Birth story - Meggy and baby Wolfie

I had been pretty luck and had a pretty straight forward pregnancy in between Anti D injections for being RH Negative - which is to do with my blood type and the baby’s blood type.

I was set up to have growth scans by the larger hospital nearby after a small bleed at 26 weeks to ensure that everything was well for our new arrival.

Baby’s growth continued really well, and my other half being 6ft5 I knew baby wasn’t exactly going to be small!

All I wanted was to have my baby at our local MLU which was literally a 30 second walk from my house. But I knew that if things didn’t go to plan, my next choice would have to be a larger hospital just incase.

I found the PBC on Instagram at about 32 weeks, in my life I have been surrounded by both positive and scary birth stories from family and friends. As the date got nearer I could feel myself starting to think about what was to come and getting anxious about the unknown.

I started the videos and could not believe how fantastic they were both educating me in my options but also practising breathing techniques which would really help! The MP3’s were brilliant too.

I finished work 2 weeks before my due date and used this time to go review the notes, chill and finalise my preferences!

I was offered a sweep at my due date, using my BRAIN looked at the options and took it- by this point I didn’t think I could get much bigger and they’d already thought baby was big from the final scans! In the end we ended up having 3 sweeps with my final one being at the term + 4 which really started things off.

For people who know me, everything I do is at 100 MPH, I love adrenaline filled activities - but from the PBC I learnt all about the damage adrenaline can do during labour and the power of oxytocin - we tried all of the labour inducing activities going!

Term + 4 after my final sweep (from an examination after losing my show) I had a bath at around half 7 that night and played my MP3s for relaxation. I had been having irregular tightenings for a few days but nothing was coming from them.

At around half 8-I noticed a bit more of a pattern and realised they were coming every 5 mins and lasting about a minute! Having not had Braxton Hicks - me and my other half didn’t really know if this was about to kick off or we had all the time in world! I rang the midwife and was advised to go to bed with some paracetamol- that night I was having tightenings and was in and out of sleep trying to conserve my energy if this was actually it.

At 9:30 the midwife from my local MLU came to check on me home ( we live opposite our MLU!) she said things were happening and I was about 2-3 cm with my waters bulging. She suggested I tried the TENS machine and she would come over and check me later- at 14:30 I was struggling to talk through surges and they were becoming more intense so the midwife popped back and I was now 4cm- she needed then to monitor baby’s heart rate more regularly to ensure they were coping with labour effectively.

The midwife stayed with us at home while we drank tea & I bounced on my ball- at 4pm she suggested we started making our way across to the MLU when I was ready so I could relax and get comfy. My other half had the bags ready by the door, we said bye to the kittens and walked hand in hand over the road to the Hospital to meet our baby.

We arrived at the delivery room and it was set up exactly as I would have wanted. We were the only ones In the unit. All my senses catered for- dimmed lighting, star lights on the ceiling, candles, beanbags, yoga balls - everything to encourage an active UFO delivery. I had my cosy clothes and my other half provided the snacks to keep my going.

At 5pm the Midwife’s switched over, I was told I could have another examination 4 hours later if I wanted to or carry on as I am. The surges were still manageable with my breathing so I still had my TENS to help & so we waited! My other half provided all of my favourite snacks (which I didn’t want during labour! but the lucozade kept me going!)

At 19:45 nothing had really changed and I was still 4cm with my waters still ready to pop- the midwife suggested to pop the waters and begin to help things move along. Using my BRAIN I had tried everything for them to go so I accepted for her to break them. My surges doubled in power and it was taking real concentration to breathe through them - I could not get comfy, I wanted to walk and felt like I needed a wee constantly from the pressure. I was beginning to question whether I could do this, tried the gas and air for a couple of surges and I really didn’t like it.

An hour later the midwife offered to check me again - and I had gone from 4cm-10cm and was ready to push!!! We couldn’t believe it, no wonder I couldn’t get comfy, babies head was descending!

The midwife left us to call another midwife as they needed 2 for delivery. She also said they had a student midwife on call who wanted to come down and asked if I minded! Not at all - more the merrier (at this point I couldn’t have cared less). I explained what I wanted for my other half to catch baby, to tell me the babies sex, and we wanted delayed cord clamping. So about 21:15 I got on all fours using the beanbags and started to bare down using my down breathing techniques. The midwife said she could see the top of babies head as it rocked back and forward stretching carefully. We were all sitting on the floor- so relaxed and so ready to meet baby! She checked babes heart rate throughout and it remained really steady and calm.

At 10:20 pm our lives changed forever, my other half caught our little boy who let out a big cry when he was born- much to our relief! He passed him to me, and we sat together as a family of 3 cuddled together for 1.5 hours. Baby latched on straight away and started feeding.

The midwives couldn’t believe I had delivered my first baby just with paracetamol & a TENS- she couldn’t believe how calm I was and asked if I had done a hypnobirthing course- I explained all about it and they were wanted me to write my positive birth story for them.

Baby was left attached to the cord for as long as possible and I elected to deliver my placenta naturally as I hadn’t had any drugs - the placenta came and the midwife talked us through each part of It.

She checked me over- no tears, grazes or cuts!!!!! She said it was probably down to how calm I had been and how calm baby was throughout the birth!

I asked the midwife if I needed to stay in the MLU or go home, she said we could go home if we wanted-so we had our toast, got dressed , showered and cuddled up our newborn in his new blanket and walked back home just 2 hours after birth!!

I can’t thank Siobhan more for the fantastic course, I felt educated, empowered and capable of anything. It was so nice for once to hear positive birth stories instead of the classic dramas on one born every minute & the news.

I was able to have the birth I only could have dreamed of- and we left wanting to do it again and again💪🏻

We got this!