Birth story - Harriet and baby Nancy

I had my little girl 2 years ago, starting off in a lovely MLU before being transferred to the hospital and ending up in a failed forceps then c-section delivery. The whole process was long and exhausting and I was adamant that this time I got the birth I wanted. I downloaded the digital pack and as soon as I started watching the videos I knew that hypnobirthing was going to give me all the tools I needed to birth my baby calmly and safely...

I was under consultant care during this pregnancy due to the c-section but was lucky that everyone I saw was highly supportive of my choice to go for a VBAC, and in reality it just meant I got to see my baby more as I had extra growth scans! The one snag was that my local hospital changed to a MLU a couple of weeks after having my first and as I really didn't want to risk another ambulance transfer, my nearest hospital was a 40 min drive away...

Anyway, to get to the good bit!! I went to bed at 40+2 with sporadic period style cramps and have to say I was surprised when I woke in the morning that I hadn't gone into labour overnight! Spent the next day chilling out, working on building up that oxytocin again with very mild cramps every so often. That night I didn't get much sleep and at around 4:30am things started to feel a bit more intense though nothing I couldn't get through with a bit of up breathing. When my husband woke I told him it might be best if he work from home that day just in case and he took my toddler to my mum's. I spent the morning having a shower, watching a film and packing the last bits of my hospital bag all the while breathing through and in some cases just ignoring (!) surges - they weren't at all regular and I did think to myself that it wasn't likely to happen that day. At around midday I thought I'd have a nap and quickly fell asleep but was woken 10mins later by a much more powerful surge. Drifted off but again 10mins later was woken up! This continued for a little while until I decided to get back up and have some lunch. Moving around actually seemed to slow things down again but after I'd eaten (beans on toast... why!!!!! 😧🤣) things seemed to pick back up. I spent the next couple of hours timing my surges and alternating between sitting on my ball, walking around and leaning over the back of the sofa to breathe through surges. At around 4:30pm we decided to call the hospital, as even though my surges were only about 3 in 12 minutes, I was concerned about the journey to the hospital. The midwife said she thought it might be a bit early but as it was a VBAC to come in just to be on the safe side....

I went to the loo and at this point lost some of my mucus plug and the surges were getting really quite intense. The thought of the car journey was my biggest source of anxiety and as we set off I kept repeating to my husband that I couldn't do it ... hello transition! I played the positive birth affirmations on repeat on the way there and up breathing really helped as I completely zoned out for a good chunk of the journey, until we hit some traffic about 5minutes from the hospital. By this stage I was starting to feel quite a lot of pressure and said to my husband, "The baby is coming!"

We managed to get to the hospital, park and gradually walked to the entrance where a nurse took one look at me and found me a wheelchair! I was taken straight through to a room where a midwife asked me to go to the loo before she checked on the baby. I then lost the rest of my plug, and gradually got up on to the bed, breathing through surges all the while. As the midwife watched me move around she noticed I was experiencing pressure so asked to examine me... I accepted and was told I was 10cm dilated and ready to go! As big a surprise as that was, I also knew it as I genuinely thought I was going to have the baby in the car!!

She called for another midwife to come in and together they told the consultant she wasn't needed and that I was going to birth this baby! Even though there was no time to go through my preferences, the midwives were incredible and did everything I could've asked for; lights dimmed, change of positions etc.

I was offered gas and air and took one puff but found it interfered with my breathing so didn't have anymore. The midwives encouraged me to listen to my body and explained how and where to push. After pushing for around an hour they asked if they could break my waters as they thought that was holding baby up so I used my BRAIN and accepted, knowing the consultant wouldn't want me to push for too long in case of rupture. She actually came in at that point but looked at me and said, "You can do this!" and off she went again....

20 minutes later and my baby was born, 2 hours after phoning the hospital and just over 6 hours of established labour! It was the most intense feeling I have ever experienced and I don't think I will ever forget the sensation of birthing my baby ❤ I accepted the injection to birth the placenta and the feeling of relief when that was over was amazing! I had a tiny 2nd degree tear but was so engrossed in my skin to skin cuddles that I barely noticed the stitches!

I have to say, I was nowhere near as Zen as I thought I might have been and repeated over and over again that I couldn't do it but my husband and the midwives kept reassuring me that I was doing it and looking back, I'm sure I got so far at home thanks to everything I learned from the digital pack. I had been scared of giving birth in the car and the midwife did say that had my waters gone I probably would've done so thank goodness I actually made it to the hospital! I am also so proud of myself for actually doing it!!

When I was pregnant with my first, I blindly trusted that my body was built to give birth and it would just happen and was surprised when it didn't go as planned. This time I knew I needed help to trust my body and am so grateful to the Positive Birth Company for teaching me how to do this because I'm certain I got the birth that was right for me and this baby because of everything I learned. 💖💖💖