we had arranged for Rosa to be while we had the baby and they were great and said they’d get her room ready, bring her straight in.

 I phoned the labour ward and had a chat with them and they said they’d find someone to come out . None of us thought there was any rush though as I could still concentrate enough to make sense during contractions.
 They said the midwife might be a while but that sounded fine as I thought it might give us some time to sort our chaos out.

 G whisked Rosa off and although she had been quite amused by the noises I was starting to make I was relieved as it meant I could fully concentrate on the physical and what was happening. I went and sat on the loo again and it all reached another level of intensity.
 I started sounding and it really helped my breathing and to focus on thinning and opening. I felt so much more aware of the process this time and of everything we had learnt both in the hypnobirthing and the active birth classes. Last time I felt like the hypnobirthing fed in and really helped but it was on a subconscious level. This time I felt I was consciously drawing from what I knew.

I decided to get in the bath. I thought it would help and if it slowed things down a bit it wouldn’t be a bad thing either. G came home as I was trying to run the bath and helped me into it. He then did a super human high speed hoover and tidy. I was feeling like everything was going on very low down and I was really starting to push.

Gareth had been timing my contractions and said that when he’d started they’d been 30 seconds long and three minutes apart and the gaps just got smaller everytime until there was barely a minute between them. I felt they were coming in waves the whole morning but the sets were definitely increasing and getting closer together. I was using the sounding more and more, I surprised myself by how loud I was, mostly using ooooh! and AAAAH! As my surges got deeper and intensified so did my voice. It really felt like I was using my voice to push and squeeze downwards.

G had to give me a lot of support to get out of the bath. I had to hang off him every time a contraction came and there wasn’t much time in between them. Eventually we made it into the sitting room. I felt so happy when I saw it, I think I hadn’t really been able to imagine giving birth in there as we had had to go to hospital at the crucial moment last time.
 Gareth had made it really lovely, or so it seemed to me. It was clean and uncluttered and everything was covered in throws and towels.

 I think my only moment of anxiety had been at the beginning when I realised it was really happening and the house was such a state. I couldn’t even really sit down anywhere let alone imagine giving birth. I felt huge relief and love for him. All of this in the blink of an eye between fast and furious surges.

I asked Gareth to sit on the sofa and I knelt on the floor resting on him in between and braced by him during contractions. By this point I was really roaring, proper effective pushing with my whole self. My voice was deep down roaring him out. I said to G at that point it felt fierce, I think that describes the physical sensations really well but I felt fierce too.

 I needed to sit back for a moment and I leant my back against the birthing ball while kneeling with my legs apart. This was really intense and when I put my hand down I could feel his head. It was amazing and so exciting. I wasn’t at all bothered that the midwife wouldn’t be there. I didn’t feel like I needed anyone else.

 I felt a bit stuck in that position so we went back to the sofa. From then it was maybe two or three more pushes and I felt his head be born, it was the most wonderful and satisfying feeling. In a strange moment of clarity I saw the midwifes car pull into the drive. Another push and he came out with a splash onto the floor, he started to cry straight away .

 Gareth got out from under me and picked him up in a towel. I was stretched forward, panting on the sofa, everything felt like it was in slow motion. G told me he was a boy and I kept saying hello baby without moving, he asked me if I wanted to hold him but I needed to just stay where I was for a moment.

The midwife knocked on the door and G shouted for her to come in. She came into the hall all of a bustle saying sorry she was late, traffic etc. and she came into the room and said oh my god you’ve delivered! It was perfect timing as far as I was concerned as she was able to do check him out and make sure my placenta came out completely, which it did without the need for the third stage injection.

Ithan and I had lovely naked cuddles for quite a while until the cord was cut after the pulsating had stopped. He didn’t feed straight away but nuzzled around lots and I felt elated and so very lucky. I had a tiny tear but it didn’t need stitches so by lunchtime the midwife had gone and we were eating scrambled eggs on toast and wondering if it had really happened!

Thank you so much for helping me to have an amazing birth experience. I will treasure the memories of Ithan’s arrival for ever. The classes empowered me and meant I felt confident and in control and was able to trust my body and my baby completely.

A Birth - baby Katie Enns

Congratulations to Natalee and Jim on the birth of their second daughter, Katie. Natalee phoned me and said it had been a very good birth, at home in the birth pool. Katie was born on Wednesday 14th July, and weighed 7lb 11.5 oz.
Natalee said everyone was doing very well, although she had forgotten how tired you feel!

Harry's wonderful home birth in the bath

Hi Patricia,

Thank you so much for being our doula and helping Harry's birth to be as perfect as it was.

During the pregnancy your positivity about pregnancy and the birthing process was a huge support to me. It felt great to be able to spend time with you knowing that you respect and understand the process of birth and therefore have confidence in it.

I loved coming to your classes and especially hearing the birth stories. Ben particularly appreciated coming to your couples workshop and felt much more prepared as a result.

