I gave birth to my second child, a baby boy named Jack, on the 9th April 20:35 at Quiron Marbella, and if since my first baby was born via an emergency cesarian, then this one is rather the opposite of that one - but in the best possible way!
My dream was to have a natural vaginal birth (also with Amanda), so not only did I prepare myself mentally and physically for it (actually I was a lot fitter with Amanda!) but I also manifested it. I wrote it down in my success planner, that I follow every year, what kind of a birth I would like and that’s pretty much what happened. So if you don’t believe in the power of your thoughts and manifesting then it’s about time you try it out.
So one thing that I was really excited about was the new birthing room at Quiron Marbella. Yes, the same room where I stayed with Amanda has been converted into a new birthing room! It has a bath, birthing chair, birth ball, aromatherapy etc you name it! It’s so important to have a safe beautiful space to give birth in, and that room is just stunning, plus all of the “gadgets” mentioned can help you labor naturally, as you’re not supposed to be pushing a baby out whilst lying down with your feet up, working against gravity. And that’s one thing I wish I had tried with Amanda - just different positions etc but I was never offered that.. I felt as if I trusted the doctors to tell me what’s best for my birth with her, but this time I trusted myself and my body to do what I was meant to do. Our bodies are so wise - we have already grown a baby inside ourselves for 9 months - how can we not know how to birth it? I also wanted to have a doula with me this time, not that I didn’t trust myself or my husband to support me, but just to have more support and advice and to have someone on ‘my side’ if that makes sense. As you never know what kind of a doctor/midwife you will get - so I wanted to have someone there who can advocate for me and for my wants and needs, should me or my husband be too caught up in the moment.
I was 37 weeks pregnant when I made an appointment at Quiron to see the room with my husband, meet the midwife Bernard (who was also there for Amanda’s delivery) and to discuss our birth plan. It was Wednesday 6th April, and we had a nice chat about what kind of birth I was planning, how I wished for the delayed cord clamping etc and we scheduled the monitors for the next week, when I would be at week 38. But the contractions started already Saturday 15:00, after my water “broke” - to be honest they started leaking so I told my husband this could be it! And it was, as the contractions started.. I messaged my doula Lourdes to see if she could come to the hospital and she said yes and to let her know when I leave my house.
The contractions were 9 minutes, 7 minutes apart and by 17:30 already 5 minutes apart and by 19 only 2-3 minutes apart! Since I wanted to labor at home until the last minute, we went to the hospital 19:30 and as I arrived I was already in my “zone”, as they were quite strong, so I knew the baby will be coming very soon! But when we arrived, they still had to put the monitors on me and I could hardly sit on the chair - just like with Amanda, I really wanted to move around and do my breathing, but with the monitors you really can’t! After they saw how strong the contractions were they got me into the birthing room and checked me to find I was already 10cm dilated. They were definitely not expecting that, and neither was I! I was asking to go to the bath, but they said I’m too advanced to go in there.. which was a disappointment as I was really hoping for a water birth. So at that point my doula arrived to the room and I asked to go to the shower with the birthing stool. I spent just a bit of time there with the doula showering me back and belly with some warm water and I could already feel the urge to push and so I did, which made the baby “come down”!
After some pushing in the shower, they asked me to go to the room again, so I tried to be on all fours on the bed, but I didn’t like that position as I felt my hands to be too weak for it. I asked for the chair again as I felt the most comfortable on it, and just held my husbands hand as the labor advanced. Yes the contractions were strong, but not as strong as my determination to birth my baby in the best possible way. And in the end, only I can be in charge of my body and you can do it with the right mindset and support. The midwives were very supportive and let me do and be in the position I wanted to. Then suddely my husband asked the midwife how long does he think until the baby comes? And he said, oh maybe a few more pushes and he will be out. Hearing that gave me such a positive energy rush, as I had no clue either how long this was going to last. And he was right, just a few pushes later, he was out and I have to be honest, it didn’t even hurt - I was expecting some excruciating pain or as they call it - the ring of fire! But in my opinion the contractions or surges as I also like to call them, were 10x more painful than the birth itself. Sometimes we have just been hearing too many horror stories and not enough positive natural birth ones to prepare us for this miraculous event.
After our baby boy was, it was so lovely to hold him straight away, I took away the cord that was around his neck (twice) and held him until the blood from the cord had all gone to my baby. Why is that important? Delayed umbilical cord clamping increases hemoglobin levels at birth and improves iron stores in the first several months of life, which may have a favorable effect on developmental outcomes. It also improves transitional circulation, better establishment of red blood cell volume, and lower incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis and intraventricular hemorrhage. And of course the skin to skin experience with your newborn right after birth is so so important and unfortunately I didn’t get to experience it with Amanda. But this time I could hold him straight away and take him to our room and not lose sight of him not even for a minute. Also since I didn’t have any medication etc I felt so much better - my head was clear, I wasn’t as emotional/hormonal like I was after the first birth, and pshyically I felt amazing. I only had two tiny stitches that were actually optional, the only ‘bad’ thing I had were the hemorrhoids, which I was not expecting and they were more painful than the small stitches. And I got to go home the next day already. How incredible are our bodies? I’m so in awe of my body and what it’s capable of. But I couldn’t have done it without my mind. So really make sure to meditate, read hypnobirthing books and get in the positive birth mindset. As we’re only capable of the things WE believe we can do. And of course I wouldn’t have had this amazing experience without my super husband and baby daddy Sam, my amazing doula Lourdes Lorente Vazquez, and thank you also to my midwife Bernard!
Comments