Birth story - Paris and baby Rue

Sunday morning I woke up to cramps, and I straight away knew this was different to the Braxton Hicks I had been experiencing for a couple of weeks. But being 38 weeks and this being my first I didn’t get my hopes up and thought maybe these surges would stop. But they didn’t! And by 8:30pm that evening we were in established labour according to my Freya app. We headed off to the MLU to have the pain relief free water birth I had always dreamed of. Unfortunately, I didn’t last very long in the birthing pool before I started vomiting over the edge of it. The pain was unreal and completely in my lower back. I was examined and told baby was in a ‘back to back’ position and I would experience more pain.

At this point I was offered an injection of pethidine which I took. I was instantly asleep and this did the trick for an hour or two. But then I was awake and aware of surges that were only getting worse.

I weighed up my options and still taking full control of my birth experience, I asked for an epidural. This meant I had to be transferred to the more medical environment of the delivery suite, but I felt that this was necessary.

The experience of those unbearable surges coming on while an anaesthetist doctor put the needle in my back and needing to remain still is by far one of the hardest things I have ever, ever done.

But I am beyond grateful for what those doctors and what that pain relief did for me. Suddenly I was back in the room. Sam, my birthing partner, was ultimately more relaxed as seeing me in so much pain was unbearable for him too. I remained calm, positive and content, even in the more medical environment than I had originally envisioned. Thanks to conscious breathing techniques and positive affirmations we picked up from the course I was more than happy to accept vaginal examinations, something that had previously made me nervous, but I remained okay.

It took hours for my cervix to dilate from 2cm to 3cm and then to 4cm. So long I can’t even remember. But then only 2 hours to reach 7cm and then 2 more to reach 9cm. It was time to start thinking about how to deliver, especially as baby was still not in optimal position.

The epidural had completely knocked any sensation out of me but my midwife talked me through exactly what to do. She was amazing.

After an hour baby still wasn’t budging.

At this point a doctor came in and explained we would need intervention with a ventouse and an episiotomy to make this whole process easier. Honestly, I still didn’t even wobble. I was more than happy to meet my baby and do what was necessary. Not long after he came and was placed on my chest. I was stitched up during some skin to skin time and I didn’t even notice the pain or bleeding. Everything had been worth it. Whether it went to plan or not, all birth experience is beautiful and hypnobirthing helped me accept that.

Our healthy baby boy was born at 15:42 at 7lbs 2oz.