Bodhi's Birth - Positive Emergency Caesarean
Christine and Callum’s Birth story of Bodhi:
Christine’s words -
My beautiful son Bodhi has just turned one and it’s time for us to get this down before the whirlwind of life takes over. This is my account as a mother of the most powerful and quite frankly, favourite few days I would love to relive over and over.
I struggled to enjoy pregnancy, I think mainly down to a previous miscarriage which hit me hard, we named her Luna and I want her to be part of this too, as she always will be part of our family. Luckily someone sent me in the direction of Katy Cooper and her welcoming weekly pregnancy yoga. The most serene Friday nights followed, up until the day before I went into labour, which I’m not sure she knows actually enabled me to make the most of my pregnancy and appreciate the beauty of it. Can I just say I was also able to paint my toe nails a week before giving birth too and I also put that down to the yoga!
Meeting Katy has had a huge impact on this birth as she introduced me to hypnobirthing. I quickly booked onto a private course with her… my words to my husband Callum, ‘this is the only thing I want to do during this pregnancy!’. Callum’s thoughts, “what is she going on about now”.
After a quick sell and sending Cal some info, not like he had a choice, we were booked on and the date when Katy turned up at our door soon arrived.
Hynobirthing opened both of our eyes to so much in so many ways. It was incredibly informative and I now feel like I need to scream from the rooftops that it really is life changing and creates the most beautiful birth experiences no matter how your little ones comes out. Stay with me… Bodhi was born by emergency caesarean so if you think hypnobirthing is for natural home births only, you’re wrong!
My labour started perfectly. I spent the afternoon with my parents and Callum at the pub watching him play cricket in the sunshine and then watching England in the world cup, I think the jumping and cheering got things going, coupled with a lovely relaxed day with loved ones. I felt twinges in the afternoon but had done so the week before so didn’t think too much of them, but they weren’t going anywhere so we headed home to relax just in case.
By 19:00 that Saturday evening I was hugging my exercise ball and gently rocking, very calm and just happy from the day, trying to decide if this was it. We had organised a few days before to go to our neighbours house for a BBQ that evening so we did. We sat in their garden having chilled drinks by candle light just the four of us, it was very tranquil and I began to time my contractions as I was beginning to have to breathe through them. At 23:00 I said I think we should go home just to make sure I was still capable of waddling around the corner.
By this time the surges where 5 minutes apart and regular which stayed the same through till 09:00 Sunday morning where they became more powerful and after keeping me up all night.
We had a knock back though. After being booked in at the birth centre Callum had to break the news to me that it was closed due to staff shortages, we found this out when he called them in the night to let them know things had started. It was quite a mental obstacle for me as I originally wanted a home birth, but due to our house location our chosen care team didn’t cover the area. We had settled on the birth centre earlier on in the pregnancy and I had visualised our birth there for months, we had been to view the rooms and meet the midwives. We even had our favourite mugs and tea packed to celebrate with after our baby had arrived. But no such luck… my worst nightmare happened…. the labour ward. Between 05:00 and 09:00 I had listened to my hypnobirthing tracks and manage to reset my thinking. Only to arrive at around 09:30 to a hot bright waiting room with people everywhere. I put a jumper over my head and kneeled on a chair, closed my eyes and tried my very hardest to imagine being else where.
Needless to say that by the time we were called through into the most medical room you could image, even hotter and brighter than the waiting room, I agreed to be examined, lay back on the bed and my contractions basically stopped. I mean I’m not surprised, why would my body and my natural instincts want to have my baby there?! I was on my back, with a jumper over my head, my earphones in trying to ignore everything around me. The midwife gave us the news that I was only 3cms dilated. I’m pretty sure I just closed up down there and my body said no!
It was ok though, Cal and I had a conversation and it was back to the car to go home, relax and get things going again. At least we knew what to expect the next time we went down. Oh boy I was more prepared the next time. I lay down in the back of the car while Callum paid for the parking ticket and my surges started up again, even our car was more comforting than the hospital.
I went home and had a lovely bath. we closed the curtains, relit candles and enjoyed it together. Our dogs were there, we listened to a playlist we had created and we put my favourite birth affirmation into practice. ‘Laugh, dance, sing, glow, let the oxytocin flow.
Things were getting more powerful throughout the late afternoon and around 17:00 we chose to head back to the hospital, this time mood board in hand, eye mask on and essential oils ready, headphones on full blast with my favourite relaxations… we were ready to do this, I was very excited, this was the part of pregnancy I was looking forward to!
