Birth story - Louisa and baby Lily

I’m so excited to be writing my story, and so happy that I don’t have a negative word to say about the experience. Sorry it’s so long!

At 7.30am on Boxing Day I woke up to go to the toilet when my waters broke. I called my husband into the bathroom and said “we’re going to meet our baby soon!” We called the hospital who asked us to have some breakfast then head in to be checked over. When the midwife felt my stomach she said “I think this baby is bum down, but I’ll need to do a scan to check.” Surprise surprise, our baby turned out to be breech. I’d been told at my last 3 appointments that she was head down! Turns out that was her bum the whole time 🙈

We were seen by a doctor who told us they had two midwives who specialise in breech vaginal deliveries. Turned out they were both working that day, one on the day shift and one in the evening. As baby was in the ‘Frank breech’ position, the doctor was comfortable for me to deliver my baby vaginally if I chose, or the option was there for a c-section. We met with the specialist midwife who went through the process with us and gave us loads of information - as baby was breech we would need to be on the labour ward with doctors and paediatricians on standby (as sometimes baby needs help with their first breath), and constant monitoring of baby through a wireless device. She saw in our notes that we had been practicing hypnobirthing, had planned to be at the midwife led unit and have a room with a pool. She said she could reserve the one room on the labour ward that had a pool, keep the lights dimmed and only have her with us for the majority of my labour with a doctor and paediatrician outside the door for just the last part. She took us to see the room which relaxed me so much, it looked exactly the same as the rooms in the midwife led unit! I was told I could use the pool during labour but not for the actual delivery. Theatre was so close by and I was assured that we could change our mind at any moment and have the c-section.

As I hadn’t experienced any surges at this point we were allowed to go home, have some lunch and think about which route we wanted to take, then come back around 3pm where the delivery room would be ready for us if we decided to have a vaginal delivery.

At home, we used our BRAIN to decide what to do. We decided to try for a vaginal delivery as the midwife seemed so knowledgeable and we felt so safe in her care. At this point I started to feel some mild surges, they were just like period pains and I could easily breathe through them. Tracking with Freya, the surges were quite close together, ranging from 5-7mins between each, with each surge lasting around 20-30 seconds.

We went back into hospital and the midwife noticed my surges were ramping up so took us straight through to the delivery suite where we put on some calming music, lit battery operated candles and spritzed some room spray. She gave us some massage oil for my husband to give me a back massage as the surges were building in my back. She then left my husband and I alone as we weren’t yet in established labour, saying to call if we need her and encouraged me to keep active (this was easy as there was no way I could sit or lay down at this point)!

It didn’t take long for my surges to build. By 5.30pm they were coming every couple of minutes, lasting around 45 seconds. I could no longer stand up through each surge, I had this overwhelming urge to be on all fours! I let out a few groans but I was still able to use my breath to get through - the Freya app counting me through was so helpful at this point!

We called the midwife back in who suggested examining me to see how far along I was. Trying to do this quickly between the surges was a challenge! Turns out I was 6cm, but getting to 8cm during surges. I tried the gas and air at this point but wasn’t too keen on the feeling and wasn’t sure it was doing much.

I then got in the pool which felt so lovely! However, baby’s heartbeat wasn’t picking up on the monitor when I was getting into the most comfortable position. I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to deliver in the pool anyway, so I was happy to get out after a few minutes.

At this point things got a lot more intense! I had a few wobbles and said I couldn’t do it. Even though I had these wobbles, I was still able to laugh and joke with my husband and midwife between each surge. Before I knew it, I was labouring on all fours on the bed with the second specialist midwife now also in the room, and an overwhelming need to push.

With a breech delivery, once the bum is out you’re given 7 minutes to push the rest of the body out due to the cord being restricted, so active pushing was necessary. I could feel my baby descending and going back in, which felt so frustrating but I was also so excited to meet her and that determination kept me going. The midwives and husband were fab at cheering me on, it felt incredible! Once baby’s bum was out, I delivered her in less than 2 minutes at 8.15pm. She let out a short huge scream as soon as she arrived which was such a relief. The midwives commented on how relaxed my baby was (and had been throughout labour - we kept an eye on her heart rate the whole time). She was put straight onto my chest for skin to skin, we had delayed cord clamping (which my husband did), and I then delivered the placenta naturally. Although I practiced a bit of perineal massage, I needed a few stitches due to a second degree tear but it didn’t feel too bad!

My husband and I were left with our little bundle of joy for cuddles and feeding. I was brought some toast, showered, then moved to a private postnatal room for the night as it was nearly 11pm at this point. We were discharged the following day.

My experience could have been a lot different and I genuinely thank The Positive Birth Company for getting me through. A midwife believed my baby had been breech for a while due to the shape of her head and the position of her legs/hips (all absolutely fine now) - I could be annoyed that this wasn’t picked up in any antenatal appointments but I probably wouldn’t have had this labour if we knew. I can honestly say this was an amazing whirlwind experience and a day I’ll never forget ❤️