Reduced Movement and Induction: Oliwia’s Birth Story

Love reading positive birth stories? You’re in the right place! This birth story is with first time mum Oliwia and the arrival of her baby boy, Denver. Oliwia used EBRAN to make the decision to accept an induction following a few bouts of reduced movement and had a quick delivery using gas & air for pain relief at 39 weeks and 3 days.

Ahh can’t believe its time to finally write my story! only such a short time after giving birth due to how good my recovery has been.

I think this is all thanks to this course!”

My pregnancy had been perfect up until about 36 weeks with everything always being spot on and bump measuring on the 50th percentile line. At 36 weeks I had my first episode of reduced movement. I went to get checked over and all the monitoring was perfect. I just couldn’t feel the baby move much inside me. 

Reduced Movement 36-38 Weeks Pregnant

From 36 weeks to 38 weeks I had reduced movement about 3 times. I was sent for a scan where everything was measured and fine. However, baby was measuring to come out at around 10lb at full term. A consultant was contacted and it was then decided that due to the reduced movement and baby measuring big I could be induced a few days later. I decided to go for it as I was so tired of pregnancy and not being able to feel the baby properly was worrying.

Booking an Induction following Reduced Movement

My induction was booked for 8pm on the 10th Sept. I had 2 sweeps prior to that, one on the 7th and one on the 9th. I was not dilated whilst having these done however midwife said my cervix was softening! Me and my partner made our way to the hospital on Friday for 8pm. When we got there the midwife told us to get comfortable and then she would come back to explain everything. 

The Pessary

After examining me, due to still not being dilated the midwife had decided a 24 hour pessary was the best route for me. She went ahead and popped that in just after 10pm on the 10th. She also advised that if it doesn’t work then I can get 3 x 6 hour gels put in. Then if they don’t work a hormone drip would be the following step. She also said to be prepared to be in for around 5 days. I was disappointed hearing that but just had to go with it of course.

Labour Beginning

Around 11pm the midwife advised us to just get comfortable for the night and try and get as much rest as possible as it can be a long process. My partner was very tired so I give him my eye mask and let him doze off. I couldn’t settle as I was so excited and anxious at the same time! At around half 2 in the morning I finally decided to try and sleep and dozed off not long after. I wasn’t really having any pains or anything like that so thought I may as well try and rest!

I was woken up at around 3:30am with a ‘pop’ sound in my belly. Went straight to the bathroom however there wasn’t any water there. My back pain started to get really bad so I quickly woke up my partner and got him to put my TENS machine on. Things were ramping up so fast the machine provided me with no relief! 

Buzzing the Midwife

After around 30 mins I buzzed the midwife to ask for some pain relief and was given paracetamol – I tried bouncing on my ball and taking that however the pains in my lower back were unbearable and I was struggling to control it, I tried to breathe through these pains as well however again I was losing control but attempted to stay as calm as possible and remembering what I learned on the course.

One of the midwives came back in and ran me a bath and tried to calm me down by saying ‘this is just the start it could still be days’ so I can confirm I was not too impressed with that however I tried to get in the bath and relax but each pain that came along was getting stronger and I could not be still when they were happening so had to jump out the bath, pacing around the room.

Contractions Intensifying 

The pains were just getting worse. I even timed the contractions on my app to make sure I could potentially be in active labour. The midwife did not examine me as it was ‘too soon’. I was so so upset by this as I wasn’t allowed any more pain relief. The paracetamol that I was given I ended up being sick with. I decided that the only way to ‘stop’ these contractions and get examined was to pull my pessary out as the midwife told me before inserting it they can come out easily when peeing/wiping etc! 

After pulling it out nothing had stopped. I buzzed a midwife and she hooked me up on the CTG to check baby and see if I was contracting. Now I was really struggling to stay still and the readings kept going off. I was eventually examined at around 6:30AM and was already 6/7cm dilated with NO pain relief and I really couldn’t believe it! As soon as this was found out the midwife phoned the labour ward to get me there. I was able to try some gas and air. 

The time between going from the induction suite to the labour ward was such a blur. My partner had to quickly grab our things and I was trying so hard to focus on my breathing and staying calm. I can barely remember anything. 

I was put on the bed in the labour suite and said to my midwife ‘I feel like pushing’”

She quickly grabbed my gas and air and examined me to find out i was 10cm. This was around 7:45 and I was then able to just start pushing.

Hello Baby

All of this happened so fast and our baby boy was born at 8:31 on the 11th of September just 5 hours after my first pain. I could not believe it! We had skin to skin straight away and the relief of pushing him out and then the placenta was just AMAZING. I have never felt so good. During pushing I did tear a little bit however hardly anything there and can barely feel any pains etc. I was all stitched up and eating toast and tea (the best ever btw) by half 9 with my baby boy lying next to me! 

My whole birthing experience was amazing especially as a first time mum. Also being induced; I really couldn’t believe how quick everything went! My recovery has been great too!

Thank you to The Bump to Baby Chapter!

I’m so so thankful for this course and everyone I ‘met’ (online) along during my pregnancy as birth was the only thing that has ever really scared me and I cant believe how amazing my experience was even though it wasn’t what I had in mind especially as I got induced and was expecting the worst so anyone having to be induced please don’t let it upset you, your birth will still be amazing! This positive attitude is all due to this course so thank you Beth and a big shout out the September group chat that kept me going through all my worries.

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.