Hi Ann
Sorry it’s taken a while, but here is the story of Noah’s birth!
On Friday 22nd June, Rob and I were eating dinner at around 8:30 after our older two girls were in bed when I noticed I had a mild period type pain which I didn’t think much of.
After dinner I continued sorting some old clothes out while watching back-to-back episodes of ‘The Highland Midwife. I started to experience a few more twinges and had ‘a show’ around 10pm, making me think things were moving in the right direction, but with nothing more than those twinges, I just thought baby would probably appear in the not too distant future (in a few days or week maybe).
At 11pm I was contemplating if I needed to warn my parents things were happening, just in case they needed to come out in the middle of the night for our girls. I decided against it as thought I was probably jumping the gun a bit so settled down to get some sleep with my diffuser emitting eucalyptus scent which I find relaxing.
By midnight I was having contractions that started very quickly and became close together just as fast. However, I was so focused on my visualisations and using alternate nostril and golden thread breath, I hadn’t noticed how close together they were. Rob thankfully had and called the hospital as they were three minutes apart.
Once Mum and Dad arrived, I was still pretty relaxed about getting to hospital as although the contractions were close together, I knew they would become a lot more intense. My Dad however was not and was virtually pushing me out of the door scared I would give birth at home. Lol!
We left home at 12:40 with me doing extended out breaths and arrived at hospital 5 minutes or so later where they confirmed in triage I was 7cm dialated. The movement obviously helped speed things along as after a short walk to MLU my waters instantly broke!
The midwife kindly followed my request to start filling the birthing pool although he clearly knew it was a pointless exercise as the contractions immediately intensified and within a few minutes I felt I needed to push! Breathing techniques briefly went out of the window until I had gas and air and I focused then on getting that stuff in as deeply as I could! After 1 minute of pushing, Noah James was born at 01:17 on Saturday 23rd, weighing 8lb 6oz and five days early.
Although I didn’t get the water birth I wanted and despite things happening so quickly, I can honestly say that it remained so calm due to the techniques that I had learned with Ann at pregnancy yoga. I would wholeheartedly recommend her classes to any pregnant ladies, not only as a nice gentle exercise during pregnancy, but to prepare for birth and meet lots of other mums-to-be too. Thank you Ann!
Lots of love
Anna Wright x