Emily’s Positive Birth; Covid Positive in Pregnancy
This positive birth story is about Emily and the arrival of her first baby. Emily navigated overcoming anxiety in pregnancy, being consultant-led for the first 20 weeks, and also being Covid positive during pregnancy. She gave birth to her surprise baby boy in water using gas&air for pain relief.
My husband and I found out we were expecting after 6 months of trying. We were absolutely over the moon! Very soon after though, the nerves kicked in about what could possibly go wrong – miscarriage etc. I spent weeks overthinking and worrying. To the point where I avoided looking at any ‘baby’ related through fear I’d ‘jinx’ it. It all felt too good to be true!
Early Pregnancy Scans
I booked a private scan for 6 weeks and 8 weeks to check everything was ok and that baby was growing nicely. At my 88-week booking appointment, my lovely midwife gave me the pep talk I desperately needed. She told me to calm down and let go of what I can’t control. From then on, I really tried to stop worrying and start enjoying it all! It was also at this point that I signed up to The Bump to Baby Chapter as I’d followed Beth for a while and knew I wanted to give hypnobirthing a go.
We had another private scan at 11 weeks to get some nice scan pics to surprise our close family with for our announcement. We then told everyone else at 13 weeks after our NHS 12-week scan.
Consultant Led
Up until 20 weeks I was Consultant Led due to previous operations I’d had but was then signed off from the pre-term clinic. I remained low risk for the rest of my pregnancy. I had lots of the usual pregnancy symptoms; insomnia, tiredness, sickness in the early days etc. But honestly, it was the most amazing pregnancy. Nothing was really that bad. I just loved experiencing it all, even the sickness! The second & third trimester flew.
I’d always thought I’d love being pregnant and it turns out, it was better than I could have ever imagined. I absolutely adored it!
Third Trimester Excitement
Despite the ongoing pandemic, I wanted to enjoy my pregnancy & get out as much as possible before baby arrived. We kept busy with social events. Enjoyed holidays abroad & at 7 months pregnant, we got married and flew to New York for a very active mini-moon!
I took my maternity leave at 37+2 as I didn’t want to be sitting around at home with nothing to do for weeks before baby arrived. Especially if I went overdue, which I was convinced I would do being my first baby.
Covid Positive Pregnancy
That same day I finished work, I tested positive for covid and started feeling quite unwell. The tiredness kicked in and the constant tensing of my bump from all the coughing made my bump really sore. Luckily it only lasted a few days and I was back to my normal self by the end of the week.
At 38+2 I lost my plug and then that same afternoon, managed to have a little fall down the stairs whilst tidying. Nesting is real at this stage!! Luckily it wasn’t a bad fall but the hospital called me in to be monitored anyway & we were put on a Covid Labour Ward as my isolation hadn’t ended. The midwives were amazing with us and after some monitoring, they could see baby was happy & unharmed – thankfully – so we could go home. I spent the next couple of days resting and bouncing on my ball. Trying to get baby’s head to engage. Then once isolation had finished, we started going on walks outdoors.
Labour Starting
Sunday 6th Feb around 3:30am at 39 weeks exactly, I woke with cramps. Much like the Braxton Hicks I’d been feeling for the past few weeks. I ended up getting up and going downstairs at 4am to bounce on my ball as they were quite uncomfortable lying down. Being upright felt much more comfortable.
The contractions were mild and irregular all day. Coming every 5 – 30 minutes and lasting anywhere from 20 – 35 seconds long. I’d learned from the course to stay as active as possible during early labour so we went for a couple of walks. I bounced on my ball and pottered around the house making sure everything was ready. The only time I wasn’t active was for a short half an hour nap in the afternoon when my contractions had slowed. As soon as I was awake, I was back on my ball though trying to get things going again.
By 9pm, my husband and I decided to go up to bed & get some sleep just in case things did progress in the night. I couldn’t get comfy laying down so by 9:30pm, I decided to go downstairs again and get back on my ball. Sure enough, things were progressing. By 10pm I started to think that this could actually be labour as my contractions became more regular, coming every 5-7 minutes and lasting around 40 seconds.
Contractions Getting Stronger
At 11pm, the contractions were getting stronger so I ran a bath and spent an hour in there. By the time I got out, shortly after midnight, they were coming every 3-4 minutes and were much stronger. Despite things ramping up, I still felt in control & completely capable of getting through each contraction on my own without any help. I really wanted to stay at home for as long as possible. I was in the zone and actually enjoying it and worried a different setting would slow things down.
