Ehlana’s Birth Story - Intervention-free Birth
In the lead up to my birth, I regularly practiced the meditations - sometimes during the day, sometimes to fall back asleep and found the 'Rainbow Mist' track to be the one I responded to most. I would also regularly play the affirmations track as I was falling asleep, as well as looking at and saying them aloud regularly. In the lead up to labour, I carried no fear and I really believe the birth affirmations helped with this. Not only that, I gained such a great understanding of what my baby and body was going to do during labour from your workshop, that I was feeling positive, determined and confident. I also practiced my breathwork daily - if I was stressed, on the loo, in bed battling insomnia!
At 40w4d, I went into spontaneous labour with my first surges starting at around 11am. I continued to potter around the house but it felt like the surges went from 20, to 15, to 10 minutes apart quite quickly and by 12:30pm, they were hovering at around 4-6 minutes apart. I'd thought that I would play the meditation tracks, but I found my own music combined with the breathwork helped me through each contraction and so we listed to every track that a band called Mandolin Orange has ever released and probably again! We headed to the hospital at about 2:45pm and they checked me and held 4 fingers up to signify the number of CM I was, I didn't want to know though so only Jesse knew this!
We arrived in the beautiful birthing suite at Joan Kirner Womens and Childrens Hospital in Sunshine and after labouring standing leaning over the bed for about an hour, I moved into the bath and this is where I spent majority of the rest of my labour. Jesse was an amazing birth partner and in the 1-2 crisis of confidence that I had towards the end and also every single surge, he would remind me to breathe by breathing with me, putting my calming essential oils on in the diffuser and my pressure points and applying pressure to my back. He was incredible and I'm so grateful for his support. Alongside that, I had continuity of care through the MGP program that meant my main midwife Caitlin and student midwife Meg who I had been seeing through the entire pregnancy were there on the day as part of my birthing team too. These ladies are incredible and I'm so grateful for the love, support and knowledge they provided to me too.
When my waters broke, there was meconium in my waters which meant I had to get out of the bath and onto the bed, where I leant on my knees up and over the bed head. I remember this part vividly as the transition from the water to the bed was incredibly painful.
I was determined though and spent 2 hours on the bed, 40 minutes of pushing and our Jimmi Darrlin was here, healthy and happy ❤
Despite not being able to birth in the water, I had my dream birth - 10 hours of labour with no pain relief except breathwork at the different stages, horse lips, and holding onto 2 hair combs for acupressure! I'm still in absolute awe at what the female body is capable of!
So thank you so much again, I loved your workshop and wholeheartedly believe the techniques learnt are what got me through my labour, as well as my dream birthing support team. I would absolutely recommend your workshop to any expecting parents.
