The Water Felt Amazing…

I’d had quite a restless night of getting up and dozing off to sleep not thinking much of it but by 3am I'd decided that I couldn't go back to sleep, and in the back of my mind thinking ‘is this it’? I tried popping some TV on and getting in different positions to relieve what I thought was just odd cramps, by 5 I decided it really was it, discomfort was rising and I woke my partner up. From then we started counting breaths, timing surges and trialling the tens machine.  We stuck out at home as long as we could but my partner suggested going in as things were ramping up quite quickly. We rang his mum and she headed over to look after our dogs. Once we got to the birthing centre we met our midwife and had a good chat and spoke about our preferences. Our surges plateaued a little bit at this point and she respected that I didn't wish to be examined and she showed us our room and brought us some snacks.   So far I was still using my breathing techniques, tens machine, holding on to my partner and repositioning myself around the room staying upright and mobile. Another hour later at 10 the midwife thought I was now in active labour and started running the pool and I got in. I was relieved to take the tens machine off at this point and the water felt amazing! I was instantly more relaxed and felt a new surge of energy. Things were progressing well and we put some of our music on and I had some honey.  Some more time passed and the midwife had suggested emptying my bladder as once again surges had slowed right down for a while now and no progress was being made, my bladder was preventing the head from traveling down.  Having read my birth preferences she was very fact based and didn't push medical interventions which felt amazing and made me feel very comfortable and trusting of her. After trying to release my bladder myself and getting a little worked up we chose to have a intermittent catheter to release my bladder and I opted to now have a examination, I was 8cm.  Finding this out gave me a massive mental boost. I was getting close and we were doing this our way, together. My partner says once I got into the pool after this everything started moving really quick again.  Come 2 o clock I decided to try gas and air.  I started getting told the head was crowning, then the head was out, then all of a sudden a cord got pulled and many people rushed in, apparently her shoulder was stuck, I was guided into a standing position, then out of the pool, despite the many people present I only saw comforting and reassuring eyes around me, I kept trying to count and breathe and within a minute of being out of the water our little girl made her appearance without intervention. I didn't get the physiological third stage I was hoping for, however I was more than happy for her to get checked out for her shoulder joint and movement.  Knowing that I now had my beautiful baby, safe and sound and on my chest I was on cloud nine, there was a lot of tears shed with that realisation.  I didn't get my water birth, with physiological after birth, delayed cord clamping and instant skin to skin but this process was equally incredible and positive.  I was a strong dragon, a powerful woman with amazing birthing instincts and a partner who counted and supported me every step of the way, I was now a mother and the feeling of love was overwhelming. My family had grown. Our little girl was born at 3.08pm on our second wedding anniversary 17th October 2022, weighing 7lb 8oz after 5hrs of predicted active labour. We walked into and out of hospital on the same day not realising how different our lives will now be. 

Thanks for your help during the yoga classes and the little nuggets of advice and experience, I found it all really helped in understanding the process and calming myself down during it all.