Birth story - Lauren and baby girl

*Trigger warning* - theatre, retained placenta, spinal block.

I can’t believe I’m finally writing our story on here. After being set on using hypobirthing from the outset I was so excited to start the PBC course! Watched and practiced from 35 weeks onwards! I was really set on a water birth if possible and thankfully had been low dependency my whole pregnancy and we had had no issues throughout.

I had researched a lot and was adamant I didn’t want almost any intervention, didn’t want a sweep incase my waters were accidentally broken and my body wasn’t ready. At 38 weeks (for no reason as my baby and I were healthy) I was offered a date for induction, similarly I was offered this at 39 weeks which again I refused. I was seen 40+3 and had decided that I wanted a sweep due to my sciatica getting worse and I was getting more uncomfortable. My midwife performed a sweep and I was 2cm dilated, cervix was medium/soft and anterior which put my mind at ease that hopefully I wouldn’t be pregnant for THAT much longer.

Contractions started around 10:30pm and I was up all through the night and they varied from 5-10 minutes apart. Had about 2 hours sleep and my contractions unfortunately stopped at around 7am. I had a few contractions throughout the day on the Tuesday and again around 9/10pm contractions started throughout the night. On the Wednesday they continued around 10 mins apart. I chose to not have any pain relief as I just kept thinking it’s going to get worse and I can use the up breathing that the PBC course had taught me to get through!

Around 8:30 on Wednesday 17th contractions were becoming extremely painful and I decided to get a bath with some candles, get some spa music on and relax, get the oxytocin flowing! Around 8:45pm I had the strongest contraction I’d had in the last three days, I felt a large pop in my belly and my waters broke!

We made our way to the maternity assessment unit and were assessed. My waters had definitely broken (which I had no doubt) and I was 3cm dilated. The central delivery suite was full so we were told we could go home to labour. I decided to stay at the hospital, walk the corridors/car park etc (all whilst eating sports mixtures for a bit of energy mmm). I used a tens machine that I’d rented from the hospital and listened to my favourite radio station and it definitely took my mind off things. 45 mins later things were quite unbearable so we made our way back to the assessment unit and I was moved to the CDU - I stated I didn’t want to be checked again as I felt that things had progressed and my contractions were 2-3 mins apart. I was moved into a room with a pool and my gorgeous midwife made sure there was lavender oil in there. IT SMELT AMAZING.

I was provided with gas and air and it was fabulous! I didn’t want anything else at this point. My partner stroked my head, provided me with water and the lights were dimmed. I had a birth vibes playlist playing on spotify and still listen to it now! I used my up breathing and gas and air until I felt an overwhelming urge to push. I remained calm and was told I had my baby 2 hours after entering the pool. It was amazing and I wouldn’t have known I was able to choose this type of birth if it wasn’t for this course! Thank you PBC for giving me the confidence and skills to do so!

I had the injection given to help along the arrival of placenta however after 30 minutes my placenta didn’t come away at all. I was given a drip for the next hour to see if this could help however 2 hours after birth my placenta still hadn’t come away. Multiple people attempted to pull away my placenta using the umbilical cord and I was then told that I would have to go to theatre for a manual removal.

Thankfully I wasn’t bleeding therefore it wasn’t an emergency which made me feel at ease. They didn’t discuss how often this happens but since birth I’ve been told it’s only 1% of people that have a retained placenta and the chance of this happening again is extremely rare. I was taken to theatre and given a spinal block. I still used my up breathing to calm myself down during this. I had my eyes shut and just tried to think positively that once this was all done I could get back to my boyfriend and baby. The staff in theatre made a comment about how amazed they were that my heart rate was so calm. I’d say it was the positive mental attitude I’d adopted as a result of this course!

I didn’t have the best experience in theatre due to an argument over whether they had removed all of the placenta but my midwife and anaesthetist were amazing and after 1 hour 40 mins I was reunited with my gorgeous baby ❤️