Hi Melissa

We are very happy to let you know that our beautiful little Adaline Mae entered the world on 27/2/16.

And…. I DID IT…. totally pain relief free!

I had the most amazing birth! Although I had a beautiful birth with Orlando it certainly had its trials and was very long and I ended up with an epidural ( which i maintain to this day did not work, so really i was pain relief free hehe). This birth with Adaline was so completely different. Here is our story!

Surges started at 0100 which i continued to sleep and breathe through, I didnt wake nick as I knew she would be coming that day so he needed his sleep. When we all woke ( early thanks to Orlando)- I got to tell Nick the exciting news that we were going to meet our baby girl that day. Surges were still irregular and we continued our day as normal, even went swimming, and I would just close my eyes and go limb with each surge so that Nick knew ( and to take over looking after our toddler).

By midday I suggested Nick should maybe take Orlando to my sisters house as things were ramping up a bit, as Nick walked out the door he said maybe you should start timing while Im gone. Not sure what happened but as soon as he left contractions were 2.5 minutes apart. Meanwhile Nick thought they were still irregular and took his time with dropping Orlando off ? When he came back I showed him the piece of paper I had written the times on, told him I had already called the midwives and told him to get back in the car, we were going to hospital!

We were so super lucky and our beautiful midwife that delivered Orlando was also to be our midwife this time round too. When we got there Nick said shall i turn off the lights, put on your music, do you want to get in the shower or bath ( I did all of these things for Orlando), but strangely enough I didnt want any of them. It was so surreal actually, the three of us were just in the room, talking, laughing, me doing squats and leg circles and i would just quietly go into myself with my eyes closed when a surge came, as soon as it was over we just went about like we werent even in labour!

With each surge the biggest thing that got me through was talking to Addy ( we had already chosen her name), I would just say to her what a fabulous job she was doing and that mummy was helping her and we would meet her soon.. it really got me through each surge! So… 6hrs of active labour and all of a sudden I felt it!! The feeling you said we would get and know to change our breathing to breathe our baby out… and WHOOSH… my waters broke like a shot gun ( not to mention I was standing resting on nick who got a massive shock) he said you could have warned us! Next surge head was out, next surge Adaline entered the world!!! 3 minutes total! amazing! and I will never forget that feeling.

Not once did I ever think I couldn’t do it, and it was so manageable! I feel so empowered and so incredibly lucky to have that experience that no one can ever take away from me. We took her home at 7hrs old and she has fitted into our family perfectly. Im already looking forward to birthing again ( albeit in a few years).

Thankyou for all that you taught us
I am truly grateful

Prue xx