Forceps Birth Story: Lily

This forceps birth story is from first time mum Lily. Lily did The Birth Chapter and felt informed throughout her birth. Lily’s birth deviated from her original plan and she felt some trauma, which a birth debrief afterwards helped her to process. Love reading positive birth stories? You’re in the right place.

I wanted to share with you my positive birth story after a forceps delivery. I did The Bump to Baby Chapter course and honestly it helped me so much through my pregnancy and labour.

Getting ready for birth

What I loved about the course was the option to watch the videos whenever suited me and not get too overwhelmed with loads of information at once. I used EBRAN often and credit the course with making my birth a positive experience I can look back on with happiness.

I had a membrane sweep on my due date which was successful and I laboured for over 36 hours before giving birth to our first child, our wonderful son.

Early Labour

I made sure to keep fed, hydrated and active throughout the first night and day of my labour. I knew it was the early stages and kept my oxytocin level as high as possible while I laboured at home and even managed to go out to the shops with my mum!

Having a contraction in the middle of Dunelm is something I still laugh at!”

I tried to rest as much as possible and used breathing techniques and affirmations I had practised to get me through the early contractions. I had an examination nearly 24 hours into labour to discover I was only 2cm and I knew I wanted to stay home as long as possible before going back to hospital again.

The second night I laboured in my living room while my husband got some sleep. It was hard but I look back now fondly – I was so calm and had dim lights and my birthing ball to keep moving. I also used a TENS machine.

Heading to Hospital

My water broke (just a trickle!) and I rang the hospital as I knew it was time to go in. When I arrived I was 8cm dilated and I’d only had 2 paracetamol at home! I couldn’t believe it and I was so proud of what my body could do. We are told all the time about how painful and scary birth is. I’d expected the pain to be so much worse and tried to keep as calm and relaxed as possible with advice from your course and really felt it worked for me.

The midwife had made the room dark with fairy lights so it felt like a calm environment. I trusted my body and instincts and tried different birthing positions, remembering the advice from your course about the best positions to open my pelvis to help baby along.

Making Informed Choices; Forceps Birth

Unfortunately my contractions weren’t coming close enough together and so when I pushed baby moved back. I was exhausted by now and after an oxytocin drip didn’t help and we could see baby was getting in some distress. Forceps were recommended. I think the next part was more daunting for my husband than myself as staff came into the room and lights came on. With the knowledge I had from the course I knew what to expect with a forceps birth. The team in the room helped and guided me. Together we got the baby out safely. I nursed our baby boy while the afterbirth came and I had stitches.

Processing my Birth

I did experience some trauma in labour. Afterwards I was offered a debrief with a doctor to go through all my notes. It helped me feel in control of what happened and my husband was also present to discuss his feelings about the birth too. It was a really positive experience and has helped me come to terms with my labour and feel super proud of what my body and my baby did.

Thanks to you and your team for a brilliant course that I have recommended to other parents to be.