Birth story - Rosie and baby Ellis

*Possible Triggers* - High uterine blood flow picked up on scans, small baby, preterm baby, preeclampsia, 36 week baby, failing cord, failing placenta.

As everyone says.... grab yourself a cuppa this is a super long one! My birth went nothing like I would have ever imagined. After attending a routine 36 week scan I was told I couldn’t leave and my baby was then earth side in less than 24 hours.

I wasn’t sure weather to share my story because I honestly didn’t feel like I could call my story ‘childbirth’, I didn’t experience contractions or Labour as I had hoped, and I even felt like I had cheated and skipped the huge event that is bringing a child into the world, but on reflection I know that my baby was born exactly how he needed to be, and this course gave me the confidence and knowledge to decide and question all decisions made. I loved reading all the different birth stories in order to try and prepare myself for all eventualities, and I feel like sharing this may prepare someone in a similar situation.

Pregnancy & scans:

I found out I was pregnant in August, at the time we thought lockdowns were a thing of the past and looked forward to enjoying our pregnancy seeing family and friends! Little did we know we would spend most of it in and out of lockdown.

I was very lucky to have minimal pregnancy symptoms other than posterior pelvic pain from around 28 weeks. I worked throughout and planned to start maternity leave at 38 weeks, but I left work at 2pm the day before little one arrived!

During our routine 20 week scan we were told the blood flow to the uterus was high pressure, which gave us an increased risk of preeclampsia and a small baby, and although a small risk, we were advised to start aspirin from then and attend extra scans at 28, 32 and 36 weeks to monitor growth. My partner was allowed to attend 12 and 20 week scans only. At the 28 week scan baby was showing at 49th percentile, then at 32 week scan baby was showing at 25th percentile. The sonographer said foetal medicine would review my case and contact me if they needed to see me, if not then to return for the 36 week scan and go from there. I did not hear from the doctors and waited happily for my 36 week scan.

I was given a consultant appointment at 25 weeks due to the blood flow readings at the 20 week scan, he checked my blood pressure and seemed quite blasé about my case, even saying ‘I don’t really know why you are seeing me’, he explained risks of a small baby, preeclampsia and recommended induction at 41 weeks if needed due to risk of still birth. I took his words on board but felt confident that I wouldn’t accept an induction unless it was medically necessary. He then discharged me from consultant care and advised I carried on with the community midwives.

Prep:

During the third trimester I tried to prepare as much as possible for birth using the digital pack with myself and my husband watching the videos, I started early on raspberry leaf tea & capsules, bouncing on the ball, reading positive birth stories most evenings, staying active with walking and pregnancy safe home workouts, and listening to daily positive affirmations when getting ready for work in the mornings. I was preparing to start colostrum harvesting and perineal massage after my 36 week scan. I felt positive and excited to bring our little one into the world, I had told my midwife I hoped for a water birth at the attached MLU which they were happy with, but I felt prepared and educated for all birth scenarios, and equipped with the knowledge and confidence to question things that did not feel right to me.

36 week scan, 1st April:

I attended my routine 36 week scan alone where there was some concern with the blood flow through the placenta and the cord, and baby was showing small (less than 5th percentile!) and it was suggested that growth had stagnated from 33 weeks onwards. The sonographer sent me straight to the midwife assessment unit within the hospital for immediate monitoring and blood pressure checks. I was also referred to the consultant that evening for an additional more thorough scan. At this point I was told I could not leave and my partner was not allowed to attend to support me due to Covid. Things felt serious but I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on.

Whilst waiting for the midwife I could feel my stress levels rising as I felt like things were slowly spinning out of my control. I listened to the positive affirmations and waited 4 hours to be seen. I went onto the monitors and my blood pressure was shown as elevated (150) I remember I couldn’t see through the tears when my blood pressure was being checked, I was stressed and felt sick with worry, I had bloods and urine tests, my urine sample was normal (no protein), however it was suggested I had preeclampsia.

I was then given blood pressure medication and sent straight to the consultant upstairs, another doctor chatted to me about what to expect from the consultant scan, and she said ‘oh don’t worry it’s not preeclampsia because your urine and bloods were normal’, the consultant quickly saw me for another scan, he was silent throughout and then sat me up for what felt like a very serious talk. His words here are a blur and looking back I am so sad and frustrated that due to Covid my partner couldn’t be there to process all of this information with me, but he said something along the lines of: this was very bad, baby is not doing well, there is a risk of still birth if pregnancy carries on another week, the words failing cord and failing placenta were used and he was certain I had preeclampsia (I did question this due to normal protein levels, and stress induced blood pressure), he advised immediate induction to get baby out safely.

