Birth story - Caragh and baby Cove

*Trigger warning* - mention of cord round neck.

PREGNANCY -

Pregnancy was pretty straightforward although I had Covid at 14 weeks which was rough. At around 28 weeks I started to experience a lot of pain in my left hip when seated (my work is desk based) but switched to a standing desk and did Pilates daily which relieved the symptoms. Baby was breach until about 35 weeks so I also incorporated a lot of movement to open the pelvis and help baby move.

I knocked off work at 38 weeks and my first week off was meant to be relaxing but ended up being anything but - a very active baby meant routine heart monitoring was difficult which resulted in an ambulance transfer to a bigger hospital where upon arrival baby settled and we could confirm heart rate was totally fine. A mis-calculation when measuring my bump led to an extra scan and the stern news that until I’d had the all clear if I went into labour I’d need to birth at the hospital.

At 39 weeks I was then told all was well and the home birth was back on. I decided to focus on rest and relaxation going for gentle walks, seeing good friends, and having some amazing pregnancy massages. I’d booked a massage for my due date (highly recommend) and told my lovely therapist to “relax the baby out of me”, she did a wonderful job releasing all the knots and tension and I honestly believe that massage set the ball rolling.

LABOUR & BIRTH -

At 40+2 I started to lose wee bits of my plug and could feel my body and baby getting ready. I woke up the next morning to some gentle surges which didn’t stop, we packed my son off to school, I took a bath and then got the tens machine on around 10. At 10:30 I phoned the midwife team to let them know today was the day and that I didn’t need a team urgently but I was likely going to need them late afternoon or that evening. They sent two amazing midwives around 11:30 and they, plus my husband and mum, began to get everything set up including the pool. My surges continued and I listened to the meditation tracks on the Freya app as well as using it to track my surges.

At about 2:30 the intensity increased and I moved to a birthing ball, still using a tens machine, and using my breathing techniques and the Freya app. My son Fox had said he wanted to be present at the birth and so my husband made the call to pick him up from school a wee bit early (despite my protestations that I probably still had ages yet).

Shortly after Fox arrived home my waters broke and I decided I was ready to get into the pool, I nipped to the loo while hubs topped it up with warm water. I was promptly sick, very sick (side note: two days earlier hubs had decided to refresh the paint in our bathroom…I figured it was his “nesting” instinct kicking in). There was a midwife with me monitoring the baby and she very gently but firmly said “let’s get you off the toilet as we don’t want baby being born in there”. I move forward so I was in an upright, kneeling position and it was all very intense at the point. My hubs struggles with blood so my mum came into the bathroom and I squeezed my arms around her waist like she was a tube of toothpaste!

I then hear a rather chilling phrase from my midwife, “Caragh, the baby’s cord is around his neck, this isn’t how I’d normally do this, but I need you to just push him out now”.

I pushed, using all the techniques and knowledge I had from PBC course as well as other reading I’d done, drawing on every ounce of strength to just get my baby out. Squeezing my mum so hard in the process.

Out he came, his hand under the cord so he took it off himself, and a few seconds later he was in my arms.

I wanted an unmanaged third stage so after a few mins went to bed and about 30 mins later the placenta came out, my mum cut the cord, my son was fascinated by the placenta and was quizzing a midwife about it who very patiently showed him what was keeping his brother alive and nourished all those months.

After an exam I had some bruising but no tearing which was really great to hear. I honestly believe as I’d been so relaxed and worked hard to make sure my pelvic floor was relaxed (or as midwife kept saying “make your buttocks like marshmallows” each time I had a surge) that I was then in a really good position to push those last few critical minutes.

The midwife team cleared up, write their notes, and left. My son got to use the birth pool and had an epic bath in it. After my parents had left we all snuggled up in bed, ordered a domino’s, I had a small rum and ginger beer, and spent our first night as a new family of four.

The PBC course, Freya app & affirmations as well as all the stories here (thank you) and YouTube videos I watched really set me up well to work with my body and my baby to bring him earthside. Although I didn’t get my water birth (again… first born also came too fast for me to get in the water) I’m so grateful for everything I learnt that enabled me to birth my baby with strength and speed when I needed to. I had an incredible home birthing team and I’m so grateful to them for supporting me and using their expertise to bring my baby into the world. Being at home was amazing, climbing into my own bed was sheer bliss.