Liz and Gordon’s Birth Story

From Liz :

I went into labour at home early in the morning and fairly quickly had quite intense contractions. Having a fit ball, a tens machine, a bath at home and breathing techniques to use during contractions were all really helpful for that stage of labour. When we went in to hospital I wasn’t very far progressed despite the fairly frequent and strong contractions- rather than going back home (we live half an hour away) I preferred to stay at the hospital and after another few hours of labouring things were progressing well.

The tens machine really gave me some relief through that time and something I had control over and could focus on during contractions. I had an epidural in the evening, I was really glad I’d learnt about the risks and benefits beforehand and was able to decide that this was the best option for me when the time came. It allowed both me and my partner to get a bit of rest before it was time to do the final push and bring our baby Casper into the world just before midnight.

We were so impressed with the midwives – their knowledge, competence and efficiency were second to none. For me, the benefit of doing the Calmbirth course was understanding the physiology of each stage of birth and what the body is working towards, it helped us to understand different options at different stages. It also was so useful for my partner- he was all action stations from the very beginning and was able to be calm, present and involved at each stage of labour and birth.

My message to other couples would be that it’s absolutely worth spending the time understanding the birth process, and also important to be open to things not going ‘typically’ – every woman, baby and birth is so different, but trust your midwives to be your guides through the process, they are superheroes. I also highly recommend having an easy drink water bottle with a straw, some Powerade and red frogs on hand for quick energy.

We really appreciate Karen’s time and expertise and we’d gladly recommend the Calmbirth course to other couples. And Karen was dead right – the first shower after giving birth is the best you’ll have in your life!

From Gordon:

The Calmbirth course was great to be able to recognise the stages of labour when they happened. As a partner some great advice I was given was to do a practice run of the route to the hospital – which way you’ll go, where to park, how to get in the building. It made this process much less stressful on the day when everything was happening. Having been walked through each stage of labour and birth with Karen it was so much easier to be calm and supportive to my partner.