What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been!
I am now adjusting to life as a new mom after welcoming the arrival of our little boy, Cathal.
Here’s how it happened: it was the night before my due date and I couldn’t sleep. I was in bad form and for some reason my tummy was sore all over. I went to bed that night with a maternity pad on; female intuition must’ve told me something was stirring as my waters broke in bed the next morning!
Fast forward to that evening and my contractions had started. The first one felt like a hot flush and I wasn’t sure if that was the beginning or not so I got onto our Doula, the wonderful Becky Durnin from DublinFamilyDoulas.com and she confirmed that it did indeed sound like a contraction.
Not long after that they became regular and there certainly wasn’t much time to enjoy all the suggestions we had heard of at our antenatal classes (eg. watch a comedy, have a sleep, take a bath, enjoy a takeaway!).
By night the contractions were coming thick and fast and I felt like a wild caged animal in the car on the way into The Coombe. It was intense. Within 45 minutes of our arrival at the hospital I was 6cms dilated and the next thing I knew the midwife was running water in the birthing pool so I could get in.
A few hours later, I’m delighted to say that our little boy was born without the use of drugs or interventions in a whoosh of pure love and utter relief.
I had such a brilliant birth team who were so supportive and respectful of my wishes to have a natural birth. My partner Damien, our doula Becky, Constanza, the midwife and my consultant Professor Deirdre Murphy. I really had the dream team. I felt cocooned in care, support and most importantly belief that I could do it, and I am so thankful and I feel so incredibly lucky to have had such a positive birthing experience.
I had been warned not to become too attached to my birth preferences as I had been told ‘things may not work out the way you want’ but I am so delighted to say that we got what we typed up; a natural birth in the birthing pool suite in The Coombe and for that I feel really lucky.
Don’t get me wrong, labour is tough – on every level. There’s no point in saying otherwise and I truly believe having experienced it, that it does women a disservice to dumb it down. But it can, and luckily in my case, it has been, a massively empowering and positive experience and one I wouldn’t change.
Also having had a doula I would highly recommend investing in one; Becky was always at the end of the phone if I had a question or concern leading up to the birth and on the day my waters broke we were onto her often asking ‘is this normal’, ‘what should we do now’; it was great comfort to have her at the end of the phone whenever we needed for advice and reassurance.
Follow Síle on…
Instagam
Twitter
