Birth story - Rachel and baby girls

I’m writing this in the middle of the night whilst pumping for my babies. They are now 10 weeks old and it’s been a journey of breastfeeding. We’re in an amazing place now so it feels like a good time to look back to where it all began…

The planning… twins came as a shock at our 12 week scan, despite having twins in my family. The first reaction was where would we put them. Then we remembered they are quite little

I’d always expected to be very happy to have any pain relief, until birth planning started and I realised how many side effects they had. I don’t like feeling nauseous and didn’t want that to be part of my birth experience. So we signed up to this course to learn about hypnobirthing.

The course was far more focused on science and understanding the hormonal changes in your body than I expected. It made sense to me that if you could stay calm, the experience would be less painful, so as long as twin A was head down, we would go for a vaginal birth.

We understood that from week 38 vaginal twin births are considered more risky, and while the midwife couldn’t really say why, it wasn’t a risk we were willing to take. So we agreed induction would be half way through week 37.

Changing plans…

At our 32 week scan, twin A was head down: induction at 37 weeks agreed.

At our 36 week scan, she’d apparently turned and was breach, so we agreed to c-section when the induction had been planned for.

I was really upset that after all the hypnobirthing learning, we’d be having a c-section. Despite my head knowing it would be for the best, and that’s all that mattered, I was really disappointed. I wanted to push my babies out, that’s what felt natural. Having two babies in one go, we don’t expect to have more babies as had never planned for more than two so I felt this was my only opportunity to push. After a few days of feeling sad, I went back to hypnobirthing and found we could still make this a magical experience. Together we got our head back into a positive mindset and prepared for birth.

The birth…

On the Wednesday we checked into the hospital for a c-section as planned. It was surreal knowing our babies were coming today! We asked for a scan during the pre checks just in case baby A has turned again… and she had! So crazy (Although to be honest, we’re not convinced by the 36 week scan and if she ever really went breach…). This made induction possible so we said we’d give it a go, as I’d wanted a vaginal birth original.

This was 37+5 as we’d pushed the c-section as late as we dared, so we needed to crack on with the induction to get the babies out or nearly out by 38 weeks. However there was a frustrating delay in hospital waiting for a room.

By 2pm we had a room and they had inserted the pessery to start the induction. After a couple of hours the pain started, like a period pain cramping that ended up lasting the full 24 hours. I was so grateful we had no one else in our room and my husband stayed over on the spare bed. I went for paracetamol and codine, back rubs, TENs machine, breathing with my partner, card games when I could manage, walking around the room, and a bath. These all helped short term but it was painful the whole time.

In the night I asked for them to check my cervix, I wish I hadn’t as it was a lot more uncomfortable and painful than I’d expected. I breathed through it with my husband. Nothing had changed down there unfortunately.

After 24 hours we thought we’d get the next pessery but turns out they have to wait 6 hours. So at 8pm I was ready but then told the hospital was understaffed and they couldn’t carry on with the induction yet, in case I went into labour…

By this time the pain had stopped, to my relief but it actually meant the labour hadn’t progressed unfortunately. So my partner went home and I stayed. In the middle of the night, the on call consultant came to speak to me to discuss options. We’d been given the heads up and my partner and I had agreed to have a c-section the next day if the induction couldn’t happen yet. The consultant said I’d have to wait until morning to see if they could to the next pessery, but given staffing there was no guarantee. She said if I wanted a C-section, she could start the process of getting me booked in now.

I used BRAIN to ask about the options and decided we didn’t want to put our babies at risk going into week 38 when there was no guarantee that A) the hospital would have capacity to continue, and that the induction would work fast enough. So I agreed to a C-section.

Honestly it was a relief - I hadn’t enjoyed the first 24hr and wondered how I’d get through the rest of the induction, which could end in C-section anyway! We’d already got our heads round C-section before coming to hospital so I could go back to sleep, happily knowing that the babies really were coming tomorrow

The c-section…

The whole experience from waking up on the day was so calm and peaceful. The staff were lovely and we patiently waited for our slot. We weren’t exactly sure what time as they were fitting us in, but by 10am they were doing pre ops and sometime around 11am we walked to theatre. My husband kept me calm with breathing and once we put our birth playlist on in theatre. Music is very calming and emotive for me and I found this incredibly helpful. It made the whole situation less scary. “Fight Song” played as I sat on the table having the spinal injection and I felt like a strong woman who could do this amazing thing!!

My husband sat by my head and was incredible. I’m so pleased we did the Positive Birth course even though we had a c-section in the end as it taught him how to support me. He kept me calm, counting my breaths, and reassuring me throughout.

The rest is a bit of a blur but other songs take me back there and give me an incredible warm and happy feeling. I know the anaesthetic made my body shake, that was a strange feeling, and when they did the actual procedure, it felt very strange, like someone washing up in my tummy, but of course it didn’t hurt at all.

And then our two babies were born! I loved them immediately which I hadn’t been expecting! Thankfully they were happy and healthy, and there were no compilations with me either. They finished up the op and I went to see my babies

Thank you to the Positive Birth Company for helping to make this a magical experience. My advice to any expectant parents is to not fixate on your perfect birth as anything can happen at any time, it’s up to your babies, and ultimately, you won’t mind how they were delivered once they are born. Just build a good playlist!