Jemma and her husband prepared for birth using hypnobirthing and pregnancy relaxation classes to top up the positive vibes.  This is the incredible birth of Sia.  

Many congratulations Jemma xx 

“Everyone has asked me what my experience of birthing my baby was like. The first word I say? Amazing.

It was a Saturday night and we went to my parents’ house for dinner – I jokingly referred to it as our last supper as just the four of us before our lives would change forever. With 11 days left until guess date it was our last opportunity for a relaxing evening! My husband enjoyed a glass of red with his fillet steak and cheekily tried to sneak a second, saying “oh baby won’t come tonight,” but knew better of risking it so instead settled for an after dinner coffee.

After a few hours in bed that night, what I thought was trapped wind awoke me at half past midnight. I went to the bathroom and reminded myself that it was too soon for baby to make an appearance.

I had only finished work the day before and had plans for my first week of maternity leave! Satisfied that it was nothing to worry about, I went back to sleep for an hour. This time the so-called trapped wind was stronger and when I went to the loo this time, I had a bloody show. I told hubby it definitely wasn’t trapped wind and we would be meeting our baby soon!

Hubby excitedly loaded up his app to time the surges and I walked up and down the landing trying to contain my nerves and excitement at the thought of meeting our baby in a matter of hours. We called triage and they asked us to call back when the surges were more regular and lasting over a minute.

Hubby ran me a bath and I tried to relax in the warm water as we listened to positive birth affirmations and calming music. I used the breathing we learnt in the hypnobirthing classes from this point onwards and they helped us both to focus and definitely made me more comfortable. I started to feel sick so got out the bath and put my pyjamas on. We went to our snug where I rocked on my birthing ball, tried to find something funny to watch on Netflix and put on my tens machine (we had only figured out how to use it the day before!) We couldn’t focus on finding something funny on Netflix as we were too excited, and I couldn’t stop being sick so we carried on listening to calming hypnobirthing music.

The surges were increasing in intensity so we decided to call triage again, and were asked to go in. Upon arriving at the hospital my vomiting increased but hubby reminded me that it was my body preparing to birth our baby. He filled my mind with positivity, reminding me that we were ready for this and we were going to be amazing.

Armed with my mood board, I focussed on the photographs of funny times, wonderful memories, our first fur baby – our golden retriever Shadow – and our wedding day. I was examined in triage and was disheartened to be told I was 1cm dilated.

We were given the option to go home or stay in. Because my blood pressure and pulse were so high, we decided it best to stay in. I had a bath in the hospital for about 4 hours which calmed me down and brought my blood pressure right down. Whilst in the bath, hubby helped fill my mind with positive birth affirmations he had learnt on the hypnobirthing course and we listened to calming music.

By about 8:30, it was time to be examined again. To our delight, I was 4-5cm and ready to go to the delivery suite. We were collected by a lovely midwife who walked us to room 3 – the room with the big birthing pool and the one we had hoped for. She examined me and I was already 8cm so got into the birthing pool not long after.

Hubby had been trying to put our fairy lights, tea-lights and positive birth affirmation bunting up around the room but things progressed quicker than we’d imagined so instead I focussed on my mood board and my husband. The surges soon became stronger but the gas and air really helped. Hubby was so tuned-in to my surges that he recognised the point they were at their most powerful – he did this by counting my breaths and telling me that they would soon be over and I would be able to rest. You have no idea how useful this was and it really got me through.

Before long I felt the desire to push but before I did, my midwife examined me to check I was ready. By 11am I was 10cm and my baby would soon be with us. I got back in the pool but the desire to push subsided for about 20 minutes. When it returned, my midwife talked me through how to push and with her guidance, hubby’s encouragement and support, I got my baby’s head out in 3 surges. We had our waterproof camera with us so the midwife took photos of us and baby throughout the birth. They’re for our eyes only but are incredible to look back at.

The midwife told me that in the next surge I would need to give it my all and I would be meeting my baby. By this point we had been listening to more upbeat music – I had a playlist called “happy music” – to help me with birthing my baby. The midwife encouraged us to put on an important song which our baby would be born to.

After just 15 minutes of pushing, our baby was born to the same song we had as our first dance at our wedding. It was the most amazing moment of our lives. Hubby picked baby up from the water and put baby on my chest. After 9 months of not knowing the gender, I couldn’t wait for him to tell me our baby’s sex and excitedly looked for myself. I was delighted to discover we had a baby girl. Hubby said I was “so cute with excitement” and shed a tear because he knew how much I wanted a girl.

In the days that followed the birth of our beautiful girl, the song that she was born to played over and over in my head. Whenever I listen to it, I well up as I remember the two best days of my life: marrying my best friend and meeting our precious girl.

Sia’s birthday was amazing. I wholeheartedly put it down to three things: 

1. hypnobirthing – we both learnt so much about birth, positivity, breathing techniques and staying comfortable

2. my mood board – this helped me to focus on the good times which kept the oxytocin flowing

3. Hubby – he was to tuned-in to my surges and used everything he learnt on the hypnobirthing course. He was incredible.”