Grace’s Positive Water Birth; bleeding in early labour
Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with Grace who went into labour at 37 weeks. Grace experienced some bleeding early in labour. On advise of the maternity unit she had an ambulance called out to her and was taken to hospital. Grace worried at this point what this may mean for her birthing choices. She remained calm and utilised what she had learned The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course and was still able to have the water birth she had hoped for.
I was extremely lucky to have had the labour and birth I wanted, albeit quite a bit earlier and more unexpectedly than planned! I’m the type of person who likes to know everything about a situation. I like to read everything so I can be prepared. This is why I decided to purchase Beth’s course as it would give me all of the information I would need for all the situations that could arise. I have to say I am so glad I did!
Early Labour
In the early hours of Monday 20th Sept I woke up around 3am with a sore back, something I had experienced a lot during my pregnancy. In all honesty I actually thought it was trapped wind. I went to the bathroom stood in there for a little bit and tried to move around and stretch my back out. It eased and off I went back to bed. Then again at 6.30am, I woke with the same discomfort and again went to the bathroom. I had just had my baby shower that weekend and I was really tired and had been on my feet nearly all day Saturday so put it down to that.
At nearly 7am I decided to go for a swim (which I usually did a few times a week) as it always helped my back as soon as I got in the water. This time though I got in the water and I didn’t get the instant relief I usually do. It still didn’t cross my mind that I could be in labour. I was 37 weeks and everyone always says your first will be late so, at this point I carried in with my morning swim!
When I got home just before 9am I went to the toilet and saw I had lost my mucus plug. At this point I started to realise I was in labour and even though I knew losing your mucus plug could still mean I had days or even weeks before the baby would arrive. I just had a feeling that this baby was coming today!
Calling the Midwife
I called the DAU and she said, great, get on your ball, try to keep any contractions coming (as I still didn’t really register my back pain was contractions), however it could still be a little while. This is when I first started to use what I had learnt in the course. All I kept saying to my husband was “the baby can’t come now, we aren’t ready, everything is still in boxes, I haven’t even put all the baby shower gifts away!”
That was the week I was planning to organise the house. I had made my lists and had planned to unpack all the bottles, nappies, etc as well as talk my husband through my birth plan fully. Luckily I had packed our hospital bags at 35 weeks! I was also still working (working from home so I wasn’t starting my maternity until the week before my due date). So I called my manger who answered the call saying “are you okay, do you need to take a day?”. I think my response shocked her as much as the shock I was in, explaining I thought I was in labour but not sure how or when things will progress. I downloaded a contraction timer and set about timing my contractions while finishing up a couple of zoom meetings and sending some emails.
“This is when I started to worry and I thought that this would be all of my hopes and plans for labour out of the window and I would now be high risk, so I started to use all of the things I learnt and kept reminding myself of the course”
A change of plans; bleeding in early labour
At around 12 I was getting pains in my stomach as well as my back that were catching my breath. I was finding it hard to concentrate so I logged off and decided I needed to call the labour ward. They agreed I was probably in labour but if happy stay at home, run a bath and take some paracetamol. Once I got off the phone I felt a gush. I went to the toilet expecting to see my waters but saw a lot of bright red blood, something I was not expecting at all.
This did make me start to worry as I had not expected bleeding in early labour. I called the labour ward back who told me that if it was continuous I would need to call an ambulance but if it had stopped just to get my husband to drive me in. I went back to the toilet and the blood kept coming, so my husband called an ambulance. This is when I started to worry and I thought that this would be all of my hopes and plans for labour out of the window and I would now be high risk. I started to use all of the things I learnt and kept reminding myself of the course.
I got myself sat on the sofa, super chilled and calm and the ambulance arrived super fast. They were such lovely people and they couldn’t believe how relaxed and chilled out I was. I kept saying:
I am trying to be as relaxed as possible because I did not expect any of this to happen today…so I’m just going with it!”
The Hospital
We arrived at hospital and went into a delivery room. Honestly it made my heart sink as it was the opposite of what I had wanted. I saw the monitor ready for me to be strapped on and no water in sight! The midwife then asked to examine me, which I agreed to. She examined me as said “wow you are 10cm”…my actual words to her were “thank f#*k for that!”. I don’t know what I would have done if you had said anything else! Baby then had to be monitored for 30mins and my blood pressure checked. If both were okay I would be able to have the water birth I had wanted! Despite the bleeding in early labour. Yay! Baby was absolutely perfect. After some visualisation I managed to get a normal blood pressure reading. We just had to wait for the pool to fill up!
Using the Water
By this point I was standing and I could feel my body getting ready to push. The midwife said “if you feel the urge to push go for it”. Little did she know in my head I was thinking, ‘there is no way I’m pushing until I get in that water’. A short while later I got into the pool and it was the best feeling! I then decided to try the gas and air to take the edge off. To be honest the best thing was being able to bite down on this and regulate my breathing!
Harvey’s Arrival
In what seemed like no time at all, our beautiful baby boy was born at 3.54pm. We only arrived at hospital at 2.30pm! I then was able to have skin to skin immediately and had a physiological 3rd stage. We had to stay in for 12 hours for Harvey to be monitored as I didn’t know when my waters broke. In hindsight think they may have gone when I woke in the night but I couldn’t be sure or they may have gone at the swimming pool. We will never know.
“The whole experience was truly incredible, Beth’s course helped me prepare but also on the day when I was caught by surprise”
Reflecting on my labour
The whole experience was truly incredible. Beth’s course helped me prepare. On the day I was caught by surprise going into labour as well as the bleeding in early labour. I have to say it did scare me, however using the course helped me to manage this. If I had to change my birth plan at the time I felt I would have been able and well equipped to. I woke up that Monday morning and had the biggest surprise it was the best and we got to meet our baby boy a little early.
Click the link for more information about The Bump to Baby Chapter’s Hypnobirthing and Antenatal Online Course. Know what you can do to stack the odds in your favour for the birth that you want. Videos, checklists, audios & a support group all created by a midwife to get you feeling excited, prepared and confident for birth.
*If you experience any bleeding in labour or pregnancy, always call your maternity triage for advice.
