Birth story - Sophie and baby Astrid

I was keen on hypnobirthing and a water birth from before I was pregnant and a friend recommended the positive birth company digital pack, given Covid 19 meant joining a face to face group wasn’t possible. My partner and I both really enjoyed the logic and science behind hypnobirthing and were both soon practicing up and down breathing on a regular basis. When we were told that our baby was head down and engaged at 32 weeks we were convinced all was in place for an on time delivery.

My due date however came and went with no signs that baby was on the way (due to Covid restrictions my partner didn’t attend any scans so we did not know the sex of our baby). At my 40 week community midwife appointment induction started to be mentioned which was something I wasn’t keen on discussing until absolutely necessary so we agreed to hold off discussing again until I was 41+1, I did however take the offer of a sweep, (something I was initially against) just to see if anything was happening. I had a second sweep at my 41+1 appointment and was told that there didn’t seem to be much progress from my previous sweep 4 days prior (although the midwife couldn’t be sure since she hadn’t performed the previous examination). At this appointment I was told about the risks of delivering after 42 weeks and advised to book an induction. I agreed, however there were no appointments available and so I was advised an appointment would need to be specially requested for me and was likely to be on Friday evening (6th November).

I was really against induction as I didn’t want to be alone during the first phase of labour (which would be necessary due to Covid) and was very keen on labouring in water in the birth centre of our chosen hospital. I requested a third sweep which was booked for 41 + 3. At this appointment I was advised I was 1cm dilated but still only at a Bishops Score of 4. An induction appointment still hadn’t been confirmed which I was quietly pleased about. We got home that evening and I advised my partner to go to bed at 6pm since he had stayed awake the night previously to watch the US election results come in and I felt like it would be typical to go into labour that night! I went to bed at 10.30pm feeling nothing but hopeful that the third sweep may have got things going!

I woke up at 4.30am on Thursday 5th November needing a wee and thought I could feel some mild period like aches. I decided to get up and bounce on the ball to try and encourage whatever was happening and started watching the US election which was still ongoing! At 5am I went to the loo again and had some very light spotting, I decided to wake my partner up and ask him to sit with me as I felt I couldn’t really concentrate on what was happening. He had some breakfast and a coffee and started timing my tightenings using the Freya app, which were coming every 3-5 minutes. I went to the loo again at 5.30am and noticed that the mucas plug had come away followed by some bleeding. We called the birth centre at about 6am who advised us to go to the labour ward to be checked that the bleeding was in fact a bloody show and not fresh bleeding. I got in the shower and told my partner I thought it definitely was the bloody show and that we should call the birth centre back and not go to the hospital until I was more certain I was in labour. The Freya app was advising me that I was in labour and my partner was keen to go to the hospital as my tightenings had been every 3-5 minutes for almost an hour. Luckily the birth centre didn’t answer the phone and we decided to go to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 7am by which time I was having to stop in the corridor to breathe through the surges but in between I felt fine and able to hold a conversation. For this reason I was sure we would be sent home! We had stopped using Freya by this point as we were concentrating on what the midwives were asking us.

The labour ward confirmed that the bleeding was in fact the bloody show but asked us to go straight to the birth centre, I heard the midwife call down and tell them there was a women ‘fully labouring’ due to arrive and was convinced they were talking about someone else. We were escorted to the birth centre by a student nurse and on our arrival the midwife seemed surprised and asked my partner how long I had been experiencing the intense surges for as I sounded very different from an hour previously on the phone. He explained that my mum and two sisters had quick labours and he thought I was progressing quickly like them. I consented to an examination in between surges where the midwife confirmed my waters were bulging and that I was around 9cm dilated and that she would start filling the pool up (having read my birth preferences).

I got in the pool and my partner put our playlist on (an album from the 80s of female singers called ‘girls on guitar’) and I started using the gas and air whilst the midwife took my blood pressure, blood and performed a Covid test, all things that are usually done before labour had progressed as much as I had. Our midwife explained her shift finished at 8am and a new midwife would be coming to look after us but she would pop back as she was convinced baby would be here shortly after that. Whilst both midwives were performing their shift handover my waters broke at 8.18am, they confirmed that they could see meconium, not unexpected given how overdue I was.

Unfortunately this meant that I had to get out of the pool and be transferred back to the main labour ward upstairs. Both midwives did a great job of putting me in a gown and ensuring there was a room upstairs for me ready, the lift had been called etc so that I was on a bed and dressed for as little time as possible. As I arrived upstairs and got onto the labour bed, I kneeled over the headboard as a foetal heart monitor was strapped to my belly.

After about 10 minutes my body started naturally bearing down but our midwife informed us that she was loosing the baby’s heartbeat every time I had a surge. We consented to having a heart monitor attached to the baby’s head since I did not want to labour on my back or side and both positions had felt uncomfortable when trying these. Our midwife then informed me that soon I would need to start actively pushing and that I needed to listen very carefully to her if she told me to stop at any point in order to allow everything to stretch as it should. After a couple of active pushes our midwife told me to stop and take short sharp breaths to allow the head to be breathed out. She then told me to take my time and wait for the next surge to push again. I did just that and at 10.43am our beautiful daughter was born weighing in at 8lbs 14oz with no tearing for me.

My active labour was recorded as 205 minutes (would have no doubt been quicker had there not been meconium and a need to transfer) and I can genuinely confirm I didn’t feel pain at any point (pressure sure but pain no!) I absolutely loved my labour despite not spending the entirety in the pool and can not thank the positive birth company enough for all of their resources! I will be recommending the digital pack to anyone I can!