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06 Oct 2021
Our quick but calm birth at 34+6!
We first came across Anna and her course through a Facebook post regarding a free taster. We had already signed up to NCT, but had heard great things about hypnobirthing and due to my anxieties regarding labour I was keen to have as many resources in my toolbox as possible! If you’d have told me back then that my main take away from our birth was the complete lack of fear, I would definitely not have believed you!
We attended the first in person course Anna did following covid restrictions being lifted. We left the course each week feeling positive, empowered and increasingly confident that we could bring our daughter into the world safely and calmly. Supported by our new evening routine of aromatherapy and listening to a rotation of hypnobirthing MP3’s provided by Anna. Our pregnancy was going smoothly and we planned a wonderful home birth, filled with oxytocin focused activities, hands off care and as little intervention as possible. Thankfully however, hypnobirthing covers all births and is about being informed and empowered whatever your pathway, which was of massive benefit to us as our chosen pathway was not meant to be.
Shortly after the course finished I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I was really knocked back by this diagnosis and shed many tears regarding what this meant for our baby and birth. I quickly fell into the Google and facebook trap, full of misinformation and fear-mongering. I am unsure Anna is aware of the massive role she played at this stage in re-focusing me, signposting me to do my own research and being a listening ear; but without her support I am confident that my mental health would have deteriorated and gestational diabetes wouldn’t have been my biggest concern.
With Anna’s help I became empowered and attended each appointment informed and knowledgeable, able to ask questions and challenge the typical gestational diabetes pathway. My confidence in my body’s ability to birth our baby safely returned, and our dream homebirth plan was reinstated!
But Maddy had different ideas…. At 34 weeks and 6 days my waters broke. I had been having what I thought were Braxton hicks most of the day, but had put it down to having an extra cup of raspberry leaf tea so paid little attention to it. I did however jokingly whatsapp my partner saying I would walk down and meet him after work that evening, as long as I wasn’t in labour by then! Little did I know that my waters would go on that walk and within hours we would be meeting our beautiful baby girl.
The evening Maddy arrived, I had fallen asleep on the sofa and upon waking my bump felt strangely smaller. I had no pains though so thought nothing of it and got myself and our dog ready and set off for our walk. Approximately 30 minutes into the walk, I felt a ‘pop’ and wetness. Up until then I had had no difficulties with my pelvic floor so I initially thought ‘oh well - I did well to get this far!’ and was just thankful it was dark and I was wearing black! Once I got to my partners work and into the car I had a quick google which suggested it was probably my waters so I messaged him saying ‘Can you come out as soon as you can please. Either I’ve wet myself or my waters have gone’.
Once he finished work he drove us home and we talked about what google had said. Typically, premature labour was pretty much the only thing we had not educated ourselves upon but we knew our birth plan and how to adapt it for whatever happened. As I stepped out of the car there was a gush and I was then confident it was in fact my waters, so waddled inside and rang triage. The lady that answered the phone was very friendly and asked me lots of questions. My main memory of the conversation was my reaction when she asked how I was feeling, as I gave it a good amount of thought and responded saying I felt ‘wonderful’, and I really did. She advised that I would most likely be kept in for 24 hours for monitoring and antibiotics if it was my waters, and I was to bring an overnight bag for myself, but not baby. So that is what we did.
We arrived at hospital about 21:20. We were the only people in the waiting room and took the opportunity to take some selfies and bump photos. We were then called through and I was asked to lay on a bed so they could monitor baby’s heart rate. I am unsure how long we were in there but as time progressed I started getting period pains which got increasingly more intense. A Doctor came through and explained the potential routes of care, the most likely one being that I will go to the antenatal ward for 24 hours of monitoring and start antibiotics followed by induction. The other option being that if I went into natural labour I would be going to the delivery suite. This was a lot to take in and my primary focus was whether Chris could stay with me, to which I was told he would have to go home if I was to go to the antenatal ward but he could stay if we went to delivery. We were then left alone for a while and I messaged my employer asking them to sort ongoing issues with maternity pay as likelihood was that I would need it sooner than later..!
