Birth story - Lauren-Anne and baby Otis

Pregnancy was reasonably straight forward until towards the end when baby was suddenly measuring big then subsequent measurements showed growth had dipped involving several extra scans and trips to the hospital. I also became increasingly uncomfortable and sore towards the end but I did have a toddler to entertain!

After several weeks of false starts I was becoming increasingly frustrated as I kept thinking this was it and my contractions would then fizzle out and leave me wondering what was happening! These started around 38+5 so I was convinced something would happen before my due date so when that came and went I felt really down. I was offered a sweep at 40 wks and was told my cervix couldn’t be found 🙈 another kick in the teeth as I was so sure I would have been dilated a little!

The morning of 40+5 I had a good cry and then reminded myself that my baby would come when it was ready ❤️ that night I did have some mild period cramps but thought little of it after weeks of false hope 😂

Early morning of 40+6 around 1:15am I woke suddenly to the feeling a gush of fluid down below and knew straight away it was my waters, I went to the toilet and lots more clear fluid came away on the floor. I phoned triage who advilsed to come in to check it was definitely my waters and monitor baby for a little while. I was having mild contractions at this point but they were very sporadic and manageable. Arrived at triage around 4am and was put on the monitor to see how baby was coping however was advised my waters hadn’t broke (im almost 100% sure it was as no one was ever able to confirm when they went). My contractions had ramped up slightly and babies HR dropped through a couple of the more intense ones so I was kept until 7am for observation however they let me home after this as all seemed well!

I arrived home around 7:30 and jumped in to bed to try relax however, the contractions and my 2 year old didn’t allow much rest so I ended up downstairs bouncing on the ball breathing through them. Around 9:30 i phoned my parents to come as my dad was watching our 2 year old and my mum was coming to the hospital with us. By 11:30am contractions were closer together and a lot more intense so we made our way to the hospital and arrived around 12pm. The midwifes were amazing, they took one look at me and put me straight in to a room and gave me gas and air and a ball to bounce on! They popped me on the monitor and said they would examine me in half an hour. I was advised I was 4cm once examined and they would take me to the labour ward, I asked at this point if a room with a pool was available and it was!

We were taken along to the pool room and they began running it straight away. At 1:15 I got in to the pool and wow the feeling this gave me was amazing! I had a new midwife who was telling me positive affirmations about how my body was made to do this (she was a real life angel and made me feel so empowered). I felt so calm and relaxed and within 5 minutes my body took over and began to push! I told the midwife the head was coming and she advised to listen to my body and do what I needed to do. My body beared down and within 3 pushes our baby boy was born at 1:26pm ✨🫶🏼 (my partner told me after this he thought I was delirious when I said the head was coming as it all happened so fast 🤣)

I announced he was a boy and we held him and cried with happiness before he was given to my partner for some skin to skin and I moved from the pool on to the bed to deliver the placenta and get checked over. Surprisingly I only had a small graze and we were discharged home the same day to enjoy our new bundle 💙🙏🏼👶🏼

My birthing experience is something ill treasure forever, it really was magical and I couldn’t have done it without the PBC. I have a whole new outlook on birth and would do it all over again in a heartbeat ✨