By 18:00 on Sunday evening I was tucked up and comfy on a shared ward with lots of fans going, making jokes between surges and waiting for a room to become available. We lucked out… two midwives that usually work in the birth centre were on shift and took us under their wings after reading our birth preferences.
Jenny and Ellie really put my faith back into the labour ward, they were completely onboard and we were a team! We rearranged the bed, made it dark and calm and I was loving it! I had some gas and air, I found my safe space amongst what to me earlier on in the day was not.
Over the next few hours, things progressed well and time flew for me, I completely got into my own little world and breathed and rocked. However things seemed to slow down, I hadn’t dilated any further in quite a few hours and I agreed to an examination. My waters were yet to brake and I let them pop them to see if it would help things along the way, as we were into my second night of no sleep and my energy was starting to dip a little. Back to breathing my way though, looking at my mood board, holding Callum’s hand, and I’m not going to lie, enjoying the power and sensation of it all.
The next level came when I tried to get my baby and bring him into this world, I was floating through the stars, with voices telling me he’s coming, not long now! But then I came round, back in the room, no one said anything, and it was not time. I didn’t say anything and just thought it was strange and left it at that.
A little more time when on… I went back to the stars… The same voices were there, I thought this is it, Im going to meet my baby any minute. I’m about to crown… he’s coming… this is definitely it!!! …
I came back round, back in the room, I then spoke, I said somethings wrong. I had agreed to be on a monitor earlier on in the evening and as it didn’t inhibit my desired position and I wasn’t noticing it, I let it stay on.
I said something was wrong, not in a panic but calmly, I told Callum, I told the midwives, both of which tried to assure me to keep going and everything was ok. Up until that point Callum had been the one communicating with the midwives so I could happily stay in my birth bubble. Callum was so prepared and handled everything so I could just do my thing.
But I knew something wasn’t right. I had been to get my baby twice but he was stuck.
I finally got through to Cal and said somethings really not right, I was very tired and we were into the early hours of Monday morning. I asked for help, I discussed my options with the team and we requested an epidural.
The anaesthetist came, looked at the monitor and said I was too far gone for the epidural. My surges were almost continual with only seconds in-between but my midwife had examined me an I was no where near fully dilated, so they let me have the epidural, I lay down on my side, the first time off my knees in hours and Bodhi’s heart rate plummeted instantly. My instincts were right. They had a team in straight away with paperwork for an emergency c-section which I managed to sign and we were off… wheeled away… still somehow in my birth bubble and still breathing my way through.
Callum wasn’t originally allowed in the operating theatre and was popped in a room next door but Bodhi stabilised enough for him to be allowed back in, they gave him some blue scrubs and he sat next to me. The way he looked at me I’ll never forget. Callum had to try to pull him self together after being separated from us and tried to be strong again but he was still tearing up, but I have never felt more loved than in that very moment and I will never forget it, my man by my side through it all.
My instincts had kicked in again and I had the overwhelming feeling that my baby was fine and this was how he was going to make his entrance. I had done a good amount of research about emergency c-sections just in case, so felt semi prepared and continued my relaxations and breathing. This is where the hypnobirthing became so invaluable, I lay there, prepared, having gone from, home birth to birth centre, to labour ward, to 36 hours natural labouring, to epidural, to emergency c-section… could I tick anymore boxes.
I lay there prepared, confident, breathing my way through, confident in my care team.
And there it was, at 03:23 on the Monday morning, my babies first cry, followed by my husbands and mine. My little boy was introduced to me and was 100% perfectly healthy, not a single thing wrong, just like I knew. I just knew he wasn’t arriving as planned. He was handed to his daddy as I requested and they put me back together and I met them in the room next door for my wonderful skin to skin and his first feed. There we were the 3 of us. Alone.
I felt overwhelmed, tired and oh so strong and powerful.
I loved almost every minute and would love to go through labour over and over. The power and amazement in my body I’ll never forget. The trust and intuition I’ll take forward everyday into motherhood, I’ll enjoy that connection forever, with Bodhi and Callum because hypnobirthing made my husband such an integral part of our birth to.
We have never been the same since and that connection will never be lost.
Woaw, what a positive birth experience!
Our goal at Body to Baby is to work with you and your birth partner to have a safe and positive birth for you, your birth partner and your baby, an experience you will treasure forever….just like Christine and Callum!
To find out more information about Body to Baby’s wonderful Hypnobirthing courses, please click the link below;