By 1am, I decided to wake my husband so he could get the bags in the car ready to go. I spent the 10 minutes he took to get ready lent over the bed breathing through the contractions. Once he was ready, he helped me get dressed and get downstairs again.
Heading to Hospital
I called the labour line and I think they thought I was still a little too calm to be in active labour. As we live 45 minutes from the hospital and my contractions were close together, they said to come in to be checked. After we hung up, I said to my husband we should wait a bit longer before we leave as I was a little worried I would still be in early labour and would be sent home when we got there. I felt like I was still managing well at home with just my ball. He convinced me we should go regardless as it wouldn’t matter if we were sent home again. (Looking back, I was very clearly in active labour but was convincing myself otherwise!)
We got to the hospital and by the time I’d stopped to breathe through each contraction on the way in. It was almost 3am. We were shown through to the birth centre where the midwife examined me straight away.
Much to all of our surprise, I was actually 8-9cm dilated with my waters ready to go! The midwife actually had to check twice and said she thought I had to be in early labour as I was so calm & quiet coming in. I remember me and my husband just looking at each other in complete shock and laughing! I felt so proud of myself for getting to that stage at home with no pain relief. Suddenly it all became very real – we were actually going to meet our baby today!
Setting the Scene
On my birthing plan, I wanted a water birth with minimal intervention or drugs. Ultimately, I was open to anything if I felt I needed it in the moment, but so far so good. It was all going to plan! My midwife started preparing the pool, put on calming music and dimmed the lights.
As soon as I got into the pool I felt instant relief. The contractions felt much more manageable again. The midwife offered me gas & air and in all honesty, I definitely didn’t need it for the first half-hour or so. The relief from the bath was great on its own but I wanted to give the gas & air a go to see what it was like! I was still on a complete high from the news of being 8-9cm that with a couple of puffs of the gas & air, I was chatting & giggling away to the midwife & my husband about complete nonsense between contractions. It made me feel tipsy and lightheaded and I was loving it!
The Pushing Stage
After an hour in the pool, things were becoming much more uncomfortable again. My body started to push so the midwife told me to just go with it. The pushing stage was hard, so much harder than the labour up until this point. The intense pressure was a feeling I’m not sure I’ll forget in a while! I suddenly felt out of control and not sure I’d be able to cope with the rest of the labour but my midwife encouraged me to use my gas & air and talked me through each contraction which helped me refocus & regain a bit of control.
Soon after, my waters burst which was a huge relief. Not long after that, I had a real wobble. I panicked that I couldn’t do it anymore and practically begged for pain relief. I recognised this from the course as the transition and kept going with the gas & air which felt like it was doing absolutely nothing anymore! Not long after that, our baby’s head was born and with the next contraction, what felt like a very long 2 minutes later at 5:19am, HE arrived. We didn’t know what we were having so the midwife lifted him out of the water for us to see.
My husband cried ‘we have a boy!’ “
It was honestly the best moment of my life. I’ll never forget that feeling.
Skin to Skin with Mum and Dad
After just 2 minutes of skin-to-skin in the pool, our baby boy was handed to my husband so I could get out of the pool to deliver the placenta. I had 2 small grazes that needed a stitch too. I remember being told by almost everyone that the second baby is handed to you, you forget the pain. That was certainly true for those first 2 minutes in the pool.
Once he was passed to my husband and I climbed out of the pool to do the rest of the bed. The Adrenalin kicked in and I started to really shake and felt sick from the gas & air. It didn’t last long though. I was then given some pain killers and an anti-sickness injection before joining my husband and our beautiful baby boy in the other room.
Reflecting on Birth
Just 2 hours after arriving at hospital, our baby was born! And 7hrs later, we were discharged! On my hospital notes, it says my active labour was under 2 hours. I actually think it was likely longer than this as I did most of it at home. Regardless, it was still very fast for a first-time labour and very manageable. I really believe that being so active during my pregnancy, especially towards the end, played a big part in getting my baby into the optimum position & preparing my body for labour.
I learned so much from this hypnobirthing course. Keep an open mind that anything could happen. I kept a positive attitude towards labour and low and behold – I got my water birth after all!
Thank you Beth for helping me achieve such a positive birth experience!
