Birth story - Victoria and baby Ava

My pregnancy was quite straightforward, a bit of morning sickness at the beginning but on the whole it was a great experience. I knew I wanted to try and have a natural birth but was open to any options that were needed when it came to it. Doing the PBC course really prepared me to know what my options were and what I did and didn’t want.

My waters broke at 11.30am, the day after my due date, while I was at home. We phoned the hospital who advised us to come in for a check. They tested the fluid and it was my waters so they booked me for an induction the next day if things didn’t get moving on their own. I was asked if I wanted an examination and I chose to have one, mostly out of curiosity! I wasn’t dilated at all but didn’t feel disappointed as I knew things had only just begun.

We went home and relaxed that afternoon before I started having contractions at about 6pm. I used the Freya app to time them which was really helpful. I kept going as long as I could with my husband talking me through my breathing.

At around 1am the surges were about every 3 minutes so the hospital told us to come in. I had another examination and I was only 3cm but they decided it would be best for me to stay rather than go home and come back when I was 4 cm.

I had gas and air which took the edge off but I was vomiting while having surges which made breathing difficult so I decided to have pethidine to help. I didn’t like the feeling it gave me, I felt a bit out of it and not fully aware of what was happening around me. I was also in a lot more pain than before and my husband asked if they could check everything was ok.

I had dilated to 8cm in 2 hours and as I was still in a lot of pain I asked for an epidural. I knew it would limit my movement but me being aware of what was happening was more important to me. I felt instant relief and I’m so glad I chose to have it, even though it slowed things down a bit it made me feel much more in control.

My midwife was amazing and helped me to get into more upright positions on the bed as she knew it was what I wanted. I could still feel the contractions so knew when to push, she was moving closer but after 2 hours she still wasn’t here. The consultant was needed for an emergency and as baby was still doing well they let me keep trying. After another hour she still wasn’t here so the consultant came in.

I was told baby was facing sideways and that they couldn’t twist her the right way. I was offered an instrumental delivery and I used my BRAIN and decided that I wanted some help, I had been pushing for 3 hours and was exhausted so I agreed. They tried suction but that didn’t work so the last resort was forceps. 26 hours after my waters broke baby Ava was born weighing 7lbs.

I felt incredible afterwards, even though it wasn’t exactly as planned I felt so empowered knowing that I had been informed enough to make some difficult choices along the way that were different to my original plan. You never know what is going to happen and I honestly think that without your course I would have felt scared and out of control with what was happening.