Here’s Lucy’s positive birth story during the covid pandemic ❤

“Its taken 2 weeks to get round to writing this but i absolutely love thinking back to my labour and birth so I want to share it. I can’t thank Beth and this course enough for helping me have such a wonderful birth experience.

At 40+6 i was more than fed up and was so ready to meet our little man. I had been having braxton hicks for weeks but no signs at all that labour was near. Then at 2.30am I thought my waters had gone and contractions started coming every 4 minutes or so, so we called triage. We went in to be assessed at about 3am, I was sent home… I was apparently nowhere near active labour.

Back at home I started thinking about the tools I had learnt on this course. I used the breathing techniques whilst my partner ran a nice warm bath. I then spent the next few hours in the bath, breathing through each contraction. My partner was by my side for each contraction keeping me calm and being a hand to hold. Out of the bath, tens machine on and my partner soon became my leaning post. Contractions were still regular and were now lasting almost a minute.

By around 9.30am my contractions were every 2/3 minutes and lasting about a minute, the tens machine had worked brilliantly however I knew I needed something else when I asked my partner to press the boost for his respose to be ‘you didnt turn the boost off… its still on from the last one’. Time to call the hospital again!

I then had to go up to the antenatal ward on my own to be assessed. I carried on with my breathing and i felt calm and in control even though I was going in alone (thanks covid).
Once the midwife had assessed me I heard just what I wanted to hear…
“you’re already 5cm! I’ll call delivery”
I was so pleased … I had managed at home until 5cm!! And I was going straight to delivery suite where my partner could join me!

I was then taken to a delivery room where they had already started running the pool for me, it was wonderful, there was an oil diffuser on the go, classical radio playing (not a choice i would make but good to have background noise rather than hospital noise) and LED star lights on the ceiling. I sat on the edge of the bed whilst the pool was being filled, I carried on with my breathing and tens but soon asked for gas and air. Oh how wonderful that was!!

I then got in the pool and continued with the gas and air when all of a sudden I started to feel the need to push! I was always sceptical that “my body would know what to do” but it really did!! After a bit of a panic from the midwives and a mad rush to get the pool up to the right temperature it was time to push.

With my partner in one hand and the gas and air in the other, after what felt like a lifetime of pushing (although it actually wasnt that long at all) our little boy arrived at 1:23pm.

Again I can’t thank you enough for this course!
I am so happy and grateful to have such a great birth story to share and such a beautiful, healthy little boy ❤ I really do think this course changed my mindset on giving birth and allowed me to have the positive experience everyone wishes for!

I am proud to introduce Robert Jeffrey Carlton, born 18th October 2020, weighing 8lb 8oz.”

For more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited and confident for birth.