Birth story - Jess and baby Edie

*Possible trigger warning*: use of the word contraction, 2nd degree tear, blood loss

Our baby girl is almost 4 months and I'm finally getting round to writing our birth story! I loved reading the stories on here during my pregnancy, they made me realise how varied births can be and that you really don't know how things will pan out for you! As recommended in the PBC pack, the best thing you can do is be informed of all possibilities, so that whatever happens you will hopefully feel prepared and ready for it 💪

Pregnancy
I had a good pregnancy. I was low risk and managed to stay pretty active throughout.
In our area, there is a MLU birth centre attached to the hospital so this was our plan from the very beginning. Researching all our potential options, reading the PBC book and watching the videos in the digital pack confirmed this was the right choice for us. I felt reassured that if I did require consultant support, then it was just a short trip down the corridor to the labour ward!

However, at 36 weeks, Covid-19 cases were on the rise in the UK and 2 days before the national lockdown began, we used our BRAIN and decided to move in with my parents, to Lincolnshire. It was a massive decision for me. The change of location meant that I wouldn't be able to give birth at a MLU birth centre (this wasn't an option in the area), but I didn't want to come home after the birth and not have any family support. My brother, one of my sisters, and my 6 month nephew also headed to the Shire before lockdown hit, so we had quite a house full! I know this wouldn't be for everyone/possible for everyone due to the current pandemic, but having my family around me (literally in the same house!) in the lead up to the birth and post partum was wonderful and I wouldn't change it for the world. Also, I'm convinced that helping to look after my nephew helped start labour. At 39/40 weeks I was still taking him out for long walks in his pushchair!

Early Labour
Easter Sunday night, went to bed as usual, watched TV and ate loads of Easter egg chocolate. I thought I'd overdone it on the chocolate as I had stomach cramps but I later realised this was the start of early labour! I slept on and off that night, it felt like bad period cramps. By the next morning the cramps had gone and I got on with my day as usual, although my mood had changed and I felt tired and subdued.

Established Labour
The next night, same thing happened again. As soon as I got into bed around 10pm, I had what felt like period cramps. These ramped up through the night and I didn't sleep at all. I started timing them using the Freya app around 2am, and at 3am woke my husband as I started to go a bit shaky. He ran me a bath which calmed me down. I had some light bleeding, so we rang the hospital but they said it sounded like my show and that it was fine to stay at home. After the bath, I got back into bed and the contractions got stronger, my husband cuddled me as they came and went and I breathed through each one. By 7am, my contractions were lasting almost a minute and were 3 minutes apart (Freya app said I was in established labour - I found the app so useful, I loved having it to focus on and guide me through breathing) so we rang the hospital again and they said to come in. I started using the Tens machine at this point, which was great. I liked being in control of it and having it as something to focus on. As we were at my family home, and we don't drive, my husband had to then wake my dad up to give us a lift to the hospital 🤣 Once my dad had showered and we'd got all our stuff ready, we were on our way! The journey was around 30 minutes, I had my headphones in the whole time and just focussed on up breathing, using the tens machine when a contraction came. After the birth, my dad said that he didn't think I could possibly be in established labour as I was too calm (thanks PBC for the breathing technique!).

Got to the hospital around 9am. Because of Covid-19 restrictions I had to go in on my own. As we had moved back home last minute, I'd never actually been to the hospital before! So I was wandering around the corridors, having contractions, trying to find my way to the labour ward! Once there, I was examined and the midwife said I was 4cm dilated so my husband could come up. While waiting for him, I was sick a few times, so the midwife gave me an anti-sickness injection which worked straightaway.

I had some paracetamol & codeine and then we ran another bath. When out of the bath I kept using the Tens machine. At lunchtime, an amazing NHS 3 course meal arrived, which I'd ordered when I'd got to the hospital! I wasn't feeling very hungry, so my husband wolfed down the starter and main and I had some apple crumble & custard! At this stage we were having a bit of a laugh in between my contractions. We had some lovely lavender spray in the room and were listening to music (I'd made such a big playlist for labour, but in the end all I wanted to listen to was the Call Me By Your Name film soundtrack on repeat!). The midwife examined me again after lunch and I was 6 cm dilated. She also broke my waters, which was a little uncomfortable at first but not painful at all, and it was quite a nice feeling when my waters actually broke! I asked about gas & air at this point but the midwife said she thought I was managing really well with the Tens machine and suggested I try some more paracetamol & codeine and save the gas & air for later on. The midwife had read my birth preferences notes (I used the PBC template) and so was gently helping me to have as natural a delivery as possible, as I'd noted down in my preferences. It didn't feel at all like she was refusing me something I'd asked for, it gave me a confidence boost about how I was doing so far 💪
I'd stayed on the bed until now, but once I was 6cm moved to the ball and bounced on that so that I was in the UFO position.

I laboured like this for another couple of hours and then tried the gas & air which I loved, and continued to use for the rest of labour. At around 4pm I went in the pool. I felt quite relaxed, the water was lovely and warm and helped with the pain. My husband fed me jelly babies and slushy Capri suns (we froze them beforehand and then by the time I was in labour they were starting to defrost). A friend recommended these and they would be my top drink to take with you! Fruity and sugary, and so refreshing 🙌

After about an hour in the pool, the midwife asked to examine me again. I had to get out of the pool for this and lie on the bed. I was 9.5 cm dilated. With my next contraction, the midwife told me to do a little push and with that, I was fully dilated! This was 5pm ish.

Pushing stage & Delivery
Once back in the pool, I had a minor panic and thought I could feel the baby's head all of a sudden! In reality, this was the transition stage and the contractions were changing to downward motions which made everything feel different.
I kept using the gas and air and pushed with every contraction. My body took over and pushed with me. I noticed how vocal I was during this stage 'mooing', when I'd been pretty quiet up until then. I pushed for just over an hour in the pool, but baby wasn't coming, so the midwife asked if I could come out and go to the bed. I had to go on my back as they needed to monitor baby's heart beat continuously (just as a precaution, baby wasn't showing any signs of distress). A couple more midwives came into the room at this point, but I didn't feel panicked at all. Everyone in the room stayed calm and one midwife guided me through pushing. After about 15/20 more minutes, the head was out! And then baby's body, she arrived at 6.30pm! The midwife announced the sex and we had delayed cord clamping (both as we had requested in our preferences).

I had a second degree tear and quite a lot of blood loss, and requested the injection to aid delivery of the placenta. My husband held our baby while I was stitched up. I used gas&air but didn't really need it to be honest as the stitching didn't hurt and I was on such a high watching my husband and baby 🥰
Due to Covid restrictions, my husband could stay with us until around 11pm and then me and Edie spent the night in hospital on our own, before discharge the following afternoon.

Feels good to write that all down! I look back on Edie's birth very positively. And would like to reassure any mum's to be that although some elements of the birth/setting/guidelines may be different due to the pandemic, the care and support for you and your babies is still at the heart of everything the midwives and hospital staff are doing. I didn't feel at any stage like we were missing out on anything and always felt attended to and looked after.

Top tips:
- Frozen Capri suns
- Tena lady pants with a maternity pad for PP