Birth story - Sarah and baby boy

*Trigger warning* - mentions contractions, epidural, c section, intervention and pain.

Firstly I should point out that I’m an anaesthetic practitioner in theatre. This has hugely affected my decision making in birth, as I’ve worked in obstetrics for 14 years. I assist with epidurals and Caesarean sections regularly and some of the most beautiful deliveries I’ve seen have been c sections.

So, after delivering my first born with zero pain relief and taking 8 years to get over it (emotionally!) I was set on an elective section. I wanted all the drugs, thank you very much. I discussed what would happen with my very intelligent daughter, who was disappointed I’d be in hospital so long. Because of covid rules she wouldn’t be able to visit, and she was going to be the one to tell our friends and family baby’s gender and name. So, I was convinced by her to try for a vaginal delivery with an early epidural. If I’d had my way, the epidural would have gone in there and then! The anxiety I now felt, not knowing when baby would come made me attempt hypnobirthing.

Day of delivery:

Midnight I started to feel contractions. Not strong, and no bloody show or mucus plug, so I bounced on a ball all night, using up breathing. In the morning my husband woke up and I told him I thought I was in labour so he went back to sleep to “conserve energy”

By 2 pm I was keen to get to the hospital and get my early epidural already. Contractions were ok, but I wanted to be sure I got there before it was too late. We rang our childcare for my daughter and got to hospital. Once there I was examined. Baby was too high. I was in early labour, so when I had a contraction, baby was pushed down and I was 4 cm. Then, the contraction ended and baby shot back up again, therefore not technically in labour. No epidural, just a sweep and 2 hours of walking around the hospital (that I worked in by the way!) to get things going.

At 6pm I returned from my walk to find nothing had changed. However the midwife’s were confident that once baby dropped there’d be no stopping us, so found me a room. I was offered oral morphine and a pool, and surprisingly said yes to both. I hadn’t planned any form of water! It instantly helped with the discomfort of the contractions, but this is where the whole experience changes. I expressed my concern to the midwife’s that although the pool was lovely for pain relief, it wasn’t going to get baby down. They said to chill, let the oxytocin do it’s thing. I was to be re-examined at 11pm. So, for two hours (between 7pm and 9pm) I listened to music, thought of what an excellent big sister my daughter would be, looked at twinkly lights and upbreathed every contraction.

Unfortunately by around 9pm I hit a wall and begged to be examined again so I could get the epidural already! The contractions were rolling into each other, and I can actually remember the moment baby dropped, I felt it! I got out the water. There were 3 steps to get back to the floor, step 3, my waters broke, step 2 the pressure to push, step 1 my midwife and husband slid me (soaking wet remember ) to a bed where the found I was fully dilated and baby’s head was there! No blinking epidural then!

My son was born 7 minutes after I got out the water. I used gas and air for pain relief. I had no tears, just grazes and am certain this is a result of excellent midwife’s and my doing exactly as told (when to pant, when to push). He went straight on my chest and we were bundled in warm towels and blankets!

It took a few days to come to terms with how different the birth was to the plan, but honestly, those two hours in the pool were bliss. It hurt, but sitting there, forcing my head into lovely thoughts, ignoring negativity and trusting my body to do its thing was incredible. I trusted my midwifes (helps that I work with them!) and my husband was an incredible birth partner so on the whole, the experience was wonderful. I got home the next day and had to remind myself in the days to follow that i should probably rest, because I felt so normal it was easy to forget my body had just run a marathon!

Oh, and my daughter did come to the hospital in the end. They changed the rules just in time. She’s besotted!

I guess I particularly wanted to share my story because of how different it was to my plan, and how amazing it was too. If you’d asked me during pregnancy if I’d be using a pool it would have been a hard no. I’ve seen the effect of birth plans not being followed, and that’s why I think hypnobirthing is so brilliant. Instead of giving you a false sense of autonomy over a process you have no control over, it empowers you to trust in your innate ability to cope, whatever the circumstances. You can tell even in emergency sections at 3am if a woman has practiced hypnobirthing. There’s a stillness to them where you can see she knows she can do this.

So, that’s us. Totally different to the plan, but trusting those around me and my own body, was truly a magical experience. I’m still not doing it again though.