The Birth of Veia - Home Birth, First time mum
"Thank you so much for all your help and knowledge. I honestly don't think we would of got through the birth of our little girl as smoothly and as calmly if we had not of discovered you. We wanted to share her birth story with you so here it is.
From starting my hypnobirthing journey I always knew from an environment perspective I wanted to give birth at home. I knew instinctively that giving birth as you see on TV in a hospital bed on your back did not feel natural to me. My husband to start with was apprehensive at the thought of a home birth but after attending a home birth workshop at our local hospital, having a hypnobirthing teacher come and teach us all about importance of birthing like a mammal, how key the environment is, let the oxytocin flow and answering all our questions and concerns over two workshops and reinforcing our learning, using positive affirmations and breathing techniques we agreed if possible it would be the way forward for us.
I started listening to hypnobirthing tracks from June on and off in the evenings at least a few times a week before bed. Then from July I discovered the positive birth company and purchased the digital pack using this to reinforce our learning. I practised the breathing technique on and off every few days and listened to positive affirmations twice a day to and from driving to work. In the last few weeks I listened to the tracks in the bath, sitting on my birth ball or leaning over it at various times of day so I was used to being in different positions with the tracks on.
We hired a birthing pool at 36 weeks after the home visit check from midwives. Tom inflated it in our dining room and downloaded the Freya app on his phone so we were ready to go when needed. When I started maternity leave 1 week before baby arrived I listened to the hypnosis tracks daily.
A week before due date I felt my first braxton hicks and that week Monday to Wednesday I was batch cooking getting everything ready for babies arrival. After I finished on Wednesday something inside me told me I just needed to rest up and not do too much. It was then from Thursday I started to loose my mucus plug and this continued over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Early hours of Saturday morning I started to get contractions but these were very mild and didn't last very long from 5am to 8.30am in which I ran a bath and everything stopped we carried on the day as planned and went to my mums for lunch. Early hours of Sunday morning (23rd September) from 3am contractions started they were powerful but they only happened once an hour. I moved to our spare bedroom and breathed through each one, sleeping in between and again this all stopped at 11am in morning. We agreed best for me to stay at home and just rest which I did. I had some lunch and at about 3.30pm had a nap as felt tired. Then 17.40pm contractions started again I was able to breath through them close my eyes and focus.
They carried on for a couple of hours on and off and I moved from living room into spare bedroom and sat on birthball in complete darkness and listened to the hypnobirthing tracks and kept repeating the positive affirmations in my head. 'The surges cannot be stronger than me because they are me' really helped me through and reminding myself I was safe. When a few surges were powerful I felt I wanted to stand up and lean over. At one point I lost my breathing and had to get Tom to count with me the 4 seconds of breaths in and 6 breaths out. I felt I constantly wanted to sit on the toilet in complete darkness as needed a wee or felt pressure so spent quite a while just sat on toilet breathing through the contractions. At 10.50pm I said to Tom I thought I should try and rest as we could be here all into the Monday and I needed to conserve my energy so he called the midwifery hub and spoke to them and me through a contraction. The contractions were not consistent and we never reached a period of 3 contractions in 10 mins. They advised we were happy to carry on as we were but to call back if my waters broke.
I laid down in the spare bed on a maternity mat so bed was protected (priorities) and 30 mins later through a contraction I heard a pop and my waters broke. I had a wobble at this point as we had just had new carpets so I said to Tom get me to bathroom without any going on the floor! So there I was back in my favourite place on the toilet. I was surprised how much fluid you leak and felt the toilet was the best place. At this point there was now small specs of blood in the mucus. Tom called the hub and they dispatched the home midwife who was 45 mins away. She called and spoke to Tom to confirm she was on her way and to check how I was. I said to Tom after a while I should get downstairs to the dining room (our living room on first floor) where birth pool was inflated ready to be filled as I may not be as mobile in the next couple of hours.
