Birth story - Anna and baby Harvey

I am a natural worrier and overthink everything so a friend in work told me about the positive birthing company and that they were on Instagram and the posts were really informative and helpful. So I started to follow them on Instagram and decided to take the plunge and order the digital pack at 39 weeks.

I was offered a sweep at 40 plus 1 but I declined this as I wanted to see if our little dude would come on his own accord. The day passed by and nothing seemed to be happening. I was advised by the midwife an induction would be the next step but I used my BRAIN and decided this wasn’t needed to be arranged at that moment in time as there was no clinical risk to me or baby and I was still well in the due date period. The days went on and still nothing so I used my BRAIN again and decided to accept a sweep at 40 plus 8 days to see if this would get things moving to avoid induction. the midwife came to the house and did the sweep and advised me I was 1.5cm to 2cm dilated! so things were happening. I was so happy I had waited to have a sweep as I’d progressed on my own to 1.5 to 2cm.

That day I was sore and had niggling aches in my stomach. the next day arrived and nothing was happening, then in the early hours of the morning I had the mucus bloody show and began to get surges, they were coming and going so I tried to sleep through them and use up breathing, the next morning I was still having surges so we started to time them and I called my Mum who was my other birth partner to let her know it could be that day, the surges were getting stronger but I used the up breathing technique to get through each one. I carried on with the day as normal and I was watching tv, I got up to go the toilet and felt like I had wet myself, I wasn’t sure if this was my waters so I called the hospital and they advised me to go in and get checked out to see if my waters had gone as there is a higher risk of infection if my waters had gone and I hadn’t gone into labour after 24 hours. off we went to the hospital and I got checked, the nurse was unsure if my waters had gone but I was 3cm dilated! she advised me that if I hadn’t gone into labour in 24 hours I would need to be induced as there would be a high risk of infection, again I used my BRAIN and decided this was best for the baby and myself, we were booked in for 4pm the next day.

We went home and had a McDonalds on the way home as a treat, I continued to have surges all night and the next day but they were not regular enough, when 4pm was nearing my surges were getting less frequent, I think that was nerves for going into hospital for induction but I used positive thoughts and I knew this was best for me and baby. We got into hospital and I was examined, I was 3.5cm dilated and there was still slight confusion if my waters had gone but the midwife said babies head could have been plugging the sack so as she pressed I felt a warm trickle and that was definitely some waters leaking.

Off we went to the labour ward, unfortunately I was put from low risk to high risk due to being induced and couldn’t use the pool but I used the hypnobirthing technique of making the area work for me, I asked for the lighting to be dimmed, my husband put Smooth FM on his mobile phone and I made sure the midwife was aware I wanted to be able to move around whilst being monitored. I continued to breathe through the surges, keeping myself calm and making sure I was drinking water and eating small snacks. The midwife asked could she examine me to check the progress, I agreed to this as I wanted to know how far along I was, she examined me and I was 6cm dilated!

I continued using up breathing and bounced on the ball. As the drip was increased I found the surges a lot stronger so I felt I needed gas and air, this calmed me down and allowed me to focus on my breathing again. I was asked if I could be examined again and I accepted, I was 9cm!! I was so happy with this and getting there with up breathing and gas and air.

This is when I did have my wobble, I was exhausted and I just wanted a break from the surges as they were very intense at this point. I then decided I would have diamorphine to take the edge off. I was then examined again to check I was at 10cm and the midwife needed to make sure all my waters had gone, they had and I was 10cm! An hour was given so the head could descend, I continued to breathe through the surges and build up energy for the ‘pushing’ stage. I was asked what position I wanted to use so I got on all fours and leant over the bed. I was guided by the midwife when to ‘push’ as each surge came, the position I was in wasn’t really working for me so I decided I would be more comfy on my back propped up with pillows and my legs were elevated in the stirrups.

I wasn’t ‘pushing’ for long and his head was out, his heart rate dropped slightly so I had to be cut to allow him to come out, with one more ‘push’ he was out! my baby boy was here!! He was placed straight on me for skin to skin and we had delayed cord cutting, my Husband cut the cord.

I decided to have the injection to birth the placenta as I lost quite a bit of blood and had the cut that needed tending to. This happened fairly quickly after and I only needed a few stitches but I was unaware as to exactly what was happening as I had my baby on me.

It was such an overwhelming almost out of body experience and i feel the positive birthing company digital pack really helped me understand labour more, what was happening with my body and made me aware I did have options and could say no if I wanted to. The up breathing was the technique I felt I made the most use of as the surges were such an intense feeling, I wouldn’t describe them as painful just very strong and intense.

Thank you to Siobhan at the positive birthing company for allowing access to the digital pack, I feel it really changed my thoughts on labour and made me stronger, more in control of my body through this amazing time 👶💙❤️