After a crazy few months, some much need time off and lots of teaching I’ve finally got round to sharing this birth story!
My beautiful daughter, Rosalie Marley Hewson, was (finally!) born on the 1st June at 10.05pm, weighing in at a whopping 9 pound 2 (doesn’t sound so whopping when I have just read about a 6kg / 13lb baby).
I have always been terrified of hospitals and anything clinical, so the prospect of having a baby in such an environment was a little daunting. I knew I needed to make the process as relaxing as possible so looking for a pregnancy yoga class was one of the first things I did when we became pregnant. Luckily I didn’t have to look very far because Jai lives a few doors down from me and I saw many posters and flyers around the area with the details of the class. I started yoga at quite an early stage and it became something that I literally couldn’t get through the week without, it connected me to my baby, gave me chance to reflect on the pregnancy and stretched those muscles that were working overtime. But as well as all that, I started to make some amazing friends, women who live in the same area and who are going through this same huge life change. You need people like this in your life at this stage, and having very few friends in the area because we have just moved here, it really made a difference.
As my pregnancy progressed, it was actually really quite amazing. I loved the bump and felt very fulfilled. However, once that third trimester came along, I started to experience pain due to what was diagnosed as PGP. As time went on, life became quite hard because I couldn’t walk properly which meant doing anything at all was almost impossible. So, yoga stopped for me, but I remembered everything I learnt both at the yoga class and at the 4 hr and 2 hr prepare for birth courses that my husband and I attended.
The last part of the pregnancy dragged on so much, I was so isolated and frustrated, but the friends that I made in class were such a rock of support and comfort, I had luches with them when I could and the whatsapp group was such a lovely thing to vent on when I needed to!!
But most importantly, the breathing and relaxation techniques that I learnt through Jai’s classes and workshops got me through every day. Then, when labour slowly came on (over a period of 3 days of soft contractions on and off, so I was in denial right up until the end that it actually was labour!) I used the breathing techniques, ball techniques, thought about my baby and consciously and activly seperated my mind from the pain and connected with the oxytocyn feelings of happiness! It sounds crazy to me, I’ve never really been in to any of this kind of thing, but it truly works because after not very long, soaking in my bath and listening to the relaxation tracks, my contractions were far enough apart to set off for the hospital. When I got out of the bath, I bled quite a bit, and really felt the heat of the contractions without the hot water to help me, but I kept calm, put the relaxation tracks on my headphones and blocked out the world. When we got to the birthing centre, I was so excited that I had made it there – all I ever wanted was a birthing centre natural birth and here I was with everything going to plan!! However, the midwife was concerned that I was bleeding and that the baby was still very high in my tummy and not very engaged. After an examination I was delighted to hear that I had made it to 9 cm with no gas and air!! But the midwife knew that things were not right so we were sent off to the delivery suite to see a doctor. I was so in the zone by this point that I didn’t really know what was going on, I just trusted in my husband and my mum to do what was best for me and kept relaxed. They broke my waters and after a while started me on a hormone drip because my contractions, although strong, were not pushing the baby out because her head was stuck in my pelvis. Later, we realized that this was the reason for my severe PGP during the last few months. The contractions became stronger and more painful but I kept in my zone with gas and air. I had gone backwards to 6cm without the bulge of the waters pushing down, but managed to keep going to 8cm. I was going for around 15 hrs (including the home contractions) before the doctor suggested we get a C section to get baby out because her head is too stuck to make it on our own. My husband was wonderful – he remembered everything Jai told him to and dispite the doctors and midwives wanting to dusrupt me, he asked all the questions and allowed me to not only stay in my zone but also gave me time to make my decision without feeling rushed in to anything (the surgeon really didn’t like him asking what would happen if we let me progress rather than have the section – but it’s important to have all the information!) We were whisked away very quickly to a wonderful staff at the theatre, and I didn’t feel anxious at all, I asked to have my husband’s face in front of me the whole time and they even had midwives on the floor to make room for him during the epidural, which I was nurvous about during pregnancy. It was the strangest feeling, not feeling ANYTHING below the boobs, but within minutes she was out and pooping over everyone which we found hillerious, but also grateful that we made the right decision – she wouldn’t poop if she was content in there.
The next day was a bit of a blur – I had complications from my section where my bowel shut down because of trauma. My abdomen basically blew up and I was in a lot of pain, not really aware of anything around me but this time not intentionally!!!!
It was a very scary time. I had to have a tube down my nose to relieve the build up which by the way, I would do labour four times over so as not to have that again!!!! But it all managed to correct itself, and only meant a few extra days in the hospital in all, so I count myself very lucky and I don’t think my husband and I will ever take each other for granted again, that’s for sure!!!
But now, here we are with our beautiful baby in our arms, trying to figure out how on earth we are going to do this!!! Its scary … its all scary from now on … But it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. I proved to myself that I’m not the wimp I thought I was, and that my body can do absolutly amazing things. I also proved to myself that I am capable of getting through anything, if I just take a step back and breathe. I am no longer afraid of hospitals, needles, or anything clinical – something i thought I’d never say. I am superwoman – I can do anything and I’m still proving that with every day – my milk came in today and I can’t tell you how amazing it feels to be able to feed my baby like that!! These things are all gifts that I can pass on to my daughter – to be a superwoman – and I am forever grateful to Jai for teaching me the techniques that helped me get there.
I can’t wait to take Rosalie to her first yoga class soon!!!
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Jaina.bhana-mistry@lushtums.co.uk
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PREGNANCY & POSTNATAL YOGA 