Jen attended our Tuesday evening Pregnancy Yoga classes with Lynn and a Couples Yoga class with Janet before giving birth to her precious son. She got in touch to share her relaxed birth experience…
I wanted to let you know that our son, Kieran Dominic, was born last Tuesday morning. Although it wasn’t quite the home waterbirth we were hoping for, it was still a really positive experience.
My labour started on Monday morning and the surges got stronger throughout the day, but they were manageable and I was doing lots of up breathing and using essential oils which helped a lot. As the day progressed and into the early evening, I was using the ball to lean on and roll around on, and using the techniques from your yoga classes.
I called the midwife at 10pm to say the surges were about 5 minutes apart but we were still doing well and managing. After a lovely warm bath my waters broke at about 11ish and we called the midwife again as it looked like meconium was present in the waters. She arrived at around midnight and I was fully dilated by this point. We were going to try and continue at home but there was more meconium so we opted to transfer to hospital.
The ambulance took quite a while to arrive, and in the meantime I was trying to concentrate on my breathing, and used frankincense oil when things got a bit overwhelming and intense. It was 3.45am by the time I got to the hospital – things seemed to have slowed down a bit by that point – probably because of the transition from home to hospital – and the surges had stopped so I had to ‘push’ him out. The midwives were wonderful and encouraged me to use a birthing stool. The midwives were keen to keep the doctors out of the room! Thankfully Kieran arrived at 4.25am – not long after we got to hospital. He weighed 8lb 9oz. !
We ended up having to stay in hospital for a week as I’d had a temperature during labour and they were concerned about an infection. We both ended up having to have antibiotics and his white blood cell count went up, showing that he was fighting off something.
Happily we’re finally at home having left hospital last night, and now adjusting to life with a newborn.
I’ve so enjoyed attending your classes! They’ve been really lovely, and were great preparation for birth. Along with the hypnobirthing, the yoga really was invaluable.
Although the birth didn’t go quite how we’d planned, I’m so pleased I was able to spend most of my labour at home where I felt safe and secure, and with the support of a wonderful midwife. I have no doubt that the yoga and hypnobirthing helped me to stay calm and relaxed throughout. Thank you so much for helping us have a positive birth experience.
