Birth story - Sammy and baby Jacob

I’d like to share my positive birth story which is all down to the techniques learnt from the amazing digital pack, massive thank you to Siobhan for making this so accessible to so many women

Bit of background - this is my second baby, my first son was born via unplanned c-section following numerous interventions and other circumstances out of my control. I defiantly wouldn’t say it was a negative experience in any way but I felt this time I was much more informed and able to make my own decisions that were right for me and my baby. Having the digital pack helped me realise I can make my own choices using my ‘BRAIN’ and not just go with what was suggested. My consultant and midwife were happy for me to try for a VBAC delivery.

After a growth scan at 38 weeks they said baby was apparently measuring big (8lbs 14ozs), I was tested for gestational diabetes but this came back negative.
They suggested for me to be induced at 41 weeks so baby didn’t get any bigger but I decided to decline this (using my BRAIN - no actual clinical reasoning) and wait a few more days to see if baby came by itself as this would give me the best possible chance of a successful VBAC. Unfortunately after 3 unsuccessful sweeps and having a show still nothing happened so accepted induction at 41+3.

The day I was due to go in to be induced the hospital was super busy so I didn’t end up going in until 41+5 (definitely felt ready to have a baby by this point!). After a check they said baby’s head was still high and my cervix very posterior so they put me on the syntocinon drip for an hour to try and bring baby’s head down before breaking my waters. This worked successfully and had my waters broke at 3pm. By 6pm my body hadn’t gone in labour naturally so best way forward was to be put back on the drip at low level to bring on surges. I was a little sad at this point as I knew I wasn’t able to use the pool as I was on the drip but still held onto hope that my body could birth this baby so really didn’t matter at this point.

By 8pm I started to really feel the surges building stronger and I needed to breath through them, up breathing is truly amazing and I got totally in the zone with my husband spraying liquid yoga, lights dimmed and tea lights on. He was also great with back massages and reminding me to relax my shoulders after surges.

My midwife was amazing and read through all my birth preferences and adhered to these as much as possible. They said the room smelt lovely and was such a nice calming environment.

I knew this time I wanted to be in a UFO position, I stood at bottom of bed leaning forward onto it, bounced on my ball and found a gentle sway from side to side really helpful and relaxing through each surge.

11pm and I felt the surges getting a lot stronger and started using a bit of gas and air through them. This is where I had my wobble. I even requested an epidural at this point as I thought I still had hours to go, by the time the anaesthetist was on her way I was making different noises (lots of mooing animal noises) so my midwife decided to check me and found I was actually fully dilated. Little did I know I had gone from 4cm to 10cm within an hour and transitioned hence the wobble. I remember feeling a sense of calm after this and managed to get my breathing back on track. I kept thinking to myself I need to breath oxygen to my baby and stay as calm as possible.

12pm Second stage...I wanted to breath baby down but found I did need to do a few really good pushes to get baby down round the corner, it was then just before crowning that I said I don’t want coached pushing I need to down breath and the midwife was happy for me to do what I felt was right. A few down breaths and body doing all the work baby’s head was out. Next thing I remember hearing was get ready to catch your baby and as his body was being born I reached down and pulled him up onto my chest, literally the most amazing feeling and such a sense of achievement! I truly couldn’t believe I had done it all by myself! We looked and found we had a beautiful baby boy to join our family

We were then left to have the super special golden hour still in the dimly lit room and soaking up our perfect little newborn🏼

I did need a few stitches after, which I used my up breathing again for, but like Siobhan says you really don’t feel or realise any tear is there at the time of giving birth.

Baby Jacob George arrived at 12.55am on 11th June 2018 weighing 9lbs 2.5ozs and his big brother has smothered him in kisses ever since

So even though my labour had to be induced and I wasn’t able to use the pool as I’d really hoped for it was still the most empowering and positive experience and I was so pleased I was able to have him naturally, all down to the power of hypnobirthing.