Birth story - Ellie and baby boy

I hope my story helps and inspires anyone who is worried about the possibility of a c-section, homebirths for first time mums and expectant overdue mums who aren’t getting any labour symptoms yet! It has taken me a while to write this as my local hospital offer a service called ‘Birth Reflections’ where you can ask questions about your birth, fill in an blanks and ask about next time. I would highly recommend this service and wanted to wait until after I had been to write my story!!

I had a very straightforward pregnancy and was low risk right from the get go, I knew straight away that I wanted to aim for a homebirth hopefully with a water birth and discussed this at my first appointment at 10 weeks! I only found out about hypnobirthing through the midwives who actually suggested it and did some online research and found Siobhan’s amazing digital pack! I started using it from about 12 weeks and worked through it slowly and practised my breathing most nights.

I very much had the mindset my “baby will come when my baby is ready” so never really dwelled on my due date at all. We had been very kindly gifted a birthing pool from a local lady and just ordered the new hose and liner all ready to go, we tested it out a couple of times before labour just so my partner was confident! I never had any symptoms leading up to my birth, no twinges, no Braxton hicks, no mucus plug, no surges! So if you are a ‘mummy to be’ wondering when your baby is likely to make an appearance – sometimes it will all happen in one day!

20/01/2019

2:00am: I woke up in the middle of the night to a very strong surge, I got out of bed not wanting to wake my partner and went and sat in the bathroom for a little while. I never got the build up of surges like everyone talks about. They came every minute apart for about 40 seconds long straight away with very little break in between each one, I was using my up-breathing to get through them.

2:05am: As soon as I sat on the toilet my hind waters went with a gush, and I noticed they were thick with meconium. I didn’t panic but knew it would hinder my chances of my dreamt of home birth but I had always been open to different options and just wanted baby safe.

2:10am: As I noticed meconium I woke my partner up so he could ring the home birth team to inform them and ask if they could come out to see me as my surges were pretty intense and close together. I spoke to them briefly over the phone but was finding it hard to hold a conversation between surges, and they agreed to come out and see me. For the next hour and a half I spent rocking on my ball in the bathroom listening to positive affirmations and using my up breathing to get me through them. I was timing them on an app on my phone and I got the green light that I was in established labour (Freya wasn’t around then- I just missed out!). I still couldn’t believe how quickly they were coming already.

3:40am: Two midwives arrived and made their way upstairs. They were so quiet and sat and read my birth plan I hardly knew they were there! They listened in to baby for a while and weren’t too happy with his heart rate. Through every surge the heart rate would dip and in-between each one it wouldn’t pick back up again. They monitored him regularly and I tried a few different positions to see if this made a difference.

3:50am: My partner Tom was blowing up and filling up the birthing pool and getting the living room ready for me to come downstairs. At this point I popped the tens machine to give me a bit of relief. AMAZING!

4:05am: I felt a big pop and the rest of my water went (all over the bathroom floor), I was right before- these waters were thick with meconium and the midwives said unfortunately I would have to been transferred to hospital for monitoring. I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I would be, maybe because I already knew in my head and I had been pretty chilled about change and circumstances in labour. The midwives continued monitoring me and were starting to get concerned about the baby’s heart rate dipping and not picking back up again and by this point my surges were overlapping with one another and I was having absolutely no breaks between surges. I could feel them building peaking and dropping for them to start building again before the last one had finished! By this point I was still coping with just up breathing. It was then the midwives decided to ring 999 to request an ambulance for transfer immediately.

4:23am: The ambulance arrived ready for transfer and I managed to get myself dressed (with the help of the midwife and partner) and pack the last few bits- minus shoes! -2 degree January morning and I didn’t want to wear socks or shoes!! I had a little internal wobble knowing they would want me to be laid down on my back strapped to the trolley. However both ambulance crew and midwives were great and allowed me be on all four on the bed whilst they attempted to hold me on. I can’t say it was the most pleasant journey ever but had my eyes closed and used my up breathing to get me there. When I arrived at hospital they were waiting for me, but I didn’t want a wheelchair or to use the lift, up the stairs I went! Three surges later and I was in my labour room.

5:30am: Midwives were really struggling to find baby’s heart rate and when they did it was very intermittent and slow. A doctor came in to see me and asked if I would be okay with having the clip on baby’s head to monitor him better with the promise I could still stand and move around, which I agreed to. I think the doctor knew before looking at the monitor that I would need a c-section just by what the midwife had said. 5 minutes later it was decided I would need a Category 1 C-Section, I knew at this point by using my BRAIN that it was the safest thing for both me and baby, as for the last few hours I knew how concerned my midwife was with the heart rate and the overlapping contractions.

The next part was a little bit of a blur as I remember having my eyes closed (like I had done throughout the whole of labour) but knew there were now a number of people in the room. My partner was given his scrubs to wear and I was being prepped for theatre. They all kept the room dim and quiet and kept to my birth plan as much as possible. I was still using my up breathing by this point and focused knowing I would meet my baby soon.

5:43am: I was already in theatre prepped and ready to go, I was told originally they would have to give me general anaesthetic as baby needed to be out now, but the lovely anaesthetist agreed she would give it one go with a spinal.

5:48am: The spinal was in- amazingly quick! For anyone worried about a spinal and having a cannula, at the time I was so focused on my up breathing I really didn’t even notice it being done! My amazing midwife stayed with me the whole time and kept telling me everything that was going on, she really took on board my birth plan and made sure everyone in the room knew what I wanted.

5:52am: Surgery was started, I still used my up breathing through the surgery, but was actually quite interested in what they were doing and my midwife kept me informed.

5:54am: 2 minutes later, my beautiful baby boy was born! My midwife kept to my birth plan and requested for me to have skin to skin as soon as possible and allowed my partner to go over and see our baby boy for the first time. He even got to announce to me what we had as we chose to keep the sex of the baby a surprise which was wonderful! He did need a bit of help in the beginning with lung inflations and suction due to the meconium but was handed to me a few moments later! I got to cuddle him whilst they stitched me up and sorted me out. When the drapes were pulled down I was amazed to see how many people were in the theatre room (11 excluding myself and my partner). Every single one of the staff in that theatre was absolutely incredible! I was wheeled down to the recovery room, where I spent hours cuddling and breastfeeding my new baby, and other than to have him weighed and warmed a few hours later, I didn’t put him down or dress him for 6 hours! It was magical.🌎💙

Recovery: My recovery was incredible! I was allowed to go home the next day which was amazing as I just wanted to go home to my newborn bubble with my little family. I went out for a short walk the next day and by day 5 felt able to go up and down the stairs with ease, push the pushchair and cook dinner! I was never in ‘pain’ just uncomfortable sometimes. I think having the right mindset around it helps as I was so determined to get up and about and enjoy this time as much as possible. By 6 weeks I was driving again but sure I could have done this by 2! And other than a little bit of numbness I have around my scar it looks great and I feel fab! 4 months in and I am absolutely loving motherhood and still using up breathing today!

Cesarean scar 12 weeks post op