A wonderful story that shows how the techniques learnt and the confidence gained enabled mum and dad to make informed decisions to make sure Baby Neve to came safely into the world. Thanks for sharing with us x
“I wanted to share my birth story with you and TCBS (sorry it’s so long – there were lots of unexpected twists and turns along the way). Despite having a c-section I found it an empowering and positive experience thanks to TCBS.
After 42 weeks of waiting, our beautiful daughter Neve was born on Sunday 4 September at 10.52am by c-section. Although it was not the birth I had hoped for, the preparation I had done through TCBS had prepared me for lots of eventualities and I remained calm and in control throughout my 36 hour labour and used my BRAIN to make informed decisions with my husband.
I was booked in to St Thomas for an induction on Friday 2 September at 41 weeks +5 days. They inserted the pessary at 2pm and said they would check it in 24 hours. As I lived out of the area I was admitted as an inpatient. I suggested my husband head home to look after our dog and said I would call him if anything happened. By 11pm that night I had started getting strong period pains and I felt like things were moving in the right direction. I took some paracetamol and checked that my husband had his phone on loud before he went to bed.
I didn’t get much sleep as two ladies in the ward were having strong surges and making all the necessary noise that goes with them. At about 5am my surges started and I took some more paracetamol and codeine. I called my husband to let him know and asked if he would come in to be with me – I stressed there was no hurry, but i just wanted him by my side.
The surges weren’t too strong and I was enjoying breathing through them while rocking on the ball. We connected the TENS machine and I carried on breathing my way through. At about 11am I felt some gushing and thought my waters had broken. The midwife decided to examine me to check, but unfortunately this led to the pessary falling out. They decided to leave me to progress with labour and said a consultant would come and see me at 2pm – 24 hours after the pessary had gone in. Unfortunately with the pessary no longer in place the surges became less regular and weaker and things fizzled out.
The consultant arrived at 2pm and following an examination found I wasn’t at all dilated so discussed the next options with me. They were keen to hook me up to the induction drip and explained why they felt this was the best option. I was skeptical as I knew this meant I needed to move to the labour ward and couldn’t use the birthing pool in the home from home birth centre. My husband and I talked things through with the consultant and because my waters had broken I had until 11am on Saturday for things to happen due to the risk of infection. We asked for five minutes to talk and decided that the induction drip was the right way forward for us.
We moved to the labour ward and I was hooked up to the drip at around 4pm. They started me off on a low dose and we agreed they would increase it until things started happening. At this point I lost track of time. We had a little to eat and I dosed until finally a few hours later I started to feel some strong surges. The dose continued to be increased to try to get the surges to the length and regularity they needed to be. I was rocking on the birthing ball and using gas and air – the surges were coming every minute and lasting up to 1 and half minutes. They were unbelievably intense and I continued to breath through them using gas and air, remembering that ‘they can’t be stronger than me because they are me’. Following an internal examination in the early hours we found out I was only 3cm dilated and my cervix was still very far back, so I decided, as there was hours of labour still to go, I needed an epidural – I couldn’t manage for much longer without some additional pain relief. I was very quickly hooked up to the epidural and immediately felt the relief that I needed. I was really pleased that I could control the dose of the epidural so that I could still feel the surges, but it took the unbearable pain away.
The midwife popped out of the room and I noticed our baby’s heart rate dropped – I pressed the buzzer and they immediately returned. The heart monitor then started to fluctuate. They decided I needed to stop the induction drip while her heart rate settled down. It was about 5am and they agreed that they would examine me at 9am on Sunday 4 September and if i wasn’t 6cm dilated by that point they would recommend a c-section. My husband and I had a chance to talk this through and decided that we were just keen to ensure our daughter was safely delivered and if that meant a c-section then that was fine.
Following the examination I was still only 4cm and my cervix was still hard and thick – not ready for the next stages of labour. The consultant felt that it may be that my cervix would never be ready even if we continued with the drip (I had been on it for around 17 hours) and with the risk of infection due to my waters breaking almost 24 hours ago, and the fact that our daughter’s heart rate had been fluctuating their advice was a caesarean. By this point I was very tired and after a chat we decided that it was the right option for us. As it wasn’t an emergency situation the Consultant had time to talk us through the procedure and we were prepared for the operation. The midwife who had been with us for the last few hours came with us to surgery and we felt confident that we were in safe hands.
I was quite nervous on the operating table and I used my TCBS breathing techniques to keep me calm – the anesthetist even commented on my good use of breathing. After some tugging and pulling our gorgeous daughter Neve was born and the rest is a bit of a blur – due to the emotion and the very strong drugs I was on.
All the midwives who helped with my labour and post natal care at the hospital were outstanding – they were caring and supportive throughout. I can’t praise the care we received enough.
Unfortunately, after surgery my blood pressure rose and a day later I developed an infection so had to stay in hospital on the high dependency unit. The infection has now gone and I’m back home with my husband and beautiful daughter enjoying life as a family of three.
Other than just before the surgery I didn’t feel stressed or worried at any point during the birth which I put down to my preparation through TCBS. TCBS gave me the knowledge and confidence to stay calm and relaxed throughout. I asked questions and made informed decisions with my husband and i found the whole experience empowering.”
To see how you can create your own calm birth please sign up here: www.thecalmbirthschool.com/freehypnobirthing-2016
