The birth of baby Louie
The wonderfully funny and caring Clare and Danny joined my course after lots of persuasion from me with their third (very surprise) pregnancy in 2023. They started the course using words like “terrified”, “powerless” and “out of control” to describe how they felt about birth, especially after previous experience(s). Reading this birth story fills me with immense pride at how they worked together to turn their mindset around about little Louie’s birth, and what an incredible experience they had!!
“41 & 3 days pregnant I had concluded that this baby just didn’t want to come, especially as I felt I was beginning my labour back when I was 37 weeks pregnant, experiencing many signs that he was going to be on his way soon. This being my third pregnancy (with a major age gap) our eldest being 16 and 14, I felt like I knew the feelings all too well. There was no doubt my body was preparing for labour weeks before hand, but I began to grow impatient, admittedly I was a bit too organised for the big day. Waiting around seemed to of delayed everything, so I took the plunge and went out to socialise and relax at an event planned by Hypnomums/Expectant Escapes. Low and behold, that evening things started to develop. All that day I had felt a lot of pressure particularly in my bottom but nothing major. I was comfortable rocking on a birthing ball most the day at the event, but I had spent the majority of my pregnancy on that ball so it wasn’t unusual of me.
Being ‘a Princess’ and all, I felt the need to sit on the “royal throne” quite often when I got home that evening but strangely, I wasn’t achieving anything (if you catch my drift.) I ate some dinner, the husband cooked us some sort of garlic chicken schnitzel, although I didn’t feel too hungry, I ate anyway, and I wasn’t to know that the garlic breath would be haunting us all evening after, it added to the memorable senses, I guess. Shortly after, I decided to lay on the sofa and attempt to complete a crossword on my phone with my husband (crosswords seem to distract my mind from all the waiting around I had been doing lately), but I was just too uncomfortable and unable to concentrate on anything. I felt quite uneasy about my bathroom trips being unsuccessful many times, so I scoffed some prunes for assistance (seemed to be effective). Soon after my final visit to the ‘royal throne’, very strong urges took over, and we began to feel suspicious that they were indeed ‘contractions’ and I was in labour. They became stronger and more regular, and I found myself in an all-fours position, swaying and breathing through each surge. None of them were painful, just a welcomed pressure that required my full concentration. I was calm, the house was quiet, and lights were low. My two kids were helpful and recorded the timings. My husband ran me a lovely lavender radox bubble bath with candles, my beautiful birthing playlist playing gently in the background. (These baths seem to be a nightly habit for me lately, learning to relax became a very important part of my pregnancy thanks to hypnobirthing techniques). I got into the bath, but I just couldn’t get myself comfortable in our small tub unless I was on all fours, I wanted to get out quite quickly. The surges became stronger and very close together. We decided to call the birthing centre and warn them we maybe on our way soon. I was able to talk on the phone quite comfortably, so the midwife assumed I was only in the early stages of labour but said we can come along when we wanted to. I didn’t feel the need to be screaming and crying down the phone, I was relaxed as could be and confident in my body, I was so ready to welcome my baby into the world. I settled myself leaning over onto a big soft cushion on the sofa while the husband gathered the bags and loaded the car. The surges were becoming much stronger, and suddenly I felt the desire to push. “Errrrm Dad, I think you need to hurry up and get mum to the midwife” my son said which make me chuckle. I agreed we need to leave, and I wondered if I would be birthing this baby in the car as we had a 45-minute drive ahead of us! I remained calm and grabbed cushions and pillows to make myself comfortable in the car, I couldn’t be in the position I wanted to, obviously I had to sit on my bottom in the car which I assumed wouldn’t be easy, but I sat myself on a v-shape pillow which really helped. We kept the car quiet, I didn’t want music on, just silence, the roads were empty, I was so chilled.
Before I knew it, we had arrived at the birthing centre. We were welcomed in by the midwives and taken to the lovely room where I would be birthing my baby just 1 hour and 27 minutes later. The surges felt like they had slowed down at first, but they soon picked up after I consented to a vaginal examination, curious to know how dilated I was. The midwife estimated that I was about 6cm dilated. The examination must have got things really going, so I decided to get myself into the birthing pool. The lighting was low, the room was cosy and smooth radio was playing in the background. The midwives said we could pop our own music on, but we were so distracted with each contraction my husband held me through every single one and gave me a lot of positive encouragement. I remember thinking how rough his hoodie felt as I held onto him, and I wished he wore something softer. The surges became incredibly strong very fast, my waters popped, and everything needed came out into the pool which now looked like a pot of stew of some sort. I grabbed some gas and air to focus on my breathing, I felt baby moving down, it felt overwhelming for my body and the strange grunting sounds kept escaping my mouth, I knew baby was coming out very soon, I told my midwives “I need to push” and they told me to just go with my body, and to push if I wanted to! Now was the time I used my hypnobirthing tools the most to keep myself calm. I positioned myself on all fours still in the stew water, I drew my knees together to open the pelvis, downward breathing, I felt his head coming out and I really focused as the ring of fire took place. You couldn’t hear a sound in the room from anyone, my husband said I just went so quiet and before we knew it baby came out and into the water. The midwives passed him through my legs, and I pulled him up and onto my chest. He smelt like chicken schnitzel, or it could have been my husband Danny just heavy breathing as he cried happy tears out into my direction.
Baby Louie was so warm and soft, I held him so close, smiling ear to ear “he is out, Danny he is out”. His little feet, those little hands. I am in love. He is perfect. No tears down there, no drama with bleeding, it was a perfect birth…. regardless of the garlic.”
Clare and Danny
