Birth story - Hannah and baby Evelyn

I woke at 8 am to find my waters had broken and I had a show. Unfortunately the roof of my bedroom had also sprung a leak and so my husband was in the attic rather stressed!! I wanted to wait until he had finished what he was doing but I couldn’t hold it in. “My waters have broken!” I shouted up to him. I called the hospital and they told me to come in for a check. My CTG was fine and they booked my induction for 8am the next day. I just had to go home and wait.

Very mild contractions started at 12pm. By 5pm they were “3 in 10” so I went in. They were not keen to examine me because of the infection risk but everyone kept telling me I wasn’t in established labour because my demeanour was so calm. I found this is a little frustrating. I was examined at 9pm and I was only 1-2cm but fully effaced. This was a bit disappointing. I continued to stay upright, do my breathing with my husband and I even tried a bit of yoga. However the contractions were now too intense to do yoga. We put on one of my favourite comedians and were laughing a lot. The yoga and the comedy (+ probably the examination) really picked up the length and intensity of the contractions and I was hardly getting a break in between. I vomited. I asked for gas and air but they wouldn’t let me use it because “I wasn’t in established labour”. I had 2 paracetamol and a dihydrocodeine.

The midwife went to go get the doctor because I started to panic as I felt I couldn’t cope and I thought I was still only 1-2cm. The doctor was trying to send me home and tell me to come back for an induction in the morning. This is when I really started to panic. I was crying saying I had failed because I thought I had 10 more hours of this and that this was not even active labour because that’s what the doctor was telling me. Looking back it was so obvious I was progressing and the doctor missed this. In the back of my mind I think I knew this and I wish I had trusted my body and voiced my concerns. My husband tried but he wasn’t really listened to. I started mooing (yes it really happens!) and luckily the midwife examined me again and I was fully dilated. It only took 1h45 to go from 1cm to 10cm which is why I had been in a bad way. When she told me it was time to push I was so happy. Gas and air made me feel sick so I couldn’t use it but I coped without.

I got into the pool and felt instant relief. After trying some breathing we used coached pushing which worked really well for me. My beautiful daughter was born 2 hours later, she came swimming out !! It was incredible. I had a second degree tear which I couldn’t even feel when she came out and the midwife did an amazing job repairing it. I didn’t feel a thing after the local anaesthetic.

Looking back, despite the doctor trying to send me home when I was ready to push(!) my birth experience was incredible. The perfect birth for me. I felt euphoric for days after, so proud of myself and like I could achieve anything. I’m so happy I got to reframe my birth as something positive and I would happily do it again!