Birth story - Beth and baby Kit

Kit was in a transverse lie from the get go, no matter how much yoga, walking, stretching I did he was not getting his head down. I had a lot of additional scans to check his positioning and my final one at 37 weeks the hospital told me he hadn’t moved at all so I would need to be admitted and stay until 39 weeks when they would then deliver him by cesarean. I was told this was because there was a risk of my waters breaking and the possibility that the cord could be compressed which would mean they wouldn’t have long to get him out.

Hearing this could have been an instant panic trigger for me, as well as it being May 2020 when everything had just gone into lockdown, hospital visitors were limited to birth partner but only 1-6pm which was a big contributing stress factor. Thankfully it didn’t end up being as stressful as it could have been. I am so happy I had completed the online digital pack before all of this began!

I know I would have been a complete mess had it not been for Siobhan’s videos, thanks to those I was able to remain calm, process what was being said and what I needed to do. I went home, packed my hospital bag and was ready for the next two weeks of our journey waiting to meet our boy.

Although I felt disappointed that I’d prepared myself for labour and that my dream of having a water birth was gone. I wanted to, and was looking forward to, experiencing contractions and everything else a vaginal birth entailed. I was still able to use and implement the techniques I’d learnt through the pack into my c section.

I was still quite nervous going in and did shed a few tears when they were about to do the spinal block, partially because my husband wasn’t allowed in for that part, but I used my BRAIN, remembered my breathing and got through it.

I’m an over-thinker and, without the prep of these videos, I really think I would have handled things a lot worse so thank you the PBC for turning what could have been a really daunting and scary time for me into something I now look back on so positively. I coped with a painful transverse lie, a two week hospital stay, a c-section in the midst of a pandemic and lockdown and came out with a beautiful boy and an incredibly positive experience. I’m hoping for a vaginal birth next time and will certainly be purchasing the digital pack again!!