Birth story - Alison and baby boy

Before I went into labour I was so nervous and I’m so glad I can pass my positive experience onto other mums to be. I can’t wait to have another baby and go through labour again. It was such a beautiful experience I needn’t have been so worried beforehand.

My surges started at home at 3:30am on the 19th Feb. I was 42weeks and 2 days after 3 unsuccessful sweeps, we thought we would be waiting a long time for this baby! 

I wasn’t sure I was having contractions to start with, but after the third surge I woke my husband excitedly...... “what do we do now?” I jumped out of bed and started showering ready to go to the hospital. But as the surges were weak I decided to have my breakfast in the bath.

I sat in the bath all morning having surges every 5-10mins lasting for about a minute I used the breathing techniques and positive thinking to get me through. I did take a few paracetamol to get ahead of the pain, but overall they were mild. As the surges became stronger I knew I should start heading to the hospital. At 1:30pm I arrived at the maternity unit where they assessed that I was 5cm. So they put me on gas and air and I got into the birthing pool. I was so glad I had a pool as I found the water so soothing I was able to talk to my husband between contractions and snack on crackers and Lucozade. I stayed in the pool all day being regularly monitored by the midwife. I put my music on and the time went so fast!

The midwife checked my dilation every 4 hours and kept me updated on my pain relief options, such as morphine. At 6pm the surges intensified and that’s when I had some morphine to take the edge off. I had to come out of the bath momentarily for the morphine but I went back in afterwards. 

At midnight I was only 9cm. So I decided to opt for an epidural to be able to get some rest. They transferred me to the consultant led ward where I was prepped for an epidural. They put a band on my stomach to hear the babies heartbeat and administered the epidural into my back while I had to stay still. This was heaven I was able to get a bit off sleep before the next stage.

They then broke my waters and noticed my baby had pooed. They would then monitor me for the next few hours to wait for me to dilate to 10cm. At 4am the doctor advised me that I was not progressing and was still 9cm. I had two options I could go on a drip for 4 hours to dilate one more cm, or I could opt for a c-section. They gave me the option but did explain that the baby had shown signs of distress (the poo) and had turned, this would make the delivery harder as they would need to use forceps. I was happy to be in control and was able to decide what I wanted. 

At 5:30am I was wheeled into theatre by some very friendly nurses who put my worries at ease. And at 5:56am my baby was born a healthy 9lb13oz boy. The anaesthetist was behind me guiding me through the whole thing, she was so friendly. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, you feel movement but no pain. Within a few minutes your baby is in front of you and that’s all you can think about while they tidy you up.

I want to thank the positive birthing company for getting me through my birth. Through the breathing techniques, thinking about having a poo the whole time 🤣 and mentally preparing myself as this is a natural process and it is beautiful!