Positive natural birthing stories
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louloubabs
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I'm so glad this is a sticky now 
My homebirth was just over a year ago now but was very positive so I thought I'd leave the link here:
https://www.babyandbump.com/home-natural-birthing/516928-baby-rafes-homebirth.html
XxX
My homebirth was just over a year ago now but was very positive so I thought I'd leave the link here:
https://www.babyandbump.com/home-natural-birthing/516928-baby-rafes-homebirth.html
XxX
louloubabs
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Wow, fab birth story hun. My DD was sunny side up and I tore really badly too :/ I know what you mean when you say about the pain standing and walking. I felt like my insides were gonna drop out.... 
XxX
XxX
me too, thankfully they didn't and i'm all recovered now 
...I said I wanted to do the birth again, not the recovery part lol, def not pushing quite so quickly at the end next time if i can at all help it!!!
louloubabs
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Haha. My second birth was soooo much easier. He was 2.5 lbs heavier and no stitches! Huzzah!!
XxX
XxX
that gives me hope!! xx
ljo1984
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hope you dont mind but i thought id add my story, although i was transfered due to meconium in waters, i still found the whole experience very positive after a traumatic time with my first. and i was at home until 30 mins before she arrived.
eta- just realised it says positive natural birth stories not hb stories lol, well it was pretty natural apart from a bit of gas and air for the transfer.
https://www.babyandbump.com/birth-s...837177-arrival-my-yellow-bump-27-12-11-a.html
eta- just realised it says positive natural birth stories not hb stories lol, well it was pretty natural apart from a bit of gas and air for the transfer.
https://www.babyandbump.com/birth-s...837177-arrival-my-yellow-bump-27-12-11-a.html
Laughing Girl
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Hi everyone, hope you enjoy our birthing story...........
I'm Rachel and at 42 years old, having given birth to our first daughter at home when I was 40, was determined to give our new little one the same start in life. A couple of things began to get in my way, namely that our pregnancy went "over due" - Elodie was born at 40 + 11, and my age at this length of gestation seemed problematic to some of the senior anti natal staff who were monitoring us at the hospital.
We had had various scares throughout our pregnancy from the hospital - first of all we were told that because Elodie's head measured small in comparison with the rest of her - its on the 3rd centile whereas the rest of her is on 40th or so, we were told she may have a condition called Craniosynostosis, or 'flat head' and this resulted in a very anxious mummy for a long while - we had to have various growth scans to see if her head growth was indeed being restricted by a fused skull or whether it was simply that she has a dainty head.
She has a small, very dainty head!! Panic over, thank goodness.
At 36 weeks I was told by my midwife that our baby was breech - panic stations as there is no midwife on our home birth team who has experience of breech delivery and we would have had to have birthed on the labour ward.
A scan showed that she was wrong -
Saved once more!
Our 40 week date came and went, and whilst i was confident that all would be fine, I found myself feeling pressure from the hospital to book an induction. I held out and said no but went for monitoring twice a week where all was fine - a good heartbeat, lots of movement and tonnes of fluid so there was no arguing with that really.
At 41 weeks I was beginning to get restless though, and the thought of a hospital delivery loomed. For our family, that would have been a disaster. My eldest daughter is just turned two, and we've not been separated for longer than a couple of hours at a time. We co-sleep and she is breastfed on demand which is sometimes during the night. Neither me nor my husband wanted Isla's introduction to her younger sister to be a trauma for her and we wanted everything to continue as normally as possible for all of us. I was beginning to get really upset about the whole situation and felt out of control and trapped, which, with the additional ambivalence of becoming a mother of two was really spiralling my emotions to strange places.
I begun to feel that I needed to have a big release, a big cry and an admittance that i was scared of our situation and that until i did this, our new baby would not be born.......so on the morning of 23rd, at 40 + 10, I had a weepy conversation with my older sister over the phone and got a lot off my chest. It worked. Shortly afterwards, a began to feel slightly crampy. I didn't mention this to anyone and the cramps stayed mild and hardly noticeable for the remainder of the day.
Isla went to bed at around 8pm and my husband and I followed at 10.30pm after having made sure that the lounge was all ready for our birth. I fell asleep at around 11.30 and at 12.30am woke with a start - I felt like I had been hit by a wall. I went down stairs but had to go back up to wake Cam as I needed to be with someone. I phoned our doula Ema and suggested she came, and phoned our midwife who set off immediately.
