The Calmbirth breathing and visualisation was amazing – I can honestly say I breathed Peyton out!

Olivia and Ben’s birth story

Peyton Jane Todkill

25.11.22
10.04am
7lbs 9oz
51cm

So incredibly in love

Born at 41+3. Had a stretch and sweep on Thursday 24th Nov at 9.30am that had encouraged bub to start on moving. I was offered a stretch and sleep on the Tuesday but chose not to go ahead as I and bub were feeling great and wanted to allow another day or two.

Waters broke at 11.45pm on Thursday night and we went into the hospital for a trace and check all was ok at 12.30am on Friday. Went back home and had regular contractions from 1.45am until 4am where I was able to just lay in bed and roll with the waves.

This was where the visualisation and breathing techniques were incredible to use and allowed me to focus and be comfortable.

My contractions intensified from 4am where I woke Ben up and got in the shower for a little bit, I was having 4 contractions every 10 mins with 1 min long contractions. Did a massive vomit just before we left to go to the hospital which was around 4.45am.

Got to the hospital at 4.50am and after a number of contractions from the carpark to the maternity ward I got straight in the bath at 5am where I never left.

The water was amazing, I had envisioned being in the water for my birth and was so happy I did it.

The contractions were extremely strong and at about 8.30am and I got the sterile Water Injections as the pain in my back was intense. They worked amazingly and helped so much with the pushing so I could just focus on my pelvis. I tried the gas but hated it. I timed the Injections well as they tend to fade away 2hrs after being done as little miss was born at 10.04am. I actively pushed for an hour and was able to catch her in the water and pull her up to me which was amazing!

Her umbilical cord actually broke when she came out as it was unusually short so they clamped it quite quickly and got me out of the bath quick to get me on the bed, that is all just a blur. No major concerns with her apart from having a slightly low heart rate but came back up quite quickly. I had her on me skin to skin for ages when I got on the bed. The placenta took a bit to get out. The ward Dr ended up coming in and getting it out and I had some internal tearing and was quite bruised so she got me into theatre at 12pm to stitch me up where I just got a spinal block and then I chose to be sedated, which gave me a good chance to sleep. Ended having a 3a tear. Ben was able to have a beautiful 2 hours one on one with Peyton while I was in surgery.

Peyton latched straight away and has been feeding beautifully ever since. We are just so in love and absolutely loving the cuddles and that incredible baby smell.

One thing that made my birthing experience so positive was Ben and I doing the Calmbirth course down in the Southern Highlands with Karen McClay. Doing the breathing and visualisation was amazing to put into practice and insane how simple it is but so incredibly effective. Ben was able to just say relax your face and remind me of my breathing and that was honestly life changing and kept me calm between each contraction. Each night in the lead up to the birth he would use the techniques learnt in the course such as the massage, pressure points and the jiggling to help me and that played a major part in how smooth the birth was.

I can honestly say I breathed Peyton out.