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Claire’s Story

“Just wanted to let you know we had a baby boy on 26th April, he is called James Patrick Doherty and weighed 6lb13. He was born two days early. I didn’t make it to your classes towards the end of my pregnancy but wanted to let you know your classes did help me throughout my pregnancy and during the birth. We didn’t end up with the birth we had hoped for which involved staying at home as long as possible and then using the birthing pool, but the breathing techniques do apply to all situations.

My waters broke at 5.30am on Wednesday 25th, the hospital checked me over and let me go home in the hope contractions would start naturally otherwise an induction was planned the next day. Unfortunately the weather was awful so not the best day to go for a walk to try and start things started! I did some yoga and exercise at home and up and down the stairs etc and whilst contractions did start at 11am and were strong and frequent (between5minsand8 mins apart) they weren’t regular enough. I used a TENS machine and breathing to cope, I really liked the golden thread breath which kept me calm. I got to 3cm dilated but due to a risk of an infection developing, they needed to speed up the delivery. So I was then induced at 10am on 26th and warned the combination of natural contractions and forced would make pains stronger and less bearable so to consider pain relief as a long labour was expected. I also had to have constant monitoring to keep an eye on our baby and could no longer use the TENS machine. The contractions ended up coming so quickly together I did end up agreeing to diamorphine to cope, but being able to focus on breathing remained very important throughout and which I am relieved I did yoga to be able to focus on this. In the end I got to 10cm quite quickly, which was very lucky as our babies stats dropped to worrying levels and forceps had to be used to deliver our baby very quickly. Whilst this was a very worrying experience the staff at Arrow Park were amazing and worked extremely quickly to deliver our baby safely, they were very calm and clearly explained everything. Our baby was born at 16.37 and he was completely fine despite earlier concerns.

This isn’t the ideal yoga birthing story, however it does show it is important to keep an open mind about your birth plan as plans often need to change and having this in my mind helped me cope when it became clear we wouldn’t be having the birth we hoped for. Breathing techniques also remain important even when other pain relief is used as contractions can still remain very strong and the techniques help you remain calm.

Now enjoying being a Mummy! Hope you are well.”

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