Birth story - Chelsea and baby Della

*Trigger warning* - 2nd degree tear, use of word contractions

It’s taken me a little while to get around to writing this (life is busy with a newborn!) but I wanted to make sure I did as the birth of Della was one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I still can’t believe how positive it was. I also know how much reading these stories helped me, especially as I was being induced. I was on a complete high for about a week after she was born and felt like the strongest person in the world which I truly believe is down to the positive birth company. Without doing this course I definitely could’ve seen my whole labour in a different light, especially as I was induced during covid which meant I had to do the beginning without my partner which was my worst fear leading up to giving birth.

Pregnancy

I had a lovely pregnancy even though I had morning sickness till about 18 weeks. Towards the end I felt quite uncomfortable but did all I could to get labour moving along. I drank raspberry tea and ate 6 dates a day from 37 weeks, did labour inducing yoga, sat on my birth ball a lot, ate lots of curry and pineapple, curb walking and also pumping to get a store of colostrum before she arrived.

Labour

In the week leading up to being induced I was definitely feeling period pains most days, especially in the evenings. Braxton hicks had really ramped up and I did feel like things were moving in the right direction, just very slowly. It was very manageable though and each pain or twinge I felt made me feel excited. My partner and I did everything we could in those weeks to boost oxytocin for me which was a really lovely way to spend our last weeks as just us two.

I went in for my 40 week midwife appointment at 40+3 days with the mindset that I’d accept a sweep if it was offered as I was feeling just so excited to meet her and wanted to get things moving. When I was there I briefly mentioned that her movements were maybe slightly more muted than before. I thought this was fine as it was likely cause the baby was bigger now and I am also quite anxious so I wasn’t sure if I was just imagining it.

However, the midwife wanted to send me to the assessment unit just to check baby was okay. She said when I was there they could do a sweep too to get things moving. So Luke and I headed to the hospital (didn’t bring the hospital bags as we didn’t think we needed to). Luke was not allowed in for the scan. When I was there the baby passed the monitor test with flying colours in 20 mins but then they spoke to me about getting induced that day because of the risk of still birth. I was really shocked as I was only 4 days over and the baby seemed completely fine on the monitor, so I said no because it just felt a bit extreme and I knew Luke wouldn’t be able to be with me during the early labour stages if I got induced, which I was scared of.

I rang Luke and we actually decided an induction was the right thing to do cause we didn’t want to risk anything with the baby. I knew I’d be so anxious going home anyway if there was any risk. I did push back on this in the hospital and ask if I could have a scan first to see if baby was ok, and if she was to delay the induction which the hospital agreed to, but when I had time to properly think about it all I decided to go ahead with the induction that day.

I did feel quite upset about the decision as it wasn’t the birth I wanted however, it felt like the right one and I did start to get excited. I had to wait for a call and then they said they had a bed at 6:30pm so I went in. It was a bit overwhelming at first because Luke had to go home but there was another lovely girl on the ward in the same situation so that helped. At 8:30pm they put the pessary in so my cervix would soften then I tried to get some sleep. I set up all my candles and tried to make the room cosy. I listened to spa music on my headphones and also went on the Positive Birth Community Facebook page and read all the positive induction stories which massively helped and is why I wanted to write this one!

In the morning then at 8ish I felt some tightenings and they just got increasingly stronger. I started timing them on the Freya app and when Luke came to see me at 10am in visiting hours they were coming every 2-3 mins then so I knew it was starting properly. Freya then said I was in established labour so I told the midwives and they said they don’t usually examine until the 24 hours are up but they could check now if I requested. In my birth plan I wanted minimal examinations but I really wanted to reach 4cm so I could go up to delivery and Luke could come in. When I was checked I was 1-2cm and my cervix was “dramatically thinned” so a really good sign. She also said I was progressing much quicker than people usually do so that was really positive to hear.

By about 3 o’clock the contractions were so intense I really thought I couldn’t do it, especially as I was on my own. This was the hardest part of my whole labour even though it was early stages. I just didn’t want to be on my own but I kept UFO in mind and kept upright as much as I could and even took a bath on the induction ward. I started using the tens machine too but by this point I was starting to shake (must’ve been adrenaline) which I was upset about because I was really trying to not get to that stage. The tens machine helped a lot at this stage!

Around 5 o’clock, I asked them if they could please check me again as I couldn’t wait until 8:30 with this pain. She did and I was 3-4cm so I could head up to delivery! I was so so happy as I was starting to struggle on the induction ward and now I’d get to go to a nice room with my husband. I had mentioned a few times I wanted to go in a birthing pool and as there was only one on the consultant led unit I didn’t know if I’d be able to. But luckily as we were heading there the lovely midwife let me know the room was free! This really got the oxytocin flowing with the change of situation. As soon as I saw Luke things really ramped up again and I think it’s because I was so happy. That was one positive of having to do the beginning on my own! The midwives said they were going to break my waters but decided I was progressing so quick that they’d see if I could do it myself, and they took out the pessary.

The contractions were so intense by this point I was shaking a lot but once I got in the pool it eased up. The relief was the most wonderful feeling and the shakes calming down helped so much. I had gas and air then too and that seemed to really take the edge off. Luke set up the candles around the room and fed me grapes and water in between contractions which was so lovely. I was able to talk and laugh between contractions and the gas and air massively helped with my breathing.

Then it just kept going, I had my bloody show, my waters popped at maybe 10 o’clock ish which was the most insane feeling and then I had that massive urge to push. I’d been feeling that from about 6cm but it really intensified at this stage and the midwives said I could just go with my body now because they were monitoring the baby and she was low down enough. I was so grateful for the gas and air, I could shout into it when pushing, l just kept my eyes closed and got into the zone with breathing. The ring of fire happened at this stage. Then in 5 pushes (around about) she was out and I got to catch her in the water! It was the most incredible feeling in the world. I was euphoric! She latched on in a couple minutes and I continued to feed her while they stitched me up too.

I had a second degree tear which I healed pretty quickly from and then had to birth the placenta so had the injection to do that. This wasn’t the nicest part but I was so over the moon she was here I didn’t notice it that much.

After giving birth they let us go down to a nice room for the night and I got to go home in the morning because things went well! In total my labour was only 6 hours of active labour and just 9 mins of pushing.

This course was by far the best thing I did during my pregnancy because it completely changed my perspective. I was so scared when I got pregnant about giving birth but this made me feel excited and I really wanted to experience all the different stages. It also made me feel in control even though I was induced as I was able to question the decisions and chose what was right for us.

Thank you so much PBC xxx