“I am so proud of myself. So proud of being a woman. So proud that I laboured so naturally against all the odds.”
Eilis had attended Lynn’s pregnancy yoga classes. She gave birth in January 2018, demonstrating the incredible strength women are capable of, and the power of breathing, grounding yourself, and creating a positive birthing experience. Here’s her inspiring story…
Our beautiful Robin Elizabeth arrived a few weeks ago, weighing a ditty 3kg. She is absolutely wonderful The love we feel for her is on another level. Plus she feeds well on the breast and loves a good sleep so it’s hard not to like her!
In many ways my birth did go the way I had envisaged it, but from the outside anyone might be shocked to hear that coming from me.
I had planned a home birth but that didn’t happen. I had felt lots of tightenings for the few days before the birth, and I was 40 plus 5 when the tightenings became more frequent – they also had a different ‘edge’. I had a Midwife appointment that morning, so off I went, still not 100% sure “this was it”. She did an internal examination to see if I was dilating, and I was 3cm! Unfortunately, that’s where things took a turn…
Following the internal there was a loss of blood. The cause was unclear, so I had to go to the day unit and get checked out. This resulted in the cancellation of my home birth. I could no longer go to the birth centre as hoped but rather now had to go to the labour ward. Fortunately all the checks showed my baby was fine.
I was allowed to try to give birth naturally, but in a time scale of 12 hours. I was on continuous monitoring, the strip lighting couldn’t be dimmed and there was no ball that I could use.
I felt like an army of people would descend into the room at times – students. registrars, consultants, midwives…always leaving the door open. Asking questions mid-surge, but not as open to answering my questions. No-one in that room was more protective of my baby than me.
So you’re probably wondering, how could the birth have gone the way I envisaged it? Well, giving birth at home was just a small part of what I had been working on.
I was mainly focused on staying calm, staying in control, my breathing, using my partner, and connecting with my baby. And that’s what I did. There was a ledge within reach of the bed and I set up home there: I had pictures of my mum and my cousin – two strong women – and my partner played music from his phone.
I turned into the corner and I stayed in my zone. All my yoga was within me… I swayed my hips, stayed flat on my feet, grounding myself, and I breathed into and out of each surge. My baby’s heart rate never flinched. Finally, I was fully dilated and could feel her descending, but the imagined medical time had elapsed. I argued my case with the professionals before I agreed to a C section, which went well but they never did figure out what had caused the blood loss.
It was a tough experience in many ways, but I am so proud of myself. So proud of being a woman. So proud that I laboured so naturally against all the odds. My husband has told me he fell 100 times more in love with me watching how I dealt with that situation.
It may not seem like a “positive birth story” but to me it genuinely has shown how amazing our bodies are and how amazing women are.
No matter what journey your birth takes, remember that you bring all the strength with you from within!
