The Birth of Abigail - Standing up for OUR choices
Words from Callum;-
“It was a very long and exhausting labour but could have been so much worse if not for our hypnobirthing techniques. Waters broke at 2:30am on Tuesday and waves started soon after - early labour was spent resting, eating and watching TV (both Shrek films, if you were wondering!!).
At about lunchtime the waves were getting pretty intense so we set the room up with dimmed lights, nice smells, music and other anchors, got into the pool and started focusing more on breathing through, with a relaxation script between each one to keep Cherise calm.
She got the urge to push about 11pm but wasn't fully dilated (that didnt happen until 3am), and by 5am the midwifes suggested we transfer to hospital.
In the last 5 hours the waves came on too quick for our relaxation script between each one so we fell into a rhythym of 'wave, water, snack, breathe' with plenty of affirmations. When we got to the hospital they tried to offer us assisted delivery which we knew we didn't want to do, but knowing we were in control meant we weren't pressured into anything we didn't want even when a very 'passionate' anaesthetist tried to belittle us into it (I'll be honest, I was sleep deprived and very grumpy and may not have been 100% polite with him after that but never mind ️)
Little Abigail was finally born at 9:30am on Wednesday 26th May via c-section, weighing 8lb 2oz, and the second we saw her and heard her little cry it was all worth it (I definitely burst into tears but I'm blaming the sleep deprivation more than anything ).
In a weird way, the c-section was really lovely - the staff were mostly really sweet (and we knew one of the doctors from church!) and by then Cherise was so exhausted that the spinal block was incredibly welcome.
Cherise was relaxed enough that she would say labour was never really painful (even when she was utterly exhausted) and knowing we were in control through the entire experience meant we were still happy with the outcome.
Thank you Katy for all of your help and support leading to this moment xxx ”
Words from Cherise:-
‘I was having a think today and just wanted to thank you again so much for your hypnobirthing course!
Our labour even though we did have to transfer went so well and I really feel we were so so much better equipped to do it positively and calmly.
But particularly for me especially, I wanted to thank you for teaching us what our rights were and about consent.
When we got to the hospital we were immediately offered so many interventions, there was this doctor when we first arrived who was just straight away 'we're GOING to do this' Callum said 'actually we discussed this before hand and we'd rather do this' and he became very rude -
He said things like
'you're making a silly decision'
'you're putting your baby at risk'
'oh is that your professional opinion?
‘Tell me what do you do for a living?'
.....ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!
Callum was really firm (because we knew we could be!) & told him he was being incredibly rude & that he was not helping in this situation - he kind of just slunk away after & did his job quietly
After that, it went really well, all the other doctors we're really respectful of what we wanted, they transferred us to the team doing the c-section who we're really friendly, they were very reassuring & offered to take some lovely photos for us
I felt so calm and content at this point & when the baby came it really was magical
I cant even imagine having that ridiculous doctor & us not really knowing we had the right to say no, or the right to make our own choices, or even just the confidence & knowledge to even be able to make our own choices.
Our birth would have been completely different if it wasn’t for you! Thank you again so much! Xxx”
