Birth story - Charlotte and baby Mila

I was told about the Positive Birth Company by a friend early on in my second trimester. I watched all the videos and instantly loved hypnobirthing.

My ‘due date’ came and went on the 16th March. I was offered a sweep which I declined and kept reminding myself (and countless others) that my baby will come when she is ready. I went for walks but also spend a lot of time relaxing and taking naps whenever I felt the need to.

In the early hours of the Thursday 21st March I was experiencing period type pains which lasted until around 10am. I had had these on and off before so did not think too much of it. I had a relaxing day at home, bouncing on my ball and trying to get the oxytocin following.

By 4pm the period pains were back, they were stronger than before and had woke me from my nap. Around 5pm I told my partner that this could be it and told him to make his way home. By 5.30 my surges were coming every 5 minutes, they were completely manageable at this stage and I used my up breathing to get through them. I decided to have a bath to relax and used my Freya app to time the surges (If you haven’t already bought the app I would definitely recommend that you did!). The app told me that I was in established labour so whilst in the bath I called the MLU and they told me to take my time getting ready and head in.

I took things slowly, waited for my mum to arrive at my house and put my tens machine on. By 8pm we were ready to leave, at this point I couldn’t talk through the surges but was able to manage using up breathing.

We had a half an hour drive to the hospital. I accepted an examination on arrival and was told I was 2/3cm dilated, the midwife explained that she would not offer my another examination for 6 hours and I was given the choice to wait around or go back home. I decided to go home knowing that I would likely progress more quickly there. I was given some co-codamol and sent on my way.

I arrived back home at 10.30pm and reluctantly removed my tens machine to have another bath. I only lasted in the bath a short while and decided I wanted to lay on my bed in the dark with my partner. I put the tens machine back on and my partner counted me through each surge, reminding me to breath and brought me back down to green before the next surge arrived. The surges remained 3 minutes apart but were much more intense, surprisingly I was able to doze off between surges. I had lost control a couple of times and remember telling my partner and mum that I couldn’t do it anymore. On reflection I think I was in transition. I decided at 1am that I needed to go back to the MLU. I called the unit and they agreed for me to head back in. Before leaving the house I lost my plug and my waters, luckily I was on the toilet as it came in one big gush. At this point I remember thinking that I must be 6/7cm dilated and that I needed some pain relief to get through the rest of the labour.

On the journey back to the hospital I felt a noticeable change in the surges and my body was pushing (much to my mums horror). I continued with up breathing and my mum encouraged me to pant which really helped. I arrived at the MLU at approx 2am and accepted some gas & air which was amazing at taking the edge off the surges. Before I was able to settle into my room I had to be transferred down to the labour ward as my baby had done a poo.

On arrival at the labour ward I was asked if I could be examined which I agreed to and was delighted to learn that I was 9cm dilated! I was told that I could go with my body as the last cm of cervix was very soft. Unfortunately my baby’s heart beat was dropping so I was informed that my baby would need some help being delivered more quickly due to this and the risk of infection from the poo.

Before my partner even had a chance to get the bags from the car I was given an episiotomy and a ventouse was used. At 2:55 my daughter Mila Rae was born in dimmed lighting (the doctor used a small spotlight) and reasonably calm environment. I had requested a psychological 4th stage in my preferences but this was no longer possible so had help to deliver my placenta. My partner cut the cord and held Mila whilst I had my stitches. The stitches took 20 minutes and were not painful with a little gas & air. I had skin to skin with Mila and she fed almost instantly.

Despite my birth not going as I had hoped it was still a positive birth to me. I am so pleased that I was able to labour at home to 9cm just with my Tens machine and 2 co-codomol. I don’t think this would have been possible without my knowledge and breathing techniques. I can’t recommend PBC enough!