Birth story - Sophie and baby Gia

Potential triggers: Second degree tear, stitches, blood loss

A huge thank you to Siobhan and the PBC, not just for a great birth experience but for the whole education on birth and postpartum, all completely invaluable during this time while classes have been cancelled and contact and support has been minimal I feel the additional support PBC has provided kept me confident and feeling super prepared and that I wasn’t missing out on anything care wise.

My surges started about 2am like a period pain every 5 minutes. I thought I’d be able to do things in between as so many peoples stories tell of them cleaning/cooking etc through them. But I had a bath, took some paracetamol and generally just looked for comfortable places to sit (the toilet lid seemed the only place). I had some breakfast and made sure to stay hydrated. We called the hospital a few times to check in where I was at and each time they didn’t really think I was very far until the last call when they agreed I sounded I was breathing through them a little more and said to come in for 7am. 2am-7am FLEW by.

During the car trip I sat on a wedge cushion I’d had for work which was actually so comfy and I kept an eye mask on and the Freya app on in my headphones and was super relaxed for the journey.

The hospital - At the time all staff are wearing masks, gloves, glasses and plastic aprons. To be honest it’s not strange as they just look like the medical staff you’re used to seeing on TV and everyone was so down to earth about the situation laughing about how the gloves get stuck on and glasses steaming up. My husband was able to wheel me up to the ward where he had to wait outside while they assessed how far I was. I was surprised to be 7cm dilated! As it had flown by and was still super manageable I couldn’t believe it! We were then taken to a birthing room right away with a pool as per my birth plan. The midwife was so supportive and made me aware she had read my plan and told me what she would do regarding monitoring which I’d asked to be minimal where possible but to be free to go ahead and do it without asking my permission each time so I could stay in the zone. By the time the pool was full I was eager to get in and it was a relief.

Labouring - I continued to use the Freya app the entire time and my husband fed me snacks and Lucozade (bottle with a straw is essential). At one point I did have to get out the pool for some more monitoring on babies heart beat on the bed and I really used the breathing here to keep myself relaxed hoping this would transpire to the baby which shortly returned to normal and I was able to get back in the pool. Eventually I felt the need for some gas and air and in the end the mooing, most people describe when pushing and switching to down breathing, was a bit more like yelling but that’s okay too! I have no idea how long the pushing stage was but I know I felt like I was pushing before I probably actively was as I remember the midwife coming back and telling my husband we’d begin pushing in about 40 minutes and thinking I can’t do this for another 40 minutes! So I’m guessing this was transition and my husband kept reminding me I could do anything for 1 minute from the affirmations and this really helped.

Birth - My waters went in the pool which I didn’t feel at all and eventually felt her begin to come down but I wasn’t capable of looking in a mirror as I’d requested on my birth plan as I was concentrating so hard I couldn’t open my eyes! I pushed when the contractions made the feeling possible and the midwife encouraged just holding on for longer which I found quite helpful but didn’t feel too coached. She was born into the water at 14:39 where we were able to sit for a few minutes for delayed cord clamping until the water was indicating blood loss so I was helped out and onto the bed where my placenta dropped out without any feeling at all.

After - I was assessed for tearing and it was determined I had a second degree just off being a third so I was stitched by the midwife there and then whilst holding baby and using gas and air. A lot of people share they don’t even notice this but it’s something I was very nervous of so I continued using the Freya breathing and just felt the injection sting. After, I was quite out of it from the exhaustion/blood loss and despite the current situation no help was refused and I was helped to shower and dress while my husband had time with the baby. I was then wheeled to the ward and baby brought to me where we stayed over night for monitoring on my heart rate and blood sugar levels and on baby girl due to her chunky size! This was just done with a little prick in her heel twice during our stay. Everyone was wonderfully supportive and despite having to be separated from my husband at this point it was definitely worth it to make sure I was fit to leave to avoid have to be admitted later on into general care where I wouldn’t be able to take baby, so I was more than happy to stay in and was looked after so well and if anything was quite a novelty to be somewhere other than my own house after 7 weeks in lockdown.

Hypnobirthing with PBC would be the one thing I would recommend to anyone expecting, i really just cannot thank PBC enough for the education and excitement for labour that I had.