Rae Alice Hope Florance
23rd July 2022
Third Time Parents
Rainbow Baby
Born at 38 weeks + 4 days
Inverurie Community Maternity Unit
Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery
Getting Started
Things started Friday 22nd July - I was out for dinner with friends when I noticed regular tightenings about 25 minutes apart so made my way home. When I got home I discussed with my husband the likelihood that this was the real thing (me thinking not)! To which he reminded me that I’d done this with our previous two children’s births! So without further ado I called my friend to come and get our dog, my sister to come and look after our two little ones and then called triage. I explained that my surges were now 10 minutes apart and was advised I could wait at home a little longer for things to progress. So went for a walk with my husband and then had a bath, after which, things really started getting going so I put my tens machine on. We then listened to one of the audio relaxations that Lara Jo had provided us with whilst I bounced on a birthing ball and things continued to progress so we decided about 02:30 to head to the Inverurie Community Maternity Unit (CMU).
Using a Birth Plan
On route we listened to the audio affirmations Lara Jo had provided us with. Once we arrived at the CMU we were met outside by our midwife who took us to a triage room where we talked through our birth plan and then headed to our birthing suite. Upon entering the birthing suite I felt calm, the room was dimly lit and there where artificial candles creating a really nice atmosphere. Our midwife reminded us about putting our own music on and encouraged me to breath through each surge.
Trusting the Process
By now the surges were intense and coming a lot closer together and I decided I wanted the Tens machine off, the midwife set up the gas and air and I started to feel the need to push. So got myself into knees in calves out position and delivered baby Rae at 05:06 ❤️ My midwife then confirmed our wishes for delayed cord clamping and a physiological delivery of our placenta and we had over an hour of being all connected ❤️
On Reflection
This wasn’t the birth we’d hoped for, we really wanted to have a home birth but that wasn’t to be (due to a delay in renovating our house). But it was still very much a brilliant birth and I believed Lara Jo’s workshop played a big part in that, ensuring we really thought about this birth, what we wanted and what we wanted to try and avoid if possible. It meant we established a well thought out birth plan considering different scenarios and felt confident in being able to communicate this with our maternity team. Would highly recommend Lara Jo of The Brilliant Birth Club for all things Hypnobirthing and also Inverurie Community Maternity Unit as a lovely place to give birth ❤️
