Birth Story - Anna and baby Jude

* Our Positive Induction Birth Story *

I was a little unsure about whether to post this, however when I discovered I was going to be having an induction, one of the first things I did was search for positive induction stories, so hopefully this will help a few others who are in the same situation!

So... on Friday 8th June we went for a routine growth scan at 38 +3 (low Papp-A, small 1st baby and baby was consistently measuring small so was scanned every 2-4 weeks), unfortunately it showed that baby hadn’t grown during the last 2 weeks and induction was recommended.

After being offered and subsequently declining, a c-section this time round I wanted to try and have the most natural birth that I could. A friend who had been on Siobhan’s hypnobirthing course in Devon a few months ago, had recommend the digital pack to me as I had left it too late to attend a face to face course. My husband and I watched all the videos to prepare for the birth of our baby and both agreed we felt much better prepared.

I wanted to trust and have confidence in my body to give birth the way I wanted to, and there is no doubt this course enabled me to do that.

I was very anxious about induction after deciding to opt for a vaginal delivery, I wanted to try to ensure it was as natural and intervention free as possible, however we decided that there was no doubt induction was best for our baby. I was told I wouldn’t be able to go onto the midwife led unit as baby would need continuous monitoring, which I was happy with and decided to make the best of our situation and environment.

I was transferred to the induction ward where I had the propess pessary at about 5:20pm. I also had a stretch and sweep at the same time in the hope it might help things along the way. I was warned it may take a few days until they were able to break my waters, so I was prepared for a wait.

At about 2:30am on Saturday the 9th June I was woken for the midwife to check on baby’s heart rate and I was having mild and manageable surges every 2.5/3 minutes.

I turned over to try and get some sleep at 3:20am and as I did so my waters broke. I told the midwife who arranged a bed for me on the delivery suite. I had sent my husband home to get some rest, so I called him to come back in. After my waters broke my surges got noticeably more intense, and whilst I waited to be transferred up to the delivery suite and for my husband to arrive, I used lavender and clary sage oils on a flannel to breathe through the surges whilst listening the the positive affirmations and some relaxing music.

I walked the short walk up to the delivery suite (with several stops along the way!), which definitely increased the intensity of the surges. At 5:30am the midwife examined me and told me I was approximately 4cm, I told her I would really like to use the pool, they had monitoring available and said that should be fine, but they would wait until I was about 6cm so it wouldn’t slow labour down. I was happy to be examined throughout and the midwife said she’d examine me again in a couple of hours.

Despite being attached to the monitor, I wanted to be as active as possible so alternated between sitting/bouncing on the birthing ball and standing and rocking whilst leaning on the bed. We connected the TENS machine and I used up breathing and inhaled the oils during surges (much to my husbands amusement at one point I picked up my knickers rather than the flannel to smell... he daren’t say anything but was creasing up inside!!).

The midwife kept conversation to a minimum and my husband was beside me the whole time. He encouraged me to relax my shoulders throughout, and although I didn’t feel I needed anyone touching me at this point, his supportive presence next to me was a huge reassurance.

At about 7:30am I was aware that the surges were becoming much more intense and I could feel a lot of pressure down below. I was desperate for the midwife to come back and examine me in the hope I was at least 6cm and could use the pool as I was starting to doubt my ability to continue just using the up breathing.

The midwife had been called to help someone else and arrived back at about 7:45 when I asked to be examined. I asked for some gas and air and as I got up onto the bed to be examined I felt an overwhelming urge to push. Surely this was too soon... I was hoping just to be 6cm and get into the pool?!

The midwife told me to go with my body, examined me and said that I was fully dilated. I now realise my wobble a few minutes previously was the transition phase and I was so aware of the surges changing from ‘pulling up’ to ‘pushing down’.

The midwives had just changed shifts and hadn’t expected me to be at this stage already and she barely had a chance to get her gloves on and everything ready!

During the next few surges, it was my body doing the ‘pushing’ and I could feel the baby coming down the birth canal and starting to crown. The baby’s heart rate then started to drop so with the midwives coaching I pushed during surges and the baby’s head was born, she asked me if I would like to reach to feel it, which of course I did, and then with the next surge, at 8:10am our beautiful baby boy was born!!

We didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl and I was in so much shock that I’d just had a baby, it took a few minutes for us to look to see what we’d had! We then had a beautiful and perfect few hours alone in the room together.

It was without doubt, one of the best experiences of my life and I keep running it over in my head because I never want to forget it. I am in awe of the female body!

So ladies, trust and have confidence in your body.
Don’t worry if things don’t go ‘to plan’ and just try to make the very best of the environment that you’re in.

THANK YOU Siobhan, and my lovely friend for recommending this course, it allowed me to have the birth I was dreaming of my whole pregnancy, I couldn’t be happier with how it went and wouldn’t change a thing!

Anna, Mark, big sister Lowenna and Baby Jude Oliver born 9th June 2018.