Birth Story - Zeppelin George and Emma: When Birth Doesn't Follow your Birth Plan (and why that's okay)

BABY: ZEPPELIN GEORGE

MUM: EMMA

I haven't been to class for a couple of weeks so you may have guessed, our little one made an unexpected and early appearance. I wanted to tell you the story of how it all happened because you played such a huge part in my pregnancy and getting me into the head space that allowed me to cope with what came next.
The plan was always to do natural water birth if possible. But last week I ended up admitted to hospital with preeclampsia and by Saturday they had decided that the safest thing for baby and me was induction.
That was the first thing that didn't go to plan....
I was surprised how able to cope I felt with everything not going according to plan to be honest. A little wobble, few tears and then breathe and reboot. The likelihood of water had been slimmed and i'd heard induction could be a lot more intense. I genuinely put my calmness down to lots of deep breathing through any anxiety and letting go of my busy brain. The power of breath!!! Thanks for teaching me that. I will use it throughout my life now and it's priceless!
I was induced by pessaries and went from 0-6 cm in an hour. My baby was also back to back and I had huge back labour and "triple surges" with each contraction, It was intense to say the least. There were moments of feeling like I couldn't cope. But I breathed hard, did the ooooohs (of which Albert kept reminding me whenever aaaahhhhs came out) and kept telling myself "I can, I can"
Albert was incredible. To the point that the midwives said they thought he was the most amazing birth partner they'd ever seen and wanted him at their births! They said it made their jobs so much easier. He told them "it's all thanks to Lushtums yoga birth prep class!!" Honestly, I never once felt annoyed or angry by his presence. He just knew when to be there and when to let me and my body do its thing. Most of the time he was breathing every contraction with me and telling me I could do it!
I ended up with a whole host of complications ending in epidural and C-section - none of which was in my wishes but its my story and I'm proud of it! The anxiety about C-section was huge but again, I breathed and took myself to a good place and I'm really proud of how I coped. The moment I met my baby and had skin to skin I was in love. He is literally the most amazing thing and I fall more in love every hour!!!

Thank you so so much for what you do! Honestly I think I would have found a tough situation almost unbearable had I not had the tools I've learned through your classes (yoga and birth prep). It's true, no matter how much you plan, sometimes your body and your baby have other ideas and all you can do is stay calm and trust yourself.