Amsterdam Birth Stories: An Unplanned Venue in

Welcome to Birth Stories, a collection of real, unedited birth experiences shared by members of our community. These stories are shared exactly as they were told, offering an authentic glimpse into the many different realities of birth. Our goal is to provide expecting parents with knowledge and support as they navigate their own journeys. If you have a birth story you'd like to contribute, we’d love to hear from you! Simply email us at hello@thelabourdept.com.

Today’s story comes from K., who shares her experience of giving birth to her first child in Amsterdam.

My intent was to meet my baby in the birth center. That did not happen. 

After experiencing braxton hicks for a couple of weeks, I assumed what I felt was just another day as I woke at 5am. I rested some more and woke up again at 6:30am to meditate. After a while, I felt something was different. I experienced a bit of blood which scared me (apparently common) as I yelled to my husband from the toilet. After calling the midwife and awkwardly trying to 'catch' my water, the midwife over the phone confirmed my waters had broken. 

Having read up a bit on birth, my husband and I thought we were up for a marathon and believed we needed a lot of food to sustain us. My husband made me a big breakfast which I ate without really realising the significance of this moment as I casually texted my brother and best friend that my waters had broken. It was probably 9am by this stage and the surges (I was all in the hypnobirth terminology) began. Like period pain at first however rising to be quite intense. Lying on the bed was awkward for me and the surges felt more intense as I timed them. I then realised that I can change things by changing position and stop timing things (for me it was important to get out of my mind). I moved to the bathroom and straddled the toilet for what felt like a long time. The surges got more frequent and my husband was giving up dates to the midwives and asked our wonderful doula to come over.

"I tapped into what I learnt during hypnobirthing focusing on breathing, surrendering and making all the noises my body wanted. I didn't feel like moving around or being touched, I just wanted to be alone, in the bathroom by myself in my own zone."

I tapped into what I learnt during hypnobirthing focusing on breathing, surrendering and making all the noises my body wanted. I didn't feel like moving around or being touched, I just wanted to be alone, in the bathroom by myself in my own zone. When our doula arrived I half joked that I wish I had opted for some drugs (had planned to have a natural birth however was open to whatever was to come) and she reminded me of the ten machine I hired from the midwife practice. It was a bit of a distraction but I found my breath and some of the mantras I had for myself worked better. The midwife was still not there and I had no idea what stage I was in. I only know I / we expected it would go for a while. My husband was still running around making eggs to compliment the birth bag we expected to take with us to the birth center / wherever we could get into. It was at this moment that my husband offered me a drink.

After turning around from continuously straddling the toilet, I had a huge urge to push and stand up. It was at this point that my daughter's head came out. Our Doula had to instruct my husband to find some towels (a moment we were completely unprepared for) and in one or two more surges, our daughter came completely out while I was standing and our doula literally caught her (yep, not her role but what a rockstar hey). The umbilical cord was wrapped around our daughters throat (apparently common however something I never heard of) and she started to cry. At that moment, our doula handed my daughter to me and I was in (positive) shock that it was over and over the moon to finally meet our baby girl. It was a surreal moment. Our daughter was born at 12:39pm.

The midwife came around 5 mins later and we all went to the bedroom where the placenta was delivered shortly after. Thankfully it also went very well and I had no tears. We were left in peace for a period to get to know each other when our daughter did the breast crawl, an incredible moment. 

After all the checks, everything was ok with the exception that our daughter was officially underweight and the instruction by the rules was to go to the hospital. With the exception of the weight everything was ok and my husband and I felt it was best to stay at home which we did and agreed to give her both breastmilk and formula to help her grow. 

The week that followed (yes it is painful and emotional and good to have a solid postpartum approach) was one of the best periods of my life. We were very lucky to have an incredible kraamzorg who we met prior to birth. My biggest complaint was breastfeeding which I felt was worse than the birth itself due to the pain. After the advice of a great lactation consultant, we managed to get on track after a period. 

17 months later, I look back on Amsterdam Birth story positively and proud of myself (especially as I had a huge fear of childbirth prior). I hope this story can remind others that positive stories do exist. It was intense however it is nothing your body can not handle. For me it was about getting my mind out of the way and surrendering to the process. 

Thank you so much K for sharing your birth story. Do you have a birth story you would like to share? Email us hello@thelabourdept.com