Sally

Zeb was born on 13th October (3 days after his due date) at home. My surges started at 7pm on the 12th Oct and very quickly were lasting1 minute and were 5 minutes apart so we called the midwife at 10pm and she arrived by 11pm. I was 4 cm dilated when she arrived. I spent time listening to the birth affirmation CD and using all the breathing techniques and felt completely in control and calm without any pain using lot of different positions all round the house with the lighting low and everything was very relaxed.

The surges went on like this for several more hours but then about 4am in the morning things started to slow down and the surges became further apart and I began to feel very tired. I tried the different natural methods to try and speed up the surges and progress things but unfortunately they did not seem to work. At 7am the mid wife was due to go off duty and therefore called another one to come-when she arrived they checked me again and I was 6 cm dilated. The mid wives were fantsatic and so supportive of my birth plan. They also commented on how well I was coping with the surges and how calm i was.

I then asked them what they could do to possibly speed things up as I was just getting so tired having gone through the night and they said they could break my waters which I requested they did. Following this my surges became a lot more intense and I moved to the pool which was great. It was then I perhaps felt I wasn't coping as well but not through any pain as I kept thinking that each contraction was bringing me closer to my baby but just out of sheer exhaustion!Second stage labour lasted between 4-5 hours which we later found out was because Zeb had his hand over his head. I was unable to get him out in the pool so the midwives advised climbing the stairs to try and help after a few hours. It was great I was at home as I think if I had been in hospital they definitely wouldnt have let me go this long in second stage without intervening. The stairs did help and eventually Zeb was born at 1.43pm on our sofa! I was able to do the whole thing completely drug free and I really put this down to the hypnobirthing techniques I had learnt. I really felt I had to push as because of his position I dont think the birth breathing would have worked?

I felt in control of my birth and it was such a special experience to have him at home - a decision we only came to after attending your course, if you remember Piers didnt think it was a good idea before this! Unfortunately due to Zeb having his hand over his head I tore quite badly and had to go to hospital to be stitched. Originally they said they would have to give me an epidural and keep me in 2 days but after closer examination luckily I only had to have a local and was allowed home.Funnily enough when I was stitched this is the only time when I actually felt pain-apart from when I actually tore at the end. So that is it. Thanks again for all your help and your fantastic course, I will recommend it to anyone I know who is expecting!!

Best wishes,
Cressida