A positive induction birth story. Hudson, 8th Nov 2016

My birth story starts at our 36 week appointment with our obstetrician. I was so excited that our visits were now weekly which meant we were so close to meeting our baby. For the first time in my pregnancy my blood pressure was high and quite high at that, my doctor was concerned and sent me to the hospital to get monitored. Before we left she explained she was concerned that it could be the start of pre-eclampsia, and if my blood pressure didn’t down over the next few weeks I might have to be induced.

After we went to the hospital the midwives spoke with my doctor and they decided that I would come back a few times each week to be safe where I could be monitored on the CTG as well. One of the times a midwife asked if I was in any pain at all- I was feeling a bit crampy but I had been every now and then over the last few weeks, this is when she told me they were braxton hicks I was feeling!

During the next two weeks I focused on doing little things that help naturally bring on labour. I was already walking but now josh came with me. I was drinking raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on my yoga ball, listening to tracks  I had made for labour and I even downloaded the hypnobirthing ‘Baby, come out’ album (Even though I wasn’t due quite yet- knowing that my birth was going to be taking this path- these were some of the little things I did to help get my body and mind ready)

The following week we had a doctors appointment and by this stage my blood pressure had slightly come down and I was told I could just go the the hospital Friday and go from there.

That night Josh and I went out to dinner to celebrate the soon arrival of our little baby, Even though I wanted the spontaneous labour, I was happy knowing that by being induced it would be safer for our baby, because of the turn our birth had already taken we decided not to make a birth plan but instead discussed everything we wanted so that if I was focusing on my breathing or anything during labour Josh was able to make sure it was the birth I wanted.

At the hospital the next day my blood pressure had come down slightly, this was when it was decided that Monday at 4pm we would go in to be induced!

That monday morning we squeezed in maternity photo’s with the beautiful lady that did our wedding photography earlier in the year (we had been married 6 months today, and what an amazing way to celebrate I thought)

We hadn’t told anyone we were getting induced just so that it was us 🙂

I was starting to get nervous about the unknown of what was going to happen, and a bit scared that maybe my body wasn’t ready. I questioned if we were doing the right thing being induced but reminded myself that I was best for the baby this way.

Our midwife picked up on my nerves straight away and was great. I’m a very visual person and she did well in showing me everything around the room and explained every step of what was going to happen which put me a lot more at ease. Our doctor came in around 4.30 and again explained to me that she was going to insert a foley, this would then put pressure on my cervix and help it to open.

She said the nightshift midwives would brake my waters around 6 and then IV syntocinon to get labour started.

After several tries at this induction method (and even some gas as it was quiet painful) it didn’t work, she decided on using the prostaglandin gel as the method of induction and said that this would be the same course of events but I might need to get it re applied later that night to help soften the cervix this way.

We were told that baby most likely wouldn’t be making an appearance until the following night. I was also told I needed to be on the CTG machine a lot of the time and wouldn’t be able to labour in the water after it was all done. She said she had given the midwives a sleeping tablet for me to help get some rest before the big day.

When we were alone Josh set up our speaker and started playing my ‘happy birthing’ playlist, we had dinner and were just sitting around talking when I felt like I had pee’d myself, we called our midwife in and she confirmed it was my waters! And judging by the amount it looked like I had a leak in them and might find I would have this happen up until the birth.

Woohoo, Josh and I were but excited! and I remember him saying to me ‘how exciting’ and I think I was so excited because I was told they would need to be broken, but my body had taken over and started things!

After a little while I started to get dull cramping in my lower tummy, I had taken the sleeping tablet at this stage and we were laying down to get some rest, when the night shift midwifes came on they said I was free to be off the CTG and they would just monitor me every now and then. This was great because with cramping I was feeling was a bit annoyed and I felt like I needed to get up and move around. I went in the shower for a bit to have the water on my tummy which seemed to help a lot.

When I got out Josh went and got me a heat pack and I laid down to try and sleep. By about 12.30am the cramping felt like it was coming in waves and getting stronger. I lay there for a bit before getting up (I left josh sleeping) I had another shower and sat on the yoga ball for a bit longer.

Eventually I went down to see the midwifes and asked them if they thought I was in labour because of how uncomfortable I was feeling. I explained the cramping being lower and feeling nothing higher. They said that I wasn’t and that my body was just getting ready and that would be uncomfortable. I asked about getting a VE but they said they didn’t like doing them when your not far along due to risks of contamination after your waters have broken. They said they could if I really wanted but that nothing was happening so they didn’t advise it. One of the midwives said that she could run the bath for me and that they were happy for me to be in to get comfortable. I agreed and went back to the room- to the shower and waited. I think I was in the shower for about 30 minutes before getting out and telling Josh what was going on. He came and sat next to the bath with me, the water felt great and every time time waves came over me I was able to more comfortably sit through them. I changed positions serval times and even got out the bath at one stage only to get back in.

When I got out to go back to the room I felt so uncomfortable and Josh dried me off and went to hug me and I remember saying I didn’t feel like a hug and pushing him back and as soon as I did I realised a hug from him was exactly what I needed and lent forward onto him as he just rocked me.

