Birth story – Sonja, Chris and baby Alexander

We wanted to share the story of Alexander’s birth as it was such a positive experience for us and we benefited from reading about other people’s stories throughout the pregnancy so thought others might enjoy reading this. This is also an opportunity to say thank you to Tracey – whose support, teaching and care made our lovely birth possible. It is safe to say that we are total converts to hypnobirthing and viewing labour as a positive and empowering experience, which is a huge leap for us as I began the pregnancy certain that the baby would be delivered under consultant care and with as much pain relief as possible.

On the day that Alexander was born, my waters broke in the night around 4.30 am and I started getting contractions. We were sure it was still early labour as although the contractions were intense, they did not have a regular pattern and were actually almost continuous so we were thinking we have a long day ahead of us. I was finding the intensity hard to manage, so I got in touch with Tracey for some support. Tracey came right away, arriving around 7am, she took control of the situation, reinstated calm and got me set up with a Tens machine while helping me to breathe through the contractions and use the hypnobirthing techniques I had learnt. As the contractions did not follow a regular pattern, it was difficult to know how far the labour had progressed and Tracey suggested the use of Jasmine essential oil which really helped.

Around 9ish we started thinking about making our way to the hospital as we had planned to make use of the pool but before we could, my contractions regulated and the baby was crowning. Pushing took just a few minutes and was almost pain-free and then Alexander came into the world so relaxed and beautiful at 9.45. He was delivered in our living room, with no pain relief except for two paracetamol I had taken earlier!

As we ended up having an unplanned home birth we needed to get in touch with the paramedics. The ambulance arrived and they cut the cord and then the midwife came to help deliver the placenta and check both baby and me. As everyone was well we did not need to go into hospital and by 11am we were left alone at home to have one of the best days of our lives with our gorgeous new bundle in our arms.

Throughout the pregnancy and the labour, Tracey’s support was invaluable and it is hard to express just how much she did for us. I think it’s the combination of her knowledge as a nurse, the experience of supporting many labouring mums and most of all her warmth and natural intuition that make her an incredible companion and help. We will always be grateful to her.

We’ll certainly choose to have home births in the future (if we are lucky enough to have another little one) so long as Tracey is able to support us and we can do a refresher course in hypnobirthing!

Thank you again Tracey for helping us have a better birth than we could have ever imagined and for providing such an amazing start to Alexander’s life. .