This week’s birth story comes from a lovely couple who attended a TCBS Hypnobirthing Course with Charlotte Inkpin of Hypnobirthing with Charlotte, covering areas across Braintree, Essex.
Thank you for sharing the arrival of Roman with us!
- Second baby
- Baby boy – Roman Cutler
- Estimated due date (NHS) – 15/10/22
- Birthdate – 29/10/22 (42 weeks)
- Weight – 9lb 2oz
- Planned – Home water birth
- Actual – Hospital land birth
- Pain relief – Breathing techniques and TENS machine
“I was really hoping for a home birth but on the day, it just wasn’t suitable coming down to no midwifery staff being on call and then my little girl got unsettled at 3am in the morning I was having a surge on the floor of her bedroom trying to find her cuddly toy. On Friday 28th I had a sweep at 12pm, this was my last ditch to get something moving along before being booked in for induction on Tuesday as I would have been 42 +3, I did agree to CTG scans every other day. I had already refused two lots of induction and had battles with the hospital. I carried on with my afternoon and didnt get my hopes up. So, I meet with my sister, her two children and took my 4-year-old pumpkin picking. While pulling 5 pumpkins & my daughter in a wheelbarrow I started getting cramps and become uncomfortable. I then got home and while making dinner i was getting surges which I laughed through and kept brushing it off as braxton hicks. I ended up contacting my hypnobirthing instructor/ doula and midwife to ask what is a surge supposed to feel like? In my first labour 4 years ago, by the time I was having surges I was so medicated I had no idea. After dinner I bent down to tidy up my daughters play kitchen when my first lot of waters released, my husband and I just mopped it up and put it down to me wetting myself. Around 8pm I was putting my daughter to bed and started timing the surges to see if they were consistent. We popped on Taskmaster, and I bounced on my ball as I was too uncomfortable and couldn’t sit on the sofa. Around 11pm my husband put up the birthing pool without water just to be prepared if the surges ramped up. We went to bed at 11:30pm ish but still at this point I still wasn’t convinced I was having surges definitely after being told by the maternity matron she didnt think I realised oxytocin. I woke up at 3am to strong surges that I couldn’t sleep through, but I breathed through them. All I wanted to do is get on my ball, so I walked down three stairs and more of my waters decided to release. My surges were coming every 6 mins. My husband then called Triage and they advised there wasn’t enough midwifes to come out for homebirth and to come in to get checked as I was 42 weeks. This was fine because they hadn’t cut off the thought of homebirth, I thought I would be in and out again. My father-in-law turned up to have Lola (my daughter) around 4:45am we went straight into Triage. In triage they asked if I could have a CTG and have my waters checked. I confirmed to both, Lola the midwife confirmed the head had plugged the waters and they hadn’t fully gone. I then was strapped up to this CTG which brought back horrible memories of my previous labour and being laid on my back not able to move. I kept it on but my god I moaned and ended up jumping off the bed which meant I had to stay on longer than usual because it kept losing contact with the baby (this wound me up). Once the CTG came back fine the midwife gave me options she asked if I wanted to stay and have my waters released which I refused or given the option to go home for morning staff to attend a homebirth. I couldn’t believe I was making progress being 4cm dilated and they still wanted to break my waters. They advised to go for a walk and come back with a decision. So, we decided to walk to the car which I struggled with at this point I was having surges every 2-3 mins. Finally in the car myself and my husband had a chat and got to McDonalds we decided it was best to turn back to hospital. I quickly got on the phone to my doula and luckily, she was already near and headed towards the hospital. I ended up having a hash brown from maccers and couldn’t handle any more food even though I was starving. I got back into triage, and they started preparing the room quickly. Once we were in the room, Tom and my doula Charlotte started preparing the room, they adjusted lighting, put up fairy lights, candles, pictures, essential oils and Charlotte put a sign on my door while I stayed in my zone. The midwifes filled the pool (which was constantly draining away as they hadn’t put the plug in properly) my midwifes came and introduced themselves and Charlotte gave them all my birth preferences and also gave them a breakfast I had been craving while pregnant patê on toast. I was still declining any intervention, paracetamol, and any pain relief but the TENs machine on my back way amazing. Before the pool was filled, I kept finding my whole body was shivering, I tried lots of different birthing positions over the birthing ball, but any position bent forward made me feel sick. In the end I was sick but felt much better after, I just kept asking for mints to freshen up.
I tried to birth in the pool, but I was floating to the top and slipping about like a wet fish. The pool was just too wide, with nothing to hold onto, I was constantly getting checked with the doppler and it just made me cross because I couldn’t concentrate on my breathing. One positive was my waters did release naturally in the water to one of my favourite songs ‘Ain’t no sunshine’. Poor Tom was putting his full 16 odd stone of weight on my back to keep me down and my back was in agony. I tried two glugs on the gas and air but every time I breathed out my head kept dunking the water so it didnt work for me. Charlotte kept wiping my head with a cold towel, filling the room with clary sage, giving me gentle massage too but I decided to get out of the pool. Every time I asked for pain relief options Charlotte helped me use the BRAIN acronym to discuss what was best but, in the end, we decided I could labour without anything. Apart from that I stayed in my zone and didnt really notice I had midwives in the room 90% of the time. Once I was out of the pool, I felt I was progressing quickly. All 4 people, two midwifes, Tom and Charlotte dried me and applied the TENs machine again. They advised the baby was back-to-back as the pressure was all in my back. I felt like I needed something to push against to help baby come down. Roman was birthed on the bed at 12:46pm I followed my body’s ques, the midwife slowly turned him as he came out and he didnt get stuck as the doctors kept previously advising. Roman weighed 9lbs 2oz. The other midwife filmed the whole birth (it’s an incredible video) it was such an empowering moment, and I was sooo happy with myself. Roman was put onto my chest and was so calm, we waited for the cord to go white. We had skin to skin contact which felt like ages. While Roman was having his checks I sat on a paper tray on the toilet and gave birth to my over 2lb placenta. My placenta was taken by my doula and the midwifes to get checked and was collected by a lady who encapsulates placentas. Again, Charlotte dealt with all this communication with Claire (lady preparing the placenta) she filed out forms and took it to her in the hospital. We changed rooms to have stitches, I was also brought my breakfast (well lunch), Tom had also brought mints and cakes. I showered and felt amazing… I never thought I would say that. Charlotte went home and left me and Tom to have quality family time with Roman. By 6:30pm we were on our way home for Lola to meet her baby brother. It was a beautiful moment. All I can say is I was disappointed I didnt have a home birth but couldn’t of asked for a better birth with help from Charlotte and Tom. I’m still in my baby bubble and Roman is such an amazing baby.”
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