Birth story - Darielle and baby Robin

*Trigger Warning* - Previous trauma, consultant led, GBS+, contractions. Sharing my story for all those second time parents who may have struggled with a previous birth.

Darielle’s first birth

My first birth involved induction (waters had broken 18 hours before with no contractions) with staff not believing how far along I was which meant limited pain relief. I ended up with episiotomy and suffered badly with pain and then PTSD as well as a struggle with breastfeeding. This left me incredibly anxious about birth which is why I purchased the PBC course to help me.

Second time round pregnancy

I found out on Christmas day (which made not drinking over new years a challenge to make excuses for!) and had quite bad nausea the first 14 weeks. I have consultant led care due to having a blood condition where I have too many platelets. However all this actually meant was regular blood tests to keep an eye on it, growth scans every 4 weeks after 28 (this was quite nice!) and blood thinning injections after birth. Everything went smoothly, however I did find out I was Group B Strep positive but when discussed with midwife was told I just needed antibiotic drip during labour (read later on to see what happens when you don’t have time for this). They were happy for me to use the midwife led unit attached to hospital as long as nothing changed.

I had been having lots of braxton hicks/mild period cramps from 36 weeks onwards, especially ramping up overnight. I was 100% convinced baby was going to be early but nothing came of these! I had a sweep at 39 weeks which was unsuccessful (and rather painful!). This did lead to me losing the mucus plug over the next 24 hours but nothing else really happened.

The birth of Baby Robin - (40+3)

I had a midwife appointment and a sweep at 2pm - very successful, was already 4/5cm and she was very certain it would happen in the next 48 hours! Got home to mild cramping - sat on sofa and watched Bridget Jones diary. Starting to come in waves about 15-20 mins apart but very manageable. Husband collected our son from nursery and arrived home about 5.45. We put our son to bed at 7pm and had a bath. Had my post bath relax on rocking chair reading birth stories (this was my habitual post bath/shower routine as well as massaging bio oil into bump, really relaxed me!).

At 7.41 I started recording on Freya. The contractions were about 5/6 mins apart and I was breathing through them while on birth ball. It told me a few times that it was established labour but I didn’t quite believe it and I was determined to stay at home as long as possible. Cannot believe how amazing up breathing was in helping me! I asked hubby to put tens machine on and ate some peanut butter on toast. Contractions started becoming a little closer together.

At 9.15 I needed the toilet and my waters went as well as bloody show. Contractions completely ramped up - I couldn’t get off the toilet/stand up. At about 9.30 I managed to shout to hubby what happened.

I called the labour ward and was told birthing centre was shut due to staffing. This was pretty disappointing at the time as I was convinced I still had lots of labouring to go. Told to come in (due to GBS+ needed to as soon as waters broke anyway). Mother in law called to come round to look after son.

On the drive to the hospital I could feel every brake/bump and really struggled to stay sat in the seat. The hospital is about a 25 minute drive away.

When we arrived I struggled to walk more than a few metres between contractions. Finally made it to maternity unit holding/squeezing hubbys hand. Sent straight in to have baby checked - struggled to lay down due to contractions. Informed I was 9cm and wheeled straight to delivery on a chair. Started feeling the need to push. (Things get a bit hazy here). Stood hunched over bed - did a massive poo (and couldn’t stop apologising 😂). On all fours on the bed, now using gas and air.

At some point asked to flip onto my back as they wanted to put monitor on baby’s head - baby’s heart rate was dropping due to speed of labour - this did actually feel better. They did coach me through pushing, but with the contractions and telling me to follow what my body was doing, so it felt right.

Baby born at 10.51 (about 80 mins from waters breaking at home). He had pooed everywhere on delivery (some in my waters too) and all over me! He cried as soon as he arrived and placed straight onto my chest (I was still wearing dress I arrived in and bra which wasn’t ideal!) He had quite a short cord but delayed cord clamping done and husband cut the cord.

I was given the Injection for the placenta - took 10-15 mins to come out. At this point we realised we had left all the bags in the car, including my hubby’s phone. Still managed to get some lovely photos on my phone that was in my dress pocket luckily.

Had a tear (probably due to speed!), slightly awkward as it was causing a bit of blood loss. However I felt fine, and used this time to get dress off, proper skin to skin and focusing on getting him on the boob! Stitches all done, managed to finally get him on boob which is something I was desperate for (not being successful early on with my first). He was on for a good hour - they left us be to do paperwork and got tea and toast.

It was very quiet which meant we were able to stay in delivery room until about 4 then moved to ward. Was even able to have a shower in this time which I never would have managed last time. This felt amazing considering how much the baby had pooed on me! By this time he had been on both boobs for a good 45-60 mins each side and was happy sleeping. Hubby had to go home as ward hours were 8-8, finally bought the bags in with all my things I had packed meticulously for a long labour and never ended up needing (although definitely enjoyed the snacks after labour too!).

Because I was Group B Strep+ I was supposed to have had antibiotics during labour which never happened with it being so speedy. So instead they kept us in for 24 hours (slightly less actually!) and kept taking baby’s temp to ensure he was all good. We got discharged at around 3/4pm the day after delivery which was so much shorter than first time round and it was lovely to get home and for my other son to meet his new baby brother.

The PBC course really helped to reduce my fear of labour, I cannot believe how far I got with the up breathing and what a difference that made for me. BRAIN also instilled into me that it’s okay to ask questions from midwives and doctors without it seeming rude.