Birth story - Becki and baby Willow

I read so many positive stories whilst pregnant so here is mine in the hopes it helps other parents not be scared of induction. It is so very long, however in order to tell the story I need to tell you everything that happened 🙂

Due to Pre eclampsia in my last pregnancy and Hyperemesis in this pregnancy I was monitored weekly from 25 weeks.

Thankfully my blood pressure behaved but towards the end I had two growth scans and they were coming back with a ‘very large baby’ my first baby was 5.12lbs so they made a big deal out of this.

They wanted to induce me then and there but I used my BRAIN (I didn’t want to be induced again as I was induced last time due to the pre eclampsia) and knowing that a big baby doesn’t necessarily justify induction I asked if I could leave it a week and try to get things going myself as I was 38 weeks at the time.

I had two sweeps in this week and spent what felt like eternity on my ball, however it just didn’t happen so I went to the hospital on the Friday for my planned induction.

After monitoring the baby for a short while I had the pessary and was told they would check me 24 hours later.

24 hours later and I was ready for my waters to be broken, unfortunately the labour ward was too busy so we had to wait until they had a midwife free.

This took a further 24 hours and I believe without the digital pack I would have gone insane in this time, however because of the pack I used this time to think about all the exciting things that lay ahead and how my baby was getting extra time where he/she was happy and comfortable. My partner stayed with me during this time so we enjoyed watching movies and going for walks and just being together with visits from our 6 year old daughter.

On Sunday afternoon they came and said we were ready to move to labour ward, we were taken straight over and put on a monitor to check baby for a short period before my waters were broken.

The midwife read through my birth preferences at this time and we discussed in detail my birth plan.

Once my waters had been broken the midwife suggested we go for a walk and come back in two hours to be checked.

We went for a walk but within 30 minutes I was getting regular surges, I timed them and was amazed to find they were already 3 in 10minutes.

We went back to the labour ward so I could bounce on the ball provided which I found more comfortable than trying to walk around.

I’m not going to lie it did get pretty intense quickly, my surges picked up to 6 in 10 within that first hour and stayed like that until I birthed my baby. My partner kept trying to ‘set’ the room up for me but I just needed him to be with me and keep me grounded.

I managed to get through 5 hours of surges with ‘Up breathing’ alone, with my partner and the midwife amazed at how well I was going into myself with each surge. I kept saying to myself “I can do anything for one minute”.

After 5 hours of these constant back to back surges I was getting very tired, so I asked to try gas and air (it made me very sick last time) it was amazing this time around and really helped me centre myself again and focus on my breathing.

My partner told me afterwards a consultant had popped in to check on me as the midwife was worried I wasn’t getting any rest in between surges, and was simply amazed I was doing it with just breathing and gas and air.

Another 2 hours later and my baby came into this world, it was recorded I was in the ‘pushing’ stage for 8 minutes. I was standing up and leaning on the bed when our baby was born and was passed up between my legs so I could discover the sex.

We had a girl weighing 10.2lbs of chunky gorgeousness and we named her Willow Grace.

From breaking my waters to her being born it took 7 hours and 10 minutes.

It was intense, but it was amazing and everything I could have wished for, my midwife respected my decisions and it was just perfection.

I wanted a water birth the whole way through this pregnancy and when my birth plan changed I was so heart broken, however because of the digital pack and those positive induction videos I managed to have an amazing experience that fills my heart with joy!

Thank you to Siobhan for making this information accessible and thank you to all the mamas whose stories kept me going!

Our family is finally complete!