Birth story - Natassia and baby Gavin

*Trigger Warning* - Placental Abruption with haemorrhage and episiotomy and baby needing assistance immediately after birth.

I am so excited to share my positive birth experience even if it was not what I had planned. I purchased the positive birth company online course at 30 weeks and it was an absolute God-sent to me as I had a lot of anxiety in relation to my labour and delivery. The physiology and techniques made absolutely sense to me and I could not thank you enough for the knowledge that you have imparted to me and my husband.

On 10/11 I got up early to go to church. I wore a nice maternity dress that my bestie had given me a few months back, not knowing that it would be the last time I would get to wear it. After church, I met up with my husband and the husband of his cousin for lunch. We had such a lovely time that we spent a good 4 hours in the restaurant, eating and chatting. I then headed to my brother’s place to help him with his kids while he needed to get some errands done. As I was carrying my 2 month old nephew, I felt some Braxton Hicks but thought nothing of it as I’d been having them off and on for the past few days.

By 8 pm, I went to have a wee and noticed that my pad was soaked in blood. I showed it to my sister in law and she advised that I call the hospital which I did and they told me to come in. I was about an hour away so I decided to take the tube since an uber might take longer as it was a Sunday evening. I tried calling my husband who was still out but couldn’t get in touch with him but left a message for him to get my hospital bag at home and my notes and meet me at the hospital (Thank God I packed my bag at 36 weeks).

Once I entered the tube and sat down, I felt the surges coming. I did my up breathing discreetly as I did not want to alarm any of the passengers next to me and was shocked that they were coming every 2-3 minutes. I used the Freya app by this time which was amazing at keeping me calm and focused. I got to the hospital around 9 pm and waited for my husband to meet me by the lobby as I was struggling to walk by myself up to the delivery suite. My husband arrived 20 minutes after and we walked up to the delivery suite, laughing as we couldn’t believe it was happening so soon.

I got to triage and the midwife examined me and told me I was 3 cm dilated (another shocker!) but I was actively bleeding so my hope of having a water birth was not possible. We were then escorted to our room which was dimly lit and had a calm atmosphere. I changed into my pyjama top and the midwife brought in a birthing ball which I used and concentrated on my up breathing. I then lost track of time as I was totally in the zone. The midwife hooked me up on the machine and put in a cannula to give me some fluids. She checked on my pad every hour and said that it was not increasing in amount. The surges were becoming more intense and my legs were starting to ache from sitting on the ball so I opted to be on my side on the bed to try and rest. Things then started to get complicated.

My husband noticed that as I was having surges, blood was gushing out from under me so the midwife had to call the consultant and they came to check on me. She did an ultrasound which showed that the placenta was out of the way but I had a placental abruption so all the blood was coming from the placenta. Baby was fine in the monitor but I was instructed to not have anything to eat or drink just in case they needed to do a c-section. I carried on with my up breathing but at this point, the midwife offered me gas and air which I took. I don’t know if it had any effect on the intensity of the surges but it was a good distraction and made me focus on my breathing.

My brother then arrived to support us. My surges were getting stronger and by 3 am, I had the urge to push. The midwife checked and I was only 6 cm so she advised for me to use the gas and air. My husband massaged my back which helped a lot and my brother continued to encourage me and help me focus on my breathing. By 3:30 am, I started to have the strong urge to push and the midwife said I was 10 cm! I changed position and opted to squat while holding the head of the bed. I did 45 minutes of pushing but I could not feel the baby going down and my energy was depleting. I was telling my husband and my brother that I could not do it anymore.

At some point, the consultant came into the room and told me that my baby was in distress, I changed position to be on my back and they put my legs in the stirrups. It was not ideal but I was just too tired that I felt like I could not go on. The consultant told me she was going to do an episiotomy and assist with babys delivery. After she did the episiotomy, I pushed as hard as I could and gave everything that I had left and baby boy’s head came out, and then they told me to breath, and then one more push and he was out. They put him on my chest but he wasn’t breathing or crying so they took him from me and the paediatrician had to do some compressions and suctioning and the moment I heard him cry, my whole world was complete.

I was then stitched up and my husband had skin to skin with our Baby Gavin. Once the midwife was done, I then had skin to skin with my lovely boy and he latched on beautifully for his first feed. I stayed in hospital overnight as I had lost 1.5 L of blood and baby boy passed meconium but all is well and we are now cuddling and loving every moment with our beautiful baby boy Gavin.

I hope my story inspired any of you who are anxious about your upcoming labour and delivery. It may not always go as you planned but you can still have a positive experience with the tools that the course teaches you and having the right birth partners by your side.