Birth Stories > Rachael's birth story of baby Cooper

It has been almost 3 weeks since Cooper came into the world, Rubens and I wanted to let you know how things went. The labour exceeded my expectations! I found the pre labour a non-event; I thought I was experiencing constipation pains until they were 10 min apart. The first stage was wonderful, I spontaneously began to do long exhalations through the contractions with the "OM" sound. A lot of the techniques covered in our classes with you seemed to happen spontaneously, including positions, the use of heat, massage and breath work.

I felt that I was more than capable of giving birth, there was no doubt or fear present and I was absolutely calm. I stayed at home until I felt that I may not be able to handle the car trip if I stayed any longer. By that stage we were 6 cm dilated and well and truly in active labour. My support team were wonderful, allowing me to lean on them during contractions, holding heat packs and massaging the belly and back with essential oils. I spent the majority of my first stage in the shower and found it almost blissful; almost meditating through the contractions and in between enjoying the jets of hot water on my belly and back.

I began to bear down and was transferred into the bath to push. I found this considerably more difficult than the first stage but still focused on remaining soft and breathing the baby down. After an hour and 15 minutes of bearing down we discovered that a small lip of cervix had not completely dilated, so I moved to the bed and lay on my side to 'not push' and wait for the lip to dilate. This was the only point of the labour where I began to doubt my ability to birth my baby. The contractions were around 2 minutes long and 30 seconds apart and I was fighting my natural urge to push. I used some homeopathics, alot of breath work and truckloads of support to make it through the hour on the bed. The ability of my team to help me regain focus in this time prevented me from being transferred to the delivery suite. Once we were fully dilated and could bear down in earnest, it was only 40 min until Cooper was born in the bath. As for how I felt when I first held Cooper I have one word; overwhelmed. He was so soft and warm, totally vulnerable and absolutely beautiful. It was a few days though before the reality that this little divine child was my son had sunk in.

I had a physiological 3rd stage and the placenta and membranes were all complete. A complete perineum (perhaps thanks to the epi-no), a small tear in the vaginal wall but no stitches necessary. Cooper breast fed straight away, in fact he climbed up Rubens' bare chest and mouthed at his nipple whilst I was birthing the placenta, and has breast fed well ever since.

Rubens and I wanted to pass along our thanks to you for you support and wisdom throughout our pregnancy. We both were very well prepared for the labour and the new born stage, something our health care professionals were surprised and impressed by seeing as this was our first child. We attributed a considerable amount of our composure to your workshops and classes and would recommend them to all new parents as they stood us in great stead for the wonderful changes that have taken place over the past 3 weeks.

Our birth experience was a truly magical and peaceful one.

kind regards,

Rachael, Rubens and Cooper.