Directory Search

News, offers and discounts!

Join us online

Jennie Phenix's birth story: A terrific second birth after her traumatic first birth

Looking back on her first birth which was traumatic for her and her son, Jennie used Yoga and a Doula at her homebirth for her second child.

Jennie Phenix - Leila’s birth 27/02/09
My previous experience
My first labour had been very long and medicalised and the thought of another hospital birth just wasn’t appealing to me. By the time my son was 6 months old he was such a happy, smiley baby and he was an utterly joyful toddler so he certainly hasn’t experienced any lasting effects but I was left quite traumatised and wondering how different things would have been if his birth had been gentler. I really believed that at home I would be in the environment where I would feel most comfortable and relaxed and would therefore stand the best chance of having the calm and gentle birth I had so wanted the first time around.
One of the great things about being on the home birth team was that my midwife came to visit me at home for all of my antenatal appointments so I didn’t need to drag my toddler up to the hospital each month. I had the same midwife throughout my pregnancy so felt really supported and the yoga and breathing exercises that I practiced throughout helped me by the end of my pregnancy to feel calm and ready to embrace whatever lay ahead.

Labour begins!
I went into labour a couple of days before my due date. That morning I had woken up feeling a little uncomfortable, the baby felt as if it had moved and my initial reaction was fear that it was now posterior and I would have another very long and painful back labour. After I had dropped my son at nursery I came home and did as dynamic a yoga practice as a fully pregnant woman can, doing all the practices I could possibly think of to shift the baby. It seemed to have the desired effect and perhaps a little more as about an hour later once I was back from collecting my son just as we settling down to play with his train set I felt a tiny rumble, a bit like a very mild period pain. Over the next hour I had a few more and by the time my husband got home at 4.30pm I was able to meet him at the door and tell him with excited anticipation that our baby was on its way. As my first labour had been so long I had always planned to ignore this labour as long as I possibly could so while my husband got on with putting the birth pool up in our bedroom I carried on with dinner and then bath time for Jai, just pausing to lean over the kitchen table to breathe through the contractions which were becoming increasingly intense but then just carrying on as before.

Trying to seem normal
By bath time things were starting to get quite intense, my son who normally loves his bath was definitely picking up that something was going on as he was having a massive tantrum and refusing to get in. I would feel a contraction coming on, go out of the bathroom into the hall and then come back in when it was finished to try deal with my son. At this point I realised enough was enough and I handed over to my husband and took myself off into our bedroom so I could be in my own space. At this point in between contractions I called my doula to let her know she should head over. I tried to lie down and relax but I found that I just needed to move so I then spent the next hour or so on my bed alternating between being on all fours circling my hips during the contractions and leaning forward with my forehead on my Swiss ball to rest between contractions. One of the most beneficial things that a yogic approach to birth has to offer is the ability to really tune into the breath and deeply relax between contractions as a way of conserving and restoring energy and preventing stress hormones from being released which will slow down labour. At some point Natalie my doula arrived and she and my husband were in and out but I was barely aware of them, I was just so focused on my breathing that I was in another world, almost a trance and I just kept hearing the words of my own pregnancy yoga teacher going around in my head “the exhale is the antidote to pain”.
As Natalie knew my fears about having previously had a very long labour and lots of intervention we had both agreed to wait until I was quite far along before calling the midwifes as a way of keeping me as relaxed as possible . She has since told me that at no point were my contractions regular and as my breathing was keeping me so calm I had the appearance of a woman who was still hours away from giving birth.

Worrying that it’s the same as the first long labour…
It was beginning to feel quite full on and I realised I felt very tired so I lay down onto my side for a while. This made the contractions feel much more intense and I began to feel the pain shifting into my lower back. This made me feel quite despondent as it brought back memories of my first labour and in my head I began to feel that I couldn’t cope and that we needed to call the midwives as I thought I had hours left to go and couldn’t do it. At this time my waters broke. Looking back with a rational mind I was clearly going through transition but at the time as I was so in the zone with my breath it went on in my head and I didn’t vocalise it.

The birth
From somewhere I suddenly got an inner urge to get up back to all fours and not to give up and then all of a suddenly very powerful surge moved through my body which finally caused me to yell out ‘get the midwives’ at the same time as my body roared opened up and released my baby. I didn’t have to push at all, my beautiful daughter just came out and I caught her and brought her straight up to my chest. She let out a cry, Jeff and Natalie wrapped her in blankets and she nestled down against me. Her first few minutes were so calm and peaceful although I think I was in shock as I had no idea that she was about to come until 2 minutes before she did, I really thought I still had hours to go and had I known I would have loved to have made use of the birth pool which was right next to me.

Too late!
The midwives arrived about 10 minutes after she was born and understandably they were not too pleased to be arriving in those circumstances but thankfully Leila arrived healthy and safely. I know I can never know for sure but she has been a very different baby to my son, right from day one she has been calm, and contented and happy to lie on her own and changing her nappy was a complete revelation. I know more relaxed second time mothers are more likely to have calmer babies but I can’t help believing that her gentle birth has something to do with it.

Jennie Phenix is a pregnancy and baby yoga instructor. You can see her profile in our Directory, click here.

This article is not intended as a replacement for a professional medical advice

CranioSacral Therapy for babies. For birth trauma