By Ainslie and Chris Quinn
This email has been sitting in my drafts waiting for me to finalise and send it but with 3 girls I’m finding time somewhat limited!!
We welcomed our 3rd beautiful girl Ruby on Wed 5th Oct. in rather surprising fashion. Had to share with you as we’ve now done 3 Calmbirth courses – all so different but proof it works!
I’m not sure if you remember but Ella our first was born via emergency C-section at 33 weeks and our 2nd Eva naturally at full term. We were so excited to see how this birth would unfold.
As our due date came and went I did start to worry what was in stall- little did I know our angel had her own plans.
On wed 5th Oct. I had a typically crazy day. Cooked quiche and biscuits had some friends over for a play and took the girls to get their hair cut in the afternoon. As we left the hairdressers I had a strong Braxton hick. I called Chris as I felt I needed him but thought I was just over tired. I took the girls to the shops to get some groceries and went home to make stir-fry. The ‘Braxton hicks’ became a little stronger so I called the hospital and told them I was having what I thought were contractions every 9 minutes. After going through my history and distance from the hospital I was told to stay at home until my waters broke or I could mint handle the pain (hmmm).
We took the girls to my mums as she was going to have them should I need to go in. We arrived about 7pm and I hopped into the bath to relax. As the contractions continued I practiced my calm breaths and visualized my cervix opening. I even told Chris at one stage I felt like I could feel my cervix opening. I came out about 8pm and sat with my mum and brother who had come to join her for dinner. We talked about the TV and I continued to breath through my contractions. A bit before 9 I decided to go upstairs to my parent’s room. I had a strong contraction across my back and turned to Chris questioning if I’d be able to do this again. He reassured me and got me to focus on my breathing. My contractions were now 4-5 minutes apart but not overly long. I decided to call the hospital but as they answered I had a strong contraction and my waters broke. I immediately felt the urge to push.
Mum was quickly by my side whilst Chris was telling me to stand up we were going to hospital. I said no the baby is coming. Still fully clothed, and leaning on my parents bed on my knees I pushed again and as Chris checked he said ‘oh yep there’s the head’. My mum called to my brother to call the ambulance but in the next push she was out. “Chris caught Ruby, and he quickly took his shirt off to hold her skin to skin whilst I was moved into a bed so Ruby had immediate skin to skin contact… Chris was an amazing support- as always!” As my brother walked into the room he said to the operator… ‘Um the baby’s here’. I, clearly in shock and still half dressed asked whether it was a boy or girl. Mum announced it was a girl. Together they helped me into the bed with my beautiful baby girl. 20 minutes later the ambulance arrived. They were shocked at how ‘calm’ we all were. Baby Ruby was a very healthy 4.1kg 53cm long. We went to hospital for a check up but everyone was amazed at how well it went.
Peter I can truly testify to how Calmbirth works. I have used the techniques and ideas taught to me (by you) for all 3 births and each time I have successfully birthed my babies calmly without pain relief (with the exception of Ella of course). If I hadn’t been able to remain so calm during Ruby’s birth I’m sure it could have gone quite differently and rather than being an amazingly beautiful birth story it may have been traumatic. We can’t thank you enough for giving us these tools. I still use my breathing techniques when stressed and it helps so much.
We are so blessed to have had you as our support during our 3 pregnancies and births and hope you get much rest in your next stage of life!
Thanks again Peter,