Birth story - Isis and baby Nina

*Trigger warning* - hyperemesis, gestational diabetes, growth scans, forceps delivery, episiotomy, contractions, pain, induction

I have an eight year old daughter from a previous marriage and had a very traumatic birth with her, involving forceps delivery and episiotomy after a prolonged second stage. I unexpectedly fell pregnant again this year and had an awful time with hyperemesis throughout the whole pregnancy and gestational diabetes managed with metformin. Because my firstborn was 9lbs and also because of the diabetes, I had to have almost weekly scans to track baby’s growth in case she was big.

I had an induction planned for the 11th December, again due to gestational diabetes. On the 9th, I woke up at around 4:30am feeling contractions that were manageable but coming between 3 and 5 minutes. I began timing and went in the living room. I sat in the dark with only the lights from the Christmas tree, listening to a calm labour playlist I had made and breathing through the contractions. I dozed off and ended up stopping timing them 🙈 at around 10am I phoned maternity assessment and told them what was happening. I was told to wait longer at home because they were very busy. As I waited, the contractions disappeared and became very far apart. This continued throughout the day, where I’d get a few painful contractions but they were between 10 and 30 minutes apart. I started to think I wasn’t in labour and that these were Braxton Hicks. By 7pm I phoned the hospital again, as the pain had got worse, but again, I was told to wait at home (the midwife actually told me that I shouldn’t be able to talk through the pain if it was real labour 🤨).

I went to bed around 8pm and while I was still having painful contractions, I was maybe getting two an hour. I slept until around midnight, when I woke up feeling a gush down below. I quickly got up and went in the shower and realised the water wasn’t clear, it was a yellowish brown, which I knew meant it was meconium. My partner phoned maternity assessment and we were told to go in. The contractions quickly became almost unbearable and very close together. I breathed my way through them, and we made it there quickly as we thankfully live close to the hospital. The walk from the car to the ward was so long and I had to stop several times while holding on to my partner and breathe through the pain. I felt a lot of pressure, like I needed to poo, but I was still in denial about it all really happening. In my mind I still had ages to go!

We got in and the pain was blinding. I tried to breathe through the contractions but I let panic and adrenaline set in 😥 I was afraid of pushing and didn’t think I could do it without an epidural (I reckon I must have been transitioning). I begged for one as they fumbled putting a CTG monitor on. I told them I felt like they needed to push but I don’t think they believed me. A doctor walked in with an epidural kit and the midwife examining me said there was no time. I managed to push and calmed myself after her head came out. Baby girl was born very quickly (7 minutes from when we walked through the door and no time to go to the labour ward!). She was perfect in every way and luckily all was fine.

I had no tears, no stitches and no unnecessary interventions . Although I had a really good experience, it took me a few days to get over the fact it happened so quickly. We are still in the trenches of the newborn stage but I couldn’t imagine life without her now 🥰💖