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We enrolled in calmbirth®
after friends raved about it, and also
because the classes provided by the
hospital didn't really focus on
techniques for labour, particularly a
drug free labour.
At 41wks and 2days we were induced as my
amniotic fluid had started to drop and
there didn't seem to be any indications
that our baby would make his own way.
It was nerve racking... Our
visualisation had always been a calm,
spontaneous process at home, perhaps
even time to soak in a warm bath - not
hooked to a drip and monitor in hospital
and beginning the process with a scary
looking hook (to rupture the
membranes)... Followed by a lot of
scampering to the loo... Machines and
all.
Luckily we had listened to the 'be
flexible' advice, and some calming
breaths and thoughts meant that
together, we could adjust to the change
in plans.
They ruptured the membranes at 7:45am to
start off and within 2 hours the surges
were 2mins apart. There were lots of
promises about a quick labour!
On went the calmbirth® cds, together we
went through each surge and the short
pauses in between, using the breathing
we'd practiced, as well as the
relaxation and visualisation.
We went from 0cm to 6cm by 3pm,
initially at 2mins apart then 1min
apart, but somehow overnight our bub had
wiggled posterior and the back pain was
much worse than the feeling of the
actual surges. Lots of massaging and the
ability to 'go elsewhere' listening to
the cds got as far as we could go
without pain relief.
At 3:30pm I had an epidural, which was a
tough choice and again, not in 'the
plan'. Just before that I tried the gas,
mainly as a desperate measure! It wasn't
for me and was hard to use and do
calmbirth® breathing at the same time,
whereas with the epidural we could still
feel the surges, breath through them and
ultimately know when to push.
We went from 6cm to fully dilated very
quickly, and the baby turned anterior.
We think the epidural and continuing
with our breathing just helped
everything to relax.
Unfortunately the baby didn't progress
down far enough after a couple of more
hours (without pushing), and then 1.5
hours of pushing.
Again, not in the plan, but something
needed to be done to assist. The
obstetrician suggested using the vacuum,
and said if I could push hard enough and
he could get a good suction it might
work, and it did.
All this time we worked as a couple,
with lots of encouragement and counting
breaths! We still had our cds on repeat,
both so I could focus but also partly as
a distraction.
Several midwives during the day
commented on how relaxing they were!
At 8:25pm Jeremy popped out, one hand on
his hand (as if there was extra space! I
like to think he was waving). We didn't
know the sex in advance so it was an
especially wonderful moment.
I had an episiotomy but was just very
grateful to avoid a caeser. We both felt
the relaxation and breathing techniques
made a big difference for us,
particularly in getting us to the point
of the epidural, relaxing once I had it,
and having the reserves to push later in
the evening, even when he wasn't
progressing.
Thankyou Sue and calmbirth®!
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