For Robin’s birth we planned a homebirth, we had amazing support from Meg (www.birthevolution.co.uk) for hypnobirthing refresher sessions (you can’t support yourself) and Grace (www.thepostnataldoula.co.uk) for postnatal planning, so we felt really prepared and ready to welcome Robin. His birth for me felt incredibly fast and I wrote his birth story out very soon after he was born, I wanted to just get it on paper – looking back, I wouldn’t add anything, it captures exactly how I felt and what happened.
I woke up around 1:30am on Friday morning, I thought it was just insomnia again, I read my book, looked at some positive birth stories, messaged another pregnant pal. I felt sure nothing would be happening that night…What did I know?!
About 2:30am I felt a bit crampy, went to the loo, big poo, came back to bed. My cramps became more contraction like and I woke Adam to say ‘oh things might start today’ – still a little disbelieving. They quickly ramped up and were pretty intense.
Adam timed and called midwife as he thought they were quite close together – I kept thinking it might all stop, but the midwife arrived around 4:40am (soon followed by second). At this point I was most comfy on my left side in bed, it felt safe whilst Adam went to fill pool, let people in etc.
A bit later my midwife checked bp, temp and baby – all was good. She left us to it. I stayed in bed, slowly moved to kneel/crouch beside the bed – this made things feel much more intense. I heard Leo wake, get dressed and leave with my friend around 6:30am. I asked midwife to see how things were progressing, things felt intense but in my mind I had a long way to go. She thought 6-ish cm. I thought I’d like to get in the pool and see if it would help with the intensity of contractions.
Adam helped me downstairs to kitchen around 7:00am, pool looked very inviting but too hot. I leant against the kitchen counter swaying whilst Ad and the midwife cooled the pool. I got grumpy and said ‘Adam you need to help me, do something, something for the pain!’ (Hello transition!) Cue midwife handing me gas and air. 3 puffs – ‘ahh much better’.
Into the pool, felt really nice, took the pressure away, helped me relax…Suddenly things felt different. ‘Oohh that’s a bit pushy’ I say to Adam. The midwife runs behind me. A few more roars (and apologies for being loud *eyeroll*) and feelings of body being pulled apart – it was intense. I was gripping onto Adam, just breathing and growling. And then, whoosh…
‘He’s out – reach for the baby’
Huh?
‘Reach for baby, he’s here!’
WOW!
We sat for a few minutes but water was quite bloody so agreed with midwife to get out and check ok. Awkward climbing out holding baby still attached! Sat on sofa holding baby, waited for white. Cut cord, Robin went to Adam for skin-to-skin. I sat on the toilet to birth the placenta.
Snuggles on sofa, wrapped in blankets, tea and cake.
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