I stood under a warm shower for an hour or so - Ema and the midwife, Jo, arrived at 1.30am and I was rocking my hips to and fro, gyrating through the contractions, rubbing my tummy and talking to my baby.
After a while, I started to feel a bit faint and moved into the lounge. I sat on a ball and leaned up against a big bean bag, moaning very loudly and using gas to move through the contractions. Cam rubbed my back and Ema coached me when my breathing came too fast.
After a couple of hours of hard work, our little girl was almost ready to arrive. My contractions changed and I began to feel her moving down. I did nothing except concentrate on relaxing as much as I could, to make her descent as gentle as possible. No gas now, I didn't need it and wanted to be fully focused. She stayed in the birth canal for quite a while, moving down in her own time. I kept feeling inside my vagina and could feel her soft head. We decided I could do with a wee as I'd not had one since the beginning of our labouring, so we all went into the bathroom and I sat on the loo. A few seconds later, Elodie Hannah's head crowned, and Jo caught her as she slipped out into the loo!
She was here at last. At that moment, Isla woke up and my husband went up to our room to bring her down to meet her younger sister.
What an amazing night for all of us.
Attached Images
I'm Rachel and at 42 years old, having given birth to our first daughter at home when I was 40, was determined to give our new little one the same start in life. A couple of things began to get in my way, namely that our pregnancy went "over due" - Elodie was born at 40 + 11, and my age at this length of gestation seemed problematic to some of the senior anti natal staff who were monitoring us at the hospital.
We had had various scares throughout our pregnancy from the hospital - first of all we were told that because Elodie's head measured small in comparison with the rest of her - its on the 3rd centile whereas the rest of her is on 40th or so, we were told she may have a condition called Craniosynostosis, or 'flat head' and this resulted in a very anxious mummy for a long while - we had to have various growth scans to see if her head growth was indeed being restricted by a fused skull or whether it was simply that she has a dainty head.
She has a small, very dainty head!! Panic over, thank goodness.
At 36 weeks I was told by my midwife that our baby was breech - panic stations as there is no midwife on our home birth team who has experience of breech delivery and we would have had to have birthed on the labour ward.
A scan showed that she was wrong -
Saved once more!
Our 40 week date came and went, and whilst i was confident that all would be fine, I found myself feeling pressure from the hospital to book an induction. I held out and said no but went for monitoring twice a week where all was fine - a good heartbeat, lots of movement and tonnes of fluid so there was no arguing with that really.
At 41 weeks I was beginning to get restless though, and the thought of a hospital delivery loomed. For our family, that would have been a disaster. My eldest daughter is just turned two, and we've not been separated for longer than a couple of hours at a time. We co-sleep and she is breastfed on demand which is sometimes during the night. Neither me nor my husband wanted Isla's introduction to her younger sister to be a trauma for her and we wanted everything to continue as normally as possible for all of us. I was beginning to get really upset about the whole situation and felt out of control and trapped, which, with the additional ambivalence of becoming a mother of two was really spiralling my emotions to strange places.
I begun to feel that I needed to have a big release, a big cry and an admittance that i was scared of our situation and that until i did this, our new baby would not be born.......so on the morning of 23rd, at 40 + 10, I had a weepy conversation with my older sister over the phone and got a lot off my chest. It worked. Shortly afterwards, a began to feel slightly crampy. I didn't mention this to anyone and the cramps stayed mild and hardly noticeable for the remainder of the day.
Isla went to bed at around 8pm and my husband and I followed at 10.30pm after having made sure that the lounge was all ready for our birth. I fell asleep at around 11.30 and at 12.30am woke with a start - I felt like I had been hit by a wall. I went down stairs but had to go back up to wake Cam as I needed to be with someone. I phoned our doula Ema and suggested she came, and phoned our midwife who set off immediately.
I stood under a warm shower for an hour or so - Ema and the midwife, Jo, arrived at 1.30am and I was rocking my hips to and fro, gyrating through the contractions, rubbing my tummy and talking to my baby.
After a while, I started to feel a bit faint and moved into the lounge. I sat on a ball and leaned up against a big bean bag, moaning very loudly and using gas to move through the contractions. Cam rubbed my back and Ema coached me when my breathing came too fast.
