Birth story - Mum and baby girl

*Trigger warning* - use of the word contractions as not negative to me.

Pregnancy:

Apart from needing consultant led care and regular growth scans due to pre-pregnancy thyroid issues, everything went smoothly until 36 weeks where I developed mild cholestasis.

It wasn't of major concern as I was full term and my bile acid levels were quite low. We agreed to monitor levels via regular blood tests.

Then at 38 + 4 weeks my bile acid levels spiked and we were advised to consider induction or C-section to deliver baby relatively quickly (she would be better off on the outside now, but it wasn't an emergency).

Decision Time:

We took our time to consider the pros and cons for induction vs C-section vs do nothing and discussed concerns and questions with various consultants and midwives.

My main concern was that the induction and cholestasis would mean continual monitoring and at the time my cervix was relatively unchanged. I was concerned about a difficult induction/failure to induce and then ending up with a C-section anyway.

However, we decided to try a gel induction but I also signed the paperwork for a C-section in case I wanted to request one if I became unhappy with the induction, as I advised I did not want the drip. It was agreed to play it step by step.

Labour:

Initially we tried a membrane sweep but it didn't have any effect and so the next day I agreed to try the prostin gel at 12pm on the Wednesday and it immediately brought on tightenings, albeit mildly.

I was keen to get things moving and help my body make the most of the gel. So following some initial monitoring I went for a walk around the hospital. This definitely helped to get things kicked off and I kept having to pause to breathe. Once back on the ward, I sat rotating my hips on the ball, focusing on my up breathing and having my husband provide counter pressure on my lower back.

Things definitely started to pick up so we got the TENS machine out. It's a very odd sensation but helped me to take my mind off the contractions. The midwife came to check on my progress and at 4pm I agreed to an internal examination and further monitoring to check on progress.

Everyone was pleased to discover I was 4cm, so they worked on finding me a space on the labour ward.

Once moved to labour ward, my husband prepped the room with all the things we had planned. The room was lovely and we were able to dim the lights and put on rain noise (my chill out/sleep noise).

As the contractions grew stronger and stronger, I refocused on my up breathing. My husband breathed with me and it helped me to pace my breathing as I just copied his breaths. I reminded myself of my positive attestations and made sure I gave my uterus the things it needed to do its job - moving on a ball, drinking plenty of water and lucozade and breathing.

I was still under constant monitoring but was able to stay on the ball and as things continued to ramp up, I used gas and air to help take the edge off.

It was agreed that at 9pm I would be examined again which gave me something to aim for and I decided if I hadnt progressed much then I would consider more pain relief as the contractions were getting really powerful at this stage.

Interestingly, when I started to feel overwhelmed by the strength of the contractions, I reminded myself that it wasn't painful and that it was just my uterus doing it's thing and it allowed me to manage through each one. I was amazed at the impact this thought process had on how I felt.

Once examined I was 9cm dilated and knew I had progressed enough to not need any further pain meds as the end was in sight.

After another hour of contractions, we realised I hadn't had a wee in a long time so decided to try and empty my bladder to see it is helped me move to pushing phase.

I managed to wee and I suddenly felt very different. It all felt too much, too intense and I panicked.. Clearly I was transitioning and the wee had helped!

Following my wee, the midwives were unable to get a trace on baby's heartrate from the external belt monitor and so I agreed to a monitor on baby's head. I knew the cholestasis increased the risk of still borns and so I wanted to make sure she was ok throughout.

However, for this to be set up I needed to be on my back. We also decided to do an in out catheter to check my bladder was empty. After being on my back, I then found it really difficult to move to any other position, so the midwives rearranged the bed to help get me into a more upright position.

I was starting to feel quite worn out so I asked to be coached through the pushing phase.

The pushing phase took around 2 hours and was quite hardwork, I think partially because I was induced and progressed quite quickly but also because I was on my back. But after lots of pushing, Ada was delivered safe and sound.

We had immediate skin on skin and delayed cord clamping and she instantly started rooting. I'd opted for the injection to help deliver the placenta which happened without much fuss. I had a second degree tear which was stitched up after a local anesthetic (tbh the anesthetic needle was the worst part about the tear).

I was so pleased that I managed an induction without any drip/intervention/epidural and I do think a lot of this was due to being in a positive mindset, moving around, up breathing and the TENS machine! To anyone else nervous about an induction - it is possible for it to go well!