He placed me in the downstairs toilet (you see a theme here - my favourite place) and I asked him to get me a cold towel as I felt I was on fire he got me one and dabbed me. He then went to set the dinning room up lighting my meditation candle and placing the led tea lights all around the room. I then shouted I needed more cold flannels - I needed loads to cool me down. In my head I went through transition and started to doubt myself because if I wasn't very far along maybe I wasn't capable of doing this, but I just kept reminding myself of the positive affirmations and kept those doubts locked in so they didn't escalate.
We then moved me to the dinning room where I leant over a birthing ball with loads of towels under my knees. I remember looking up thinking how peaceful and lovely the room looked with all the candles flickering. Tom and I had a discussion and said he thought I should get examined when the midwife arrived. I originally said I didn't want to get examined as didn't want to be disappointed or feel I couldn't carry on if I had not a dilated as expected, etc. So I agreed with Tom I should be checked but said I didn't want to be told the outcome as I could only be 2 centimetres. In the next five minutes I said to Tom I feel like I need to push. Tom looked at his watch and said ok the midwife will be here in 5 mins. I think he then spent the next 5 mins looking for flickering lights outside our house! In my head I still had not registered I was even in the second phase of labour.
The midwife turned up at 00.25am and asked to see my birth plan. Tom explained I was OK to be checked but only she didnt tell me how dilated I was. The midwife came in, introduced herself, listened to baby heartbeat and didn't even need to examine me. I think she took one look down there and said to Tom go crank your heating up, have you got a hat and outfit, I will get all set up we are going to have a new person here very soon.
I couldn't believe the calm and felt so normal between the contractions to bring our baby into this world. I could have normal conversations, I remember asking the midwife how long this stage took and she said it's completely up to you and how you let the contractions work. Tom was also squatted next to me and I told him to sit on a dinning room chair so he was comfortable as it didn't look comfy where he was. I hadn't had any drugs by this point so asked to have some gas and air but after 3 sucks whilst trying to let my body do what it needed to do I felt it was too much of a distraction and chucked it away.
Over the bearing down of our baby I couldn't believe how powerful it felt and Tom thinks its funny as I said ohhhhh flip and only swore once but this wasn't due to being uncomfortable it was just the intensity of feeling your baby making its way into the world. Once our babies head was delivered I said to Tom can you believe our baby is hanging out of me! then in the next push our baby was delivered at 01.10am Monday morning and the midwife asked Tom to announce the sex and then our little girl Veia Penelope Neve was placed on my chest. Tom and I just felt completely in shock and awe. The second midwife arrived 5 mins after the birth and she was gutted she missed the baby arriving.
I originally said I wanted to birth the placenta naturally but when the midwives asked I said I wanted the injection. I sat back down on the downstairs toilet and we waited while the delayed cord clamping was honoured then Tom cut the cord. They gave me the injection then got me all settled upstairs on the sofa to deliver the placenta and check me over. I had a second degree tear internally with a small external tear. I honestly never even knew and didn't feel anything (I was conscious of this previously). Tom had precious time with Veia until I was sorted. We then had some time all together on our own whilst I fed her for the first time and got to know her together as a family. Later on they ran me a bath, got us all settled on the sofa and the midwives left at 4am. We were able to go upstairs and get into our bed which was amazing.
The birth happened so quickly, 7.5hrs and I never realised how far I had got, we didn't get the water birth as Tom didn't have time to fill the pool, I had so many more tricks in my tool kit I never needed to use. It truly was the most natural, powerful, amazing experience ever and I can't believe how manageable it all was. I can't thank our hypnobirthing teacher and the positive birth company enough!! In the week afterwards I went through a period of not wanting to share this story as you don't want to appear to be showy in how positive your experience was but then I remember how Tom and I read the positive birth stories and really appreciated reading them that I couldn't not share ours ❤️
Thank you Debbie!!!
