Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with Kristie and her surprise baby girl. Kristie was 2 weeks overdue and had an induction via pessary on the Consultant Led Unit. had a consultant led birth. Kristie had immediate skin-ti-skin which she describes as “magical”.
After 2 “failed” sweeps at 40+3 & 41weeks, I was booked in for my induction on April 19th. I tried EVERYTHING to avoid induction but baby was clearly far to comfy. My induction was pushed back to the following day due to a lack of beds and we weren’t called in until 6pm.
Arriving at the hospital my husband was allowed to stay with me in a private room whilst we waited to be checked prior to the pessary being inserted. After a VE (Vaginal Exemption) I was 2-3cm dilated so no need to be induced, I just had to wait for a room on the delivery suite for my waters to be broken. I asked of I could have Maternity Led Unit at this point and was told no due to the intervention. At 2.30am I really needed to go to the toilet and my waters went spontaneously 🥳 I was advised to get some rest as they told me it would take a while before anything started happening…. contractions started coming thick and fast almost immediately (I’d like to put this down to the dates and raspberry leaf tea), I had to use the breathing techniques learned from the course to get through them.
By 5.30am I had to call for pain relief. I was hooked up to the CTG and baby’s heart rate kept dropping when on my left side but picked up again when on my right, the midwives did another VE and I was 6cm dilated! So off to to the delivery suite we went. The gas and air was heaven! The midwives were incredible, trying to honour as many of my birth preferences as possible, I was able to have the bed up to lean over the back, this helped so much to move my hips during contractions, they put the diffuser on (although I barely registered it) and wireless monitoring so I could move around if needed.
Baby’s heart rate kept dropping and I had to have the clip put on her head to monitor her more closely, which ended up with me on my back, by this point I can remember saying I didn’t care, I just wanted her out. I can vaguely remember hitting the transition phase but thinking about the course, knew this meant it wouldn’t be much longer until I held her in my arms and this gave me the strength to keep going.
The involuntary contractions are something else and so fascinating to watch… after 5 hours of active labour, a lot of support from my husband and the incredible team of midwives (plus the threat of a ventouse if I didn’t get the baby out with her heartrate dropping) baby Freyja was lifted up onto my chest for skin to skin. The feeling is just magical and it’s so true that you forget all the pain in that special moment.I had the injection to deliver my placenta due to the blood loss, but again the midwives honoured my request to wait as long as possible before giving me the injection. I ended up with a small 2nd degree tear which needed a couple of stitches, a labial graze and tear which also had to be stitched.
Although my birth wasn’t the incredible water birth I had envisioned, the course absolutely gave me the confidence to let go of what I couldn’t change and to go with the flow. I am very grateful that as many of my preferences were accommodated. For all those mamas to be who are told their babies are measuring big, please know that your body is built to birth, I didn’t measure big at any point in my pregnancy nor showed any signs of GD and I gave birth to a beautiful 11lb baby girl.
Trust your body and believe in yourselves and definitely practice your breathing alongside affirmations in the run up to baby’s EDD (estimated due date). And remember; You’ve got this! ❤❤❤
Click the link for more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Know what you can do to stack the odds in your favour for the birth that you want. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth.
Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with first time mum Chelsea. Chelsea delivered her baby boy on a birth unit and had a calm water birth, lifting her baby out of the water herself.
I can’t believe it’s my time to share my birth story and wow it couldn’t have gone more the way I had planned.
My waters broke at 9.30pm after a long bath with lavender and clary sage oil (I had been doing this for around 4 week previous). I called the birth unit at 10.15pm (after knowing it was definitely my waters and not ‘bath water’ coming out 😂). They said to keep an eye on it over night and see how we get on.
I managed to get some sleep with cramping on and off waking me up. At 5am I woke up and went to the toilet and noticed my mucus plug had come away. Not being able to get to back to sleep I got up and the contractions started, mild and spaced out. At around 8am they were getting stronger so put my TENs machine on, which I would highly recommend.
I was trying to stay at home as long as possible so that we wouldn’t get sent back if we weren’t too far long. At 9.15am the contractions where coming more often and were strong so we called the unit. They wanted us to “pop” in to double check that it was my waters, and so we did.
