Birth story - Anna and baby Jamie

In August my husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby and we were so excited! We found out we had were having a little boy! Despite suffering with morning sickness up until 20 weeks I had a really good pregnancy and I absolutely loved those 9 months! I’d done a bit of reading up on hypnobirthing, had watched tutorials, listened to positive affirmations and read lots of positive birth stories so I felt prepared for labour. 

My due date was the 8th April 2020 and I had always anticipated being overdue, so when the 8th came and went I wasn’t disappointed - I just knew he would come when he’s ready. When I was a week overdue my midwife gave me a sweep in the morning. That afternoon I had a show and developed a really dull ache in my back. 

At midnight my surges started. I was unsure at first if they were definitely surges as the pain was mostly in my back but as they were becoming more and more regular I realised that this was it! I woke my husband up at 1.30am, had a shower, put on some comfy clothes and started timing my surges on the Freya app. I managed to chill on the sofa for an hour watching tv before I went back upstairs and tried to doze through the surges while using a TENS machine. 

The Freya app then told me that my surges indicated I was in active labour so I rang the hospital and was told to stay at home for as long as I felt comfortable. I felt I could go on for a little longer so I leant on my ball for another hour or so. After than point my surges were becoming much more intense so I rang the hospital once more and told them we were on our way. We left home at 7am and arrived at the hospital at about 7.10. 

Due to Covid-19 my husband couldn’t come with my while I was being assessed, so after being sick in the car park and my waters breaking at the same time, I made my way to the delivery suite. I had to wait a little while to be assessed which was difficult but I managed to breath through each surge. When the midwife saw to me she told me I was already at 9cm which made sense as I was definitely feeling the urge to push! I had planned for a water birth but the birthing pool was unavailable, however they had a second room with a large deep bath that was available so midwife prepped the room while I called my husband to come up. I was in the pool at about 8.25 and my husband came in a few minutes later. 

I was pushing for a total of 1hr and 10 minutes with no pain relief when our son Jamie entered the world and completely changed our lives for the better. We are so in love, and although we had to stay overnight which meant my husband had to go home, I am so pleased with how my labour went during such unsettling times and I am proud of myself for how I managed during labour.