Kristie’s Positive Induction
Love reading positive birth stories, you’re in the right place…. This positive birth story is with Kristie and her surprise baby girl. Kristie was 2 weeks overdue and had an induction via pessary on the Consultant Led Unit. had a consultant led birth. Kristie had immediate skin-ti-skin which she describes as “magical”.
After 2 “failed” sweeps at 40+3 & 41weeks, I was booked in for my induction on April 19th. I tried EVERYTHING to avoid induction but baby was clearly far to comfy. My induction was pushed back to the following day due to a lack of beds and we weren’t called in until 6pm.
Arriving at the hospital my husband was allowed to stay with me in a private room whilst we waited to be checked prior to the pessary being inserted. After a VE (Vaginal Exemption) I was 2-3cm dilated so no need to be induced, I just had to wait for a room on the delivery suite for my waters to be broken. I asked of I could have Maternity Led Unit at this point and was told no due to the intervention. At 2.30am I really needed to go to the toilet and my waters went spontaneously ? I was advised to get some rest as they told me it would take a while before anything started happening…. contractions started coming thick and fast almost immediately (I’d like to put this down to the dates and raspberry leaf tea), I had to use the breathing techniques learned from the course to get through them.
By 5.30am I had to call for pain relief. I was hooked up to the CTG and baby’s heart rate kept dropping when on my left side but picked up again when on my right, the midwives did another VE and I was 6cm dilated! So off to to the delivery suite we went. The gas and air was heaven! The midwives were incredible, trying to honour as many of my birth preferences as possible, I was able to have the bed up to lean over the back, this helped so much to move my hips during contractions, they put the diffuser on (although I barely registered it) and wireless monitoring so I could move around if needed.
Baby’s heart rate kept dropping and I had to have the clip put on her head to monitor her more closely, which ended up with me on my back, by this point I can remember saying I didn’t care, I just wanted her out. I can vaguely remember hitting the transition phase but thinking about the course, knew this meant it wouldn’t be much longer until I held her in my arms and this gave me the strength to keep going.
The involuntary contractions are something else and so fascinating to watch… after 5 hours of active labour, a lot of support from my husband and the incredible team of midwives (plus the threat of a ventouse if I didn’t get the baby out with her heartrate dropping) baby Freyja was lifted up onto my chest for skin to skin. The feeling is just magical and it’s so true that you forget all the pain in that special moment.I had the injection to deliver my placenta due to the blood loss, but again the midwives honoured my request to wait as long as possible before giving me the injection. I ended up with a small 2nd degree tear which needed a couple of stitches, a labial graze and tear which also had to be stitched.
Although my birth wasn’t the incredible water birth I had envisioned, the course absolutely gave me the confidence to let go of what I couldn’t change and to go with the flow. I am very grateful that as many of my preferences were accommodated. For all those mamas to be who are told their babies are measuring big, please know that your body is built to birth, I didn’t measure big at any point in my pregnancy nor showed any signs of GD and I gave birth to a beautiful 11lb baby girl.
Trust your body and believe in yourselves and definitely practice your breathing alongside affirmations in the run up to baby’s EDD (estimated due date). And remember; You’ve got this! ❤❤❤
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.
