Sophie Walker

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Episode 1

After a long 36 hour first birth with my son Niko, (which included an epidural, an episiotomy, forceps and then a postpartum haemorrhage) I was determined to have another attempt at an unmedicated birth centre birth. Louis' birth came right as planned the day before his due date allowing for his Dad to help out during his school holidays. Louis' labour started quickly at home in the middle of the night and resulted in the birth centre birth I had planned for. Arriving at the birth centre at 5am Louis was born at 7am and we were all home for dinner at 7pm. I used hypnobirthing techniques, yoga, pilates, massage and acupuncture to assist in the preparation for the second birth I had dreamt of.

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Louis dropped very little weight after his birth and I attribute this to his voracious appetite. I supplemented his first feeds with colostrum that I had pumped and frozen prior to his birth. I used the frozen colostrum and fed him through a syringe so as to avoid any early possible nipple confusion. The photo above shows me and my sister Hilary (see episode 2 for Sonny’s birth story) breastfeeding together in my birth centre room just 2 hours after Louis’ birth.