Birth story - Katy and baby Mason

*Trigger warning* - use of the word contraction.

My contractions started at 8am on the 20th of September just after my husband had gone to work. I managed on my own for a few hours as they weren’t too bad but by 11am I had called him at work and asked him to come home. I had originally wanted a homebirth which husband wasn’t keen on so we had agreed for me to do as much as I could at home before going into hospital. I called our local labour line for advice and as the contractions were still only around four minutes apart they asked me to stay at home. I coped by having a couple of warm baths, walking around the breakfast bar during each contraction, and using the Freya app while sitting on my exercise ball.

However, around 4 pm I started to vomit and after that I couldn’t keep anything down. I tried phoning our labour line again and again was told that because my contractions were only 3 1/2 minutes apart as opposed to 3 minutes they would not take me in. In the end my husband had to speak to them and explain the situation and they agreed to admit me.

By the time I got to the hospital contractions were two minutes apart and I struggled to walk to the labour ward. After that it was all a bit of a blur-I went into a room and my contractions really ramped up then. I was examined and was almost 5cm dilated which was amazing news but my contractions were coming too quickly and they were literally back to back and I was unable to get my breath. I had planned a water birth but it all went out the window and in the end I ended up having an epidural just because there was nothing else that they felt they could give me to get control of them.

I have no idea how the anaesthetist did it but he managed to get the epidural in while I was laying on my side as I couldn’t change position. They even had to cut my clothes off me as I I couldn’t turn over. Once the epidural was in I felt much better and even managed to listen to a podcast and have a nap in between checks. By 7 am I was almost 10cm dilated and ready to push however baby had other ideas and despite an hour and a half of pushing in all different positions I just couldn’t get him out. They agreed to try forceps but told me that if they didn’t work then I would need to have a C section. I was worried about this but baby was becoming distressed and therefore we all agreed that it was the right thing to do if necessary. The forceps in theatre did not work and they went ahead with the C-section.

I really hadn’t wanted an epidural or C-section but I knew that it was best for me and baby and honestly it was such a positive experience. The staff were all amazing and I never felt like the decision was taken out of my hands. I still got that first special skin to skin moment I was fully informed throughout the whole procedure.

My recovery has been amazing…I was up having a shower by 5pm the same day and to be honest I didn’t even feel like I’d had major surgery and it didn’t take away those first precious weeks of being a first time mum. My birth story proves that you can have all the plans and ideas of the ‘perfect birth’ but sometimes baby has other ideas…and that’s ok! :)