Claire was featured in the Sun’s Saturday Magazine in January 2012
You can read the article in Fabulous Magazine here
I want you to know that the eagle has landed! Flora Hermione Love Williamson arrived at earth 6.56am last Wednesday, weighing in at 8lb 2oz. I laboured for 30 hours with no pain relief except for paracetamol, the pool & of course hypnobirthing. I’m incredibly proud of this!
I started getting regular surges at 2am Tuesday morning further to some acupuncture the previous evening & had a sneaky suspicion that ‘this was it’. I told Jason to get some sleep. We rang the hospital at about 10am the following morning but made the decision to stay at home. Jason’s attempts at timing the surges hadn’t been great so we weren’t really too sure where we were up to, but by 12ish I knew I needed to go in as I was beginning to struggle.
I’d been violently sick throughout the night & by the time I got to hospital I was pretty badly dehydrated. Surges were about 2 minutes apart & I was 6cm dilated, however I was losing control due to lack of energy & the dehydration. The next couple of hours were pretty awful. They tried me on some gas & air but that made me feel even less in control. They then wanted to give me diamorphine so I’d relax enough to eat & drink. I asked what the alternative was & was offered a couple of paracetamol & a codine tablet. This, along with an anti sickness injection, was enough to take the edge off & allowed me to eat & drink to sort myself out so I was able to use the pool.
The pool was absolutely incredible! I don’t even know how long I was in there for. I just listened to the hypnobirthing music & cds & in my absolute element. I felt really in tune with what was happening with my body & it was an incredible sensation. I loved it & it was just what I needed to regain control after the previous few hours. Eventually I felt that my surges were slowing so got out. By this point I had only dilated a couple more cm but I had no problem with this as I felt relaxed & able to continue.
The hospital however did have a problem & sent in the head midwife to pressure me into allowing them to break my waters.
She gave me a long lecture about how I wouldn’t contract any further without it & realistically I would also have to have the syntocinin. If I wanted to wait until the morning to decide & get some rest I wouldn’t be able to do it without an epidural, so that was my other option. If I left it, the likelihood would be that I’d end up with an emcs! We were also told that if they had to fetch the doctors, they wouldn’t be as sympathetic. It was about midnight & we refused & told them that we weren’t prepared to talk to the doctors. Jason stayed really strong for me.
We tried to rest, however an hour or so later I was ready to go again. I took another couple of paracetamol & another codine tablet & went for it. My waters broke & when they examined me, I was fully dilated & felt ready to push. By this point I was pretty ferrel! I was still using the hypnobirthing techniques however it was an incredibly intense experience & I don’t think anything could have prepared me for it. It was still absolutely amazing though! I was counting through the surges & on Sharon’s advice thinking about them as a wave. I knew at which point they would start to peak which made them feel like they were half the time that they actually were. Her head finally appeared & the joy was immense, however her shoulder then got stuck & the emergency alarm had to be pressed. About 5 midwifes rushed in, lights on, I was bundled up onto the bed & (I think) somehow twisted which released her shoulder & out she popped!
The intensity of the whole experience along with the relief that Flora was ok will stay with me forever, as will the feeling that I actually enjoyed the 30 hours that I went through with her. I will always remember the experience as being positive & an achievement & I have you to thank. So thank you oh so very much for making this the birth that I wanted it to be & also for giving me the strength to believe in my own body & Jason the strength to stand up to the medical team!
Looking forward to seeing you with little lady Flora in tow!
Claire, Jason & Flora xxx
PS I also had a physiological third stage!
