Birth story - Stephanie and baby boy

I found out I was pregnant with my first baby during the first few weeks of lockdown back in May 2020. Excited but nervous about the year ahead my husband and I went about telling our families of our news in the most unnatural way - via FaceTime.

We stayed positive, booked private’s scans to allow my husband to attend as the NHS weren’t allowing partners at this time and continued on our journey, finding out at week 16 we were having a little boy!

At week 20 I invested in hypnobirthing and started to get more excited about meeting our son. However at week 28 we found out our little boy was extended breech and set about reading up on c-sections, as that seemed to be the only way we would meet him.

It was at 30 weeks we then found out I had gestational diabetes and baby boy was measuring a little big, so hypnobirthing and the idea of remaining calm and listening to my body became even more important.

We had a number of growth scans which then led us to have a meeting with our consultant to have an ECV (manually turn the baby from outside the body) which we did in hopes this would be successful and allow us to consider a natural birth with hypnobirthing once more.

The ECV was successful and we were full steam ahead counting down to out due date and the new excitement of my waters breaking and birthing naturally.

On Christmas Day 2020 at 9:45am my waters broke and we used the Freya app to track any contractions. To our surprise these came thick and fast and I was in established labour in 45 minutes. We quickly got in the car and made our way to the hospital, 15 minutes away. On arrival my contractions were every 3 minutes and growing in intensity.

Once we reached the labour ward at 10:30am we were greeted by an amazing team of midwives and shown to our delivery suite. After being examined I was 5cm’s, meaning hubby could stay inline with COVID restriction and we were in the throws of labour. After 1 hour I was examined again to be told I was 7cm’s we were going to meet our son sooner than we thought but the contractions were incredibly intense due to the speed in which my body was contracting. It was at this point I asked for more pain relief in the form of an epidural.

Another hour passed and I was examined again, at this stage I had made it to 9cm’s and was getting ready to push - I was told I wouldn’t have time for the epidural as my body was labouring too quickly.

I was shocked as I hadn’t expected it to happen quite so quickly as it was.

Unfortunately by 1:00pm my body had decided it didn’t want to budge and at this point I was at 9cm’s but my labour had stalled. After sitting at 9cm’s for another hour the epidural was administered and we were told baby might need some help. The midwives were amazing. Along with breathing techniques I stayed calm and knew I was in the best possible hands.

After an epidural, gas and air, diamorphine and clips placed on babies head for continuous heart monitoring at 7pm it was decided that a c-section was the best option for me and our baby boy.

We were completely calm at this stage, the consultant and midwife team were amazing and prepared us to meet our son.

After mentally preparing for a section for most of our pregnancy we felt ready and were taken to theatre.

Within 10 minutes I was prepped and by 7:30pm we had our healthy 7lb 10oz son staring at us over the blue sheet.

As a first time mum I had no idea what to expect from labour and birth and I feel I was so lucky to experience everything in the way I did. I got to go into labour naturally, experience contractions, and even though we ended up with a section the care we received was above and beyond! Even during a global pandemic.

After 2 nights in hospital we were allowed home as a family of 3 ready for our next adventure!