Birth story - Linzie and baby Maeve

Bit of background, my two daughter's were both born at 42 weeks. My 1st was induction which ended up in unplanned c section and 2nd was spontaneous which ended up with forceps and episiotomy . So when I fell pregnant again I just knew I would 'go past my due date' with this in mind I pushed back my induction date to 42 weeks to give my body chance to go into spontaneous labour.

I had a sweep at 41+5 where I was told I was 4cm, however my cervix was thick and baby was 3/5 engaged. My lovely midwife told me if I was on the labour ward she would have popped my waters. This made me hopeful for my induction booked for two days later as I wanted as little intervention as possible.

Jump to induction day and I woke up at 5am with surges coming every 10 minutes. They were manageable and hubby made us a cup of tea in bed and we watched tv while I breathed through them. Once my daughter's woke at 7 the surges tailed off, so we had my mother in law collect the girls early to try and get back on track. Unfortunately the surges didn't come back regularly but when they did come they felt like they were intense. We made our way to the hospital for 11.30 and met our brilliant midwife, she was newly qualified but very competent and we immediately got on. She read my birth preferences and stuck to them 100%

I was monitored for 20 minutes and then examined to see what route of induction I would be going down. Fortunately I was still 4cm but she said my cervix was paper thin and my waters were bulging. I was moved to a labour room that had beautiful views of fields where we take our kids walking, so that made me feel happy.

My waters were broken at 2pm and we were told to go for a walk and stay as active as possible. My hubby and I took a walk to the shops and pretty much my surges started straight away. I had to stop to ‘up breath’ through them and my husband was a great support. I didn't fancy going too far so we headed back to the room. My surges were now every 5 minutes, lasting a minute. We put up our positive affirmations on the wall and it really helped to read them in-between surges to keep me on track. Our midwife came into the room to see how I was progressing and was pleased to see the regular surges, so no drip needed!

Soon enough the surges increased in intensity and were one after the other, I had no let up and a few times could feel myself losing it. Hubby recited the affirmations to me and really kept me focused and 'green' at this time I couldn't get comfy. I didn't like standing, sitting, leaning over the bed, on all fours. So in the end I sat on the bed but upright as possible. This is when things changed and with each surge I could feel myself bearing down and making strange noises. My midwife told me to trust my body and go with it. I noticed with every surge the midwife had to hold the monitor tracing baby's heart rate. Another midwife came in, but they communicated everything to hubby whilst I was in the zone. They suggested a clip on baby's head and I agreed (all still while pushing with each surge) the bed was lowered slightly and the next surge they exclaimed they could see baby's head! I carried on bearing down and going with my body, but as they were losing the heart rate they said I really needed to push. So I pushed with all I had. I could feel every single stage and it stung to begin with and then the relief of her body being born was great. 18 mins later my beautiful Maeve was born, 4 hours after my waters were broken. Hubby announced the sex and we had delayed cord clamping. I had the injection for the placenta and we had a good look at it with the midwife. I had a few grazes but no tears!

The digital pack was a game changer for me. I could not have gotten through the labour without it. Our midwife commented that she had never seen such a calm labour, and that me and hubby worked together like a dream!