Walking through the hospital I could feel the contractions getting stronger and stronger and felt like I was in the right place. We got shown straight through to a beautiful room at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital Birth Unit. Low lightening, candles flicking around the pool and I felt my self becoming overwhelmed at the fact that this was where I may meet my baby and had a little cry!
First examination I was only 1-2cm which was disappointing but my waters had broken. As it was quiet we were allowed to stay and see how we got on, which was just as well as 40 mins later I was then 6cm! I was so proud that I had got this far using only my TENs machine, paracetamol, dihydrocodeine and of course my breathing. All I kept thinking with each contraction was we were a little closer to meeting our baby, the positive thoughts were so helpful, I knew I could do this, it’s what I was made to do!
40 minutes later I was fully dilated and ready to get into the pool. As soon as I stepped in I felt instant calm, between each contraction I could have fallen asleep I was so relaxed. The midwives were amazing at reminding me of my breathing, pushing and when to blow! I did a lot of things leading up to the labour like acupuncture, reflexology and perineal massage and remembering to blow when his head was crowing, I believe was why I didn’t need any stitches.
At 1.59pm our beautiful baby boy was born and we instantly fell in love. The midwives let us bring him out of the water ourselves which I hadn’t really thought of before, but I’m so glad we did.
Everything from the course helped massively to stay calm and remember that I could do it. Knowledge is power and I truly believe I would have had a different birth story if it wasn’t for the positivity and facts leant on the course, thank you Beth.
Click the link for more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Know what you can do to stack the odds in your favour for the birth that you want. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth.
Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with Hannah and her baby girl. During labour Hannah’s baby’s heart rate dropped and when her waters were manually broken there was meconium, so Hannah had a hormone drip and this progressed to needing an episiotomy and forceps delivery. Hannah describes her delivery as “calm” and says her birth was “so incredibly positive“.
On Friday 9th April at 39+5 I went for my 40week appointment, had my second sweep (first at 38+4 was unsuccessful) and this one was successful- I was told I was 2cm already and easily stretched to 3cm. I’d been having growth scans due to risk of low birth weight, scans had shown a healthy weight thankfully, however the midwife felt it was a long time to go from 36weeks without further measurements so arranged for me to have an extra scan at my birth hospital on Sunday the 11th April (my due date).
After the sweep I’d continued everything I could to help move things along- eating dates, raspberry leaf capsules, clary sage in the diffuser, more bouncing on my ball and as much walking as I could manage. I lost some of my mucus plug on the days following but knew this didn’t necessarily mean anything was imminent.
On the Sunday I went for the scan and was told baby had had a growth spurt and was now almost at the 90th centile and the Doctor would want to speak to me about risks associated with large birth weight but there was a lengthy (multiple hours) wait to see the doctor. At 1.30pm I went back to the waiting room and by 2.30pm contractions had started, by 3.30pm they were consistently 3 in 10 and lasting 45-60seconds so I asked to see a midwife while still waiting for the doctor- around 5pm I was examined and only 2cm dilated (cue disappointment from me as I live an hour from the hospital and was very anxious they would send me home!) but my BP was high and there was protein in my urine so I was told as there was a risk of pre-eclampsia I’d be kept in and induced that evening.
At 5.50pm I was allowed to ring my husband who’d been waiting in the carpark since 12.30pm and he could come in. Thankfully we had our hospital bags in the car. I was examined again a couple of hours later around 8pm and was 4cm so no induction necessary but they wanted to break my waters to get things moving and said that’d be done around 9pm or so after the shift change. Having my waters broke was the most surreal thing- there was just SO MUCH water! It just kept coming!!
My birth preferences included being UFO, a water birth and minimal intervention but I was completely open minded to any eventuality thanks to this course. As I had to be monitored because of my BP and there was meconium in the waters when they were broken, constant monitoring was required and I remained on the bed, however, I found this suited me fine at the time! I asked for an epidural quite early but there was nobody available for it and didn’t get it til very late on but gosh am I glad I got it in the end! I accepted Diamorphine while I waited for the epidural, which I had declined a couple of times, but just wasn’t coping with the contractions as they intensified and the epidural was still nowhere in sight! I had gas and air only until about 7cm and literally lost a couple of hours of my life as I was off my face (it was fantastic!!). I only really remember the song “You can call me Al” coming on my birth playlist and declaring “TUNE!” to my husband and midwife 😂.
