My Birth Story by Emma Dowling, Empowered Mama

Hi, my name is Emma and I am so thrilled so do a guest blog for Bella Baby.

A little about my background before I begin.  I did Beauty therapy for 12 years before turning my passion into my career. I trained in CrossFit for a few years before focusing on Olympic Weightlifting and competing as a lifter for 3 years. During this time I qualified as a personal trainer and CrossFit coach and loved helping woman in particular reach their health and wellness goals. 

After having Jacob despite staying very fit throughout my pregnancy my return to fitness was when I learned that there was alot I didn't actually know about this particular field of fitness. I felt so weak, unconnected and detached from my pre pregnancy identity. 

If I as a experienced, qualified female PT was having trouble.... how were all the other mums out there managing? 

So I went back and studied Pre and Post Natal exercise to ensure that mums are getting exactly what they need to safely return to exercise and protect themselves and their future body. 

As well as launching our online Post Natal Home Work Out Programne in Dec 2019 , Empowered Mama now has classes in Bray, Sandyford, D2 and Glasnevin and we are aiming to expand again in 2020. I want my programme to be easily accessible to as many mothers as possible so no one even feels how I did. 

Pregnancy was an incredibly transformative time of my life in so many ways. I learned a lot about listening to my body and for the first time in years was not trying to manipulate it to perform and compete as an athlete. I was just letting mother nature and Jacob guide me along and that learning still serves me today. I have since built a business Empowered Mama Pre and Post Natal Fitness to help mums stay strong and fit and exercise safely though pregnancy and beyond. None of this would have happened had it of not been for Jacob. Thank you my baby boy.

Jacob was born on his due date. Wednesday 28 June 2017 . The day before he was born I met a my friend for a stroll. Energy levels were really good so we went a little further than planned. About half way through the walk I got some back pain right down around my coccyx. I had had this wobbly jointy pain for a few days but I became very aware of it on the walk. When I got home I was doing some gentle yoga to try work it out and I felt a lot of pressure. I went up to go to the loo and on the way up the stairs my waters broke.  Having being told by lots of people that ' its not like in the movies, it doesn't gush out' I was not prepared ..... It was like Niagara Falls ????. It was coming up to 9pm so I knew Sami would be home from work soon so I just called the hospital and jumped into the shower. Before doing this I managed to catch some fluid in a little sterile pot to bring to hospital with me. They were clear with little white flex's. Roisin was the midwife on duty and she asked us to go in and said most likely we would be sent home. We had a great laugh in the car on the way in as I continued to 'explode' fluid with every speed bump or pothole. The laughing didn't help either. Thankfully we had lots of towels in the car for me to sit on. I was sopping arriving into Holles St. As suspected yes my waters had definitely broken and we were sent home with Roisin telling us 'Just pretend this didn't happen, go home, relax and continue as normal'. Roisin booked me for an induction on the Thursday morning. I was going to do everything in my power to get this labour going and avoid this. Even though I was open minded to all options I really hoped to have a natural birth experience and had given the midwives my birth preferences at a previous appointment.

When I got home I had dinner and went to bed where I got a decent enough nights sleep with the help of the @gentlebirthofficial Sleep Sanctuary Track. I remember being excited to meet our baby but a little sad at saying goodbye to pregnancy and my bump. 

On Wednesday I woke up and felt absolutely nothing. Luckily Sami was off work that morning so I got him to have a lie in as I suspected he might have a fairly intense day ahead of him.  After doing the Gentle Birth workshop I knew that if I started worrying and fretting about induction/ impending labour the adrenaline and cortisol would block the production of oxytocin. So I really just decided 'Emma, time to treat yourself like a Queen' I started my morning off having my breakfast while soaking my feet and gave myself a mini pedi (as much as you can at 40 weeks ????) and watched some TV bouncing on my ball. At 11am I managed to get a last minute massage appoinment with the Thai Massage girl I have gone to for years. I knew the darkness, music and light massage would be a great way to boost the oxytocin and would be excellent labour prep too. If I didn't know the therapist so well I would have been a reluctant to do this but I know her very well and she has been treating me for years and all the way through my pregnancy. I asked her to focus on my feet and legs and neck and shoulders as this is great to help oxytocin release naturally. I was getting very mild surges during the massage but they were irregular and very manageable. 

I floated out the door home.

