Birth story - Ashleigh and baby Evelyn

1st pregnancy/birth:

All low risk, gave birth in the same MLU but was quite clueless about my options and rights! Was very lucky to have quite a short labour for a FTM but gave birth on my back, and had pethidine very late in the labour (only 25 mins before he came out!) which led to a very drowsy baby and me quite out of it for pushing/skin to skin, as well as a tricky start to breastfeeding, as he just didn’t want to wake up to feed! Also had 2 grazes and some stitches, which healed totally fine. 

2nd pregnancy/birth:

I was really lucky to have a 2nd low risk pregnancy, but got a diagnosis of Group B Strep after testing my urine sample from the booking appt. Initially I was gutted as this meant I couldn’t have the home birth I really wanted due to needing IV antibiotics during labour. (I’ve since found out I could have possibly still had a home birth had I paid for a private scan beforehand, so do look into this if you’re in any doubt!) I bought the PBC pack at around 32 weeks after a friend recommended it, and showed the relevant videos to my partner, who was totally supportive of my choices and really liked the science behind it! 

My 1st little boy came at 38+5 so I felt pretty confident this little lady would be prompt too, but how wrong I was! 😅 

At 39 weeks I had a spell of reduced movement so went to be checked out and luckily she started wriggling again pretty much straight away. The doctor that came to see me though was extremely authoritarian and tried to insist I had an induction that day because of the incident, even though she had begun moving again straight away and had no other worrying factors! I rang my partner and we used our BRAIN to decline and ask for additional monitoring instead, as we weren’t worried about the baby and felt there wasn’t a medical need for it. They also gave me a scan on that day to check fluid levels and blood flow etc, which all came back fine ☺️ I also declined a sweep at the hospital on this day because my midwife was due to come round at 40 weeks and had offered to do one then.

Fast forward a week, all monitoring sessions had been fine, so we didn’t have to go back in for any checks! The midwife performed a sweep at my 40 week appointment which wasn’t unpleasant at all! She said I was 2cm and partially effaced and could even feel the head, so I was sure this meant our little one was on the way imminently 😅.

When my 41 week appointment came round, she did another - much less gentle this time! - and said I was much the same. It seemed to do the trick though this time! That night I had some irregular surges and had a bit of a show, so tried to get an early night in the hopes that I would wake up to something. Sure enough, at 3am I woke up for a wee and felt my first proper surge - straight away I remembered the sensation from my first labour so knew this was it! I tried to catch some more sleep for the next hour or so, but surges were now coming every 10-15 minutes and getting quite uncomfortable while lying down. I got up and started to potter about sorting my toddler’s bag for the childminder the next day, cleaned my kitchen and even put a wash on - not quite sure what got into me! 😂 All the while, surges were coming every 10-20 minutes and while manageable, still needed me to breathe through. This is where Freya came in handy - I just had the music playing (not Siobhan’s voice) and found the counting during a surge really helpful. At around 6:30 I decided to run a bath to see if it helped and was still in there when my toddler woke up and tried to get in for a dip too 😂 The bath seemed to slow down my surges a bit so I decided to get out and try to rest a bit while my partner got little man ready for the childminder. I went downstairs to say goodbye and got the best cuddle ever - I think he knew something was happening! 

From around 10am, surges got quite intense and more consistently 7-10 minutes apart, so I got my partner to help put on the TENs machine and watched episodes of Scrubs while bouncing on my ball. I forgot how fab the TENs machine was! I mostly laboured in my bump right at the bottom, but found the sensation in my back really soothing and imagined it sucking the pain through and away - it might sound daft but it worked for me! 

At 2 I started struggling with the intensity and length of the surges, which were still coming every 5-6 minutes but lasting for 1 and a half to 2 minutes each. I rang triage and they said to come in. 

Getting in and out of the car was interesting, and I found myself half hanging out of the door breathing through a surge like my life depended on it in the hospital carpark! Luckily we’re only 5-10 minutes away so the journey itself was manageable with my TENs and Freya. 

