Introducing Sophia! A baby birth story

**Disclaimer - could be graphic. If you are easily offended or have strong feelings on birth then you should probably skip this post.**

From the mom's perspective:  

I have this theory: Pregnancy and birth are a natural and normal process. 

On Tuesday, October 25th at 11:30pm it started! Or at least I think it started. It could have started earlier but I was busy talking to my dad on Skype and fielding "Where is the baby?" messages. Any way, at 11:30pm I decided to join Mike and hit the hay! I had been practicing the Hypno Birthing relaxation CD since about 28 weeks pregnant and this evening was no exception.  The track is about 30 minutes long and typically by the end I would be fast asleep. But this night was different. I got through 30 minutes and was still awake. I thought that was weird. So I hit the bathroom and discovered some blood. Hummm... I thought. That is weird. So I woke Mike up and he reminded me to call the delivery unit at the hospital to see what we should do. (Under the British NHS system you call the hospital and they dispatch the local midwives) So that's what I did! They asked me if I was having contractions and honestly I didn't know. I was having period pains but it wasn't anything terrible. (and I have a low tolerance for pain - just ask my dentist) So the hospital told me to call back when the contractions got closer together.

In the meantime and to my surprise, Mike was setting out all our Home birth items. For some reason he just knew what was going on and I was still thinking we had a long time to go. In any case, he lit candles and put on my relaxation music. He set up my yoga ball, a chair and a blanket. He got our snacks together and lots of different beverages. I was busy trying out the TENS machine. It's a electric pulse machine that people use for back pain or labor pains here in the UK.  So with the bedroom all set up and inviting; Mike and I waited for things to progress.

Wednesday, October 26th at around midnight I knew that birth was on the horizon. The contractions seemed stronger and closer together. Mike was timing them. I would switch positions from standing to laying on the bed to all fours on the floor to sitting on the floor.  I remember my being really cold and then really hot all in the course of a minute. And in between the contractions I would focus on breathing and relaxation using all the yoga techniques and Hypno Birthing techniques that I knew of. Mike kept feeding me and giving me drinks and encouraging the whole process.  My body began to focus on elimination. I found myself in the bathroom every couple of minutes. By the time 3am rolled around I thought it would be a good idea to call the Hospital again. So I called them and asked them to send the midwife out. A couple minutes later the midwife called and we chatted. She said she was an hour away but that she would be here. So in the meantime, I continued to breath and relax and focus on the contractions. Eventually, I started getting the urge to push during the contractions. It was a truly primal feeling that I couldn't control (although I tried). During this time Mike was starting a bath and encouraged me that I was doing great. (I did say to him that I didn't think I could do it and that we should go to the hospital - typical verbiage from a lady in transition) I got in the warm bath and the urge to push was overwhelming. I was worried because I wasn't in labor long and that's when the midwife arrived. She was surprised to see that I was already pushing. She promptly called the 2nd midwife and told her to come asap with all the equipment. I tried to resist the urge to push but Sophia was ready to come. So with 2 contractions she joined us in the warm tub. She was born at 6:23am and Mike got to take the time.

Sophia and I hung out in the tub for a while until the 2nd midwife arrived. Sophia was perfect! During that time I tried to deliver the after birth but the position I was in just wasn't allowing that to happen. So when the 2nd midwife arrived they stood me up and gravity delivered the afterbirth. Then we walked over to the bedroom to get more light. There they accessed Sophia and I and determined that we were both fine! I had a labia tear so they advised to go to the hospital to have that stitched up. They also allowed Mike to cut the cord at that time. We ended up having a long time of skin to skin contact with both Mike and I and the cord was done pulsating before we cut the cord.

After all that we headed to the hospital where they stitched me up. Had it been a perineum tear they would have done it at our house but since there are so many nerves where the labia is they recommended local numbing.  So they stitched me up and took a look over Sophia to make sure she was okay. She was totally fine! Then we went home.

Looking back I was very vocal during contractions. I was able to tell Mike how I was feeling and what my thoughts were. This is why the midwife was so surprised when she came to our house to find me pushing. That meant that when I talked to her I was going through transition. I practiced Active labor and yoga techniques during contractions and practiced Hypno Birthing relaxation techniques during the down times. This allowed me to focus on resting, rather than pain. And the most important piece of this birth was Mike. He was the best birth companion I could ever ask for. He was calm, encouraging, smiling, force feeding me and just over all an amazing companion. Without his support I would have been scared but seeing his calm face told me that everything was okay.

Sophia Llewellyn Rachanow

Born: October 26th, 2011 at 6:23am

Weighed 7 lbs 8 oz

Born into our family at Home without intervention

Proving that birth (in most cases) is a natural and normal process.