When it came to the labour your support was invaluable.
You showed me the position to hold during contractions to allow labour to get established. After ages of being stuck at every 10 minutes they became every 3 minutes and everything got going.
You met the midwife when she arrived and gave her our birth plan meaning Ben could continue to support me.
You got me through my panic in transition and didn't believe me when I said I couldn't do it. Thank you for this. You were right, I could do it!
Sometimes I just needed to look at you to check it was going ok. Ben was totally supportive but obviously hasn't given birth so having you there as a mother who knows was extremely reassuring for us both.
You did the things that everyone else was too busy to do. Thank you for running the bath, finding the candles, getting the camera, cleaning up and all the things I didn't even notice you do.

I feel that the birth was an occasion full of joy, humour and confidence and I am glad to say that at 10 months Harry reflects all of these qualities in his personality.
Thank you again for supporting such a great start in life.

Love Kate

A Birth - baby Bella Amelie Andrews

Congratulation to Gabby and David on the birth of Bella, who arrived exactly 1 week overdue on Monday 10th May.

Gabby has shared her birth story here;
At 10.30 on Sunday night my waters broke prior to my labour starting. We called the Bracken Center and were advised to go in for confirmation that it was the waters that had gone. At this stage I had only had a couple of 'random' contractions but they confirmed that things looked like they were progressing and we should go home until the contractions were consistently 5 mins apart. That happened as soon as I left the hospital, but we stayed at home for a couple of hours before returning at 3.30 to be told I was 5-6cm dilated. I went into the pool at 4.30 which was wonderful, I found the water really soothing, supportive and relaxing. Things progressed well and Bella was born at 10.15 weighing a healthy 8lbs13oz.

Thanks again for your guidance, I know that it made a really positive difference to our experience.

A Birth - baby Emily Liddell

Congratulations to Laura and Rob on the birth of their daughter Emily Esme Liddell, who arrived on Thursday 20th May at 4:10am weighing 8lb 7oz.

In Laura's words;
After 2 days of contractions on and off they finally kicked off at wednesday lunchtime. By 7pm they were 3 mins apart and i managed to stay at home until around 10:30pm leaning over my ball with Rob massaging my back between contractions. We got to Bracken just before 11pm and i was 8cm dilated. My contractions stepped up a gear for those last 2cm, which seemed to take a long time! At around 12am i got into the birthing pool, which was lovely, and had gas and air for last 20 mins before i started to push. I felt very much in control throughout my contractions and confident that with breathing and focusing techniques learnt, I was able to manage them. However, i did realise i had thought less about the 2nd stage and did feel a bit anxious about what was to come.
 As it turned out i needn't be worried as like you have said before, my body knew what to do and i went with it. Emily slid back 6 times before i finally managed to push her out (which i found very frustrating) but as a result i had little tearing so perhaps that was for the best. After an hour and half of pushing she arrived into the world and we had skin to skin time while the placenta stopped pulsating. Unfortunately, when it did stop pulsating Emily went a bit floppy and we had to cut the cord get her out of the pool. I didn't feel any urges to push the placenta out and wanted to get it out as soon as i could so i could be with Emily, so got out of the pool and had the injection to get me started.

 Emily was fine but developed a grunt to her breathing. The midwife didn't think it was a concern and was just mucus from the birth but thought it wise to get the paediatrician to check her out. The paediatrician agreed and we went to the ward, however another paediatrician on his morning round was concerned that her grunt was still there so they took her to special care baby unit to start her on a course of antibiotics incase she had a chest infection. This meant we had to be moved to Willow ward and would have to stay in for at least 3 days until they knew whether she did indeed have an infection.

 So 4 days later we were able to leave as surprise, surprise she had no infection. In fact, the grunt went on that day she was born and her breathing stabilised. While, i would have preferred not to have had to of stayed in hospital perhaps it was for the best as Emily struggled to latch on and staff on willow ward were great at helping us out.
Thank you for all of your valuable advice and coaching. I look forward to bringing Emily in to meet you!

Laura.

A Birth - baby Eden Sullivan

Congratulations to Sarah and Ross Sullivan, and welcome to their baby boy, Eden.

Sarah writes;

'Just thought I would announce the safe and peaceful arrival of baby "Eden". He arrived promptly on his due date the 19th May in only 5 hours of labour from start to finish (such a good boy to mum). The birth was perfect and just the way we hoped it would be quick, calm and in water, unfortunately I had complications immediately after the birth but little "Eden's" part was already done and we are happy to say he's a healthy 6lb 2oz's.

I'm so very happy that i managed the birth without the use of any drugs, not even gas and air as he seems to be such a contented baby, I simply used my breathing and positions to help me through and he arrived.

I would love to introduce him to you and tell my birth story although i'm inactive at the moment and under strict house rest but could possibly come to my normal Taunton class possibly the Monday after the bank holiday (June 7th),

Sending our heartfelt appreciation

Sarah (Sullivan), Ross and baby Eden xxx' 

Wishing you all the best for your life together, xx