Isaac's birth story - by Clare Phelps

Isaac was due on 19 December. We were hoping he would be slightly early or on time so we would be home well in time for Christmas.
We were hoping to have the baby at the Edgware Birth Centre which is a midwife led centre which aims to give women an experience as close to a home birth as possible. We had been on a tour of the Birth Centre a few weeks before and it was lovely – it had three labour rooms, each with birthing pools and three ensuite rooms for overnight stays. The risk with going to the Birth Centre is that there are no doctors there and if I had experienced complications I would have needed to be transferred by ambulance to Barnet hospital. As I had had an epidural and ventouse delivery with Dylan I was slightly concerned that I might need to be transferred; however I had heard that second deliveries are often more straightforward than first ones. In addition, Dylan had been in the wrong position – back to back and I had been told that this baby was in the correct position so I hoped there was a good chance I would be able to deliver at Edgware.
On Thursday 16 December Dylan and I both had doctor’s appointments at 5pm for our coughs. We saw the doctor who also examined me and said everything seemed fine with the baby. We arrived home about 6.30pm. Matt arrived from home shortly after and put Dylan to bed while I cooked dinner. Matt and I ate dinner and I decided to fix Dylan’s pram as one of the screws had come out. At 8pm while I was fixing the pram my waters broke. I was not sure that this had actually happened at first as there was no big flood; rather a slow trickle. However, I phoned the Birth Centre and they suggested I come in to be checked over.
I finished packing my hospital bag and called Mum to ask her to come over to look after Dylan. We drove to the Birth Centre and arrived at about 10pm.
At the Birth Centre they checked me over and everything seemed fine. I hadn’t felt any contractions yet; however when the midwife was examining me she noticed that I was having a contraction so they had clearly started although were not painful at all. The Birth Centre suggested I go home and call when the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart.
We arrived home about midnight and went to bed. Mum had decided to stay the night so she would be on hand to sit Dylan if I had to go back to the Birth Centre. Matt decided to sleep in another room so he could get as much rest as possible before the birth – my labour with Dylan had lasted over three nights so he wanted to be prepared! I put on the tens machine as I could now feel mild contractions and I tried to go to sleep. However, pretty quickly the contractions became more regular (about every 5 minutes) and were a bit more painful so I was unable to sleep. I decided to have a bath which helped a lot with the pain. Although the contractions were not that painful I realised after a short time in the bath that they were coming regularly every 2-3 minutes so I phoned the Birth Centre and we agreed I should go back in.
I woke Matt up and he drove me to the Birth Centre. While I was in the car the contractions suddenly became very painful. Luckily the roads were very quiet as every time I felt a contraction coming I made Matt stop the car until it was over. Matt actually went the wrong way on the way to the Birth Centre - luckily he didn’t tell me until after the birth or I would not have been happy!
We arrived at the Birth Centre at 3am by which time the contractions were very regular and painful. I got straight into the birthing pool and started using the gas and air. Once I had remembered how to use the gas and air (breathing in slowly) the combination of this and the water were very effective pain relievers. However as soon as I had got the hang of this, at about 4pm, I felt I needed to push.
When Dylan was born I had an epidural so had never experienced pushing before. The whole experience of pushing was very strange but pretty amazing. I was quite worried while I was pushing as I had had a scan two weeks before and been told the baby’s head was very large. The birth centre did not have the facilities for a ventouse delivery (which I had had with Dylan) so I would have had to be transferred by ambulance to the hospital if the baby had got stuck. However, the midwife was very reassuring, talking me through each stage of the process. As it turned out the baby had an average size head and after about an hour of pushing, I delivered baby Isaac into the water at 5.01am on Friday 17 December 2010.
I was able to hold Isaac immediately and he cried very little. The midwife asked Matt if he wanted to cut the cord but as he declined I cut it. Isaac weighed 7lb1 and he was perfect.
After giving birth I had to deliver the placenta so I got out of the birthing pool with the intention of going to the bed. On my way over to the bed the placenta came out on the floor! I have heard of people having difficultly delivering the placenta so I think I was pretty lucky.
Later, I decided to use the bathroom. It was obviously too soon as I managed to faint while I was in there. Matt lowered me to the ground and alerted the midwives who came in with an oxygen mask and got me back into bed. I was told that I needed to take it easy as if I fainted again they would have had to transfer me to the hospital which would have been a shame.
Afterwards we held Isaac and, with some assistance from the midwife I breastfed him. Mum and Dad then visited with Dylan who held his baby brother for the first time. Mum and Dad then left and Matt, Dylan, Isaac and I spent some time together as a family. I decided to stay overnight at the Birth Centre as I was still feeling a little weak and wanted more breastfeeding support. Matt took Dylan home and spent the night in the spare room sharing a bed with him which was a good bonding experience for them both. I spent the night in a room with a double bed and ensuite bathroom which was lovely and Isaac even let me sleep for a 5 hour stretch between feeds.
The following day Matt and Dylan came to collect Isaac and me. Unfortuanately it had started snowing earlier and the snow was falling thick and fast by this point. As a result it took us two hours to get home with what should have been a 20 minute journey! Luckily the boys both slept soundly in the back of the car and our car managed to make it home without breaking down or skidding too much.
My experience of giving birth to Isaac could not have been more perfect and was exactly the experience I was hoping for. Beforehand, I had been very keen to have a waterbirth at the Birth Centre and this is what happened. I had no stiches and because the birth had been so quick I did not experience the exhaustion afterwards that I had had with Dylan’s birth. The staff at the Birth Centre was wonderful both during my labour and afterwards and Matt was very supportive throughout. I don’t think I was as horrible to him this time as I was during Dylan’s birth (I think he was more scared of me going into labour than I wasJ ) although he may beg to differ! Also Mum and Dad were incredibly supportive, looking after Dylan and making sure the house was tidy and that we were well stocked up on food.

I feel really thankful that I had such a wonderful birth experience and would like to thank everyone that made it possible.