Birth story - Rebecca and baby Erica

I was due on 16th October and purchased PBC's book quite early on in my pregnancy as I was extremely anxious about the birth after hearing so many of my friends’ negative experiences in the past. I spent months listening to relaxation tracks, practicing breathing techniques and plastered my house in positive affirmation post-it notes. I quickly came to reframe the stories I’d heard previously, and to understand the likely reasons why my friends’ births had not been as positive as they should have been. I became a cracked record whenever anyone dared bring up the subject of my impending labour, and the more people tried to convince me it was going to be awful, the more avid I became!

After no obvious early signs, and during an impromptu DIY pregnancy photo shoot on a local walk, I came to realise I was in labour at around midday on the 17th. My husband actually managed to capture the moment of my first proper contraction on camera! Very shortly after making our way home, I had a show, and I started recording contractions using the Freya app. By 2.30pm my surges were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute, and the app was telling me I was in established labour. We called the birth unit which is about an hour away. We were advised to make our way in for a check-up but were told that it was precautionary and in all likelihood they'd be sending us home again. I must admit I was also doubting my use of the app as I'd spent so long mentally preparing myself for a long latent phase I struggled to believe this was actually it. Perhaps that helped keep me so calm in the early stages, even when we took a wrong turn on our way to the unit!

I popped the TENS machine on for the car journey and listened to the hypnobirthing tracks. The guided up breathing on the app really gave me something to focus on too. Once we'd arrived it was clear things were progressing fast. I refused an examination initially as I didn't want to stall things, but by around 5.30pm I had begun involuntarily mooing and wanted desperately to get in the birthing pool. So I used my BRAIN and consented to one but said I didn't want to know how many cm dilated I was, as I felt that I might fixate too much on it, especially if it wasn’t a very big number! The midwife reassured me I was more than halfway at that point and I later learned had even told my husband she was surprised she could already feel baby's head of hair during the examination! I was so encouraged that I’d got through so much of my labour already without so much as a single paracetamol, I knew at that point that I really could do this.

They prepped the pool for me and I spent the next 3 hours completely in the zone in there, listening to our relaxing labour playlist, using lavender oils and gas and air in the beginning. My husband understood the importance of keeping me relaxed and acted as my go between with the midwives so I could stay focused. I soon felt the urge to bear down, and after a couple of hours of very hard graft with him coaching me to push when I needed it, I overheard the midwife say that baby and I were tiring. I really wanted to avoid any interventions and vividly remember thinking to myself, "I am not tired, I’ve got this, and I'm getting this baby out myself!" Sure enough, a few contractions later, out she popped at 8.37pm!

I lost quite a bit of blood after delivering the placenta naturally, but that soon stopped thankfully and I only had a couple of 2nd degree tears. I really needn't have been so worried about that part, as I didn't feel them and the relief that my baby was here was just so overwhelming. As I brought her out of the water my husband got to announce that we had a little girl. She immediately latched and we got to enjoy 3 hours of undisturbed skin to skin time alone before I got my stitches and walked to a suite with her to recover. We all came home as a family just 16 hours after the birth.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a more positive birth experience, especially given the current circumstances, and we have the PBC to thank for a huge chunk of that. I came away feeling like an absolute warrior and I strongly believe this feeling of empowerment and euphoria has completely carried me through these first few weeks of motherhood.