Kathryn, Tom and Veia xx "
"Thank you so much for all your help and knowledge. I honestly don't think we would of got through the birth of our little girl as smoothly and as calmly if we had not of discovered you. We wanted to share her birth story with you so here it is.
From starting my hypnobirthing journey I always knew from an environment perspective I wanted to give birth at home. I knew instinctively that giving birth as you see on TV in a hospital bed on your back did not feel natural to me. My husband to start with was apprehensive at the thought of a home birth but after attending a home birth workshop at our local hospital, having a hypnobirthing teacher come and teach us all about importance of birthing like a mammal, how key the environment is, let the oxytocin flow and answering all our questions and concerns over two workshops and reinforcing our learning, using positive affirmations and breathing techniques we agreed if possible it would be the way forward for us.
I started listening to hypnobirthing tracks from June on and off in the evenings at least a few times a week before bed. Then from July I discovered the positive birth company and purchased the digital pack using this to reinforce our learning. I practised the breathing technique on and off every few days and listened to positive affirmations twice a day to and from driving to work. In the last few weeks I listened to the tracks in the bath, sitting on my birth ball or leaning over it at various times of day so I was used to being in different positions with the tracks on.
We hired a birthing pool at 36 weeks after the home visit check from midwives. Tom inflated it in our dining room and downloaded the Freya app on his phone so we were ready to go when needed. When I started maternity leave 1 week before baby arrived I listened to the hypnosis tracks daily.
A week before due date I felt my first braxton hicks and that week Monday to Wednesday I was batch cooking getting everything ready for babies arrival. After I finished on Wednesday something inside me told me I just needed to rest up and not do too much. It was then from Thursday I started to loose my mucus plug and this continued over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Early hours of Saturday morning I started to get contractions but these were very mild and didn't last very long from 5am to 8.30am in which I ran a bath and everything stopped we carried on the day as planned and went to my mums for lunch. Early hours of Sunday morning (23rd September) from 3am contractions started they were powerful but they only happened once an hour. I moved to our spare bedroom and breathed through each one, sleeping in between and again this all stopped at 11am in morning. We agreed best for me to stay at home and just rest which I did. I had some lunch and at about 3.30pm had a nap as felt tired. Then 17.40pm contractions started again I was able to breath through them close my eyes and focus.
They carried on for a couple of hours on and off and I moved from living room into spare bedroom and sat on birthball in complete darkness and listened to the hypnobirthing tracks and kept repeating the positive affirmations in my head. 'The surges cannot be stronger than me because they are me' really helped me through and reminding myself I was safe. When a few surges were powerful I felt I wanted to stand up and lean over. At one point I lost my breathing and had to get Tom to count with me the 4 seconds of breaths in and 6 breaths out. I felt I constantly wanted to sit on the toilet in complete darkness as needed a wee or felt pressure so spent quite a while just sat on toilet breathing through the contractions. At 10.50pm I said to Tom I thought I should try and rest as we could be here all into the Monday and I needed to conserve my energy so he called the midwifery hub and spoke to them and me through a contraction. The contractions were not consistent and we never reached a period of 3 contractions in 10 mins. They advised we were happy to carry on as we were but to call back if my waters broke.
I laid down in the spare bed on a maternity mat so bed was protected (priorities) and 30 mins later through a contraction I heard a pop and my waters broke. I had a wobble at this point as we had just had new carpets so I said to Tom get me to bathroom without any going on the floor! So there I was back in my favourite place on the toilet. I was surprised how much fluid you leak and felt the toilet was the best place. At this point there was now small specs of blood in the mucus. Tom called the hub and they dispatched the home midwife who was 45 mins away. She called and spoke to Tom to confirm she was on her way and to check how I was. I said to Tom after a while I should get downstairs to the dining room (our living room on first floor) where birth pool was inflated ready to be filled as I may not be as mobile in the next couple of hours.
