Birth story - Joelle and baby boy

Pregnancy

So this was my 2nd pregnancy after having my first little boy in September 2019 (which was also a lovely positive story you’ll find on here somewhere). I have to say I hated this pregnancy - it was SO much harder due to having a toddler, much worse nausea, catching several coughs/colds/Covid and I just found it generally more tough on my body. Having said that - I didn’t have any complications, it was very straightforward.

I had a natural water birth with my first born in a stand alone MLU and I was devastated to find out they had closed it due to Covid and going there wasn’t an option this time. I had considered a home birth but because of the low staffing levels with Covid I was talked out of it by a midwife and decided I would go to an MLU attached to a hospital which was slightly further away.

Labour

Around 5am of 19th April (38+5) I had a small bit of brown spotting and I got very excited as I thought this must be the start! I couldn’t get back to sleep as I was too excited and I went to bounce on my ball and watch friends as I thought something may happen very soon.

I had mild period pains throughout the rest of the day and more spotting and a very bad lower back that started to ease by the afternoon. By the evening everything had eased a lot and I was gutted! I thought maybe it was just a false alarm and I had a lot longer to go than I originally thought. I arranged for my 2 year old to sleep out at my mother in laws who lives just opposite me just in case and I went to bed that night hoping contractions would start…but nothing!

On 20th April I woke up with the same sort of period pains but around 8am I felt them get a little bit stronger so I suggested my husband stay home from work. A few hours later they eased again and I was again gutted. I carried on as normal throughout the day and was losing my mucus plug. In the afternoon I felt very tired so went and had a nap for a couple of hours.

That evening I started getting more pains (I now know they were contractions but for some reason I kept convincing myself I just had an upset stomach!)

Around 5pm I had a bath and I started to time the contractions, they were about 7 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. I rang the maternity assessment centre just to be on their radar and they told me not to even bother timing them at this stage and that it could be days (this made me feel a tad deflated).

Just an hour later they really ramped up and were about 3-5 minutes apart so I said to my husband I think we’d better go in just to get checked out. I wanted to know if I was dilated at all, even if it meant being sent home as I wanted to be sure - my biggest fear was not getting to the hospital in time!

We got in the car around 7pm, the MLU is about 30 mins away. I could walk/talk completely fine (which I couldn’t do at this point in my first labour at this point) so I really thought I had a long way to go yet. I was timing the contractions in the car with the Freya app and was using up-breathing throughout, but in between them I was chatting to my husband normally.

I arrived at the MLU and was greeted by the same midwife who assessed me at home with my first born and I was so pleased to see her as I remembered she was lovely!

She examined me at around 8pm and to my shock I was 4cm and she said I wasn’t going anywhere and was there to stay! I honestly couldn’t believe it as I had convinced myself they were sending me home. She said my cervix was nice and thinned out but slightly back so she brought it forward (I hated this bit and yelped whilst squeezing my husbands hand). It did the trick though and at that point contractions intensified.

They ran the pool for me and got me a birth ball which I slumped over whilst the pool was filling. The room was lovely and warm and soothing and when I got into the pool it was so calming and a nice relief - almost too much to the point I thought things were slowing slightly. She said my body just needed to adjust to the temperature and water and a few minutes later it ramped up again.

Here is when everything goes from 0-100. I was using gas and air throughout the contractions in the pool and sipping on my raspberry lucozade sport (I swore by this last labour too haha!) and in between still chatting to husband normally. All of a sudden in the middle of a contraction I had a really strange feeling which made me panic slightly (I think it was probably my waters going and this was transition). I said to my husband in a panic to go get the midwife but I didn’t really know why!

A few minutes later I could feel pushing - he was coming! I started mooing and the head was out! She told me to keep pushing and I had to really get in my head and keep reminding myself this was going to get the baby out! A couple more big pushes and he was out at 9.21pm less than an hour and a half after arriving! I picked him up and had my first cuddle in the water in total shock!

My husband cut the cord and had some skin to skin whilst I got out of the pool and got on the bed to deliver the placenta. I had the injection for this as I did with my first born as I just wanted it out and over with as soon as possible - it was out about 10 mins later and it feels like jelly coming out compared to the baby and was a huge relief it was all done! I lost hardly any blood which was great! I had a very small tear but didn’t require any stitches which I was really pleased about. Something I was not prepared for was the after pains which I found out are worse with each baby you have. I was having contractions still for a few hours (although a lot milder!) and I couldn’t feel my legs, they were like jelly so I just laid on the bed and took some painkillers whilst my husband was having all the cuddles!

Few hours later and after some much needed toast and chocolate biscuits we went home and we were tucked up in bed by 2am just completely in shock that just a few hours ago I wasn’t even sure I was definitely in labour!

Thank you to everyone who has shared their birth stories, I found them so helpful hearing everyone’s different experiences and I think it’s really important to prepare yourself for lots of different outcomes.

If you’re nervous about labour then don’t be because your body just takes control and does what it needs to. Just try be informed as possible, know all your options and stay as focussed in your mind as possible and you’ll be fine! And don’t forget up breathing - it can be super hard to do in the moment in pain but really try and focus and it helps a lot!