Birth story - Ruby and baby Edwin

I was unsure about writing my birth story initially as it wasn't how I expected it to be at all. However reading these stories up to and during my labour really helped me to process what could happen during labour and looking back on my birth, the breathing and relaxation techniques I learned helped me stay calm and in control.

I woke up last Friday feeling completely out of sorts. Vomiting,feeling shivery and like I was coming down with something. I called my mum over to help me out with jobs around the house for the day as my partner works away. I started to lose my mucus plug at around 6pm that evening and rang triage as I was unsure if this was an impending sign and wanted my partner to be there for the birth as he was three hours away. The midwife told me it sounded like I was coming down with an illness but I kept a careful eye as I knew something was happening.

The following day I felt much better and continued to lose my plug. That evening I started to have mild cramping similar to period cramps. I called my partner home from work and did some baking. I continued to have regular cramping throughout the night and for the next 26 hours. They started to get more intense during the night and I used up breathing to help me manage them.

The next day I carried on with life as normal believing I was in the latent phase and this would last for some time. I then began vomiting and couldn't keep anything down. I was also unable to rest as I needed to use my up breathing at this point. I phoned triage again as I was beginning to get really uncomfortable and wasn't sure what was happening. I was advised that if it got worse I could go in for some oramorph and anti sickness medication. I tried bouncing on my ball and using my TENS machine to get in the zone. It must have worked better than I thought because by 7pm while my partner was eating dinner my surges were much more intense. I kept in mind that my midwife has said 'you won't be able to talk through the contractions'. Looking back I think I was so in the zone that I just managed them well!

I told my partner that I wanted to go to the hospital at around 7:30pm, he finished his dinner and we left. In the car my surges became more intense and I continued to use up breathing. When we arrived at Triage there was a wait and I was third in the queue. I bounced on a ball while waiting and vomited again. After waiting for half an hour I went to find a midwife to tell them that things were getting more intense. I agreed to have student midwives look after me and a student midwife led me to a delivery room to listen in to mine and baby's heartbeat.

At this point it would have been easy to feel very out of control but I kept thinking that my body knows what it is doing. Baby was becoming distressed with each contraction and the room very quickly filled with medical staff. I was already 7cm dilated, my waters were broken and very quickly I had the urge to push and I started to moo (I was sure that I wouldn't do this as I usually deal with discomfort very quietly). I pushed for about 20 minutes and after an episiotomy baby was born in one push!

Although my birth story ended up with much more intervention than planned, I feel that without the positivity I have gained from using the digital pack I would have ended up feeling very out of control and vulnerable.

We stayed in hospital for two days as Eddy was 10g under the weight he needed to be to be discharged. I was asked by a medical consultant why he was small and replied that I had grown the perfect sized baby for my body!

Thank you to Sibohan and the digital pack as I strongly believe without my knowledge I wouldn't be looking back on my birth story with positivity.