Birth story - Remmi and baby Rex

For a few days in the evenings I was having a couple of tightenings which kept making me think ‘Oo could this be it?’ Then it would stop. On Friday 13 March I met my mother-in-law who took my daughter out for the day. I had packed an overnight bag which I gave her just in case. (I had a feeling that it may be the day!)

At midday I had my 40 week midwife appointment. My midwife offered me a sweep which I decided to accept as I was hoping that the past few evenings had meant cervical changes were happening 🤞I was overjoyed to hear that I was 3cm dilated and that my cervix was about 1cm thick. She did inform me that baby was back to back at this stage so I will probably labour in my back and it could go on a little longer than if baby was in optimal position. The sweep went well and I had a show.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk to try get things going. My lower back was achy but I’d been achy for months so didn’t think too much of it. After my walk I spent an hour or so bouncing on my ball leaning slightly forward to try get baby to turn until my husband got home from work at 5pm. We decided to go on another walk to get a takeaway pizza about 7pm. On the way back I started to get some mild surges across my tummy, nothing major, just enough for me to slightly slow down during each one. We arrived home and ate our dinner, my appetite went after two slices ☹️ (normally I’d end up eating the majority of a pizza 😋). Surges suddenly started to ramp up so I used my up-breathing during each one, they were lasting between 45-55 seconds every 3-10 minutes apart. My husband started to prep the bedroom and inflate the pool for me so it would be ready to fill when I felt I needed it. Whilst he was setting up the Freya app told me I was in established labour, this was at 8pm. Knowing that the pool would take a while to fill he decided to start filling it straight away. Whilst he was setting everything up I just kept walking around the house stopping on each surge, leaning forward and swaying though each one with my breathing. At 9:30pm we decided to call maternity to let them know I was in established labour and to contact my midwife (who was on call that night). At 9:45pm my midwife called to see how I was doing and asked if I wanted her to come now or wait a bit longer. I was managing ok so at first said leave it a little longer. As my husband was still on the phone to her I had another surge which was much stronger so I quickly changed my mind!

At about 10pm the surges were coming every 1-2 minutes and I suddenly started to feel sick. I somehow managed to run to the loo and was sick. At this point I was telling my husband I needed to get in the pool NOW (transition). So he stripped me down and helped me in. It was such a relief, the water felt amazing. On the next surge my body started to really push and I could feel baby moving down. At 10:13 my midwife arrived, she took one look at me and said ‘oh, we’ve left this a little late haven’t we!’ with a big smile on her face! She managed to take my blood pressure and listen in on baby. Two surges later baby’s head was born, the body on the following surge at 10:18! I scooped baby up out of the water between my legs and sat with him in the pool for delayed cord clamping. The second midwife then turned up.

I delivered the placenta on my bed whilst having skin to skin with our baby boy. I decided to have the injection for the placenta to speed it up as I felt it was taking a while.

I had a second degree tear and small graze (which I didn’t feel when it happened). I had the option for stitches as it wasn’t too bad, I decided to have them to speed the recovery process up.

After this, baby latched on perfectly for his first feed 🙂 he fed for over an hour. My husband and I just relaxed in bed during the feed whilst the midwives stayed in the other room filling out the paperwork. It was so lovely and chilled.

At midnight the midwives left. Overall my labour was just under 2 and half hours! I couldn’t believe how quick it was. I had no time for pain relief, but didn’t feel I needed it as I could easily manage the surges. I was so relaxed, I think this let my body do its thing in super fast time.

This was my second baby using the techniques I learnt from the Positive Birth Company (my husband and I attended a weekend course in Devon in 2018, then purchased the digital pack this year as a refresher) and I still use the breathing techniques through life now. Thank you so much Siobhan for your guidance. The course really has changed my life for the better 💗