As I was still only having very minor surges we decided to go to our fave local breakfast place Dockyard No.8 for a feed and maybe a walk along the harbour with the dog afterwards. We ordered and very soon afterwards surges started coming more regularly. Every 3 minutes for 40-50 seconds. We decided it was time to head home but not before I got my french toast to go ;) I needed to fuel up for a big day ahead. When I got home I sat on my ball and ate my brekkie and during surges was up leaning on the couch or against the wall. Sam was busy packing up the car and he called the midwife to update her. She encourgaed us to stay home for another little while even though surges were so close together. She figured they may still be irregular and said they may change again because I'd being having them for such a short period of time. At that point I was happy to wait another little while. About 20-30 mins later things had really heated up. Surges were the same duration but the intensity had increased alot. I just knew it was time to go. I don't really remember alot about the journey in.  Sam dropped me off outside Holles St front door and he went to park the car. Once I got to administrations contractions were coming hard and fast. Even on the short walk to the ward I had to stop 4-5 times to just focus.


The midwife put me on a trace upon arrival as when she used the doppler Jacob's heart rate was a little low. I think she described it as a 'sleepy baby' so not to worry me. She said she would give me 20 mins before examining me and then said she would get me to start the 'labour hopscotch' . 10 mins later she decided it was time to examine me and I was 3cm dialated and in her words 'well past hopscotch' ....thank goodness. I couldn't have possibly climbed a stairs at that stage. 


I had to remain on the trace and unfortunately there was no shower available to me. Holles St were extremely busy that evening in particular. I didn't want to get too caught up on what I didn't have and focus on what I did have available to me. We had a ball, beanbag, birthing stool, and we used all of these along with different yoga positions I had done in class. I also was wearing two heat packs, one on my tummy and one on my lower back. Sami spent a lot of time doing hip squeezes and counter pressure on my lower back during surges and this helped a lot. After about 3 hours of this the surges were very strong. NOT PAINFUL just intense pressure. I use the gas and air then and found it was fantastic to take the edge off but it made me feel very dehydrated and dry so I was thankful for lucozade sport, ice-cubes to eat and my lip balm.

The 'strategy' I took for the labour was in between each surge rest as much as possible.  I managed to even sleep in between a lot of the surges. These little minute or two power naps were invaluable to me. 

As I requested in my birth preferences the midwife gave me time for passive decent. I found it really amazing that urge to push when the time was right. I always wondered how will I know... Oh Boy !! You know when it’s time. 

After a while Jacob's heart rate dropped a little more and she advised that it was time for active pushing.  It was around  now that I discovered my pelvic floor was completely over active after years of Olympic Weightlifting and that little Jacob was having trouble getting through. My husband Sami has coached me in Olympic Weightlifting for years and he knows my pain threshold and limits probably more than I do. Between himself and our midwife Roisin they coached me until our little boy arrived about 45 minutes to an hour later. I was so happy he had arrived safely and was slightly shell shocked as it all happened to quickly, about 5 hours after I first arrived in Holles St. I never had a moment of doubt and had Sam and Roisin reinforcing this the whole way along. I never once thought I needed more pain relief. I knew this would end eventually and just to keep resting and then working as hard as possible during each surge. I trusted Sam and Roisin completely as just did exactly as I was told. It was such a fab experience. I really enjoyed it.  The midwife joked afterwards by asking Sam to leave his business card behind to come in and help on their busier days ???? he really was amazing and I don’t think I've ever loved him more than I did in those final minutes of labour. Once he was beside me I knew I could do anything. . . That hasn't changed ❤

I did the Domino Scheme with Holles St so at 11am after we were both checked over we headed home. I found my adrenaline was very high for about 3 days afterwards. In the 3 days I only slept for about 7 hours. The midwife assured me this is very common in Mom's who have quick labours as their minds almost have to catch up with their bodies. I also had some trouble controlling the amount of visitors we had in those first few days and it was all too much for me. I learned you have to be quite blunt with people for them to get the message. Everyone is just so excited for you and it's all out of love but the space to bond is important. I was not prepared for the roller coaster of emotions afterwards and felt very overwhelmed for a few days but this did pass and things became much more enjoyable once I peeled back the expectations of myself and  my baby and realised that I too had  been  reborn, as a Mum, and I needed space to and time to find my way in my new identity.

My advice.... keep an open mind, set boundaries, go easy on yourself and have a informed and educated return to fitness with a properly qualified post natal coach. 

Your doing great Mama x 

You got this Mama. 

 You can follow Emma on her incredibly inspiring and supportive Instagram page HERE