At one point the midwife said baby’s heart rate had dropped and she had to press the emergency buzzer but luckily it quickly picked back up and throughout everyone was so professional and reassuring so I never really felt scared. Contractions just about entirely stopped when it came to pushing time so ended up with the hormone drip but things still didn’t progress and because baby was facing away off to the side they took me to theatre to turn her (but she’d turned herself in the mean time) then delivered with forceps and episiotomy while there, I also had a second degree tear.
My beautiful daughter Lucy Kayleigh Campbell arrived at 5.51am on the 12th of April weighing 8lbs 5oz, one of the doctors laughed once her head was out as she was already making noises so it was no surprise that there was no delay in that first cry once her body was out and nothing can prepare you for that beautiful sound!
Thanks to The Bump To Baby Chapter I felt like I understood everything that was going on and it was so calm (after I stopped being off my face on gas and air and the epidural kicked in) and so incredibly positive despite being entirely the opposite of my preferences 💕
Click the link for more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Know what you can do to stack the odds in your favour for the birth that you want. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth.
Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with Vicki and her second baby. Vicki had a traumatic birth with her first baby and signed up to our course to support her to achieve her goal of having “a more pleasant birth”. Vicki gave birth to her son, Dexter, via a water birth and was able to “catch” him herself which she says was “was the most amazing experience“.
I started this course in the hope of a more pleasant birth; I hadn’t anticipated how much it would change things. My partner and I watched the whole course twice….I cried a lot and talked about all my worries and feelings of failure as a mum that came from my first labour.
We have moved geographically since our daughter was born, so this really was a clean slate, but that’s not to say there haven’t been wobbles. This time I spoke to my midwife about my worries and had some extra support. I wrote a detailed birth plan with her and made my own, abridged, birth preferences sheet to take into the hospital.
40 weeks arrived and I was feeling quite chilled about things, and then I suddenly got really uncomfortable and achy (back, hips etc) and was dealing with multiple messages each day about whether baby has arrived and so I started to get a bit irritable and feeling like I was done with pregnancy. I had a sweep at 40 weeks and another at 40+2, I was already 2-3cm dilated but my cervix was thick and there were no changes between the first and 2nd sweep (despite trying everything….expressing milk, Clary sage, raspberry leave tea, sex, curry).
I had another sweep at 40+4 about 10am and, just like the first sweep, I had discomfort for the rest of the morning which slowly improved….but then it came back on and off about 2:30pm. I started timing these and they were every 5 minutes, but really not that painful so I assumed they would go off again, but did give the heads up to our dog and child sitters and my partner who was at work.
About 7pm I suggested my partner head home a bit early if he could as they did seem to be increasing in frequency, but still felt a bit dramatic as I could just about talk through them. I rang the birth centre about 8pm who said to call back in an hour and see how things were. I had a couple of paracetamol to see me through.
At 9pm they were every 3.5 minutes but manageable; given it was a second labour and our distance from hospital they said to go in for triage. When we arrived at the hospital at about 9:45 they were more intense but I could breath through them. We talked through my options for initial monitoring and agreed to try with me standing (I was adamant I was not lying down). When they examined me at 11 I was fully effaced and 5cm dilated. The midwife said she would need to get clearance for me to remain midwife led, but the consultant was happy as, despite my miscarriages, my labour was low risk so they ran the pool and I got in about 11:30, which was amazing and helped so much.
I spent the next 3 hours quietly breathing through the contractions in the pool, in a dark room with my music on and everyone chilling out. About 1:30 I was sometimes getting the urge to push at the end of my out breaths, it felt way too soon but the midwife told me to go with it and I asked if this could be the elusive transition.
I kept thinking I needed pain relief but thought as I was getting near pushing I was reluctant to have gas and air as I didn’t think I’d want it in pushing….and I felt a bit past paracetamol/codeine so just carried on with my breathing, focusing on my long out breaths, watching the ripples it made in the pool.
I started pushing more consistently about 2:30 and he arrived at 3:20, into the pool,and I was able to catch him myself which was the most amazing experience. He came out transverse (facing sideways), so I had a 2nd degree tear but hadn’t even noticed this and they stitched me up on the bed; once we’d all had our post birth checks we came home and introduced him to his big sister.
