Birth story - Victoria and baby Teddy

The process of becoming pregnant had been difficult for me. I had surgery for a large borderline ovarian tumour and lost my left tube and ovary in 2017, and then my husband and I were diagnosed with unexplained infertility after trying to conceive for 2 years. It was a very anxious time. However, our first round of IVF was successful in 2019 and my pregnancy has been a dream; I’ve loved every minute of it!

I used the positive birth company digital pack to prepare for labour in the third trimester. The videos were so helpful and informative and allowed me to visualise the way the uterine muscles work in the process of giving birth. The meditation tracks enabled me to relax and sleep well throughout the pregnancy. 

Although I was of course anxious about giving birth during the Covid 19 outbreak, I also felt reassured that St Thomas’ was running its maternity facilities as normal. I gave birth to my son on Easter Sunday with my husband by my side.

The labour itself was so fast. I started my Freya app at 6.30am once the surges became fairly regular, and the app told me I was already in established labour. At 8am I spoke to the midwife at the Home from Home birth centre at St T’s who agreed I could come in to be assessed. I was eager to stay at home as long as possible to avoid being sent back but I need not have worried; by the time I arrived at hospital at 10am I was already 6cm dilated - the nurse said she could see his hair already! I was so shocked that everything was happening so fast and that I was able to cope with the surges using up breathing and a tens machine.

At this point I had a bleed so I was quickly put on the labour ward and my body started pushing almost immediately. I gave birth to 8lbs4oz Teddy at 12 and the whole labour honestly went so quickly - around 4 hours or so. I’m sure the hypnobirthing work I did gave me so many skills to manage the labour and I came away feeling very positive. I was allowed to leave hospital on the same day.

I was so lucky to have such a quick and wonderful birth with my first baby. Thank you to everyone at PBC for the fantastic resources and support.