Birth story - Charlie and baby boy

*Trigger warning* - Contractions/Pain (I’m fine with it)

Throughout my pregnancy I was convinced that baby would come early and when it got to my due date, I was a little concerned we would need to start thinking about inducing or be asked! albeit I was determined for our birth to be as natural as possible.

Then due day came, we popped out to a Nando’s lunch, I tried some of their hot sauce (which I never have as spicy isn’t for me!) and when we got home I had to run straight for the toilet.

We then took the dog out for a walk and I started having contractions (albeit I didn’t know at that point!). By the time we got to the field, I could barely walk and had to say to my husband that I thought it was time and we needed to somehow get home quick as they were coming every few minutes.

We really wanted a home waterbirth and had bought a pool, tested the set up and had the room ready to go but unfortunately on the day, there wasn’t enough midwives to send one out to us so, when I called them at home, they said it was up to me whether we waited at home for a bit longer or make our way to the hospital but regardless, we would have to go in.

I waited an hour but my contractions just kept coming, and fast, it all escalated very quickly! My husband was frantically packing bags as we hadn’t properly packed anything, although thankfully I had made a couple of piles in the homebirth room for convenience, and we made our way in.

It’s a 30 minute journey and the whole way there I was gripping the door handle telling him to hurry up 😂

Thankfully when we got to the hospital, they were pretty quick at arranging a room for us and they also made the birth pool room available ❤️.

I was 6cm when we arrived and stayed in the birth pool between 6-8cm just constantly on gas and air or drinking ribena ☺️ and I remember the midwife saying to me to try and channel my voice to push inwards and down.

I ended up getting too hot so I gave birth on the hospital bed but it was so interesting how my mind was trying to stop me giving birth. I think also partly because I hadn’t expected it to be so quick and to have no gap between contractions - everyone said I’d have time to breathe and regain control after each one. I also tried to remember everything I had learned with the positive birth company and to be honest, I think it helped massively to regain control of my mindset!

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30pm and baby boy was born at 10:51pm with lots of skin to skin, cuddles, love and we stayed connected with the cord for as long as possible💙

Unfortunately the placenta took a long time to come out and my cervix began to close up so I ended up have the injection (which still didn’t help) before a second midwife came in and said, ’if we can’t get this out now, we will need to take you to surgery’. That was my final incentive and I pushed it out!

Baby boy was absolutely fine and very healthy and we stayed overnight just so they could keep an eye on me and my bloods.

We did end up back in hospital however, on our fourth day, as baby was very dehydrated - sadly we thought he was breastfeeding well but he wasn’t and we weren’t properly assessed afterbirth so we had to feed him formula to get some fluids and food in him. I’ll be honest, those few days, especially in our first week were incredibly scary and I so encourage anyone to get as much help as you need BEFORE leaving hospital or your midwife leaves your home to make sure baby is properly feeding and you know the signs if they’re not.

I had done so much reading and preparation pre birth but it’s always so different in practicality and in the end my instinct told me something wasn’t right and thankfully we got the right help in time.

I am so pleased to say we are both super healthy and he is gaining weight just how he should be and he is the best gift that has happened to us 💙💙 cherishing the newborn moments as long as they last!!!