Birth story - Becca and baby boy

Since week 36 we had known that our little boy was breech and that a c section may be on the horizon.

After 2 unsuccessful rounds of ECV we booked our caesarean considering this to be the best option for me and baby but with a somewhat heavy heart as I had my sights set on a natural water birth in MLU using the techniques learned from the digital pack from week 27 of pregnancy.

On the evening before my scheduled c section I started experiencing what I now know to be surges from around 7/8pm, which I handled using up breathing and bouncing on my birth ball.

Having not really experienced Braxton Hicks contractions I wasn’t sure if they were the real deal or not and so I called our triage for advice before bed at around 10.

They advised that they may be BH contractions and that they would see me in the morning.

However, our little one had other ideas and my waters went in 2 gushes at around midnight!

We calmly made our way to the hospital and arrived at around 1am where we were put on labour ward to await an empty theatre.

It was a busy night so we ended up being in a private room until about 5:30am, all the while I was experiencing further surges and using my up breathing to guide me through with no pain relief.

When we did get to theatre just after half 5 they examined me and to my surprise I had gotten to 8cm dilated!!

I then continued to use my hypnobirthing techniques to remain calm throughout the anaesthesia and cannula (which I had previously been anxious of) and the procedure.

I’m glad to say the techniques were of great benefit during the caesarean and it was absolutely fine if anyone has any concerns about it - don’t listen to any negative stories!

We then had delayed cord clamping and skin to skin.

Thank you Siobhan for your excellent digital pack which not only allowed me to handle my surges, but also my c-section and the various twists and turns along the journey!