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Positive Birth Stories #2 Another early yet positive delivery for Emma

As promised I am going to be sharing a few birth stories over the next few weeks, remaining positive in time for our impending arrival of our baby boy, here goes number 2! 

If you read this regularly then you will have seen the post earlier in the week from Emma who has just started her very own blog, click the link HERE to go find it :) 

This is her second instalment with birth #2! 




Fast forward 2 and a half years and here I am pregnant again, sat in the midwifes office answering the question what's your birth plan? This is my opportunity to do it the way I want to this time. A home birth, my family around me, all my home comforts, no weeks stay in hospital for me this time. And what happened? My waters broke at 35 weeks and a day! You couldn't make it up.

After 48 hours on the maternity ward and here we go again, induction. It was very odd actually being back without sounding strange I felt quite at home. My friends would probably say that was due to the private rooms I seem to get allocated! They obviously know I'm a VIP! This time because I was on my second preterm baby I was induced on the labour ward. Off I went after nearly a day of waiting for the call at 4pm.



So pessary number one and off we go, as with last time nothing was happening so we just had to sit it out. After the obligatory 6 hours I was checked and nothing. Pessary number 2, up to now Gary and I had been our usual selves being silly, giggling, singing, going for walks when I wasn't hooked up to assess the baby's movement but by midnight I thought I should try and get some rest. So we shut off all the lights and had a bit of a sleep. At around 4am I started to feel some twinges which I couldn't really sleep through. So I got up and did some rotations of my hips, again my Hypnobirthing classes 'rotate to dilate' were paying off even if I didn't even manage to finish one full term this time!

I was due to be examined at 6am so continued to walk about, eat and drink oh and wee which was very liberating after last time. At 6am I was examined and it seemed like things were moving only slightly but I was now 2-3cm dilated. The midwife spoke to the Dr and he said I could try and continue on a little longer but if nothing happened after an hour I would go on the drip. It was getting to that point in the morning when the staff start to do their handover and I could feel myself getting fed up, I also started to feel quite shivery I couldn't stop it I was like shaking inside. So I sat myself on the bed which had now been transformed into some mad throne looking chair and calmed my self down with some breathing. At 7am I was examined as agreed and there was no change so it was now time for the drip.



7.40am and I am hooked up to Syntocin, you can feel the effects more or less instantly the contractions start. Now the question I had asked pregnant, "How will I know if I am having a contraction?" felt like a real silly one! I knew. I had to go right to my escalator breath almost straight away. Now hit 8am and we have a new midwife and whole team of consultants including what looked like a school of students with him coming in to introduce themselves and whisper about me over my notes.

One consultant referred to my preterm babies as being my doing as I had 'form' normally I would have laughed but I really was not in the mood. As the contractions got stronger I could feel myself disappearing into my zone more and more. I wasn't able to answer the midwife when she spoke and I felt like I really wanted to be on my side. My breathing got heavier to the point I felt like I was grunting and all I could imagine was a cow giving birth and grunting!

Now it was time to push and in flew every Dr and midwife, I was warned they would all be there for my big moment! This time I felt like the midwife was really guiding me with my breathing at this point unlike the first time and being on my side was fantastic! I am not sure who's uniform I grabbed but I was firmly holding onto somebody. Three big pushes and my baby boy arrived. All 5lb 6oz of him at 10.41am. When the senior midwife came to assist with delivering the placenta she asked the midwife why I'd not been offered any gas and air to which my husband answered she wouldn't take it.



Again it wasn't what I had planned but these things never are, my babies are both here safe and sound and I got my drug free labours thanks to Hypnobirthing, strong will and a supportive husband! I won't ever feel the sensation of spontaneously going into labour, I won't ever feel what it's like to keep your babies with you after giving birth and them not being taken away. But I'm happy to keep it that way! 

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