Birth story - Hasna and baby boy

This pregnancy was my most problematic compared to my first 2. I had morning sickness and nausea up until 20 weeks, gestational diabetes, Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction, back to back UTI’s and tested positive for Group B Strep.

I found out I was pregnant after trying for about 2 months and at my darkest moment when my whole family were bed bound with Covid, It was our light at the end of our tunnel and we were soo happy. My whole pregnancy was spent in lockdown and only weeks before the restrictions had been eased. I had gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy so I knew I would have it again this time but I was able to control my blood sugars with diet control. With this pregnancy I felt like I was showing earlier and looked huge from the start.

I started the course around 22 weeks and hubby and I looked forward to each and every session. I always felt that I would go in to labour early I just had a gut feeling and everything just felt too much for me like I was at the brink of losing my shiz.

Anyway fast forward to 38 weeks Saturday 7th August I had been having constant tightenings all day, lower back pain, pelvic pressure and heaviness so I decided to give the midwives a call and they asked me to come in as this was my third baby. I went in and after checking me they said they would like to offer me an induction of labour as I had reached 38 weeks and I had the added risk of GBS but this meant that my dream of a natural water birth would go out the window. I used my BRAIN and declined it as I trusted my body to go into natural labour by itself and the way I felt I knew would be soon. I came home after the check up and couldn’t help but feel a little gutted that it was a false alarm. That whole evening and night I had dull cramping which I just ignored.

I woke up on Sunday 8th with added pressure on my back and on my back passage and knew something was up, I had the urge to go toilet multiple times and had seen a bloody show during the day. I knew things were happening but didn’t want to get my hopes up and be disheartened again so I tried to ignore it all. By the evening 7:30 I had called my mum to come round to stay with my kids while hubby took me in, I didn’t have any regular contractions but the tightenings were getting uncomfortable and I was getting restless. A quick call to the midwives confirmed to me that it was something in the right direction so I had grabbed all my stuff and we made our way to the birth centre around 9ish. At this point I still didn’t have regular contractions but they had started and I was keeping tabs on them with the Freya app. I was having them every 3-5 minutes but they were lasting different times some being only 30 seconds and others being well over a minute.

After checking in I got assessed by a midwife who confirmed I was only 2cm and that they would usually send me home as this wasn’t even labour but because I needed the antibiotics they decided to keep me in, plus this was 3rd baby and they are usually very fast. I was shocked and didn’t know what to say at the turn of events so I just went with the flow.

By 1am contractions were getting more frequent and I felt a plop and after checking saw my bloody show fall (apparently the first one was not the full plug) and about 20 minutes after I felt a sudden gush of water. My antibiotics had been started by then and midwife was strongly urging me against the birthing pool as she felt it wasn’t a good idea incase the cannula got water into it. I was a little disheartened but my babies health was the most important thing at that moment so I agreed in the end. My waters were running for ages even the midwives were shocked at how much I had coming and even nicknamed me water girl lol .

After my waters had ruptured I felt things kick up in intensity. By 4am my contractions were hitting back to back and my up breathing wasn’t doing it anymore I needed gas and air. The up breathing was amazing it kept me soo focused. I got to 4.45am when I had the urge to push and midwives were great they let me lead them and waited on me. I started pushing with all my strength and felt baby come down further with each push it felt so intense and it was this moment I questioned why I would put myself through this again .

I lost it when I felt the ring of fire and felt I couldn’t do it anymore and that’s when hubby and midwives were all encouraging me to carry on not much longer. I started making the famous primal noises and I knew I was closer to the end and suddenly I had a rush of energy to keep going. With the last push and the most intense yet I felt the shoulders pass through and moments later I was pain free and in pure bliss with the instant relief. Baby wasn’t crying and I remember panicking when I didn’t hear him but midwives reassured me within seconds and put him onto me for skin to skin. Cord clamping was delayed until it went pale and limp and in that time I was dropping tears of joy while looking down at this beauty I had been carrying all these days with the face of an angel. My baby was looking back at me too with awe and we were both having our moment.

Soon after I needed a stitch as I had a minor graze so hubby took baba and started his skin to skin. I took the injection for the speed up of the placenta delivery which came out instantly. I got all cleaned up and snuggled into fresh pj’s and cuddles with my new bundle of joy. I FaceTimed my boys at home to show them their new brother and they were over the moon. Baby was born at 4:57am. They kept me in overnight as they wanted to monitor baby for any signs of GBS been passed. The next morning we were discharged and we came home to our little crowd.

Feeling content with my 3 beautiful boys. Surrounded by my very own fan club wouldn’t have it any other way and I can’t thank the PBC enough for how my labour shaped out to be, all thanks to them. The breathing techniques are amazing would highly recommend. Thank you for taking the time to read my story good luck to all the remaining pregnant mamas to be.