When we got back to to room he did another change of the heat packs for me and then I said to him that I wasn’t sure if I were able to get through labour if this is how uncomfortable I was feeling and i’d been told that nothing was happening, i’m pretty sure I even told him we should just go home.. haha.

He was so supportive the whole time and said to me that I would be able to. Not long after this at about 4.30 I said to him i’d had enough of feeling like this and to get the midwives because I wanted them to do a VE and tell what I could do from there.

To EVERYONES surprise I was 5 cms! Close to 6 cm. I couldn’t believe this whole time I had been in the early stages of labour and just getting through it quietly.

When we were alone in the room together after this I asked josh to get my hanako mist out and spray me with that, which again made me feel so much better having the smell to ground me.

They called our doctor first and she came in not much past 5am and when she examined me. I was evenfurther along at this point. I had decided on an epidural and was now using the gas as a bit of an aid as the waves felt like they got stronger.

After the epidural at around 6 I waited and through every wave I was waiting for it to feel slightly better but no relief came, the gas took the edge off but I didn’t feel anymore ease then that.

So I just focused on my breathing knowing that every wave brought me that little step closer to meeting our baby.

It was close to 7am when I felt a change every time a wave would wash over me, I said to our nightshift midwife who was still there that I feel like I need to push at the end of each surge. She told me NOT TO PUSH and that I could do more damage as I wasn’t ready yet. From then on, each surge I had my concentration went to holding back my bodies natural pushing response, which didn’t feel right to me.

Our doctor came back in to check on me before she went to a c-section she was about to do, when she examined me this time. She said I was fully dilated and was ready to go (Which explained my bodies response to each surge) By this stage we had our midwife from the night before back which made me so happy as she was so lovely!

They talked for a minute before calling theatre telling them to ‘hold it, as there was a baby coming now and she would be with them shortly’

I couldn’t believe it, hearing that made me realise it was happening NOW.

I had been having the gas still as I waited for the epidural to work- which never worked in the end. She came to the side of the bed and said to me that it is time to put the gas down as the baby was coming now. INSTANTLY I cried. I cried because I understood and that gave me a shock that it had all lead to this moment. I felt everything the whole time and all of a sudden I was nervous. She just looked back at me and told me not to cry, that it wasn’t time to cry now and we were going to have a baby.

Surprising this again instantly made me stop. This was at 8am. They changed the bed around and I had the CTG back around me for the baby and our doctor at the top of the bed monitoring my blood pressure and then our midwife told me that I could push when I needed to now. I was finally able to push like it felt like my body wanted to do, she was at my right side and Josh to my left. After the first few pushes she said I could rest my foot on her hip (and josh’s on the other side) which felt so much better on the next push. The support felt great. I remember her saying to me on one push ‘bubby has dark hair’ which was amazing to hear.

I heard Josh then say to me that he could see the babies head and I think at that stage my focus changed from our midwife to Josh. I could hear her tell me to push when I was ready but each time I pushed all I focused on was josh and him telling me I was getting closer.

After a few more pushes and with the support and encouragement of letting me push when I was ready, I felt the baby’s head. I felt like I could catch my breath again for a minute and then before I knew it I pushed again knowing it was going to be the last. Soon I had our midwife say ‘grab your baby’ and instantly I leant over and pulled our baby to my chest.

As soon as this happened I was able to have all the monitoring equipment off me and took off my dress i’d been wearing so that I was able to do skin-to-skin.

I couldn’t believe it. I looked over and Josh was right by me. We were looking at our baby. I looked between them and our baby was the most incredible thing I had seen in my life. I looked back up and said to josh ‘what is it?’ Haha as we had chosen a surprise 🙂

He hadn’t seen either in the craziness of bringing him earth side. I looked and said to him it was a BOY! I saw Josh tear up as I started crying, I felt like I was dreaming in total disbelief that he was here! and that i had done it, delivered our baby boy.

I felt everything. It felt as though as soon as I was able to push that’s when all discomfort and pain i felt disappeared, It was truly the most amazing thing I’ve ever done, our baby was born at 8.20am after 20 minutes of pushing he was here!

We did delayed cord clamping, once the cord had stopped pulsing Josh was able to cut it.

When they went to cut it, they realized the cord was so short they actually had to take the our little baby to the the end of the bed so Josh could cut it, then he was back in my arms.

After the placenta was birthed another midwife was about to take it away, when I asked if I could see it, she brought it over to show us and our midwife asked if I wanted to keep it after saying some people plant them at home, I said yes as this sounded like a beautiful idea to be able to keep and plant something so special that had kept my baby healthy in my tummy for so long. (We’ve since planted a dwarf lemon tree which one day Hudson will help me water)

Afterwards my blood pressure came back down to where it should be and I was monitored a few times daily after, I had two internal stitches and left hospital the morning of day 3!

Although I had the epidural, I feel as though Hypnobirthing gave me to courage and took the fear I had away from birth, which let me embrace and enjoy my pregnancy for all that it was, I loved being pregnant! and I look back on the birth of our beautiful boy and wish I could do it all over again to experience every little bit of it WITHOUT drugs next time because I now know what myself and my body are capable of.

Reading back through it, it’s so obvious at every step that I was in labour, but being my first time it was a huge learning curve, and I hope I get the chance to do all this again soon:)