I had a very positive birth experience which I feel was due to the preparation I had done

Hi,

I would like to share my birthing story 😊 I am a FTM and Henry was born on Monday 24th August weighing 3.96kg at 41 + 1. I had a very positive birth experience which I feel was due to the preparation I had done, the confidence I had in my body and my baby gained from this course and the 2 incredible midwives that birthed me.

I had a booked induction on the evening of the 24th but ended up going into hospital on the morning of the 23rd as my partner and I had been concerned about reduced foetal movements overnight. I was less concerned on the drive up to the hospital as he started to move but thought it would be good to have a check and a ‘dummy run’ hospital visit as we had not been able to visit the birth suite before due to COVID restrictions.

They performed an EEG and ultrasound and reassured me that baby was fine. The doctor was concerned that the placenta looked ‘aged’ and recommended bringing the induction forward... I was not keen as I wanted to discuss delaying the induction further! Following discussion with the midwife I consented to an s&s and to keep the induction booked for the following evening.

I started to leak some clear fluid shortly after the s&s but the midwife reassured me that it wasn’t enough for my waters to have broken and I should monitor throughout the day. We left the hospital and went about our normal day but I certainly felt ‘different’ -but not painful in my pelvis.

Went to bed that night and woke in labour at 3.30am. My contractions were 3-4 min apart and lasted about 20s, at this point I stayed in bed with a hot water bottle listening to my hypnobirthing tracks (surge of the sea is my favourite). After a couple of hours I was not comfortable in bed any more so got up, had a bath and something to eat and drink. My surges were getting more intense and were lasting longer and so I called my mum in the uk, we had a bit of a cry and she said I had better call the hospital who asked us to head in.

I got my partner up and moving (-slower than I would have liked 🤣). I got him to put my TENS machine on and we headed off on the 1 hour drive to hospital. This was not overly comfortable as there was not a lot of room in the car and I used the TENS and my tracks to manage the surges. I started to feel desperately cold and shaky and was sick (luckily a friend had advised travelling with a bucket!) -my body was going into shock.

We arrived at the hospital at 8.45am, they put me in a wheelchair and took me up to the birth suite. The midwives examined me and my waters broke during the examination. They told me I was 7cm dilated which was a relief as I knew it wasn’t long before my baby would be born. I asked for gas and tried to relax as much as I could while they tried to get a cannula into my non existent veins! (I was gbs +ve so they needed to administer penicillin before the baby was born)

It wasn’t long before I was in stage 2, the midwives told me I was at 10cm and I felt the urge to bear down. I was positioned on my back initially as I felt so weak and couldn’t face moving but it soon became apparent this wasn’t working and they told me my baby was starting to get stressed so we tried rolling onto either side and he started to move further into my pelvis. He had the cord wrapped twice around his neck and everyone was keen to get him out. The obstetrician was threatening to get the suction / forceps but I asked the midwives to get her to give us a bit longer and felt the urge to change position onto all fours. Progression then happened much quicker and he was born after about 4 more surges at 11am.

I delayed the oxytocin injection to 1h post birth while I enjoyed our skin to skin time and first breast feed and then the placenta was removed intact with some cord traction. I had a small 1st degree tear and 2 tiny labial tears repaired with a total of 4 stitches.

Henry has been an absolute champion feeder despite me having no milk for 4 days and now it’s come in is a very relaxed baby who sleeps well and we couldn’t be happier. My post partum recovery is also going very well - I really can’t believe how well my body is recovering. I feel that this course definitely helped with our positive relaxed experience / attitude to the birth and post partum period.

Katie