BIRTH STORY: Meet Baby Finley

I am sharing another birth story with you today. Sometimes, babies give their mamas the gift of self belief. Read on to find out how baby Finley did just that as told by Yogababy mama Marielle: 

"Just wanted to tell you that my baby boy arrived safely on Sunday three days early after much anticipation! 

Thank you for all your guidance and help in the classes, the skills were a great help through my labour. 

To tell a bit about my story, on Saturday night my husband and I went to dinner and stayed out quite late, having no idea I’d be in labour three hours later! At 2:30 am I started having regular, moderate contractions. (I think perhaps the mild ones were while I was asleep) 

By 5:30am they were picking up, and I bought perhaps my water had broken. I called the hospital and they advised me to go in at 7:30. For the next two hours I did a lot of the ball exercises, rebozo sifting with my partner and breathing techniques in the bath. 

We went to the hospital but I was only 1cm dilated so told to go home, as it could go on for a very long time. I laboured at home for the next two and a half hours, using breathing, and the yoga ball and some vocalisation, by which time I told my husband we needed to go back in, even though it had been a short time. I called the hospital and convinced them I needed to come back in, as the contractions were so intense. 

My plan was to have an epidural on arrival. When the midwife monitored me, she asked me , do you want the good news or the bad news? I said bad first. She said, your birth plan is out the window, it’s too late for an epidural, you are fully dilated, you are having this baby now. What she also said that was really powerful was that you need to believe in yourself right now that you can have this baby without the epidural, it’s too late. You need to focus all of your energy on pushing, and push the pain away. The next hour and a half were intensely focussed,  with me being coached how to push, and focusing all my energy on this one task. The midwife and OB also reassured me when I needed a small cut and when I was afraid of the last part of crowning, and none of it was anywhere near as bad as I had expected. 

Baby Finley was born ten mins later, and placed on my chest. I bawled my eyes out with relief, and disbelief that I had done this on my own. A quick birth with no pain relief was not the experience I had expected to have at all. In a funny way it was sort of healing, to realise I was actually capable of more than I thought I was, and am very grateful for the experience. 

Look forward to rejoining the mums and bubs classes in January."

Thank you Marielle for sharing your beautiful birth story with us. Congratulations and we cannot wait to see you in our Mums & Bubs class in the new year.