The Birth of My First Child

Amanda was born on Good Friday a few years ago (on 18th April 2014), a little earlier than expected (the due date was 1st May). As everyone says that the first one usually comes late, we were not quite ready for it, but it went very well (natural, healthy, swift & easy, you could say :-)). I have no doubt that hypnobirthig really helped.

I had not felt those "practice" contractions that you hear about, but I did notice my mucus plug go early in that week and I felt very strong pressure on my pelvis during the day before delivery. In bed that night, after feeling what I believed to be 3 first contractions (but they didn't hurt at all, hence I was not sure), my water broke. This was about 2:30am. I jumped out of bed & went for a shower, which is when the contractions started. My husband was already on the phone with the maternity ward (BB Sophia, Stockholm) by the time I got out of the shower & I started timing the contractions, which were about 30 seconds long and 1-2 minutes apart, so pretty intense. We rush packed a bag & headed there, arriving around 4am (we hadn’t packed a bag because the midwife had suggested it was a good thing to do once the contractions started to help pass the time. It was not expected it would already start in the . There wasn't even time to print the birth plan, which we had finally agreed on that night (in the end pretty much everything went according to what we wanted, expect a thing or two, so not really needed...)

I got in hospital and due to the water breaking agreed to have the baby checked, which took a long time because the baby kept moving and so it was hard to get a consistent measurement. Meanwhile my husband put the hypnobirthig tracks on. The midwife (Malin) asked if I wanted her to check my cervix and I was 4/5 cm dilated. When all was ok I went to the bath, which was nice but the contractions were pretty intense and close together so I asked for acupuncture (which did not help a lot) and then the gas, which did also because it helps you to breath nice & slow (which during the peak of the surge it's very hard to do!). Relaxing & breathing allowed me to rest in between the contractions even if they were very intense. At one point I could no longer feel comfortable in the bath & got up, resting my body on my husband’s chest. I was tired. Soon after that I started feeling the urge to push. I suspected it was probably too soon, but the urge was uncontrollable and I started pushing when it came (at this point still mixed with the contractions). I told Malin, she measured my cervix and showed me with her fingers how much was still left to open the cervix (about 2/3 cm). I didn't care much and moved to the bed (on my knees with my arms on the head of the bed) where I continued to push more & more while the contractions themselves became fewer and further between. Then Malin said she could see the head of the baby and she had dark hair! I did not feel the "ring of fire", although I did feel the tension of the skin. Malin told me to hold on the next push urge (which was hard!) and told me to breath fast and short. And then Amanda was born, just before 7 am (6:57 to be exact). She came directly to my arms and we were so "in a dream" that we didn't even remember to check the sex of the baby until Malin asked what it was! LOL! And pretty quick for a first baby (4h30!)! I don't think anyone expected it to be so quick - up to this point at least. That includes the placenta, which was not ready to come out... After waiting an hour I took oxytocin and then something else and after two more hours I went into surgery, which turned out to be a good thing because not even then it wanted to come out (the head doctor had to be called in because the one performing the surgery could not get it out...). So, the surgery that was supposed to take 5 min, took 45... It was fine though because Jonas & Amanda were with me all the time in the theater and I was just so happy that she was born and health - and I was not in any pain. 

I was lucky. But also I listened to my body and followed what it wanted to do, which is what hypnobirthig taught me, so I wholeheartedly recommend the method! It worked pretty well for us! It's a wonderful experience to have a baby, and I am enjoyed every minute.

 

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