Birth story - Sophie and baby girl

*Trigger Warning* - Use of the word contractions, meconium in the waters, 2nd degree tear, unintentional unassisted birth

After my first daughter was born in the hospital in 2019, using hypnobirthing for pain relief and with no complications, I wanted to have my second daughter at home. For background, I live in Portugal which does not provide for home births on the national health service, so I decided to employ an independent midwife.

A bit about being diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD) in pregnancy (for others grappling with this diagnosis)

My prenatal care (through national health service) was straightforward except that, during my first round of blood test in the first trimester, my fasting blood sugar levels were slightly above the cut off point. I was diagnosed with GD based solely on this and asked to monitor my blood sugar levels 4 times a day, for the duration of my pregnancy. I did this for 2 months, but because the results I got were consistently below the required threshold and I believed I had been misdiagnosed, I went against doctor’s advice and stopped testing. While my midwife fully supported me in this decision, unfortunately, I was never able to convince my other health care providers that I had been misdiagnosed. My decision caused friction between myself and my doctor, but it was the right choice for me, and I went on to have an uncomplicated pregnancy, straightforward birth and normal sized, healthy baby.

The birth

About 2 weeks before I gave birth, I had something that looked like a bloody show and in the days leading up to birth I experienced on/off contractions that would sometimes last a few hours at a time and be pretty regular, but always fizzle out. I figured that I was experiencing a long latent labour.

The day I reached 40+6 weeks, things started off uneventfully, but by 3pm I had started having consistent contractions again. I didn’t pay them much attention, having had so much stopping and starting by this point. However, by about 6pm that evening, while having dinner with my family, my mother (who was staying with us), pointed out that I was getting up from the table and moving around every time a contraction came. I still didn’t think much of this though and it was only when I was putting my daughter to bed at 8pm and lying next to her in the dark, that I realised I was having to breathe through the contractions to cope and that I had had several in a short space of time. I timed them and they seemed to last about 40 seconds and be coming anywhere between 4 - 7 minutes.

I texted my midwife to let her know something was happening. She asked if the contractions felt “light” and I said yes, since I could do things like talk while they were happening. In hindsight, they were probably more intense than I gave them credit for, and I put this down to hypnobirthing as, right up until transition, I experienced the contractions as completely manageable. The midwife suggested that I have a warm bath and then try to lie down and rest. If I couldn’t lie down through the contractions, then I was probably transitioning into active labour and should call her. (I actually already was in active labour at this point, but didn’t realise!)

I continued to have contractions in the bath and around 9.30pm I felt the need to get out. I then spent half an hour trying to get comfortable on anything - the bed, the sofa, sitting on the yoga mat, but nothing worked. So I asked my partner to dim the lights, put on my favourite playlist, and burn some aromatherapy oils.

The next thing I knew I felt an overwhelming need to use the toilet and throw up at the same time. After doing this I realised that I was definitely now in established labour (in hindsight this was actually transition!) and told my partner to call the midwife to come. It was 10.20pm and the contractions suddenly ramped up and were very close together. I hung onto my partner's neck and focused on my breathing. I remember complaining “This isn’t fair, they are supposed to be 5 minutes apart and I’m supposed to get a break!” For the first time, I doubted my ability to cope, mainly because I assumed that these intense contractions were going to go on for hours. Little did I know that my daughter was going to be born within the next half an hour!

Then I felt a contraction so intense that I let out a guttural cry, which woke our daughter up. My partner quickly took her to my parents who were staying in the guest annex next door. As soon as he came back, I had another contraction and my waters burst all over the mat where the birth pool was supposed to be going! I looked down and they were green, with meconium in them - like pea soup. I felt anxious and told my partner to take a picture, send it to the midwife and then call her to ask what to do next. But while he was on the phone, I had another contraction and felt my baby crowning. I remember trying to slow things down and felt the baby retract a little inside me. But there was not much I could do - my body had taken over and I was experiencing the “fetal ejection reflex”.

There was no time to feel anxious as, with the next contraction, the baby’s head emerged. Still on the phone at this point, the midwife told my partner that with the next contraction our baby would be born. He held his hand out to help me catch her, but I pushed it away, feeling that I needed to do it myself. As my body pushed my baby out, instinct took over and I lifted her up and quickly unwrapped the umbilical cord which was around her neck. She immediately started crying powerfully - a wonderful relief! It was 23.11pm - only 3 hours since I’d put my daughter to bed, not realising I was in labour!

My partner and I had a beautiful 45 minutes alone together with our daughter on my chest until the midwife arrived. She then asked me to squat over a bowl and the placenta plopped out into it, with no effort on my part. I had torn (in the same place as I had with my first birth) and needed a few stitches, which the midwife quickly did. Apart from that, both myself and the baby were absolutely fine. We brought our 4 year old daughter back to cut the umbilical cord, which was a special moment.

I still can’t believe how quickly everything happened and, while it wasn’t quite the leisurely water birth surrounded by tea lights that I had planned, it was an incredible experience. The midwife commented that both the speed and ease of my birth was a testament to the effectiveness of hypnobirthing!