Birth story - Hannah and baby boy

*Trigger warning* - Use of word contractions and stitches.

1:30am on Friday 3rd September my waters broke, a trickle in bed. I laid awake wondering if I’d wet myself! I went to the toilet, changed my underwear, same thing happened about 2am. Called the hospital at 2:15am and they said come in to be checked out.

2:45am midwife confirms waters have broken.

Sent home and told to spend 24 hours waiting for contractions to start. Bounced on ball, got very bored and frustrated so spent the afternoon and evening at a friends house. Was not anticipating the amount of water that would continue to flow. So much leaking fluid!!

Started timing contractions around 22:00. Very mild but by midnight they were able to be tracked at about 30-40 seconds in length every 4-5 minutes.

Went into hospital at 1:30am on Saturday morning as instructed.

At 3am had an internal examination to determine whether induction was necessary. This was by far the worst part of the whole thing. I tried to keep my UP breathing going and my husband had to really support me in this as I became quite agitated. Discovered I was 1cm dilated which meant induction was necessary and the birth centre was off the table as an option. I was disappointed at this however also too tired to give it too much thought and my husband talked me through the positives of the room we were in and it was all now about getting our baby out.

Induction began at 4am with an oxytocin drip. Contractions picked up pretty quickly, becoming 3 in 10 by 5am. This continued until 6am. At around 6am I requested gas and air which alongside UP breathing helped control contractions. Due to the induction I had to have the monitor on throughout. I found this difficult as when I came off the bed and bounced on the ball or moved around the baby’s heartbeat would get lost. This was stressing the midwife out and she wanted me to stay on the bed. Due to strong pressure in my lower back being on the bed was very uncomfortable and I didn’t want this. There was a moment where I hid in the toilet contracting pretending I was weeing as she said I needed to be on the bed. We compromised (after I hid for 30 mins) on lying on the bed for a bit with a heat pack on my back. This actually was quite nice comfort for a little while. Throughout this time my husband was brilliant at advocating for me and reminding me I was in control of my body and decisions taken.

At around 8am the pressure in my back was becoming really bad and I requested some more pain relief. I opted for diamorphine and this was great. For the next 90 minutes I continued breathing through contractions which were powerful and 5 in 10 mins but also snoring (apparently!) and dozing in and out.

Just before 10am the midwife asked to examine me as it was 6 hours since the start of the induction. I agreed although I was very anxious as the last examination had been very painful. She said afterwards she was expecting me to be around 3cm-4cm at this point. I used the gas and air as she examined me which was better. She suddenly announced I wasn’t 4cm but in fact the baby’s head was there and did I think I could push?!

On the next contraction I pushed the head half out (wowsers the ring of fire is a thing!) - the contraction after that the head was born and the contraction after baby was born! From no end in sight and hiding in the toilet to birthing the baby within a couple of hours, I’ve never felt so empowered.

It wasn’t the most straightforward aftermath as I needed some stitches in theatre but a few hours later I was cuddling my baby and enjoying some toast with my husband and friend.

A huge thank you to the positive birth company. The breathing skills we learnt enabled my husband to know how to support me from the very beginning all the way through. It gave us structure, empowered us with knowledge and a goal of ‘we will see our baby soon’!