Birth story - Mum and baby girl

⚠️ Triggers - episiotomy, talk of induction (thankfully avoided)

Pregnancy:

I started the PBC course when I was about 20 weeks pregnant. I had a low risk pregnancy and I was very keen to do all I could to have a birth centre birth, with as few painkillers as possible as I was nervous about their side effects.

When I got to a week after my due date, and had no signs of anything starting, I began to get nervous about the possibility of induction. Due to COVID my midwife had told me that I wouldn't be able to have my husband with me during an induction and said it could take days, where I wouldn't be allowed to leave the hospital. This caused me a lot of stress but I tried to focus on my breathing and stay positive, at least one way or the other I would have my baby with me soon.

When I reached 41+3 my midwife offered me a sweep, which I accepted, and she said my cervix was already 1cm dilated and soft. I used the up breathing for the sweep but I didn't find it hurt at all anyway. I was booked in for an induction on 41+5. When I went in on that date they checked me and found I was already 3cm dilated! They seemed confused that I was already 3cm, without having had any surges, when it was my first pregnancy. They said there was no point inducing me and they sent me home and said to come in the next day if I still wasn't in labour.

Labour and Birth:
On 41+6 I started getting mild surges around midnight. They were mostly in my back and manageable, but I put on my TENS machine and tracked the surges using the Freya app. Although they were mild and the up breathing and TENS helped loads, I wasn't able to get any sleep. At 2pm I was supposed to go into the hospital to be checked again as I was so close to 42 weeks. They were surprised to find I was 4cm dilated! At this stage I was still able to talk through my surges and they were not very close together, Freya said I had not reached active labour. Due to this, the midwives refused to admit me to the labour ward despite being 4cm! They offered me another sweep and I accepted.

I was given a bed in the main ward and they recommended my waters be broken to move things along as they didn't want me to get over 42 weeks. However, before they could do this my waters naturally broke and when I was checked I was 6cm! They finally agreed to let me up to the labour ward so I called my husband and he started driving there! They said I couldn't birth in the birth centre because I was an hour away from 42 weeks so would soon be deemed 'high risk'. I was still talking through contractions and the surges were very inconsistent and far apart. Freya said I wasn't in active labour. The surges felt exactly like bad gas pain and pressure, no worse, I had no sensations in my tummy at all. The TENS machine and up breathing helped me manage the feeling.

When I got to the labour ward they thankfully had a pool room free. The pool was AMAZING! I was worried I would find it too hot and unpleasant but I enjoyed it so much. That combined with gas and air made the surges so manageable. The midwives left my husband and I alone for a lot of this time and I actually really enjoyed it, we chatted between my surges and he made sure I was drinking plenty. My husband tracked my surges on Freya and it still said I wasn't in active labour!

When I was checked about 4 hours later they said I was 10cm dilated! I was so happy and got excited that I would meet our baby soon! I never noticed a transition stage. I stayed in the pool and my surges seemed to die down a lot.

About 2 hours later the midwives were getting concerned that not much seemed to be happening so they suggested I come out of the pool and try to labour on dry land. By now my surges had died down a lot and I couldn't feel them as well. They were also a bit concerned with how infrequent my surges appeared to be.

A doctor came in to check on me and I felt this made my surges slow right down. They were concerned as I'd passed the 2 hour window for the second stage. They checked the baby's heartrate and there were thankfully no signs of distress and an internal showed the baby was in a good position.

The doctor brought up instrumental delivery but I used my BRAIN and said I wanted to avoid this unless it was strictly needed. I still had energy and my baby wasn't distressed so I wanted to keep going.

At this point I couldn't feel my surges at all anymore. The midwives were having to put their hand on my tummy to tell me when I was getting them and when I should push. My body wasn't naturally pushing at all, I never felt the sensation to push throughout my labour. They suggested I go on a drip to make my surges stronger and closer together. I agreed as I wanted to avoid an instrumental delivery. Unbelievably I STILL couldn't feel the surges on the drip, but they did appear to get closer together based on what the midwives told me. As I couldn't feel them I was given coached pushing, I had to push as hard as I could as soon as they told me I was having a surge and hold my breath. Being on my back was actually the position I found easiest for this so I stayed on my back for the rest of the labour and birth.

After two more hours of doing this (so 4 hours in the second stage) I was started to feel like maybe I couldn't do it and the doctors kept checking on me and suggesting maybe I needed help. My midwife suggested maybe they could try an episiotomy to see if that would help. I jumped at the chance as it gave me new hope and I wanted to avoid an instrumental delivery. They numbed the area before they performed it so it was fine and didn't hurt.

Finally, after over 4 hours pushing, and a final giant push, my baby was born shortly after receiving the episiotomy! They held our baby up and we saw she was a girl! She was placed on my chest for the golden hour. After the cord stopped pulsating my husband cut the cord. I was absolutely exhausted after such a long pushing stage and being awake for 3 days, I was so tired I didn't even have the energy to have my tea and toast!

I was given the injection to birth the placenta and when I was checked they found, excluding the episiotomy, I only had a graze. They stitched up the episiotomy but I didn't really notice as we had our new little daughter to distract us!

A few hours later, after I'd successfully got my daughter to latch a few times, they allowed us to go home. I was so exhausted I had to ask for a wheelchair to take me to reception, but I was keen to go home as my husband wouldn't have been allowed to visit us in the hospital and I wanted us to all be together as our new family.

Overall I feel I had a positive birth experience and the up breathing really helped me remain calm. The PBC course also made me feel confident that my medical team could not force me to do anything, everything was up to me. I felt this helped me stand up to the doctors when they wanted to perform an instrumental delivery despite us showing no signs of distress.