A planned homebirth that turned into a Caesarean birth story.
I read so many positive birth stories when pregnant and know how important they are to feel prepared for your own birthing day. I found them very empowering, especially when I read stories that did not go as ‘planned’ but the outcome was still beautiful; like ours.
We had planned a homebirth with a community midwifery programme (CMP) for our first baby. I was originally under the care of another hospital up to week 32 but found our preferences were not being met so moved to the CMP, this also allowed us to consider a homebirth. The homebirth aspect I hadn’t thought too much about beforehand but having done some research and discussing it with the CMP midwives, myself and my partner, Aidan, became more and more certain that this was something we wanted to try. So, we got accepted onto the CMP at 35 weeks of pregnancy. We set up our home for the water birth and I continued my Hypnobubs training and awaited the arrival of our baby (we didn’t know the gender). 40 weeks came and passed, as did 41 weeks. I was called into King Edwards Hospital; the hospital overseeing the CMP programme, for the usual CTG monitoring and ultrasound at 41+1 weeks. Baby and I were doing well. As we wanted baby to arrive in their own time, as there were no medical indications not to medic, we declined an induction. However I had two stretch and sweeps over that week to get things moving.
After lots of walking, climbing stairs and drinking raspberry leaf tea we got to week 42. My midwife kindly came around on her day off to see me. I had been in pre-labour for the past 2 days already but nothing had progressed any further. I was starting to feel exhausted after 2 nights of very little sleep and ‘on/off surges’. She decided to do a VE (measuring me at 3cm) and attempted another sweep however accidentally broke my waters in the process. This proved to be a ‘blessing in disguise’ as we then discovered baby had released her meconium. This meant we could no longer birth at home and had to head to the hospital. I was disappointed about this first change of events but also knew this was for the best and allowed baby and I to be monitored but still have a very natural birth. So optimistically I and Aidan, made our way to the hospital, leaving my ‘off duty’ CMP midwife behind and to meet my CMP midwife ‘on call’ at the hospital. We had already packed our bags in the event of a transfer.
My surges were now becoming more intense and closer together, however, I still had periods where they would be ‘back to back’ and then nothing for several minutes. We arrived in the assessment unit and after some monitoring, with the CTG they were satisfied to move me into a birthing suite. I had the CTG monitors on which I had previously voiced I didn’t want but they then got me the telemetry ones which allowed me to move around freely.
Aidan and I set up the room with our midwife and had the calming music playing, dimmed the lights and I continued my breathing during surges leaning over the elevated bed.
I felt calm and comfortable. However, over the next few hours I began to feel very cold and unwell, my temperature was measured a bit high and baby’s heart rate had stopped accelerating as it should be and my heart rate was also elevated. I was given fluids as they suspected I was dehydrated. After some more time the Obstetrician came in for a chat about my progress, I hadn’t progressed further than 4cm in the 4 hours I had been in labour at the hospital.
After some discussion, we decided to give me another hour or so and see if the fluids improved my temperature and baby’s heart rate or they may consider Pitocin to speed things up. I and my partner were very against inducing labour even when we were overdue as long as there was no strong medical reason. And we knew in this instance the drugs would only stress baby and I further, possibly still expecting another 8-10 hours of labour ahead of us with the Pitocin only increase our chances of further intervention anyway. Myself and my partner were aware baby’s heart rate was not responding appropriately for some time and knew things weren’t going well, I wasn’t feeling well either and I was exhausted from the pre-labour and no sleep for the past 48 hours.
When the obstetrician came in to do another VE and discuss inducing we expressed that we didn’t want another VE; 1; they were painful 2; to be honest I knew I hadn’t progressed any further considerably, nothing had changed in terms of surges in intensity or length. We then discussed that we would rather not go ahead with the induction but understood fully the severity of our situation. The suspicion being that baby and I had caught an infection, possibly from the meconium release. At this point myself and my partner asked if a C-section would be a more suitable option as opposed to being induced and ultimately ending up with a C-section anyway. The medical staff were fully supportive and said that this was the decision they hoped we would make eventually as they were unsure how much time we should allow before baby needed to come out.
At no point, did we feel forced to make this decision, this was something myself and my partner thought was the most sensible decision to make and we were cautious about leaving it any longer, knowing I didn’t feel well either. Once we asked for the C-section the obstetrician told me that if this was her; she would have made the same decision right then too; this was reassuring to hear.
Then it kicked off! Whilst having strong surges, I was being prepped for a C-section and being wheeled down to theatre. The whole ordeal was quite emotional but I put my noise cancelling headphones on and played my music (Christopher Lloyd Clarke tracks) and used my relaxation breathing whilst my partner did most of the talking for us. The medical staff were brilliant and completely respected that I wanted to keep the atmosphere calm, they even played my music out loud in the theatre for us.
Within 10 minutes after being draped we heard a loud cry from our baby being pulled out, born at 19:06; they lowered the drapes to discover we had a baby girl! We were elated, as she screamed we cried with joy! However, within seconds she became silent and was taken to the side to the paediatricians who had been waiting for her, her breathing became very laboured and they rushed her to PICU after I only managed to hold her hand briefly. I insisted Aidan go with her as I didn’t want her to be alone and my midwife also went along with them. The next half hour was a long one. The staff were lovely and put my headphones back on for me so I could shut out any distractions and stay calm. I tried to focus on the miracle of our daughter and that she was in the best care possible. My relaxation breathing was very useful and allowed me to stay focused and not lose control of my emotions.
I was taken to recovery and then transferred to a high dependency unit by about 11pm due to my infection and requiring antibiotics and monitoring. Our daughter was taken to the PICU Nursery where Aidan stayed with her as they assisted with her breathing; she had taken the meconium into her lungs and they tested her for an infection also.
Aidan stayed with her in the nursery until about 3am, she had stabilised and was off most of the breathing equipment, just requiring continuous monitoring. I was unable to see her until the following morning at 6am when Aidan was able to take me to the nursery to meet her. She was due a feed and latched on immediately. Such a beautiful moment to meet her and it was if she had been waiting for me the whole time. It felt so natural to have her in my arms. Over the next couple of days, she improved dramatically and was eventually moved into my room on the ward after the 3rd night. She was feeding and sleeping well and we were so happy to have her with us and thriving. After 5 days in hospital, we were both discharged.
My hypnobirthing training allowed me to stay calm and accept whatever turn our birthing took.
I never expected such a drastic turn after having planned a calm homebirth, however considering the events that took place, we were so grateful that we were in the best place possible with the medical staff who were able to handle the situation. I didn’t feel disempowered at any stage as we felt that the decision was really left up to us and we are so glad we took the decision to have the C section when we did, if we had left things any longer then Indi would have only become more unwell.
I just want other Hypno-mum’s to know that the real importance is the safe arrival of your baby and as much as I felt disappointed initially when making the decision for the C-section, after seeing my baby girl rushed to PICU I knew that all that really mattered was her receiving the care that she so desperately needed at that time.
We are now blessed with a beautiful daughter who gained all her birth weight plus more after only 5 days of exclusively breastfeeding and continues to get stronger every day. She is now a month old and we are loving our new family!
I will certainly be using Hypnobubs for our next and going for a VBAC if possible also.
Danielle, Aidan and Indi x
To find out more about our Hypnobubs® Hypnobirthing Online Course options for natural birth - click here.
To find out more about our Hypnobubs® Hypnobirthing Online Course for cesarean birth - click here.