After a couple of hours of hard work, our little girl was almost ready to arrive. My contractions changed and I began to feel her moving down. I did nothing except concentrate on relaxing as much as I could, to make her descent as gentle as possible. No gas now, I didn't need it and wanted to be fully focused. She stayed in the birth canal for quite a while, moving down in her own time. I kept feeling inside my vagina and could feel her soft head. We decided I could do with a wee as I'd not had one since the beginning of our labouring, so we all went into the bathroom and I sat on the loo. A few seconds later, Elodie Hannah's head crowned, and Jo caught her as she slipped out into the loo!
She was here at last. At that moment, Isla woke up and my husband went up to our room to bring her down to meet her younger sister.
What an amazing night for all of us.
Attached Images
Attachments
I had the natural, home birth of my dreams without medication. After being terrified of giving birth after watching One Born Every Minute, a friend recommended Natal Hypnotherapy to me. I booked on Dot Parrys course in Manchester!
My husband and I did the day workshop when I was 27 weeks and from thereon I practiced with the CD almost every day for either 40 minutes or 15 minutes depending on how much time I had. As the workshop recommended, I wrote out some affirmations that resonated well with me and posted them in various places round my house. Affirmations such as All I need to do is relax and breathe or I know my baby feels my calmness and confidence.
Before doing the course and reading widely about the natural process of giving birth, I guess that I had believed the idea which I think is prevalent in society that somehow humans werent made for giving birth; that we were somehow deficient in this area! However, after learning all I could about birth and doing all the hypnotherapy practice as the course and the CD recommended when I went into labour, I was very confident that my body would be able to birth my baby, just as my body knew how to grow my baby. I knew that my body was perfectly designed to have my baby, if only I would relax!
I had my favourite chilled tunes playing in the background throughout my active labour and the lights in the room were dimmed with fairy lights creating a calm atmosphere. The water was invaluable but the self-hypnosis gave me absolute confidence that I could do it.
The Natal Hypnotherapy gave me a battery of tools to help me relax. Because I was well prepared and had practiced the techniques, these tools came to me easily and naturally when I was in labour.
There were several different visualisations that I used in conjunction with my breathing, for example imagining looking out towards a beautiful red sunset across the sea. I imagined that the sea was a little choppy but with my outbreath, I was able breathe out a thread of golden light to calm the sea so it lay perfectly still. I also imagined a dial which could turn the intensity of the contraction down from 10 to 1. It gave my mind something to do other than panicking or focusing on the sensations. The natal hypnotherapy explained about the self-doubt phase where many women think I cant do this!.
While it never occurred to me that I couldnt do it, the sensations were definitely stronger than I ever imagined! Despite this, I found that I had all the tools to help me deal with the pain. I had read Ina May Gaskins book A Guide to Childbirth which talked about orgasmic births. The natal hypnotherapy course also promoted the idea that the sensations could be enjoyed. After each contraction, I knew the importance of welcoming each sensation as opposed to dreading it as I knew that it was bringing me closer to my baby.
My husband Dave was taught on the course how to help me and how to remind me to be calm using the 3-2-1 relax cue and how to use, touch, massage and breathing. I know that some men can feel helpless during the birthing process but the course gave us tools to ensure that he was an invaluable part of the process.
The midwives in attendance couldnt believe how calm I was, especially for my first baby. My mum also attended the birth. Initially, she had been very against me having a home birth and was very sceptical about the benefits of using hypnotherapy for birth but she is now a firm convert and tells everyone how wonderful it was and how calm I was!
Matilda Rose was born on Christmas Eve, 5 days before her due date, a perfectly healthy 6lbs 3oz. My wonderful midwife, Hayley Greenwood knew the techniques that I was using and was very supportive. She guided me only to trust my instincts and didnt give me any commands to push. Because of this, I took my time and I did not even tear. Having such a smooth confident delivery without medication enabled me to be up and about very quickly. People couldnt believe it when I put her in the sling on Boxing Day and went for a walk with my husband, our first family outing!
I would strongly recommend Natal Hypnotherapy. So many people have negative birth stories to tell but I am convinced that my birth went so well because I prepared effectively for it. I did not just leave it to chance or hand over the control of my birth to doctors. I would others to do the practice as this course recommends in order to give your baby the very best start possible.
My husband and I did the day workshop when I was 27 weeks and from thereon I practiced with the CD almost every day for either 40 minutes or 15 minutes depending on how much time I had. As the workshop recommended, I wrote out some affirmations that resonated well with me and posted them in various places round my house. Affirmations such as All I need to do is relax and breathe or I know my baby feels my calmness and confidence.
