Birth story - Maya and baby girl

I had my first daughter in 2012, aged 18. I had a normal vaginal delivery on labour ward using gas and air with a second degree tear. She weighed 9lbs 14oz at 40 weeks gestation. Active labour was 6 hours and all was fairly straightforward. However, having little preparation of what to expect and coping techniques, I felt completely out of control, and I remember wondering whether I was going to die and seeing flames around the room!

Fast forward 6 and a half years, I have since qualified as a midwife myself and knew I wanted a different birth experience when it came to my second pregnancy.

Having witnessed some very positive births at home and wanting privacy from my labour ward colleagues I decided early on I would like a home birth. I knew the research supports this as a safe place to birth as a second time mum. I joined Daisy Birthing classes at 28 weeks pregnant, which included yoga, active birth movements and breathing techniques similar to hypnobirthing. This worked well in combination with the PBC digital pack which my partner and I began at 30 weeks of pregnancy working through them a couple a week, completing the course at 38 weeks.

I loved the course, Siobhan’s positivity and the straightforward evidence based information. My partner was initially apprehensive about labour following our last experience, but after the course he was engaged and excited for our home birth.

I eventually went into labour at 40+2, after lots of braxton hicks since 38 weeks and two false starts. I had three stretch and sweeps from 39+5 as I was feeling very fed up and anxious that this baby would be 10lbs+ if I went post 40 weeks due to the size of my first daughter.

I had my first tightening at 5am, they began every 10 minutes and then became more regular at every 5 minutes. I woke my partner and we began getting everything ready - battery operated tea lights, aromatherapy oils in the warmer, birth ball and tens, snacks and inflated our birth pool. My daughter woke around 8am, so I got her ready for her drama class and called a friend to take her and our labrador for the day. The tightenings slowed after this to one in ten minutes. I thought they would pick back up after my daughter had left, but they stayed the same for a couple of hours. I tried bouncing on my birth ball, listening to relaxations, went on an hour walk and then had a nap, at which point the tightenings slowed more so.

Frustrated, I decided to have a sweep at 13.30 which promptly started my tightenings back up three in ten minutes. I found the Freya app invaluable to coach my breathing and keep me calm whilst bouncing on my birth ball and using the tens machine. I called my midwife after just over an hour of tightenings coming three in ten minutes. She arrived at 16.00 and found my cervix was 4cm dilated on vaginal examination.

After another hour on the ball, I decided to get into the pool. This gave me amazing relief and I continued to use the Freya app to breathe through the surges. Around half an hour later I felt the intensity increasing, so I began using some gas and air, still using the Freya app to coach me. My last surge on Freya was logged at 17.55, at which point I heard myself ‘mooing’ and found I couldn’t breathe out for 8 seconds any longer.

I continued to stay calm and breathe using the gas as I felt baby move down the birth canal. I felt increasing pressure and as I reached down below, I felt my daughters head behind her waters. I then began to use ‘down’ breathing and her head was born en caul minutes later. Her body came with the next contraction and I scooped her up onto my chest and cried. I truly couldn’t believe my birth had been everything I hoped it would be. I had felt calm and in control throughout. My partners support was incredible because of the tips he learned from the course.

I held my daughter skin to skin and we waited for a while before her cord was cut by my partner. I had opted for a physiological third stage, but after a heavy loss my midwife asked to give me syntometrine which I accepted. I was given two of these and misoprostol, which settled the loss and avoided a trip to labour ward. I felt nauseous following this but recovered after a bath and settled down on my sofa to have some more skin to skin and breastfeed.

We all celebrated afterwards with takeaway pizza and Prosecco and my first daughter arrived home to meet her new sister!

Thank you Siobhan Miller and the PBC! I will be recommending the course to all my friends and family 💗