Raife’s Story
I got to 40 weeks pregnant, so excited to meet our little boy; 40 weeks passed. I got to 41 weeks and was offered a sweep and politely declined but was booked in for an induction. I then got to 42 weeks pregnant and still no sign of our little monkey, I had switched my phone off by this point and was slowly retreating into my birthing zone. On Sunday, the day before my induction I made the decision that I wanted a sweep; this was relatively intrusive but I used my breathing and relaxation techniques and it was over so quickly. Shortly after my sweep my surges started, slowly and completely comfortably. I was at home at this point eating and getting the Oxytocin flowing by re-watching all of the programmes I’ve ever laughed at. By the next morning I was still having surges but they had become very inconsistent, I decided to go back to the birth centre to have a second sweep to help avoid the induction that evening if at all possible. After this sweep the surges really got flowing, we drove home and decided to go for a walk, this is where I was happiest - walking. I walked almost the entire first stage of my labour until I got to 5cm. I would stop and lean on a lamp post or a wall every time I had another surge. They were pretty powerful but not painful. I had my noise cancelling headphones on and my hypnobirthing tracks playing so I was so calm.
It was now around midnight and as we got to the birth centre where I planned to give birth they told me that as I had crossed the threshold into 42+1 that I had to now go to the labour ward as couldn’t be admitted. Turns out September is a busy month for babies so the labour ward was full. I then got put in a bed on the antenatal ward while I waited for a bed to free up. This is where my labour expectedly stalled and my surges slowed completely.
I was finally admitted to the labour ward on the Tuesday, the whole time I was extremely happy and calm and positive but we felt that the baby needed a little nudge by this point as I was getting so tired. I agreed to having my membranes released (waters broken). The baby was so happy inside that he still wasn’t ready to come into the world yet. I asked for as much time as possible to wait for him to come on his own but after 2 days of no progress I agreed to the induction hormone drip (syntocinon) at the same time I asked for an epidural. This was purely due to the tiredness and not having any rest for two days and I’m super happy with my decision. Even the induction drip didn’t seem to make the baby budge so despite both myself and the baby being completely serene and happy we agreed to a c-section after 3 days of contractions but my cervix not wanting to dilate past 5cm. The process of being prepped for surgery was so swift and calm and within an hour I was in the operating theatre completely awake and excited to meet our baby.
I asked the midwives for a gentle c-section which they were more than happy to do. They lifted him up to me straight away and then we waited a few minutes for the delayed cord clamping which I so badly wanted. Then once the cord was cut we did immediate skin to skin in theatre and he crawled straight onto my breast and began feeding while they were stitching me up. It was incredible. It turns out he was a big baby and wasn’t quite in the correct position for birth which is why it didn’t progress naturally. We were both super healthy and happy and out of hospital a day and a half later. Despite this birth not going to plan I was calm and relaxed and positive the entire time and without hypnobirthing this would not have been possible for me.
The entire process was the most powerful thing that my body has ever done, I felt like I could do anything.
