I was 12 days overdue on the 30th January and due to be induced on the Saturday

1st Feb. Having had two previous babys with no intervention I was adament that I

was not going to have anything this time either. I had a sweep on the Tuesday and

that evening I had a hour of contractions and then nothing! I tried everything to

chivvy baby along. Two days later at 6pm on the Thursday 30th I had an hours

reflexology session. It was really painful and I had bruises on my calves, but at the

end of it my baby bump had changed shape. I settled down for the evening in front of

the TV whilst Ian made dinner. At 8:15pm I had my first twinge. The contractions

continued every 6 minutes and I put on my TENS. We phoned the hospital

numerous times with no answer and decided to go anyway. We left the house at

9:15pm. By this time the contractions were 3 minutes apart, but still completely

manageable with the TENS. I think I even corrected Ians driving at one point!

We arrived at hospital at 9:30pm and were shown to a room to wait. I requested the

pool. At 10pm I was examined and was 5cm. Shortly after this my waters broke

and the contractions quickly ramped up and became really, really intense but still 3

minutes apart. I was really feeling the pressure in my back as baby was positioned

back to back. The Golden Ribbon Breathe was AMAZING at focusing me especially

when I realised that the TENS would not ramp up any more!! I found kneeling on

the bed holding onto the head bar was the best position and needed Ian to really put

pressure on the base of my spine to conteract the pressure of baby. At 10:30pm the

midwife came back in and said that the pool was ready. We moved to the pool room

and I was in the pool for a total of 15 minutes. A few more contractions later and a

couple of pushes and little Wilfred popped out facing me still back to back. He fed

within 2 minutes of arriving. I stayed in the water for half an hour feeding and

cuddling him with the cord still attached. Ian then cut the cord and I got out and

delivered the placenta naturally.

I made sure the lights were dimmed in the pool room, but we really didn’t have time

for any music, candles etc. It was a really lovely, but very intense birth. The funny

thing was that all three of my babies have been born in the same birthing pool and

all on a Thursday.