Before doing the course and reading widely about the natural process of giving birth, I guess that I had believed the idea which I think is prevalent in society that somehow humans werent made for giving birth; that we were somehow deficient in this area! However, after learning all I could about birth and doing all the hypnotherapy practice as the course and the CD recommended when I went into labour, I was very confident that my body would be able to birth my baby, just as my body knew how to grow my baby. I knew that my body was perfectly designed to have my baby, if only I would relax!
I had my favourite chilled tunes playing in the background throughout my active labour and the lights in the room were dimmed with fairy lights creating a calm atmosphere. The water was invaluable but the self-hypnosis gave me absolute confidence that I could do it.
The Natal Hypnotherapy gave me a battery of tools to help me relax. Because I was well prepared and had practiced the techniques, these tools came to me easily and naturally when I was in labour.
There were several different visualisations that I used in conjunction with my breathing, for example imagining looking out towards a beautiful red sunset across the sea. I imagined that the sea was a little choppy but with my outbreath, I was able breathe out a thread of golden light to calm the sea so it lay perfectly still. I also imagined a dial which could turn the intensity of the contraction down from 10 to 1. It gave my mind something to do other than panicking or focusing on the sensations. The natal hypnotherapy explained about the self-doubt phase where many women think I cant do this!.
While it never occurred to me that I couldnt do it, the sensations were definitely stronger than I ever imagined! Despite this, I found that I had all the tools to help me deal with the pain. I had read Ina May Gaskins book A Guide to Childbirth which talked about orgasmic births. The natal hypnotherapy course also promoted the idea that the sensations could be enjoyed. After each contraction, I knew the importance of welcoming each sensation as opposed to dreading it as I knew that it was bringing me closer to my baby.
My husband Dave was taught on the course how to help me and how to remind me to be calm using the 3-2-1 relax cue and how to use, touch, massage and breathing. I know that some men can feel helpless during the birthing process but the course gave us tools to ensure that he was an invaluable part of the process.
The midwives in attendance couldnt believe how calm I was, especially for my first baby. My mum also attended the birth. Initially, she had been very against me having a home birth and was very sceptical about the benefits of using hypnotherapy for birth but she is now a firm convert and tells everyone how wonderful it was and how calm I was!
Matilda Rose was born on Christmas Eve, 5 days before her due date, a perfectly healthy 6lbs 3oz. My wonderful midwife, Hayley Greenwood knew the techniques that I was using and was very supportive. She guided me only to trust my instincts and didnt give me any commands to push. Because of this, I took my time and I did not even tear. Having such a smooth confident delivery without medication enabled me to be up and about very quickly. People couldnt believe it when I put her in the sling on Boxing Day and went for a walk with my husband, our first family outing!
I would strongly recommend Natal Hypnotherapy. So many people have negative birth stories to tell but I am convinced that my birth went so well because I prepared effectively for it. I did not just leave it to chance or hand over the control of my birth to doctors. I would others to do the practice as this course recommends in order to give your baby the very best start possible.
Tacey
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I wasn't quite sure if my birth story would fit in this thread, as some people might not see it as positive. I feel like it was the most positive experience of my life, even though we had a scary few minutes at the end, so here's the link if you'd like to read!
holywoodmum
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I've just posted my birth story
https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...l-5-1kg-11lb-4oz-born-water.html#post21151957
Our son was a wonderful waterbirth with no other pain relief - all 5.1kg/11lb 4oz of him were born without a scratch to mum and we were home again 3 hours later. Hope you like it!
https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...l-5-1kg-11lb-4oz-born-water.html#post21151957
Our son was a wonderful waterbirth with no other pain relief - all 5.1kg/11lb 4oz of him were born without a scratch to mum and we were home again 3 hours later. Hope you like it!
Cails
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I am writing to announce the arrival of my beautiful baby girl Isla Anneliese. She was born September 26th at 10:32 in the morning. Here is my birth story-
On September 25th I was 8 days overdue. We were planning a home birth and I had just had an ultrasound to make sure she was doing ok in there. The doctor said she was getting too big and I would need to be induced.
We went to our midwife appointment and she said we could try a natural induction.
She performed a sweep (my third and most painful!) and arranged for her to come to our home the next evening to try an herbal induction.
The next night she came and gave me herbs. The sweep had made me extremely crampy and I was 70% effaced and 3cm dilated- ready to have a baby! So after 3 hours of the herbs we decided it was time to break my waters! She broke the waters (totally weird!) and I went into active labor straight away! Oh my!