We went straight up to the birth centre, where we were met by my amazing student midwife, Molly. She didn’t leave my side from then on, and did a check confirming I was 6cm! Because of this I could thankfully get in the pool as soon as they put the cannula in for my antibiotics. My partner also popped some battery tea lights around and set up the iPad and speaker with some music. I got the first lot of antibiotics while I was in the pool and honestly didn’t even really notice the IV, other than being careful that my right hand didn’t go in the water. I carried on breathing in the pool, hanging off the handle on the side and my partner’s hand with my head back for each surge. Molly checked on the heartbeat every 15 mins or so but was able to do so underwater so I didn’t have to move thankfully! I spent an hour or so doing this, and began to feel some pressure, so Molly explained that I had probably dilated quite quickly with being a STM so to just go with my body. Surges carried on like this for a while, getting closer together and more intense so I lost my breathing a couple of times but managed to regain thankfully! I found it really useful to tap the 4 and 8 on the side of the pool as I was breathing, and it helped my partner and Molly know when I was having a surge, too. 

I found myself looking for the transition stage, and think it came when I asked for gas and air. I tried a puff of it and decided it was too off-putting with my upbreathing as it knocked me off - I’m still not sure how it works with the in and out! 

Suddenly I found myself bearing down - a sensation I remember well from last time - and the intensity made me sick a couple of times before moving to my bum and becoming pushes. Molly guided me for the next 10 minutes or so, reassuring me to follow my body and stopping and waiting for more surges rather than pushing through, which I’m so glad she did! She also put pressure on my perineum when the head came out, which was the oddest sensation when I had a gap in surges just as it was half out! I had to hang there and wait with the ring of fire (ouch) for a couple of minutes before getting it fully out with the next surge. As I wasn’t upbreathing here, I tried some quick puffs on the gas and air which took the edge off the stinging. I reached down at this point to feel her head, which was incredible - I couldn’t believe the amount of hair she had! 

In the next big surge, her body followed and I remember grasping about under me until Molly passed her through and I brought her up onto my chest. It took a couple of minutes for her to realise she had been born, where she kind of gaped about, and Molly gave her a big rub while she was on me. I was asking constantly if she was okay because she wasn’t crying, but she wasn’t worried at all and a minute or so later, she definitely made up for it with a massive scream! 😅 

We waited a good few minutes for the chord to stop pulsing before my partner got to snip it, which I watched with interest as I missed it last time! This whole part was totally different to my first birth, where I was quite out of it still on pethidine. I remember every detail this time and felt so alert and aware. While my partner had a cuddle and skin to skin, Molly gave me the injection for the placenta (which I’d asked for - just get it out I said 😅) which followed soon after. I wasn’t expecting the cramps to be quite as intense as they were immediately following birth - apparently this is really common with STMs! After that had come out in the pool, I climbed back into bed where she and the midwife checked me for any tears/grazes etc and found none - I was shocked! I’d had 2 grazes and stitches with my first so fully expected the same again. I can only put this down to Molly putting that pressure on my perineum and telling me to take it slow! 

It took a little while for baby girl to stop yelling at me and latch on for a feed, but she worked it out eventually and I sat feeding her with some tea and toast, which was lovely! Then daddy got some more cuddles while I had a shower and put some fresh pyjamas on. My tip - buy yourself a brand new really big, soft set of pyjamas for after! 

Sitting here now feeding away still on the ward, I can’t believe how quickly and smoothly everything went and absolutely thank the PBC for giving me the knowledge to do what felt right for me and my girl! I’m so glad I declined that induction at 39 weeks as I know she wouldn’t have been ready and there was no real medical need for it - if they had done that with my first, I would have blindly accepted straight away, no questions asked! 

Good luck to everybody reading this and prepping for their own birth - you’ve got this! ☺️💪🏼