Birth story - Elisha and baby Maeva

*trigger - declined induction, previous birth trauma, retained placenta*

As I had a traumatic birth with my first pregnancy our son Theo who is now 8 years old I had always said that if we were going to have a second baby then I would want a home birth as I didn’t want have the same experience. So when I fell pregnant with our rainbow baby and I found out at my first midwife appointment that our local hospital we’re setting up a Home Birth Team I was so delighted. Then lockdown came which meant that Home Births weren’t an option, however being the determined feminist that I am I wasn’t going to let a global pandemic stop me having the positive birth experience that I’d waited 8 years for, I considered the option of free birthing but with having had an induction and instrumental delivery with my first birth, I didn’t feel that I had the experience to know that everything would be ok. Therefore we decided to hire an independent midwife we used a company called Private Midwifes and they match us with the most amazing midwife Zena, she covered all my care from 36 weeks, the home birth delivery and a weeks post natal care, this was the best decision that I made as we were able to build a relationship as a family so that when it came to the delivery of our baby I knew she had all our interests at heart.

My due date came and there was no sign of our baby but having been induced at 41+5 with Theo, I had a feeling that this baby would keep us waiting but I knew that the only place I wanted to have my baby was at home with my midwife as that’s where I felt safe and comfortable. Having completed The Positive Birth Company digital hypnobirthing course I knew that induction is a recommendation and that I have the right to make my own choice when it comes to induction, so I declined 3 times.

The night before my 42 week scan my waters broke at 9:30pm we were at our friends house as our son was staying the night as I had an appointment for additional monitoring early the following morning and our son had school in the morning it was best for him to stay the night. This honestly had to be one of the funniest moment of my pregnancy and it wasn’t long after someone in the room saying your waters better not break on the sofa, and that’s exactly what happened. We called our midwife Zena who said that she would come out to see us to make sure it was my waters that had gone so we headed home with me sitting on a bath towel to be honest we didn’t really care about the car as it was getting traded in at the end of the week.

We got home I started listening to my Freya App and timing my surges the great thing about the app is that it counts the up breathing sequence for you so it gives you something to concentrate on. When Zena arrived she confirmed it was my waters and suggested that we got some rest and have something to eat then when I felt that I couldn’t manage anymore then to give her a ring and she would return. So after eating my marmite on toast, I got into bed with my tens machine strapped to my back which definitely helped when the surges started to get stronger, I had my positive affirmations playing in the background I managed to doze in between surges and it was about 2am when I felt that we needed to call Zena back.

When she arrived back I was 4cm dilated so consider in active labour. By this point this was about 2:45am and Ashley (Husband) had started to fill the birth pool which I got into around 3:15am, which took all the pressure off the front of my stomach only as the pool wasn’t completely full. I tried to find a position that would relieve the pressure from my back as I couldn’t wear the tens machine in the pool.

Then before I knew it I felt the need to push. When people say you just know as I didn’t experience this in my first labour I never really understood but you do just know. Then all of a sudden I felt my babies head, it was at that point that I knew I was definitely going to get the positive home water birth that I had dreamt of. Then with another push at 3:35am I picked our baby up out of the water and straight onto my chest as Ashley and I wanted to find out together what we had, the baby took a little while to come round as they were born so quickly into the water they don’t realise they had been born. Then Ashley and I looked to see that we had a baby girl at first I did think that we had another boy but that was her umbilical cord that was around her leg!

I wanted to have a natural delivery of my placenta as I was having it encapsulated so I got myself out of the pool and onto our snuggle chair, where I was able to get Maeva to feed straight away which we hoped would help to get the placenta to come away. But it wasn’t getting the message as by this point it had been about 30mins and I was still getting surges it was difficult to hold her and have skin to skin that I could enjoy that bond with my baby so I passed her over to her daddy.

My midwife recommended that I try sitting on the loo as that can help to get the placenta to come away, after a few minutes I had a surge, and then came a large sized clot it was at this point my midwife recommended having the injection as it had been an hour. After around another 30mins and a second injection I had another large clot it was at this point that my midwife called down to my husband to call for an ambulance I was able to use the breathing techniques to ensure that I stayed calm and relaxed.

At my 36 week appointment with my midwife we whet through and spoke about all the things that could potentially happen and how she would deal with them which meant that I knew exactly what was going to happen so I didn’t feel worried or afraid. The ambulance arrived and I was transferred into hospital we were put into a side room where one of the consultants tried to manually remove my placenta but it still wasn’t getting the message so they had to take me to theatre so they could give me a spinal block.

While I was in theatre I used up breathing so that I could stay calm and relaxed. The consultant was able to remove the placenta, which was then checked by my midwife. Then my husband had the job of walking through the hospital to deliver it to the Doula that would encapsulate it for me. Because we left the house in a bit of a rush we forgot the cool pack so Ashley had been able to get hold of her while I was in theatre and she came to collect it from the hospital.

I came back from theatre and I was so pleased to see my midwife, Ashley and our baby girl as I had a spinal block I wasn’t able to move so before Ashley and our midwife left they made sure I had everything close by so that I didn’t have to called the midwives to pass me things. I had Maeva on my chest so I could have skin to skin with her as I wasn’t able to have the golden hour at home. During the day my obs were check every hour, and gradually the feeling in my legs began to come back which meant that I was able to have a shower and walk around. When the consultant came round later in the day I asked if I was able to go home which they allowed as my haemoglobin levels were fine considering I had lost 1500ml of blood which took the consultant by surprise. I was discharged around 10pm.

As soon as we got home Ashley, Maeva and I all snuggled up in bed for our first night as a family of four.

Normally for a home birth a second midwife would be called to attend and the local hospital informed incase of any complications, however in our situation our Midwife didn’t get the opportunity to as our baby girl decided to make a swift entrance into the world.

I’m still amazed that I was able to give birth with breathing techniques, a tens machine and a birthing pool. Hypnobirthing is just about learning breathing techniques it’s an education on birth itself which allows you to know what your body is doing, to trust your instincts but most of all it takes the fear out of birth. I owe it to the PBC that I felt informed and was able to have the positive birth experience that I had 8 years to wait for.

Good luck to all expectant mums out it’s honestly the most amazing, empowering experience of your life