I cannot thank Beth enough for this course, or to the group for their support and fabulous stories.
The words I will never forget were, part way through, the Midwife said “you are so in control of this, it’s really beautiful”.
To everyone still waiting for your bundles of joy, I hope you have a fabulous journey.
Click the link for more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Know what you can do to stack the odds in your favour for the birth that you want. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth.
Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with Stephanie and her third baby. Stephanie opted for a home waterbirth and welcomed her baby in the comfort of her own home, with her husband “catching” the baby himself. Baby Albie was born at 39+2 weeks weighing 7lb2oz.
I loved reading these when I was pregnant, so I thought I’d write my own as its got a bit of everything.
Albie is my third baby, my first was a very simple hospital birth, and my second was an overall straight forward home birth – the last part was a little tricky as she had her cord around her foot, which meant she needed to be delivered quickly. She wasn’t positioned well which meant my cervix didn’t get to 10cm by itself and the midwife had to intervene to get her out.
Albie’s pregnancy was unexpected, throw in a pandemic – meant it was tricky at times. I had a lovely pregnancy but one thing I struggled to decide on was the birth. When the midwife initially brought up the idea of another home birth my first instinct was no way! I then spent a long time going back and forth trying to decide what to do. I was anxious about whether my body could do it right again, what if there was complications and what was the best option. I think this was made harder by my husband not being allowed to any of the appointments, I felt a big burden of responsibility to make the right decision.
I then looked into and found this course, I found it helpful to look at the practical aspects of the birth, and try and get my head around all possible eventualities. Ultimately in the end I booked the homebirth, but decided that it didn’t mean I had to have him at home, I ended up using it purely as an option. This then took alot of the pressure off and kept the anxiety at bay.
At 39 weeks I started to have on off contractions that didn’t get any closer or stronger, this was nothing like the girls as they were very go go go from the start. This continued for 2 days, stopping all together after a few hours.
At 32+2 I’d had a few contractions in the night but they’d stopped again. I decided to walk around, but as soon as I stopped or sat down they would stop again. I then spent the day walking around to try and get them going.
By 3pm they were starting to get a pattern (3 in 10 mins) , the midwifes arrived at 3.30pm and said I was 3cm, by this point I wasnt convinced they wouldnt stop all together again so I was quite disappointed . However on the next heartbeat check 15 minutes later Albie had really dropped down, so we knew something was starting to happen.
By 4.30pm I was needing the gas and air, and the midwifes and my husband sorted the pool out.
At 5pm I got into the pool, I was really starting to feel the pressure at this point. At around 5.30pm the midwife broke my waters as I was 10cm and they weren’t going (just like with my girls) and at 5.47pm Albie was born. So in just over 2 hours id gone from 3cm to born, so don’t always believe in the 1cm an hour rule, as this wasn’t the case with my first baby either – she was 3cm to born in 3.5 hours.
Albie was born in the pool and brought up by my husband. My girls met him as soon as he was born, whilst we was still in the pool.
I’m so glad I wasn’t scared out of another home birth as it was amazing, this course really helped to calm my anxiety about the birth and made me realise I can’t control what happens during the birth but I can be aware of many of the options and for me it was the realisation that I didn’t have to have a definitive plan, just options. 💙💙
Baby Albie and his big sister
Click the link for more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Know what you can do to stack the odds in your favour for the birth that you want. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth.
Love reading positive birth stories? You’re in the right place! This positive birth story is with Alexandra and her first baby. Alexandra had an induction at 39 weeks due to high blood pressure. Alexandra says of her birth and her decision to have an induction “We stayed as a new family of three in the delivery room with all the lights dimmed until 4am which was magical. I have no regrets about being induced and I feel nothing but positivity about my birth story. I would do it again in a heart beat.“
💕 FTM – induction at 39 weeks due to high blood pressure. 💕Planned: Natural water birth with minimal pain relief. 💕Actual: induction, TENS machine, gas & air, (failed) epidural. Vaginal birth.
