leo, born at nambour Hospital 22 march 2015

I had no pain relief at all and relied completely on belly breathing (albeit needing many helpful reminders from Jason to keep it up!) and the positions we learned in the Active Birth Course. 

Hi Carrie,

Yesterday Jason and I welcomed our little baby boy, Leo! At 37 and a half weeks he was obviously keen to meet us. He, Jason and I are doing very well.

My water broke completely unexpectedly at home at 3:10am and then a couple of hours after that contractions began. After arriving at the hospital I refused an exam as the midwife said that since my waters had broken that if I wasn't in established labour then as I was in the birth suite I would 'have to be managed' by putting me on the synto drip. No thank you! My contractions were regular and frequent, but because I was managing so well and with not knowing what to actually expect Jason and I were worried I might not have been very dilated. I was worried that if I wasn't dilated then the synto drip would set in motion that cascade of intervention I so desperately wanted to avoid! So the midwives allowed us to go to the maternity ward to chill out in the shower and give us some time to ensure we were well on our way to meeting bub. The midwives were very supportive of our decision and were apologetic that we had to be put in a stressful position to make a decision that ultimately could have changed the whole progression of the birth, but it is just the process unfortunately.

After a couple of hours on the ward we went back to birth suite where I accepted the exam and thankfully was 5cm and deemed to be in established labour. Two hours later at 2:26pm, after 16mins of pushing, Leo was born :-).

I had no pain relief at all and relied completely on belly breathing (albeit needing many helpful reminders from Jason to keep it up!) and the positions we learned in the Active Birth Course. I did waste a tonne of water though as I was in the shower the entire time I was labouring at hospital! Whilst they probably say it to everyone, the midwives were impressed it was my first baby and with how well I managed. I did feel like I lost my rhythm whilst pushing and found myself focussing on the pain. Something to work on for next bub!

Thank you for your knowledge in our preparation for Leo's birth. The Active Birth Workshop really empowered Jason to be able to support me through labour and I could not have done it without him. The pregnancy yoga and the few classes I made it to of the Active Birth Yoga Course empowered me to trust that my baby and my body knew what to do, particularly with feeling strong enough to make our own informed choices in the clinical hospital setting to best suit the birth we wanted - and we did it!

So unfortunately I won't be at yoga tonight, tomorrow or Saturday! But I am really looking forward to doing a mums and bubs class with you when I have been given the go ahead!

Until then take care,
Jac