He placed me in the downstairs toilet (you see a theme here - my favourite place) and I asked him to get me a cold towel as I felt I was on fire he got me one and dabbed me. He then went to set the dinning room up lighting my meditation candle and placing the led tea lights all around the room. I then shouted I needed more cold flannels - I needed loads to cool me down. In my head I went through transition and started to doubt myself because if I wasn't very far along maybe I wasn't capable of doing this, but I just kept reminding myself of the positive affirmations and kept those doubts locked in so they didn't escalate.
We then moved me to the dinning room where I leant over a birthing ball with loads of towels under my knees. I remember looking up thinking how peaceful and lovely the room looked with all the candles flickering. Tom and I had a discussion and said he thought I should get examined when the midwife arrived. I originally said I didn't want to get examined as didn't want to be disappointed or feel I couldn't carry on if I had not a dilated as expected, etc. So I agreed with Tom I should be checked but said I didn't want to be told the outcome as I could only be 2 centimetres. In the next five minutes I said to Tom I feel like I need to push. Tom looked at his watch and said ok the midwife will be here in 5 mins. I think he then spent the next 5 mins looking for flickering lights outside our house! In my head I still had not registered I was even in the second phase of labour.
The midwife turned up at 00.25am and asked to see my birth plan. Tom explained I was OK to be checked but only she didnt tell me how dilated I was. The midwife came in, introduced herself, listened to baby heartbeat and didn't even need to examine me. I think she took one look down there and said to Tom go crank your heating up, have you got a hat and outfit, I will get all set up we are going to have a new person here very soon.
I couldn't believe the calm and felt so normal between the contractions to bring our baby into this world. I could have normal conversations, I remember asking the midwife how long this stage took and she said it's completely up to you and how you let the contractions work. Tom was also squatted next to me and I told him to sit on a dinning room chair so he was comfortable as it didn't look comfy where he was. I hadn't had any drugs by this point so asked to have some gas and air but after 3 sucks whilst trying to let my body do what it needed to do I felt it was too much of a distraction and chucked it away.
Over the bearing down of our baby I couldn't believe how powerful it felt and Tom thinks its funny as I said ohhhhh flip and only swore once but this wasn't due to being uncomfortable it was just the intensity of feeling your baby making its way into the world. Once our babies head was delivered I said to Tom can you believe our baby is hanging out of me! then in the next push our baby was delivered at 01.10am Monday morning and the midwife asked Tom to announce the sex and then our little girl Veia Penelope Neve was placed on my chest. Tom and I just felt completely in shock and awe. The second midwife arrived 5 mins after the birth and she was gutted she missed the baby arriving.
I originally said I wanted to birth the placenta naturally but when the midwives asked I said I wanted the injection. I sat back down on the downstairs toilet and we waited while the delayed cord clamping was honoured then Tom cut the cord. They gave me the injection then got me all settled upstairs on the sofa to deliver the placenta and check me over. I had a second degree tear internally with a small external tear. I honestly never even knew and didn't feel anything (I was conscious of this previously). Tom had precious time with Veia until I was sorted. We then had some time all together on our own whilst I fed her for the first time and got to know her together as a family. Later on they ran me a bath, got us all settled on the sofa and the midwives left at 4am. We were able to go upstairs and get into our bed which was amazing.
The birth happened so quickly, 7.5hrs and I never realised how far I had got, we didn't get the water birth as Tom didn't have time to fill the pool, I had so many more tricks in my tool kit I never needed to use. It truly was the most natural, powerful, amazing experience ever and I can't believe how manageable it all was. I can't thank our hypnobirthing teacher and the positive birth company enough!! In the week afterwards I went through a period of not wanting to share this story as you don't want to appear to be showy in how positive your experience was but then I remember how Tom and I read the positive birth stories and really appreciated reading them that I couldn't not share ours ❤️
Thank you Debbie!!!
Kathryn, Tom and Veia xx "
