Birth story - Sophie and baby Ozzy

*Trigger warning* - Description of baby born with Gastroschisis

When I found out that I was pregnant just before the first lockdown last year, I knew that I wanted to give birth at home. My previous birth experience with my daughter had ended in an epidural that was much against my birth plan. I downloaded the hypnobirthing pack during my first trimester and started watching the videos and doing the mindfulness every night before bed.

However, at my twelve week scan we were told that our baby had Gastroschisis, a condition in which the baby’s bowels develop outside of their body. Due to the coronavirus restrictions I was alone for my scan, my wonderful fiancé was waiting patiently outside in the car for us. A day later I met with a consultant who confirmed the diagnosis and explained to me that I would have to be induced before going full term and that the baby would be taken straight away to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for surgery.

At first I struggled to come to terms with losing my home birth experience. I was frightened of being induced and the chances of that leading to intervention, that I really didn’t want. I didn’t want to be in a bright room full of doctors when our baby was born. I grieved for the birth I had been wishing for.

Watching the videos was unbelievably helpful and reassuring, in what was a sad and worrying time. I learned through them that even induced hospital births can be beautiful and relaxing and within my control. My fiancé and I practised the breathing techniques every day and I carried on with the mindfulness every evening. The baby was monitored carefully throughout my pregnancy and at 32 weeks we met with the consultants who would be involved in the birth. I handed over my birthing plan that I had written with the help of the template and all the suggestions from the videos. I wanted as little intervention as possible. My wishes were to be in a private room with the lights dimmed until they needed to be turned up with only fairy lights and battery powered tea lights. I wanted to be able to move around if I wanted to and to be left in the room with my fiancé and monitored on the screens outside.

I was given an induction date for 38 weeks and so in the weeks leading up to then, we packed my hospital bag with our lights, a massage oil that I made from my favourite essential oils along with a room spray, A bag of yummy treats to eat and a big cosy T-shirt.

We were shielding at home in the two weeks before my induction and at 36+3 I started to get mild surges. They came every 10 minutes but then they stopped. I had this intermittently for 3 days, gradually getting stronger and staying longer with breaks in between. I woke up on the Monday morning at 36+6 after a restless night full of surges and realised that they weren’t stopping this time.

I spent the day with my daughter watching Christmas films, it was bittersweet knowing that the baby was coming but that I’d have to say goodbye to my daughter and move to Alder Hey until the baby was well enough to come home. That afternoon I managed a nap on the sofa and when I woke up she had covered me with a blanket and lay beside me. With my surges getting stronger I went upstairs and lay in a nice warm bath and listened to the mindfulness mp3. I practised my up breathing all day. We were advised to go to the hospital when my surges were five minutes apart. My Dad came and collected my daughter and we went to meet our baby.

The maternity staff were wonderful and really listened to my wishes in my birth plan. We set the room with my lights and once I was hooked to the monitor they left us alone. I was able to stand next to the bed and move around slightly. I was only 3cm dilated when we arrived at midnight. At 2am I felt some liquid gush out of me and assumed my waters had broken. The midwife came in to examine me and saw that I had actually bled quite a bit. She sent for the consultant who said everything looked fine but that she wanted to break my waters as they were right over my cervix and blocking the baby. I agreed even though I knew it could speed up the surges. My waters were broken at 2:56am. I was 4cm dilated. I thought that I would have a couple of hours from this point so I settled back with my fiancé and carried on with my up breathing.

Suddenly it wasn’t working anymore though and I could feel pain rising up my back. I felt like something was wrong and I gripped my fiancé’s hand and begged him to help me. He stayed so calm and reminded me to keep breathing. I remember looking at him just as I felt a need to push and him hitting the emergency button. A midwife came walking in as our baby’s head came out. He screamed at her that the baby had Gastroschisis and suddenly a team of people ran into the room yelling at me to hold the baby in until they could get the film ready to wrap their tummy. Our surprise baby boy Ozzy James was born at 3:17am, 21 minutes after my waters were broken and with only 2 paracetamol all day.

He was taken for his tummy to be wrapped, he had his small and large intestine, bladder and stomach outside his body. They wrapped him in a towel and I was able to hold him for a minute before he was taken to neonatal. Ozzy went by ambulance to Alder Hey and was in surgery before I had been discharged. He had full closure on the day he was born which was unbelievable and we were so grateful for the surgeons who saved his life. We spent three weeks in the hospital with him and every day I would still do my mindfulness which really helped me to get through the sad times.

Ozzy is now 6 months old and thriving. We have even managed to maintain breastfeeding despite him being nil by mouth for ten days from birth, and then again at 8 weeks due to a bowel obstruction. We’ve had stressful times and yet we’ve managed brilliantly and I really believe that this is because of everything we learned in our hypnobirthing. I am so grateful to Siobhan for making my pregnancy and birth such a beautiful experience. We are thinking we might give Ozzy a baby sibling in a few years time and I will definitely be doing the hypnobirthing again and hoping for my home birth this time. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.