Birth story - Grace and baby girl

My son was born at 40+1, also in hospital but was a considerably longer labour of 48 hours. His birth began when my waters broke & due to irregular contractions & a long latent phase I was given the hormone drip followed by an epidural. My body was exhausted by 36+ hours and the epidural gave me a welcome break. Fortunately I was able to then push him out with no tears or further intervention. However, due to the epidural and long labour I believe I over pushed and my physical recovery was long & painful. I also believe a long latent & 1st stage was the consequence of visiting hospital when not in established labour and leaving my 'cave' twice, stalling my labour instead of letting oxytocin do it's job. With less knowledge in my first birth I wasn't able to identify each sign of labour or make decisions based upon what I felt I needed.

Fast forward to this birth. At 40 weeks exactly after several nights of contractions I decided to accept a V.E with view to a sweep if things looked like they were progressing. I scored 4 on the Bishops scale - 1cm dilated and cervix at the front but still long & thick.

Over that day (Thurs) & subsequent two days I lost my plug. The Saturday was my birthday and so I was both relieved and disappointed when nothing seemed to be happening. At 9.30pm that night, tucking into birthday chocolates my hind waters broke (later identified as hind waters). I was initially worried that the labour was beginning like my son's but decided to go to bed and get energy.

I had contractions every 5 minutes lasting a minute from 3.30am onwards but they tailed off from 8am. Partly I believe because I was organising my toddler's child care.

I tried to get back into the zone, lighting candles & watching Love Actually. However, I had a niggly feeling because baby had become much less active since the night. On ringing hospital we went in for monitoring.

After a scan to check fluid levels and a trace we confirmed baby was fine. The midwife said we could have 4 hours to see if labour would pick up again - it was 1pm at this time, so 15.5hrs since waters had broken. Due to reduced movements certain aspects seemed to be 'off the table', but I felt I would & could use BRAIN when the time came.

My waters were checked & the midwife broke my fore waters - at this point the labour changed because baby had pooed recently. The option to labour for 4 hours without help was less advisable & it wasn't something I felt prepared to risk after reduced movements.

Although not keen to accept a drip, I could see the parallels between my first birth creeping in - I decided I could be active in my labour still & wouldn't necessarily need an epidural.

The obstetrician never arrived in time to administer a drip...as soon as all medical staff left me & my husband to be, my contractions miraculously began as I bounced on my ball.

Within 30 minutes they were 4 in 10! At 2pm (waters were broken) I was 2cm. By 4.38pm, a baby was born!

I went into my zone pretty speedily and barely spoke. I used up-breathing, TENS & gas & air. I laboured on all fours up on the bed, knelt upright & in the pushing stage in a squat.

The PBC course was a huge game changer. Particularly of note was how I mentally rep;ayed facts and steadied my thoughts as labour intensified - knowing that each feeling was my body's staggering mechanics. The most useful aspect was when I entered transition. I mentally came up against a ball - freaking out quietly in my mind when I felt my pain threshold not withstanding the surges - but I was able to reason that this was indeed transition and I was nearly there.

Baby was born between my legs & we had delayed cord clamping. My husband cut the cord & we had skin to skin. I opted for an injunction as a result of my body being in shock (I was shaking a lot from adrenaline). I was lucky to only have 2 minor grazes.

As the whole event happened so quickly I found it so beneficial to have an inner monologue running where I could pin point certain parts of labour. My husband was amazing at reminding me of each affirmation & reassuring me. My midwife said very little - she clearly knew things were moving fast as she never left the bed side. Her only words came at the end when she told me to trust my body & go with it - that was when I pushed the head out.

I highly recommend the hypnobirthing online course. We used it from 20 wks & practised regularly.