FULLY DILATED ON ARRIVAL AT HOSPITAL

first baby, Jan 2014 workshop

Baby finally decided to make an appearance on Tuesday morning (25th March 40wks + 12days). My waters broke just after I got back from one of Jen’s Yogita London classes, and then it was straight into contractions every 4 minutes. I managed to stay at home until I was fully dilated (think Alex was a bit worried when I said I needed to start pushing while I was still in the bath, and the taxi journey was a bit painful!), but due to the baby resolutely staying back to back it took me 3 hours of pushing to get him out, but got there in the end without any tearing or interventions, using the birth pool and then a final hour of coached pushing on dry land when he wouldn’t shift (don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard!).

The hypnotherapy really helped me. While I wasn’t quite able to breathe through the contractions as calmly as I’d hoped (the back pain was pretty extreme), we had the music playing the whole time and it was invaluable in helping me to rest between contractions, keep my anxiety levels down and keep my focus.  And thanks to the workshop with you Alex was able to use some of the triggers and help me to stay as calm as possible. Thank you so much!

Thanks also for the support regarding the induction. I don’t think I would have had anything like the positive experience if I’d let myself be pushed into it, and the baby was only 6lbs 12oz so I don’t think the extra time in there did him any harm at all.