Brigette and Jake's Family - Copy

Brigette and Jake

I got my dream water birth, and VBAC, Melissa (& HypnoBirthing) played a key role in my success!!

After a week of prodromal labour, my waters broke and surges started. For two nights, my surges became intense and regular, managing with my breathing, birth comb, TENs machine and acupressure, before easing off again by morning. Because my waters had been broken for two days, I agreed to attend the hospital for monitoring with a Doppler to check baby, he was doing well. I was told I had two more days before needing to consider induction. I listened to the doctor tell me all the reasons me and my baby were in danger during labour, and declined everything presented. I knew my body could birth my baby.

That night, surges became stronger with pressure, and closer together, so we eventually went to hospital around 2am. After hours of breathing techniques, labouring in and out of the bath, changing positions, and using Spinning Babies techniques with the midwives, my labor kept intensifying and fizzling out, so I asked for a VE around 7am, I was 7cm. So we continued with breathing, bath, position changes, more Spinning Babies, more intensifying and fizzling out, at 6pm I asked for another VE and found out I was 9cm dilated. There was still a small pocket of waters in front of baby’s head, so I asked for it to be broken, because I was exhausted after four days with almost no sleep, and really wanted to meet my baby.

About 20 minutes later, labour intensified again. I spent around two hours in the shower with my birth comb, repeating my mantra of “each surge of my body brings my baby closer to me” before finally getting into the bath. During a contraction, the midwife had a look and realised she could see my baby’s head, she told me to reach down and feel my baby. It was happening, I was in the zone and ready to bring my baby to me. After about an hour of breathing and pushing, I birthed my baby boy in the water and brought him straight up to my chest myself.

My sweet boy arrived on the 6th of May, at 10:56pm, weighing 4.64kg.