Harriet Young – Birth Story
Our baby girl, Grace, was born on Sunday 8th November at the Whittington birth centre, a week after her due date. She was born in water in a calm, dimly lit room with no intervention and no drugs or pain relief apart from half an hour using a TENS machine early on.
I started having contractions at night on the Thursday and Friday but they stopped during the day. On the Saturday evening they started getting stronger and they continued through the night, about one every ten minutes. At some point in the night, I started doing a breathing technique during the contractions. Steve, my husband, gave me positive suggestions to help me manage them. We learned both of these techniques in a Hypnobirthing course and they helped me to keep on top of the contractions and stay focused - if I missed doing the breathing at the start of a contraction, it was more painful. I also found that if I mentally welcomed the contractions they were less painful – working with them rather than trying to avoid the sensation. The next morning I was exhausted after three nights of little sleep and I rested in bed until our doula arrived at about lunchtime. I got up at about 1.30 pm and by 3.45 the contractions were becoming more intense and frequent. They were coming every 3 to 5 minutes but we decided to stay at home for a bit longer as we didn’t want to go to hospital too soon only to be told to go back home. Then, maybe 15 minutes later, I had an overwhelming urge to push, so we decided it was time to go to the birth centre. Quickly!
We took a taxi there. Having a baby in a taxi wasn’t on my birth plan so I focused on my breathing in an effort to slow things down. We arrived at the birth centre at about 4.30 pm. After the midwife checked the baby’s heart beat and my blood pressure, I got straight in the birthing pool – it felt blissful and supported to be in the water. The lights were dimmed and Steve supported me with Hypnobirthing techniques as I breathed the baby down. It was painful, but not unbearable. After 30 minutes of birth breathing, our baby was born into the water. The midwife helped me to manoeuvre myself around so I could lift her to the surface myself. I remember putting my hands down, feeling her body and lifting her up to the surface. She then looked straight into my eyes – an incredible moment. Steve jumped in to the pool and we had our first family moment. We held her and she was soon breastfeeding.
It was a really wonderful birth – it was intense and at times painful, and this all seemed to be part of it. I’d really dealt with my fear about birthing through using Journey work and Hypnobirthing, and felt more excited than scared about it. The key for me was welcoming it all and trusting that my body knew what to do. Our daughter had a really peaceful entry into the world, as we wanted.
Take a look at our interview with Harriet when she was seven months pregnant.