A 12 hour HypnoBirthing®, Home Birth
Hi Dany,
Just wanted to let you know I had my baby last week. Elise Imogen Bell was born at home on 2nd Dec at 9.50pm (an evening birth as visualised :-), weighing 7lb 10oz. Was in labour start to finish about 12 hours.
I started feeling twinges/surges at about 5.30am on and off and called the midwife at 9am because I had an appointment with her at 9.45 - to say I thought things were starting and I wouldn't be going for my appointment. So I laboured through the day, keeping nice and quiet and doing my relaxation (natural calm was my favourite at the time), Chris timing contractions and helping me stay calm and relaxed. Our midwife came out to see me at 3pm to see how I was doing - I said I wasn't really sure if I was in labour or not and she said I was probably still in very early stages then and might not have this baby for another day or so, but could she examine me to see what was happening? I agreed as I wanted to know what was happening and I was 6cm dilated!!!
She was totally amazed how calm and far on in labour I was (as was I!) and called for the 'on call' community midwife to come out for me. I felt a bit of pain with each surge but not much which I why I wasn't even 100% sure this was proper labour :-) My midwife left to go to see another mum for an hour and the other midwife sat with me - we went through my birthplan and Chris started filling the pool. My surges were getting much stronger and more painful so eventually I got in the birthpool when it was ready (took AGES to fill - we should have practised!) But once in I didn't really like it and felt cold so I got back out and felt like pacing up and down. Unfortunately after another examination I was still at 6-7cm so I agreed to have my waters broken - possibly not the right decision as things became much more intense after that and really sped up - after some very painful surges with gas and air to take the edge off I got to 10cm. Despite trying my hardest to stay calm and breathe her down I felt a very uncontrollable urge to push and pushed her out with each surge. She was lifted out onto my chest and was the most perfect baby ever! All through the second stage the midwives monitored Elise's heart rate and were amazed how calm and steady she was through the entire thing, she was born with an agpar scale of 8 and was at 9 in just a few minutes.
She is still such a calm and relaxed baby giving us very little hassle so far, even at night - I'm sure all the relaxation I did while she was in the womb has something to do with it. Chris was absolutely fantastic throughout the labour too, really helping me stay calm
I was really pleased with my labour as a whole and would like to say a big thank you for all your help and lessons.
Elise needs a feed now so I must be off! I hope to see you in Jan at the hyp and happening group, please let me know the details of the next get together.
See you soon, have a lovely festive period and hope to see you in the new year.
Brigitte, Chris and Elise
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