I was really struggling to stay on the bed due to discomfort, and every time I got up it interrupted the readings and I was consequently asked to stay on the machine for longer which turned into an unproductive cycle. When the Doctor came back I was in increasingly more discomfort and she explained the need to do an internal examination, which I consented to as I was unsure what I was experiencing. The Doctor and midwife started setting up whilst I was expected to get undressed which I was not comfortable with. We therefore asked for privacy and for them to leave which they obliged to immediately and left the room.
The examination showed that I was 2 cms dilated and we were informed we would be going to the delivery suite! Once again, a moment I would have expected to of been filled with adrenaline and fear, but instead I was just really relieved as it meant Chris could stay with me! We promptly made a list of the hypnobirthing tools we had prepared at home and rang my Mum to go and collect them and deliver them to the hospital. We then discussed our birth plan with the Doctor, explaining that we were planning a home birth in water. The doctor apologised and explained that this would not be possible due to baby being pre term. I was disappointed to not be able to have water, but my gut was that this was not a time to use BRAIN and that I needed to just trust the professionals to get our daughter here safely. The midwife then gave me a steroid injection to help baby’s lungs advising that it would take 4 hours to work and that we needed to get our stuff together to move to delivery.
The midwife went to get me a wheelchair however I was adamant that I did not want one. Something which stuck in my mind from Anna’s course was her saying that the moment you accept the role of a patient you psychologically become one (In relation to wearing a hospital gown), and I was there to have a baby not to be a patient so I would not be accepting the chair. I went into the hallway and waited for my next contraction to pass then walked as fast as I could to the delivery suite and made it there before my next contraction. This room was much more spacious and had windows! We immediately turned the lights off and opened the windows. By now my contractions were really intense and all I felt I could do was pace and say again and again ‘ I don’t know what to do’, yet following my instincts and dropping to the floor with every contraction. I asked the midwife for help and she went to show me the gas and air, but as the hose was limited in length it meant I had to be on the bed, so I refused it and took myself to the ensuite.
I pressed myself up against the cold bath and with each contraction lifted up, dropped and attempted to tear my bags which were in the bath. This definitely wasn’t planned, but it worked and gave me something to focus on rather than the contractions! The midwife kept saying to me that I needed to get on the bed and that the ensuite was too small to have a baby in. I ignored her. Until she got quite firm and told me to stop messing around and that my premature baby would be here very soon. I then obliged and got onto the bed on all fours with my head down, where I was told it would be a matter of minutes until our daughter was here. They (Unsure who – I missed them entering the room!) attempted to put a monitor around my stomach to monitor baby’s heart rate but they were unable to in the position I was in and asked me to turn around as baby was premature it was really important they could monitor their progress. I really did not want to, but I turned around, refusing to put my back on the bed, and within moments our beautiful Daughter was here! I have no memory of pushing and gave birth in a very unorthodox position, but there really was no fear and our daughter flew into a world of love.
The midwife immediately placed our daughter on my chest and it was only then that I realised the amount of people in the room, who quickly dispersed once they knew Maddy was fine. The midwife started preparing to cut the cord and we stopped her and asked for optimal cord clamping and for Chris to be the person to cut the cord. This was facilitated and the cord was cut by Chris a good while after the placenta had been delivered. We opted for a natural placenta delivery and by now I was completely relaxed, cuddling our daughter, and birthed it with my back on the bed in a very casual manner. I then asked to see the placenta and take a picture of it and our midwife talked us through the different parts.
We seemed to have entered some kind of time portal and three hours quickly passed, during which the midwife repaired a tear, we had tea and toast, took many pictures and had lots of cuddles!
Our prepared hypnobirthing tools did not arrive in time, however I believe the consistent use of the hypnobirthing mp3’s and being so calm about our birth definitely helped. Our labour lasted one hour 5 minutes, and no pain relief was used.
Due to Maddy being premature we spent the following 12 days in hospital where Maddy learnt how to feed and since being home she is absolutely thriving! Anna remained a key part of our journey in hospital and at home, offering breast feeding support, guidance and friendship throughout the trials and tribulations of having a new bundle of joy! We are so thankful to have found Anna and her course, not just for the level of empowerment she promotes but for her cheerleading and kindness throughout.
Gillian and Chris - Worcester, Worcestershire