Birth story - Paisley and baby A

Last year I was admitted to hospital with bilateral pneumonia and things were looking pretty grim. At some points I wasn't sure I was going to get better. Thankfully, due to the amazing care I received, I did get better and was eventually able to leave the hospital to recover at home. A few months later, I found out I was pregnant.

Whilst I was in hospital with pneumonia, I was out of it most of the time and felt like I wasn’t able to control the situation or how I was feeling - so when I found out I was pregnant it made me really want to have a positive labour, especially considering baby was due around a year after I was admitted to hospital unwell.

I was due to be induced on the 13th October and so agreed to a sweep on the 9th as this was my preference to see if it would help me go into labour naturally.

The evening of my sweep I lost my plug and started to get some twinges but nothing too unmanageable. On Friday the 11th I woke up from an afternoon nap with with quite an intense wave and thought it could be starting so let my mum and mother in law know who were staying with myself and my partner as we live in Malta so they’d come for the arrival of the baby!

I was using the Freya app religiously and by 2AM the waves were coming every 3 minutes and the intensity was getting stronger so we went to the hospital. I was checked and to my frustration was only 2cm dilated. As I was due to be induced the next day I was given the option to stay till 8am to see if I had progressed, I stayed but was still only 2cm. The midwife advised it could be a few days before things really get going as it was my first baby. The doctors would have preferred to keep me in to be induced but as my waters hadn’t broken and there were no concerns, I made the decision that I would like to leave and go home instead.

I’m so glad I made that decision and stuck with my instincts. I used the Freya app in the taxi back home, continued to use it whilst I bounced on my ball and had a bath to help with the pain. It was lovely to be home in my space and have my partner, mum and mother in law around on hand. Although I was in pain, I tried to focus on the Freya app, relax and breathe.

I went back to hospital at 5:45pm that afternoon after the waves were getting the most intense they’d been and the Freya app had been advising me to go for a while. I was checked and was now 4cm, hallelujah!

I was told baby’s head needed to come down a bit more and that my waters needed to break. I was given the option of having them broken but I asked for a bit more time, so the midwives said they’d leave me to it for 4 hours then we’d reassess the situation. I kept breathing with the Freya app. Due to having pneumonia previously and having a weak chest, I needed to be monitored and have a drip as well as a nebuliser but I was still able to bounce on the ball and move around.

I asked for some pain relief as I hadn’t had any yet and was getting quite uncomfortable. The gas and air was brought in and I tried to have a bath, all of a sudden the waves changed and the intensity was very different and ALOT stronger. I believed this to be the transition stage and told my partner to get the midwife.

I was checked and was now 7cm at 19:50. I knew I still had some way to go but despite this my body felt like it needed to push. I felt the baby’s head come further down and all of a sudden felt an even stronger urge to push. I told the midwife who came over to check me again. She asked my partner to pull the emergency lever and then as the other midwives came in, my baby was born and placed on my chest! My body completely took over and birthed my baby 15 minutes after being checked and told I was at 7cm!

Baby A was born at 20:05pm on the 12th October. Exactly a year to the date that I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. My birth experience I struggle to put into words because of how grateful I am that I was able to actually enjoy it! Yes it was intense, and at some points it was rather uncomfortable, but with the motivation and togetherness that the Positive birth company made me feel this 100% played a massive role in how positive my birth was. I wouldn’t have been able to feel as focused without the Freya app. I’ve now brought the postpartum pack as well as the resources I used whilst pregnant and can not thank you enough for providing me with the tools and reassurance to enable me to have a magical and empowering birth!

My friend is due to give birth soon and I am strangely jealous of her going through labour, mad! Thank you thank you thank you xxx