Birth story - Elizabeth and baby girl

*Trigger warning* - long labour, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, blood loss

I thought I would share my story, first off because I loved reading everyone else's different experiences in the lead-up to my birth and feeling a part of a bigger community. And secondly, although, my birth wasn't as "natural" as I had hoped (I had to be induced at 39w due to gestational hypertension), I found eveything I learnt through the PBC course extremely valuable.

Pregnancy

I really loved being pregnant! I was lucky enough to not get any nausea in my first trimester, just a weird taste in my mouth for a few weeks. I was able to keep active right to the end, going for walks, doing yoga, pilates, swimming and strength training (which I really think helped with the pushing phase, only 30 mins long!). The main concern throughout was my blood pressure. I have always suffered from white coat hypertension, my blood pressure being higher at the doctors than at home usually because of anxiety. But obviously it had to be closely monitored during pregnancy, due to the risks of developing pre-eclampsia. I watched out of any symtoms (did not get any) and was sent for many blood tests (all good). I was a little scared of needles, and up breathing really helped here!

At 38 weeks, we were offered a sweep but my cervix was not ready so it couldn't be done. We were also offered an induction that using BRAIN we decided was too soon (given I was feeling good, and bloods were coming back normal). For the next week I tried all the methods to try and bring on labour naturally: sex, nipple stimulation, walking, yoga, bouncing on the ball, eating a tonne of dates... But nothing happened. At my 39 week appointment, my OB recommended we go with an induction of labour, since continuing with high readings of blood pressure would only be playing with fire. Turns out it was definitely the right decision for me and baby, as my bloods the day of induction indicated the start of pre-eclampsia. The doctor was also concerned about baby's size, predicting she would be almost at 9lbs full term... She was 7lbs2, so those predictions were pretty off!

Labour

I went in to the hopsital at 4pm Wednesday to get the foley balloon fitted. This really wasnt that bad, the insertion of the speculum was the worst part. I got to go home and cramping began. I went for a walk, a nice shower and settled to bed (didn't get much sleep of course). At 2am, the balloon fell out whilst I was trying to pee.

We went into hospital the following morning and at 9am I was checked and found to be 3cm dialated. They then broke my waters and started my oxytocin drip. Contractions soon followed getting stronger and stronger. I used up breathing and my calming playlist to get in the zone. I kept switching positions and they were manageable for a few hours until they were not (unable to talk at all, 40 seconds, 3-4mins apart for a few hours). At around 2pm, I couldn't handle the pain and asked for the epidural. Sitting still for this was really painful. I would have liked to try gas and air first but the hospital did not have it available due to covid.

The epidural was nice but unfortunately didn't work properly for me: my legs were numb and contractions still there (but not as bad). The nurse offered me a local anesthetic drug and this provided the relief I needed. I was able to rest for a few hours and dilate to 8cm. At this point which was probably 8pm, the strong contractions started to come back, and were concentrated in my lower back and pretty excruciating. I bent over the bed, held my comb and got my husband to massage my lower back with his hands and a tennis ball for abour an hour. I then asked for a top up of pain relief and the nurse gave me another local anaesthetic which numbed my pelvis region for 1 hour and a half only.

I breathed through the less strong contractions that were still ongoing up until I reached 10cm dilation. I had been relaxing and getting into the zone for pushing and the nurse came to check me and announced that baby was at the back door and ready to come! My husband had left the room to go get my mum who had just landed from England (just in time for the pushing stage!) so I called him to get here ASAP!

Pushing

This was definitely my favourite part! I could feel the contractions again and therefore knew when to work with my body to get baby out! I tried initially to use down breathing but the nurse advised me to hold my breath as this would be more effective. It made sense to my body and I also visualised the held air being sent down through my abdomen to baby. My OB also came in at this point to help with the delivery. In about 5 contractions, 3x10 second pushes each, 30 minutes in total, she was out! My doctor carefully guided her head and body out, told me when to stop my big pushes and use little ones and I believe this is what lead me to have no tearing! Just a small graze. Seeing her come out was incredible, she was placed on me directly for skin to skin and my husband cut the cord! During the next contraction, my doctor pressed on my abdomen and out came the placenta.

Post partum

We had a golden hour and then it was time for baby's measurements. During this time I was being continuously monitored as I was progressively losing a lot of blood. It was gushing out, wetting the pads underneath me. My doctor came in with the ultrasound machine and saw that there were lots of clots in my uterus, causing the excessive bleeding. He proceeded to take them all out and I was given medication to stop the bleeding. There was one section that he was unable to work on and I was monitored for a few hours to see if the bleeding stopped. Luckily it did, as had it not I would have had to go to theatre, be put under general anaesthesia and be operated on. I lost just over 1l of blood and had to stay in hospital for a little longer to be cared for incase the bleeding came back. I was kept on the drip for another day and by day two, was feeling much better and eager to get home. The rest of the recovery has been good so far: bleeding is already much lighter and I can move about (the hardest part is the sleep deprivation, welcome to the momma's club).

Thank you to the PBC company for the wealth of knowledge and techniques. I loved learning about the science behind labour and delivery and will continue to apply the skills I learnt to daily life (BRAIN, up breathing and other relaxation techniques).