Hi Sharon
We had a little girl at the beginning of February - Florence Elizabeth. Birth was all very straight forward again thankfully. We are really enjoying having a baby around again....
1hr 24mins (1st stage) and 2nd stage (pushing) was only 3 mins!! She shot out still in her waters! However I had contractions building up to the first stage for about 9 hours although this was all manageable.
I tried gas and air but didn't find it of any use and it hampered my ability to breathe which made me loose focus. I had my TENS machine though as I did with previous labour and found this to be really helpful at both reducing intensity of contractions and distracting me.
Florence was born at 10.30pm and we went home after lunch the next day.
I did this course before the birth of my son 3 years ago and as my first daughter was born by C-section, I had no comparison of experiencing natural child birth. This blissful unawareness allowed me to labour step by step and just see how I went. Thankfully through using hyno- birthing, keeping focused and calm I had an amazing water birth with no assistance or drugs. I planned to do this again with Florence's birth and thankfully I did. I was lucky enough to have another peaceful, natural and unassisted birth (and totally drug free).
I would add that at times I found it harder to keep on track as I sort of knew what was ahead for me (in terms of intensity of contractions, potential length of labour etc). This did make me waver a few times but with Greg's support and getting him to read outloud the positive affirmations etc, it helped me re-focus and regain the control. It really is all about mind over matter and keeping calm, confident and in control. With our family now complete, I feel very lucky to have had the wonderful birth experiences I did.
(Carla's previous birth story is also on our website)