Birth story - Marisa and baby Marni

1st pregnancy:

In my first pregnancy I had Cholestasis of Pregnancy (a pregnancy disease that slows down or stops the normal flow of bile to your gallbladder) and had to be hospitalized at week 36+0 and induced at 36+5. When they broke my waters my daughter pooped, so the midwife’s recommended me to get an epidural in case we needed an emergency c-section, so I did. I still had a vaginal birth and a positive experience, but it was very far from the non medical water birth I was dreaming about.

Positive birth story, 2nd pregnancy:

A lot of pregnant women also get Cholestasis of pregnancy in their 2nd pregnancy, so I thought I would have a similar birthing experience second time around. At week 36 I still did not have any signs of getting the same disease, and decided to start my PBC course to hopefully help me get a non-medical 2nd birth. I “studied” very intensely for the coming weeks, listening to the positive affirmations and bouncing on my birthing ball every evening.

At 38+3 I did some yoga exercises on my ball that I found on YouTube to induce labour, I was very tired of being pregnant and running around after a toddler.

I did the exercises for 2 nights. When I was 38+5 my oldest daughter woke me up at 5AM. I went to her room to give her her dummy, and when I bent over her bed my waters broke! Not a lot but I was sure I did not wee myself I was very excited and it went to tell my partner and then called the hospital. They wanted me to come in for a check. When the midwife examined me, she said I was 2cm dilated and the rest of my waters broke. I had the CKG scan on my tummy, and she could see I had surges even though I did not feel anything while doing my up breathing. She asked me to go for a walk and get some breakfast and come back if the surges started to get stronger.

After 45 mins, I went back as I started having cramps in one of my legs. The surges were still not consistent, only 1-2 every 15 mins. Because my first birth was quick, 7 hours after they induced me and broke my waters, she said it might be a good idea for me to stay at the hospital but also said I could go home since we lived near by. I used my BRAIN and decided to stay until knowing if the surges would pick up in the coming hours.

My partner arrived at the hospital after dropping our daughter off at nursery at 9AM. We were in the birthing suite, waiting for a room with a pool to become available. I was using the Freya app in my AirPods while bouncing on the birthing ball and using a tens machine. Within 2 hours I had 3 surges every 10 mins. The surges was strong but the up breathing helped me through them while also listening to the positive affirmations in between.

At 12:30 PM we went to the birthing suite and I went into the pool at 1PM. The surges slowed down a bit and my partner made the room comfy, using the LED tea lights, essential oils and started the positive affirmations on our speaker.

Our midwife and student midwife went silently in and out of the room without interfering much. They followed my birth plan wishes, were very supportive of hypnobirthing and only intervened if needed. They measured baby’s heart beat now and again after a surge and whispered when talking to me. I used the gas and air as the surges intensified but still thought I had a long way to go. Within a few minute it went from 0 to 100 really fast and I went into transition. I started to say I wanted to go home and felt I needed to , I was certain it could not already be the head crowning.

The midwife whispered to me to follow my bodies instinct to push, so I did. The down breathing helped me a lot and I could feel her moving downwards and the head crowning. After 5 mins they said her head was about to come out and if my partner wanted to grab her. 2 minutes after he carried her to my chest at 3:59 PM. 11 hours after my waters broke and only 7 minutes in 2nd stage of labour

I had delayed clamping and 1 hour skin to skin. I did not need any stitches to both my own and the midwives surprise

The midwife student was so sweet, thanking us for being part of such a calm birth. She never experienced anything like that before and said we made it look so easy this is all down to Sienna and the PBC team! I can’t thank you guys enough! I truly had a dream birth and the most amazing experience. I hope this story will help some of you still waiting to go into labour, I loved reading the stories in this group before my own birth.