Sara Good's Birth Story

Sara_Good-Lola_Grace

I live in Shanghai and am a 33 yr old New Zealander. This was our first pregnancy so along with the normal anticipation and nerves I had the added stress of delivering in a foreign country without family and friends for support. It was at a dinner party I heard great things about your program from another girl in town.I started following your program at 21 weeks - with the teas, pills, the food diet (it was hard to cut sugar but I allowed myself dark chocolate if I HAD to have something), regular trips to the gym (brisk walking and a light weights programme) and weekly treatments of either a massage, reflexology or accupuncture.I worked up to 35 weeks, gaining a total of 9 kgs the whole pregnancy and felt fantastic - everyone I spoke to said they wanted to know my secret as I had so much energy and nothing really slowed me down.I was keen to have a natural birth and avoid using drugs and I explained this to my doctor.I was due on Fri 31 Oct 2008 and when I arrived for my appointment I was told that I was not one bit dilated and that things did not look like they would happen in the near future. I cried.The next day at 4pm we went to my husband's office and I slipped on wet tiles and landed on my bottom.  My waters broke and mucus plug came away. We went to the hospital and they checked the placenta and the baby and monitored me as I was 1cm and having very mild contractions. At 11pm I was allowed to go home and I mananged to sleep fairly well with about 1 contraction per hour that really woke me but I slept again between them.On Sunday morning I got up and had a shower, washed my hair and packed last minute things as I was having 15min contractions. By 11am,  they were 10 mins apart and regular,  and I was sitting on a ball to get through them as they were quite breathtaking and painful. I felt excited though and was finally going to get to know what this baby was! I wrote down each contraction and focussed on breathing. By 2pm the contractions had been 5mins apart for more than an hour so we rang the doctor and she said to come in. During our taxi ride there I really had to breathe and focus as the contractions went to 2-3 mins apart and it felt like things were moving too fast for me. They checked me at 3pm when we arrived,  and I was still only 1cm and now the contractions were 1-2 mins apart. I was shocked I had not dilated any more and the pain was so strong I did not know how I was going to make it to 10cm! It took me a while to find my groove and get settled but I ended up sitting and leaning into my husband with each contraction. At 5pm they checked me and I had gone from 1cm to 5-6cm in 2hrs which was a huge boost for me. I got in the shower at this stage and within 90mins I was pushing! In the shower I focussed on the opening from the visualisation tape and was standing so felt that gravity played a part in this too. I had the water as hot as it would go and felt this was hugely soothing for the pain. I pushed for 30mins and actually found this part easiest as it was the home run and I knew I was going to see my baby very soon. My husband was cheering me on and telling it had dark hair... our little girl Lola Grace arrived at 7.03pm weighing 7.6lb. I only needed 1 small stitch.She fed straight away and has been a joy and so easy for these 9 weeks. I recovered so quickly, I lost all the weight except for 2kgs within 3 days and was out walking with her on Day 4. I kept drinking your tea for 6 weeks and felt amazing - in fact I am considering continuing drinking it as I believe it is fantastic.I now have 3 pregnant friends following your program and cannot speak highly enough about it.Thank you!Sarah GoodMORE STORIES