Birth story - Mum and baby girl

My first birth with my son ended with an assisted delivery. I had an epidural which resulted in a spinal headache that required a blood patch procedure. I was completed immobilised after the birth with debilitating headaches and it was very unpleasant. I was determined to regain some control for my second birth and not have an epidural!! After some research I found the positive birth company which seemed to be just what I was looking for! I watched the videos and practiced my breathing in the lead up to my due date.

I went to bed on Friday 4th January around 9.45 and within 10 minutes I felt a pop and my waters had broken. I put on a maternity towel, rang the hospital and they said to come in. We waited for our babysitters to arrive, loaded up the car and headed to hospital. They confirmed it was my waters and I was monitored for half an hour. All was fine so we were sent home to wait for contractions to start- we were confident labour would start naturally as this is what had happened with our little boy.

We went home and straight to bed to try to sleep and get some rest- convinced we would be back to the hospital shortly, but woke up the next morning disappointed that nothing seemed to be happening. That day, our son went off to his grandparents and we had a relaxing day napping, watching Harry Potter and going for a long walk to try to get labour started.

By the middle of the afternoon we realised we were going to have to go in to the hospital to be induced- we had been given a deadline of 4pm on the Saturday afternoon. I felt apprehensive and scared- this was not heading towards the natural water birth I had wanted.

After a lot of waiting around, I was given IV antibiotics as my waters had been broken for nearly 24 hours and had the pessary inserted to start the induction. This was in for 6 hours overnight but did not get things going. At 5am we were sent down to the labour ward to be given the syntocinon drip. I used my BRAIN and made the decision that I would have an epidural (despite vowing I would never have one again) as I knew the surges would be more powerful and painful from the drip and I was likely to be confined to the bed.

I was examined and the midwife said that some of my waters were still intact- he said they would need to break the waters before they could administer the drip. He also hoped the labour might start naturally- he was right, the surges started almost immediately and were pretty intense. I was so relieved that I didn’t need the drip after all and hoped I could achieve the natural birth I’d been planning for.

At this point I asked my husband to set up the room with our tea lights, put the tens machine on and I started bouncing on the ball, using the up breathing for every surge. We put my playlist on but the music was too distracting! My husband suggested we watched something on the iPad to keep me relaxed so he put Gavin and Stacey on and we ended up watching almost the whole of the first series!

I felt as though things were progressing quite quickly as the surges were coming close together and lasting almost a minute in length. I began to get the urge to poo and kept going to the toilet. The surges were very powerful by this point and I told the midwife I didn’t think I could do it anymore. I realised at this point I was probably going through transition.

I told the midwife I was getting the urge to push and she seemed unsure but examined me at this point and I was 9cm. I felt the need to be on all fours and my body was pushing uncontrollably- it was incredibly powerful. All of a sudden I felt so much pressure and shouting ‘she’s coming now!’ Next thing I remember is the midwife saying- ‘here’s the head and here’s the body!’ She seemed to pop out without me physically pushing. It felt euphoric and I was so proud that I had done it, all with a bit of gas and air towards the end. I lifted my baby up and she was placed straight onto my chest. I couldn’t believe she was here just three hours after my waters were broken! We had delayed cord clamping and then the injection to help the delivery of the placenta.

I had a second degree tear but honestly didn’t feel it happen. I found the stitching rather unpleasant, probably the worst part of my labour! I had more gas and air for that part than the birth itself.

The digital pack was invaluable to my birth being such a positive experience. The up breathing was so helpful and the knowledge it gave me about how to keep the oxytocin flowing was essential to preparing for a calm and relaxing birth environment.