Birth story - Elizabeth and baby Miracle

*Possible Triggers* Use of word contraction (as not negative to me), 1st degree tear

Pregnancy and preparation

I consider myself extremely blessed to have had such a simple pregnancy. 5 weeks of nausea at the beginning (that vanished as quickly as it arrived!), and one week of extreme trapped wind at about 22 weeks is about it!

I was able to stay active throughout, which majorly helped (I only stopped horse riding at 38 weeks), and I believe this was a great preparation.

We purchased the PBC course around 32 weeks, but we didn’t finish watching the videos until after our due date! We took our time for sure..

The video on dues dates really stuck with me nearer the end of the pregnancy, resulting in me having a really great day when it came, more of a “we made it to 40 weeks!,” rather than “my baby should be here already.”

I had a day or two of feeling emotional between our due date and babies arrival, I think the anticipation of the next chapter, and worrying that I will miss being pregnant too much (I loved being able to feel baby wiggle, and she was a proper wiggler so it was all day every day!).

Birth

I had been having consistent Braxton Hicks since my due date, nothing painful at all, but regular enough that I took note of it the first few days. After that I started to ignore the timings of it, because it didn’t mean I was going into labour today!!

My mum had arrived the Friday I turned 41 weeks, we had been dreaming all along that she could be there for the birth, and she had the week off work so she had come to stay until baby came!

The day I turned 41 weeks was the start of my friends hen do weekend, and still feeling really well, I dressed up and headed off for the evening! My husband was on the other side of town at the stag do as well.

I had a really lovely fun and relaxed evening with friends, and before I left I joked “if you could pray that I go into labour tomorrow morning that would be great, then I can get a good nights sleep before things kick off!!” We said 6am! I slept amazingly well that night.

7am at 41+1, I got woken up by a big pop! I had been told that you feel the pop, but I hadn’t really believed it, it was amazing!!! I sat up quick and grabbed my crotch and legged it to the bathroom (didn’t want to spoil the new carpets!), I then burst out laughing before trying to whisper shout to wake up my husband. Both mum and Jozzy came out and saw me butt naked standing over the toilet with my waters pouring everywhere!! We had a good laugh (mum took a photo!), I stuck a pad in and told Jozzy to go back to bed. I wanted him to feel rested incase it took a while, but I was too hungry to sleep again.

My Mum and I had a really calm morning downstairs whilst my husband rested. We sat and had breakfast, and watched cute programs.

One of mums work colleagues (a midwife) sent her a 20 minute calming breathing meditation that she had made for pregnancy, so I sat on my birth ball and we both breathed through this video, enjoying the peace of it.

This is where things suddenly changed!

I took mum up the garden to look at my veg, and pick some strawberries, and this is where I had my first strong contraction! The first one I had to really stop and focus my breath.

After some time in the garden we went back into the house and put on a feel good movie to keep my oxytocin levels high.

At this point I went up to wake my husband, just a simple “I think you might need to get up soon, things are happening!”

I always intended to use Freya to time my contractions, but in the moment it never came to it - it all happened quick enough that I didn’t think about it, but I also knew that my mum was timing them so I didn’t need to keep track.

I phoned triage at 8am to tell them that my waters had gone at 7am, and I got a phonecall back at 11am to ask how we were doing. I was having 3 in 10 at this point so she said she would send the midwife out!

From here I went into my own bubble. I started off labouring leaning on the mantle piece, moved to leaning on the couch, and then ended up on the floor with my bum in the air and my chest on the floor. My body knew exactly where it needed to be, so I just went with it.

Being able to visualise what the muscles in my uterus were doing here was absolutely incredible. Having the knowledge of why the contractions felt like they did was so helpful, and really kept me grounded.

My midwife arrived at about 12 midday, and at this point I was on the floor. She was absolutely incredible, she was so calm, left me to it for a while before coming over and chatting to me. She could see I looked like I was in active labour, but asked if I wanted a VE to see where I was. I had no objections to this, but trying to move from my chest on the floor position to laying on my side was too much, my body said a big no, and this is the only point in the whole process that I felt at risk of going into red.

The midwife, Jozzy and mum were amazing, reminding me to relax my shoulders, breathe and come back to green!

I ended up saying no to the VE because I could feel that things were happening, and the midwife totally understood, not once did she push me or tell me otherwise.

At some point she asked if I would like her to bring the gas and air in from the car, and I said yes. I found it so helpful, it was a really great feeling, but it also helped with focusing on breathing, almost as though the noise of the mouthpiece helped me focus.

Mum had put on Freya during this time, and we listened to the cycle of affirmations continuously until baby was here. These were so helpful, being able to hear things I knew to be true, and familiar (I had listened to them during pregnancy) was amazing.

My husband had been filling the pool whilst I was labouring, and as soon as this was ready I wanted to get in. I had worried before that I would feel too warm in the water and not enjoy it, but it was absolutely incredible. The gentle warmth on my belly, and the weightlessness it gave me was such a massive relief!

Almost as soon as I got into the pool things went from the up stage, to down. I didn’t really have a transition like you see on tv (a panicked one), but I did have a little moment of emotion where I just cried and kept on saying “there’s going to be a baby”, I obviously knew I was close!!

My midwife called for her second to come, but it happened so quickly she didn’t get here until after baby was born!

Listening to my body here was so powerful, I felt like I was able to completely surrender and just follow the lead of what it needed me to do.

My husband was incredible, his encouragement and presence was precious, having him right next to me just validated to me that we were doing this whole thing together, he was there every step of the way.

It didn’t take long for me to start mooing, and I could really feel the downwards motion. After a few contractions of this I started to feel baby moving down the birth canal! The bobbing up and down is just amazing, and more movement than I had imagined. Definitely could feel her head effectively stretching me, and again really let my body do what it needed to do.

This got stronger and stronger until I felt her head coming out!! My midwife said to reach down, and it was the most amazing feeling, her beautiful little head was right there, I could feel the hair on her head.

I don’t know how long I had between her head and the next contraction, but I could really feel her moving around inside of me. She was doing what she needed to do, and I could feel it all!

I was leaning forwards on the pool still at this point, but with the next contraction I was able to move from here to sitting up in time for me to catch her and slowly bring her out of the water. The most incredible moment of my life!!!!

My husband had already announced that she was a girl before she was out of the water, but I don’t think I even heard him, I was just in awe of the beautiful baby that was now in my hands!!

We spend about 20 minutes in the pool after she was born, just hugging, kissing and staring at her perfect face!!

After a while I was helped out of the pool and settled on the couch, I relaxed here for a while before we started to think about the placenta. After 45 minutes it hadn’t come, so I happily accepted the injection, and it came out almost immediately.

I ended up with only a 1st degree tear and a couple of grazes, so I was able to be stitched up whilst sitting on the sofa.

The timings couldn’t have been more perfect:

7am waters broke

10:45 start of regular contractions

14:44 baby girl was here!

32 minutes recorded down stage, with 28 minutes of delayed cord clamping!!

The most peaceful, surreal experience of my life. The midwife left around 5:30pm after spending some time chatting with us all.

We were then left all cozied up on the sofa, Jozzy happily watching football.

She didn’t have her first clothes on until perhaps 11pm that night, so we spent almost half a day completely skin to skin with her feeding when she wanted.

I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect labour and birth for our baby girl.

I can’t say thankyou enough to the Positive Birthing Company for these resources, they completely changed everything! I think people around me are going to get sick of me eventually because I cannot stop raving about it!!