Baby Harry – born May 26 @ 10:49pm – weighing 7lb5oz
Throughout my pregnancy, I really wanted a water birth after hearing of a friend’s amazing birth story. I knew this was unlikely as my hospital’s maternity unit only has one birthing pool but I still prepared nonetheless on the chance it would be free. Unfortunately, at 33 weeks my blood pressure started to slowly creep up and after a few triage visits, by 38 weeks I was diagnosed with gestational hypertension. The consultant explained the risks and benefits of induction at 39 weeks. With this in mind, we made a decision that induction was best for our baby and myself.
When I arrived at the delivery suite for my induction with my husband, I was contraction free, freshly showered, all packed. I actually felt a bit sad. For months, I had always imagined myself going into spontaneous labour at home and walking along the corridors in the hospital, pausing mid contraction and full of nerves and excitement to meet our boy.
I knew I’d have to wait on the ward for up to 2 days before that special moment would arrive for me, and I also knew that there was a chance induction might not even be successful for me. But, I also knew I had to stay focussed and not allow these thoughts to impact my attitude and mind set towards my baby’s birth. Positive thoughts were my goal.
I was examined that evening and the midwife said I was 1cm and that the gel would make things more favourable and easier to break my waters. The gel was applied that evening at 6pm. Period type pains and discomfort kicked in which progressed to contractions by the early hours of the morning. TENS machine went on around 1am. This was an absolute god send and a real help with those early labour pains. The boost button was amazing!! By 3pm, I was 2cm dilated and ready to have my waters broken. I was transferred to the delivery suite and my husband was invited in. I was so happy to learn that the midwife who would be delivering my baby was my community midwife who had transferred to delivery. I was so pleased to see a friendly and familiar face. I think this helped my oxytocin levels. She really involved my husband in the birth too and had him doing lots of jobs which he loved as it kept him busy. He was rather nervous I think!
At this point, I was a little worried as I felt like the pain had dulled a little. After the initial monitoring and examination in the delivery suite, the midwife explained that contractions were regular and I was 3cm dilated and nearly fully effaced. My waters were then broken. I was using only the TENS machine at this point. The midwife was so surprised that I was talking through the contractions; I could barley feel them and monitor showed them to be regular and strong.
When my waters were broken, it was decided I didn’t need the oxytocin drip because the contractions were already regular and strong. However, the contractions ramped up to such a point I asked for the epidural. I was using my breathing techniques but I felt like they were taking my breath away. The epidural kicked in and the relief was amazing – but sadly short lived!! Unfortunately, something went wrong with the epidural and it stopped working, my husband was pressing the top up button but I could feel it wearing off and contraction pain was coming back. By the pushing stage it had worn off almost completely (the anaesthetist met with me post delivery to discuss what had actually gone wrong!) this meant I could feel the contraction pain but it also allowed me to push in a controlled way, coached by the midwives. During the transition stage, I actually asked for a c section. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before and my legs were seriously aching from being on the bed for continuous monitoring all day. I was given a firm no by the midwife.
With the support from the amazing midwives and my amazing husband, our baby boy Harry was born at 10:49pm. The pain vanished instantly and he was placed straight on my chest – we had one gorgeous hour of skin to skin, followed by skin to skin with my husband. The midwife then brought us the most amazing tea and toast. We stayed as a new family of three in the delivery room with all the lights dimmed until 4am which was magical. I have no regrets about being induced and I feel nothing but positivity about my birth story. I would do it again in a heart beat.
Tips I would give to any other first time mums who are being induced: ❤️keep a positive mindset – induction does not always mean a negative experience of lots of intervention. The only intervention I had in the end was the gel and my waters being broken. Everything else progressed naturally. ❤️ consider a TENS machine if you haven’t already. It really got me through my night on the induction ward. I hired mine online for £20. ❤️Please don’t be worried about epidurals failing if you plan to get one – my case was rare and the anaesthetist said that the midwives should have sent for him. Again, I’m actually glad they didn’t. The epidural gave me relief when I needed it and I have no regrets about it wearing off.
Thanks to this fantastic course which has taught me so much, I was able to have such a positive birth experience. I am forever grateful, and I will be recommending to all expecting mummies I meet.
❤️
Baby Harry
Want to feel confident, calm and prepared for all types of births? Check out The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Created by midwife Beth, covering how to stack the odds in your favour to get the birth that you want, and also how to feel calm and prepared for every birth journey! Videos, checklists, audios & a support group mto get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth. Knowledge is Power!!
