Birth story - Nicola and baby Callie

*Trigger warning* - First trimester bleeding, second degree tear, use of word contraction.

My pregnancy was very straightforward. I had some spotting in the first trimester so had a scan at 8 weeks and after that everything was plain sailing. I kept very active thanks to my job and was swimming 3x a week all the way up to going into labour.

At 4am on the 28th I woke up with a dull period type pain across my lower abdomen. I couldn’t get comfortable anywhere so stayed awake, bounced on my birthing ball and had something to eat. By 8am my contractions were every 10-12 minutes but I still don’t think I’d convinced myself it was actually labour so I told my partner to go to work and I’d call him if needed. I then lost my mucus plug while going to the toilet.

By 10:30am my contractions were every 7 minutes and becoming more intense, I told my partner to come home and continued to move around my living room. My waters broke just after 11am, it felt like such a light trickle that again I wasn’t convinced I was in labour! We decided to call the Birth Centre and they advised us to go in to be assessed.

When we arrived at the Birth Centre my contractions were every 4 minutes and I was 1-2cm dilated. As the midwife assessed me my waters broke further, it turns out baby’s head was blocking the entrance to my cervix and that’s why only a trickle came out at first! They offered for us to stay if we wanted or go home, we decided to go home and get some lunch.

By 3pm my contractions were every 3 minutes and we decided to head back to the Birth Centre. When we arrived I was 3cm dilated, but the midwives said we were welcome to stay in the room and see how we went.

By 5pm the contractions were starting to feel very intense and I was struggling to stay active. I asked for whatever pain relief they had and was offered co-codamol. At this point the midwife started filling the pool, I knew this was a good sign! Sadly the co-codamol did absolutely nothing, but the pool was soon ready. As I got in I felt transition really hit and told the midwife I felt the need to push. I began to use the gas and air to help me through the contractions and my birth partner was incredible at reminding me of my breathing. Our little girl was born just after 8pm in the water and I can genuinely say I’ve never felt anything like it. The pain washed away in an instant and I was overjoyed.

I had the injection to deliver my placenta and enjoyed over an hour of skin to skin before having stitches for a second degree tear. I felt so lucky that our birth had been exactly as we pictured it and I believe the PBC course had a lot to do with this. We were both prepared and relaxed throughout and I felt empowered to make decisions that felt right to me.

My main advice to anyone would be; keep as active as possibly throughout pregnancy and labour, involve your birth partner in the course, and trust your body!