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Katherine Russel’s Birth Story

Hi Ann
I hope you’re good and 2019 is going well for you so far. Just sending my birth story for you to share with the yoga mummy’s and mummy’s to be. Mine’s a bit of a boring one but hopefully will provide some reassurance that labour can actually be ok

😊


I woke at 7am on 28th December (5 days overdue) after a very uncomfortable nights sleep. I had a strong cramping pain across my tummy, but because this was the same as the day before and had gone after I’d walked around I thought this was the same, however the pain didn’t go away and I realised it was coming in waves and that I was probably in labour.
Since my first labour was so quick, my priority was to get to hospital ASAP so we set off for Arrowe Park and I called on the way to tell them we were coming. When I arrived I was told to wait in the triage waiting room as they were very busy, so I waited for around 20 minutes pacing around the room, moving my hips in a little circular motion to get more comfortable and using golden thread breathing to deal with the waves of pain as well as the internal panic that nobody was in a rush to see to me and the baby could come at any time.
Eventually I was examined and told I was 5cm dilated so was walked through to the delivery room. I was told on the way that both birthing pools were in use as they were so busy. Again this caused more panic as I felt my birthing plan was already falling apart, but I kept up the breathing of elongated out breaths to try to stay calm and give me a feeling of control. I was then pretty much left in the delivery room with a midwife coming to check on me with the heart rate doppler every 15 minutes. I got myself in a kneeling position on the floor leaning onto the bed as it felt more comfortable to be leaning forward on something and there wasn’t anything high to lean on standing up.
After 3 hours of breathing through the contractions and using gas and air I was still not feeling the downward pressure that I’d felt almost immediately with my first labour, so it felt like things were happening slower than last time. I was in quite a lot of pain, so I accepted the offer of some stronger pain relief and opted for a shot of pethidine which is the next level of pain relief after gas and air. The pethidine gave a nice feeling of relaxation in between contractions but didn’t really take the contraction pain away. I was also aware it would start to ware off after 2 hours, however as we were getting to the end of the 2 hours and the contractions were getting stronger, again I was having a little internal panic that there was no time to have more pain relief before I’d need to push. I managed to get myself onto the bed and as soon as the midwife said it was ok to push, I pushed as hard as I could maybe 6 or 8 times using just controlled breathing, and after a few minutes I gave birth to a baby girl weighing 8lb4oz (which is quite big given that I’m quite small!). We have named her Fern Annabelle, and as with all babies she is beautiful!
So that’s my birth story. Like I said it’s a bit of a boring one, but as with my first labour I can’t stress enough how much the breathing techniques that I learnt at yoga were my lifeline to not only deal with the pain, but also keep calm throughout and when things didn’t go to plan. The midwife commented after the birth how I managed to stay in control, which I definitely put down to focusing on breathing and getting into ‘the zone’. I’m also now finding myself using the yoga breathing techniques (mostly golden thread) in day to day life to deal with every day stresses and anxiety, particularly now I have a new born and a toddler to take care of!!
Anyway thank you so much for the life lessons and for the lovely hour per week I spent at pregnancy yoga, I really miss you and the girls and I’m so glad I took the time out of my busy life to do it. I bumped into Lisa last week which was lovely. Please pass on my good wishes to her and the other girls.
Thank you again and take care xxx

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