After a tough first birth, Kirsty came along to my pregnancy yoga classes in Dartford to prepare for her second birth. She went on to have a speedy but calm birth at Darent Valley birth centre.
I thought I would share my birth story, given that I found listening to other women’s stories so wonderful during pregnancy yoga.
This was my second baby and my labour was totally different from my first which lasted over 30 hours and resulted in me being monitored in the delivery suite, feeling very immobile, giving birth on my back, and just not how I pictured.
For my second baby, I woke up around midnight on the 18th April with period type pains and light contractions, I managed to stay in bed for a few hours using breathing techniques. Eventually at about 3am I just had to get up and woke my husband as I needed support, the contractions were getting much stronger and closer together. The TENS machine was amazing at managing some of my back pain and probably acted as a placebo keeping me busy during the stronger surges.
At about 4.30am we rang the hospital as my contractions were coming thick and fast. They advised us to come in, so at that point we tried calling grandparents to come over to care for or daughter. THEY DIDNT ANSWER! I started to panic. Eventually the grandparents picked up after about 20 minutes which seemed like a lifetime, so advice to anyone making plans for childcare, make sure grandparents have their smart watch linked to their phone correctly! Once they arrived we headed to Darent Valley and got there about 6am.
A midwife assessed me as I arrived and to my surprise I was already 8cm dilated! My waters had not broken yet and I had not had a show at this point, but as she left me to prepare the room in the birth centre, boom đź’Ą…they broke and it then all happened very fast! They quickly wheeled me off to the birthing suite as I was telling them I had the urge to push and staff tried to fill up the pool (but couldn’t in time). I got into a comfy position on all fours and within a few minutes of being in the room my son Max was born at 6.48am (at 39+6 weeks) and it was just wonderful ✨🩵 my daughter Mia is being a fabulous big sister too.
It was such a positive experience overall being in the birthing centre, with such a relaxed vibe even after the birth. We were home by 5pm that evening which was also lovely. I struggled to process my first birth for a little while but this time round I look back and smile at the whole experience. The only drawback was that my mum missed the birth as we only called her once I had been assessed, but she arrived 5 mins after he was born and spent lots of time with us in the birth centre afterwards.
Thank you Colleen for the pregnancy yoga that kept me sane throughout pregnancy and I look forward to joining mum and baby yoga in June with Max.
Kirsty x
