I was adamant I wouldn’t be giving birth on my back this time / Emmalea

Birth Story - Zion Forest Lock.

After two previous inductions and episiotomies with my two girls along with quite a painful recovery after my second daughter was born, I was determined to have the best experience possible third time round knowing this would most likely be my last baby. For me this looked like an intervention free birth unless medically necessary. I had this deep desire to really just be left alone and trust my body to do what it is designed to do. This lead me to booking Hypnobirthing classes with Renee in Perth WA. My husband Ryan, while remaining a bit of a skeptic, was happy to attend with me knowing how much I longed for things to be different this time.

The classes were absolutely amazing; educational and empowering. We finished the full 2 days with a deeper understanding of the physiology of birth along with helpful statistics and information regarding care providers, hospitals policies etc which helped us make informed decisions going forward to help facilitate the intervention free birth we wanted. Renee was a huge support post classes and I’m so grateful I was able to flick her an email anytime regarding any topic and I would receive a prompt reply with loads of information and references. This was a huge support when deciding to decline the GBS test and navigate being told our baby was measuring big towards the end of my pregnancy.

I had an appointment with my obstetrician at 41 weeks, I knew going in I was going to be hit with all the stats around still birth and that his preference would be to seriously start thinking about getting this baby out sooner than later. I left quite upset after also being told the baby’s tummy was measuring 44 weeks, I didn’t want to put the baby at risk by any means but at the same time everything was looking fine, baby and I were healthy. He said if I wanted to wait however, he would support me which I very much appreciated. So I decided to keep waiting and I’m so glad I did.

At 41+1 I went into spontaneous labour. It was a beautiful, gradual onset of labour. I had some niggles in the morning after visiting the chiro which picked back up in the afternoon. I messaged my husband and let him know it was probably better to be home sooner than later and also prepped my sister in law who was on call to come and stay with the girls. By 5pm I was quite sure I was in early labour. We carried on with the girls nighttime routine and had some dinner, by this point I was starting to time my surges. By around 8pm they were averaging 3.5-4.5 minutes apart and I had lost some mucus with a small amount of blood present. My husband called the hospital and they advised us to come in knowing my previous labours had been quite quick. At this time Ryan asked for a midwife familiar with hypnobirthing as advised by Renee and I’m so glad he did, she was incredible.

We arrived at the hospital at about 9pm and quickly set up the room. We placed our sign on the door, I sprawled all my things over the bed, as I was adamant I wouldn’t be giving birth on my back this time, this included the print outs we received from our classes ‘My Amazing Uterus’ and the different breathing techniques. Lights were dim, we had the diffuser & music going & Ryan had requested a fit ball. We also set up the TENS machine on my back while my surges weren’t too intense. I chatted over my birth preferences with our midwife and ten minutes later our birth photographer arrived. I was prepped and ready.
Over the next few hours I laboured quite easily with a heavy focus on my breathing, smelling clary sage & utilising the TENS machine. Somewhere after 11pm I felt my waters pop and things moved quickly from there & had decided to have the gas ready at this point. I distinctively remember going into transition and the doubt started to creep in, the I can’t do this and fear around having to have a third episiotomy was racing through my mind when I started getting the urge to push and so after reeling in my racing mind and focusing on my breathing again, push I did and within 4-5 pushes he was earth side born at 1.38am on my knees.

I had done it, the exact way I wanted and couldn’t be more proud of myself. I had no continuous monitoring, no internal examinations, no coached pushing, had delayed cord clamping and I birthed my placenta alone. I did end up with a second degree tear which required stitches, however the recovery has been far quicker and less painful compared to my last episiotomy.

Ryan now can’t stop telling anyone who will listen how incredible hypnobirthing is after witnessing how different this birth was from the previous two and he’s also incredibly proud of me. It was a really special, magical birth for the both of us. A huge thanks once again to Renee and Hypnobirthing Australia, I’ll be forever grateful.

Photos by Teagan Manners Photography

https://www.facebook.com/Teagan-Manners-Photography-112779273404451/