Birth story - Sophie and baby Elsie

We decided to do the Positive Birth Company weekend course at about 30 weeks on the recommendation of a friend. The course was amazing, and made us feel so empowered. My boyfriend loved that it gave him a sense of purpose at the birth, rather than just feeling like a spectator. I was also planning a home birth with the incredible Birmingham Home Birth Team, and the ethos of the course worked so well with that. 

On the Saturday night when I was 40+5 weeks I started to go into early labour. I made sure to get some rest and woke up the next morning to find what I thought was my bloody show but I wasn’t sure. After having to send some slightly graphic photos to my midwife (!) we agreed that’s what it was. My contractions stayed irregular throughout the day and I went for a walk with my boyfriend. 

By Monday evening they were starting to become more regular and a midwife came to check me. I was examined and found to be 2cm dilated. I was so disappointed, because I was exhausted after not sleeping for 36 hours at that point. I put the TENS machine on which helped a little. 

By Tuesday morning I was again sure I was in active labour. The midwife arrived and agreed that it seemed that way and so I got into the pool which felt incredible. Unfortunately after a few hours it seemed that things had slowed down again and I got out of the pool. I was examined and was still only 2-3cm. 

For the next 12 hours I spent the majority of the day pacing the kitchen listening to the Freya app which helped me immensely. It kept me calm and in the zone. The contractions were still every 15 minutes but so intense that I still couldn’t sleep. 

The midwife called and told me to get in the bath to try and relax. It was 100% the best thing I did. I felt myself calm down, my contractions slowed down and I fell asleep. I actually woke up by faceplanting the water!!! I think I was asleep for maybe 20 minutes but it relaxed my body and must have kickstarted something because my contractions starting coming on thick and fast after that. The midwife came to my house and I made her examine me in the bath because I didn’t feel I could get out! I was 6-7cm dilated, and I felt on top of the world!! I almost skipped downstairs to get into the pool while my boyfriend frantically tried to get it to the right temperature. An hour later, the gas and air arrived. There was a lot of moo-ing (!) but I was able to chat to my boyfriend in between contractions. I felt in control and didn’t feel scared once. 

Four hours after the midwife examined me in the bath, my baby girl, Elsie, was born! I felt like a superhero for days. I had such a positive birth that I encourage anyone to do the PBC course! 🙌🏼