I was an emotional wreck, at this point I had attended the scan at 2pm and it was now 10pm, I was still in my work clothes and I was told I could not leave and also that my partner was not allowed to visit whilst I was trying to process all of this information. How could my active little baby who had been so strong and kicking 20+ times a day (I used kicks count app from 20 weeks) be suffering, and how could my body be failing my baby when I had such a smooth and comfortable pregnancy. This is what I found the hardest through the entire experience, being given such news and processing information to try and make the best decisions alone. I was admitted to the prenatal ward and I agreed to stay on the monitors to keep a close eye on things for 24 hours, and to review the situation the following day. My husband quickly packed me an overnight bag and came to the hospital to meet me in the car park. We both just cried together and I wanted nothing more to go home with him to process everything but we both agreed it was best for our baby to remain in the hospital until we knew exactly the plan of action.

Birth day, 2nd April (36+3)

The following morning after a sleepless night in hospital and more monitoring, I was given another blood pressure tablet by a midwife who asked if I knew what the plan was today, and told me that I had been given an induction slot that morning. This again sent me over the edge, another piece of information that I was not aware of and had not yet agreed to or discussed with my partner. She then arranged a private room for myself and the consultant, and her as well as a student midwife to be present to have a FaceTime with my husband and discuss all scenarios again, using our BRAIN tool and through lots of tears we had agreed to balloon induction that afternoon. At this point I had accepted that our baby needed to be born safely and quickly and I felt all of a sudden more at peace with the plan.

I had many concerns about how little one would cope being born early, I was reassured that 36 weekers are strong and explained the baby would likely suffer with jaundice, and may need extra support to regulate their body temp for the first few days, and that there was a 1 in 4 chance we would need NICU care. I then returned to the monitors and listened again to the induction videos and sprayed my mio room spray trying to feel prepared and calm with the induction planned.

Birth:

This is where things changed, at about 11am on the monitors whilst waiting for induction, the baby’s heart rate started to drop and movements stopped, I remember I said out loud “has the monitor picked up my heart rate instead of baby’s?!” because all of a sudden the strong 150bpm dropped to around 70bpm and did not come back up for about 5 minutes, as soon as it dropped the consultant and a team of midwives rushed in and moved me onto my left side, gave my tummy lots of massages and rubs and managed to get the heart rate to return to normal again. It was at this point a state of alarm appeared on the midwives and consultants face, they explained that baby had started to go into destress, and thanks to the monitor this had been picked up before the induction. The consultant asked to carry out a VE to assess baby’s position and cervix to which I consented, I was told I was already 1-2cm dilated but my cervix was firm, he advised I could still have induction and go straight to breaking the waters without the balloon as he could feel the baby’s head, although he then explained the risks of induction for a preterm baby who was already showing signs of destress, and advised to go straight to cesarean section to get baby out soon and safely. Using my BRAIN and discussing again with my husband we agreed to go straight to C section. I was given an emergency slot and within 2 hours our little one was delivered via c section.

Throughout the lead up to this my husband was not allowed in, but they advised I called him in ASAP whilst they prepped me for surgery. Paul met a midwife in the car park, ran into the hospital and got gowned up and met me in theatre in the nick of time!

The surgery went so perfectly, we had an a amazing team of all female surgeons, nurses, midwives and anaesthetist, although it was classed as urgent and I was given an emergency slot, it all felt calm and in control we were given essential oils, we asked for delayed clamping if possible, skin to skin and given our birthing playlist, little Ellis was born pink and screaming to Coldplay’s ‘always in my head’ at 12.20pm, less than 24 hours after attending my 36 week scan.

As soon as we saw him over the curtain our minds were at peace that he was born exactly how he needed to be, and he was absolutely capable of surviving Earth side. He weighed a diddy 4lb14.

We were given skin to skin, and had amazing support following his birth. I had to stay in with Ellis for four days were he had light treatment for jaundice, and I was given donor breast milk to feed him every three hours whilst I built up my colostrum supply.

My milk came in at day 3 where the midwives gave me the double pump to try and informed me all about expressing and coached his latch. Due to being small and super sleepy his latch isn’t great so we are now using nipple shields, and using a combination of expressed breast milk and feeding from the breast with the shields. The 4 day stay was amazing to have 1-2-1 stay with Ellis and luckily he didn’t need NICU, however my husband was only allowed to visit one hour per day which we all found really tough. We are now home and Ellis is doing well, he has started to gain weight from his discharge weight so we are super proud.

I can honestly say my birth was worlds away from how I imagined, but the course gave me the confidence needed to navigate difficult decisions especially being alone for much of it due to Covid, and be at peace with exactly how Ellis entered the world.