I have three children.

My first child was pushed out quite quickly and rather abruptly in 13 minutes leaving me relieved, though with a second degree tear. I was stitched up and this after a drug free labour drove me to the gas. It was agony for me.

I was in fear with my second child. I was so scared to push and fought it. The midwife told me to push down rather than tense up. I was so eager to get baby out I think it caused me great stress and pain. It took me 28 minutes of pushing. He was a big baby with a rather big head! I had a borderline third degree tear. This means I tore in the 'back passage'. There is not much you can do about that. Its not like you can put it in a sling to heal. I was told to take it easy and not to do pelvic floor exercises just yet. For the first six weeks I was very uncomfortable. I felt quite ill most days. It took me some time to recover. When I had my check up they were concerned about incontinence but I seemed fine. The doctor recommended I have a caesar next time.

When pregnant with my third child I was adamant that I would not have a caeser. I wanted to have a drug free birth as I did with my first 2 children and hopefully without a nasty tear. I read up about 'breathing your child out'. I wanted a truly natural birth so booked into the birthing suite. The midwives were great and supportive but due to hospital policy I was forced to have baby in the labour ward because I had lower iron levels than normal. I was devastated. (I was considered high risk. Everything was done "just in case" - A drip and cathether were inserted shortly after  my baby's birth.)

But I am  quite proud that I was able to breathe my baby out. That is the one thing that I was able to do myself. I was a little scared but knew it would help. It took about 23 minutes to breathe my baby out into the world. It requires listening to your body and baby. I didn't really research the idea but knew it would work. I recovered much better and I felt much happier with the way the birth ended  (even though I was not in the birthing suite)

I looked for links to share more information but it seems hard to find. It does relate to hypnobirthing though, which I find interesting.

Now my next baby, I am hoping that this one (though not yet conceived) will be delivered by me at home in water.