Labor started out ok. It was 12:30am and I thought as I bounced on my birthing ball- I can totally do this! Contractions were about 5 minutes apart from the beginning and they progressed quite quickly. At around 4 in the morning I could no longer walk around or talk during contractions. I got in the shower and this helped for an hour while the midwives filled my birthing pool.
By this stage I was moaning and breathing though contractions. I was handling everything relatively well but was very tired. My OH was very supportive but I could no longer respond to him when he was talking to me as all my energy was going into riding the contractions.
At about 5am I got in the birthing pool. What a relief! All of sudden I was talking and even joking with OH. But that didnt last long. I entered transition and was vomiting and contractions were coming at me a minute apart. I moaned and breathed and my back felt like it was being pulled apart. I barely remember much from that time. It was the most difficult thing Ive ever done in my life. I struggled to ride the contractions and panicked a few times but just went back into my breathing and moaning. I thought to myself I totally CANT do this!
Then it was time for pushing!!!! It was a little scary the strength of the pushing. It wasnt coming from me- it was a force like nothing else. But my goodness it felt so right! The contractions didnt hurt anymore and it felt so good to know things were almost done. Pushing only lasted 30 minutes! She came out in the tub (yes the burning is awful!) and I reached down and grabbed her and pulled her up into my arms. It was the most amazing thing!! I said to her Hi Im Mummy about a million times! And she was beautiful and perfect and my OH cut the cord and then we got out of the pool and hopped into bed and snuggled!!!!! She took to the breast straight away with no problems.
Labour was a total of 10 hours. 2 hours transition, 30 minutes of pushing. She was born 9 lbs 7 oz. 9 days overdue! Perfect! We are so in love. If you are looking into a natural birth I cant endorse it enough. It was the hardest and best thing Ive ever done.
On September 25th I was 8 days overdue. We were planning a home birth and I had just had an ultrasound to make sure she was doing ok in there. The doctor said she was getting too big and I would need to be induced.
We went to our midwife appointment and she said we could try a natural induction.
She performed a sweep (my third and most painful!) and arranged for her to come to our home the next evening to try an herbal induction.
The next night she came and gave me herbs. The sweep had made me extremely crampy and I was 70% effaced and 3cm dilated- ready to have a baby! So after 3 hours of the herbs we decided it was time to break my waters! She broke the waters (totally weird!) and I went into active labor straight away! Oh my!
Labor started out ok. It was 12:30am and I thought as I bounced on my birthing ball- I can totally do this! Contractions were about 5 minutes apart from the beginning and they progressed quite quickly. At around 4 in the morning I could no longer walk around or talk during contractions. I got in the shower and this helped for an hour while the midwives filled my birthing pool.
By this stage I was moaning and breathing though contractions. I was handling everything relatively well but was very tired. My OH was very supportive but I could no longer respond to him when he was talking to me as all my energy was going into riding the contractions.
At about 5am I got in the birthing pool. What a relief! All of sudden I was talking and even joking with OH. But that didnt last long. I entered transition and was vomiting and contractions were coming at me a minute apart. I moaned and breathed and my back felt like it was being pulled apart. I barely remember much from that time. It was the most difficult thing Ive ever done in my life. I struggled to ride the contractions and panicked a few times but just went back into my breathing and moaning. I thought to myself I totally CANT do this!
Then it was time for pushing!!!! It was a little scary the strength of the pushing. It wasnt coming from me- it was a force like nothing else. But my goodness it felt so right! The contractions didnt hurt anymore and it felt so good to know things were almost done. Pushing only lasted 30 minutes! She came out in the tub (yes the burning is awful!) and I reached down and grabbed her and pulled her up into my arms. It was the most amazing thing!! I said to her Hi Im Mummy about a million times! And she was beautiful and perfect and my OH cut the cord and then we got out of the pool and hopped into bed and snuggled!!!!! She took to the breast straight away with no problems.
Labour was a total of 10 hours. 2 hours transition, 30 minutes of pushing. She was born 9 lbs 7 oz. 9 days overdue! Perfect! We are so in love. If you are looking into a natural birth I cant endorse it enough. It was the hardest and best thing Ive ever done.
lovealittle1
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Can I add mine please?? Here is the link
https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...1-baby-js-water-hbac-story-very-positive.html
https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...1-baby-js-water-hbac-story-very-positive.html
B
birth guru
Guest
Great post. You can also find LOTS of Positive birth stories on my website's blog just Google Yoga Janda in Vista, CA and you'll find many great stories written by my students.
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