This week’s birth story comes from a lovely couple Vicky and Sam who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Sabrina Taylor of Taylormade Birth covering the Nottingham area.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story with is!
My positive “home birth” birth story….
So, I finally gave in to a sweep on Tuesday 24th November as I was 10 days over and feeling uncomfortable and a bit stressed out (probably a bit impatient too if I’m being honest!). However, as it turned out my cervix was closed! Soft. But closed! the following day I decided to walk to Croydon and ended up walking for about 5 miles with my mum. Then, all of a sudden, just before I got the tram home, my waters broke! I had to google what it felt like as I wasn’t sure. The waters were coming intermittently all the way home and I started to get surges which felt just like I was on my period! I thought “hooray! It’s begun! I’m going to meet my baby soon!”.
I got home and called Sam (my partner) who rushed home from work. By this point it was around 3pm. I called the midwives and let them know – they told me to keep them posted on what was going on etc.
Whilst I waited for Sam to arrive home, I sat on my ball for a while and my mum gave me a massage.
Sam was so excited when he got home but he managed to focus and started putting in to practice what he had learnt from the calm birth school.
By 1am Ronnie’s movements had dropped dramatically and after talking to the midwife, I went to the hospital to get Ronnie monitored. Unfortunately, Sam wasn’t allowed into the hospital due to COVID restrictions which I found quite upsetting. I was monitored for a while and used my breathing techniques to focus on what I was doing. I was examined and told I was only 1cm and needed to go to the ward to continue to get monitored. I went to see Sam and called our midwife when we were together to discuss the best options. I decided for the safety of Ronnie that I would stay at the hospital.
The time I spent on the ward was a challenge as I was on my own and I didn’t have my home birth/hospital bag with me. It was also quite difficult to hear other women on their birth journey without their birth partners. During this time, I continued contact with Sam over the phone, I listened to my MP3s and spoke to a close friend who was able to give me advice and support when I was feeling low. This gave me the strength to use my BRAINS and find out more information about my situation.
As it turned out, because of the reduced movements and the fact Ronnie’s heart rate kept dropping, I needed to stay at the hospital. Sam was on his way to the hospital with my bag (which had everything bar the kitchen sink in it!) when they examined me again and I was 4cm. I was told that I could now go to the labour ward.
The midwives came to meet me and we all, including Sam, made our way to the room that I’d be using. I was so happy to see Sam. He made me feel calm and at ease. The midwives honoured my birth plan and allowed Sam to put up the fairy lights, my affirmations, light the electric candles and put the diffuser on. The midwives were phenomenal throughout my experience – helped me with my breathing, gave me a foot massage, let me have a hot shower and were reassuring all the way! There was a lot of support there from them all which I will never forget! No matter how high I was on gas and air!!
Sam was next level supportive! He used all the calm birth school techniques, he was attentive to the point of making sure I had lip balm on and feeding me Lucozade, rubbing my back, playing my favourite music, making sure the tens machine was on and reassuring me!
As it turned out, I ended up in labour for nearly two days. I decided to have an epidural as I was pretty exhausted, I had also only progressed to 5cm. I agreed at this point to have an oxytocin drip as my cervix seemed to be stuck at the same point! After several hours, I was examined and still at 5cm. By this point I decided to go in for an emergency C-section. Sam ensured that he had a conversation with me about whether this was the right decision or not. My instincts told me it was!
Once in theatre, it transpired that Ronnie had pulled half of my bladder into my pelvis and his head was stuck in my pelvis which was preventing him moving down any further than where he was. I was operated on successfully and Ronnie was handed to me! After I had a cuddle with him, Sam took him to get his cord cut and I fell asleep on the operating table! Snoring and all!
Although this experience was on the opposite end of the spectrum of having a home birth, I don’t regret the decisions I made and also used my calm birth school tools throughout the experience – with help from Sam and my good friend Jennie. This support enabled me to make the choices that I needed to make to ensure Ronnie arrived into the world safely!
Ronnie was born on November 27th at 3:44am, weighing 8lbs exactly!
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