Birth story - Sarah and baby Rafe

*Trigger warning* - Contractions, stitches, low Papp-A

I was lucky to have a pretty straight forward pregnancy other than my 12 week scan results showing low Papp-A levels indicating there could be an issue with the placenta and resulting in regular growth scans throughout - luckily baby plotted fine at all the growth scans and the blood flow to the placenta looked good so after my final scan on my due date I was discharged and left to go in to labour naturally.

Little did I know a few hours later we would be back at the hospital! I had been having period like cramps on and off for a couple of weeks but they never amounted to anything so when I started with them again that afternoon I thought nothing of it. By 6pm on my due date I was starting with regular contractions which quickly progressed to every 2-3 minutes. I managed at home with up breathing for 3 hours until 9pm when they were becoming quite intense and we decided to make our way to hospital.

I asked on the phone if they had a pool available and was really disappointed when they said the birth centre was closed due to a shortage of midwives, after a long and stressful labour with my daughter on the labour ward with an epidural which ended up in theatre with a forceps delivery I was hopeful to try a water birth this time.

When we arrived at the hospital my contractions were ramping up and I had to have several stops on the route from the car park 😬 We arrived at the labour ward to be told we needed to go round to the birth centre - we were confused as we’d been told it was closed.

I stupidly turned down the offer of a wheelchair to go to the birth centre in and slowly and painfully waddled round, we somehow got lost on the way and kept having to back track, I wasn’t swearing at all at this point 👀

We finally arrived to find one of the lovely midwives had rushed over to set up a room with a pool for me!

I was made up as the room was so lovely and relaxing with dimmed lighting, balls to bounce on and my dream of a water birth came back to life.

Upon examination I was disappointed to find I was only 2-3cm dilated (the contractions were much more intense than my previous labour with my daughter and I was further progressed with her on my first check. The midwife said she would leave me to it for a while but maybe not to get in the pool yet as it may be some time.

My contractions become more painful and I couldn’t find any way to get comfortable so after huffing and puffing around the room and my partner fumbling to get the tens machine on my back I gave in and got in the pool around 10pm which was a relief initially and my partner put on some music. Again I couldn’t get comfortable and soon complained the water was making me too hot, the contractions were becoming almost too much to bear and I began to think I wasn’t going to be able to do it without pain relief. The midwife came back and helped tie my hair up, got me a pillow to kneel on and told me to lean over the side of the pool and sway my hips which really helped, she told me it was too early for gas and air which was disappointing and left me to it again, I kept on with the up breathing and managed my way through until she came back a short time later after hearing how regular my contractions were coming, she gave me gas and air which took the edge off the contractions and I really managed to get in the zone then.

I continued like that for a while - a bit oblivious to my surroundings and the time but I think it was another half an hour or so, I vaguely remember asking if I could have an epidural which must have been the transition phase and the midwife said “nope - you’re going to have your baby in a few minutes!” I then suddenly had the urge to push, having not experienced this with my last birth it was nice to feel my body working the way it is supposed to and I could feel baby moving down. The pushing felt like a relief, I felt burning and pressure and then babies head was out, another couple of contractions later, a few more pushes and our son was born at 12:24am. There were two midwives at this point who were so lovely and encouraging and said they couldn’t believe how little fuss I had made, I really just focused on my breathing and gas and air.

They told me to turn round and bring the baby up and we had a few minutes in disbelief with how quickly it had happened compared with the 18 hour labour with our daughter. I felt so grateful I was able to have the birth I had wanted.

I had the injection for the placenta and the midwives helped me out of the pool on to the bed. We had what seemed like quite a long time to ourselves with baby until they eventually wheeled me round to the ward to have my stitches as I had a 2nd degree tear inside. This actually hurt more than I thought it would (I had so much pain relief with my daughter I didn’t even know they were stitching me up) they had forgotten to give me the painkillers promised for it so I managed with gas and air and was thankful when it was over!

We were then left to it to try and get some sleep (does anyone actually sleep??) after a few checks and tests we were allowed home the next morning to introduce baby boy to his big sister and fur siblings.

The PBC went out of the window a little bit with my first birth and I didn’t feel In control but I was more determined this time and always had it at the forefront of my mind. It really helped, mainly with the breathing and my mindset throughout, so thank you!

Chunky boy is now almost six months old and in 9-12 month clothes already!