Sarah’s Positive Water Birth

Love reading positive birth stories? You’re in the right place! This birth story is with first time mum Sarah who had a water birth and used gas and air for pain relief to deliver her baby girl, Molly.

I am so grateful for this (Bump to Baby Chapter Facebook) group and the course, without it I would have panicked all day long but thankfully I managed to keep calm even with a few hiccups along the way. This is a pretty long read!!

I woke up at 8am the day after my due date, fully expecting baby to be at least another week as all I’ve heard is first babies are usually late. I felt a slight trickle down below and though I better get to the loo, as soon as I stood up there was no doubting it was my waters as I couldn’t stop it. I wouldn’t say it was a gush, but I had to shout my husband to get me a towel ? he was midway through a work meeting and oblivious to what was going on. 

I didn’t have any pains but called the hospital to let them know. They suggested I grab some breakfast and head in to get checked over and to make sure it was my waters. I was there for an hour or so as baby’s heart rate was fine but they wanted to check it while they were moving and baby was having none of it. I started getting mild period pains and was sent home, the midwife was lovely but said that if I didn’t go into labour that day I’d need to come back at 8am the next day to be induced. 
We got home at 11ish and I sent my husband to the shop to get tasty snacks and then we were going to take the dog for a walk. By the time he got back my mild period pains had turned into contractions and he helped me get set up with the tens machine. I tried to focus on my breathing to keep me calm, but the surges were not what I expected and I did start to panic. No matter what position I got into I felt really uncomfortable and out of control. I’m pretty sure at one point I was sitting on the loo back to front!!

I had originally planned to spend early labour watching Friends and Friday Night Dinner, eating snacks and walking the stairs to get things going, but my body had other ideas and contractions were coming pretty quickly. By 12:30 they were lasting 40 seconds to a minute and we’re about 4 or 5 minutes apart. I didn’t even manage to eat any of my snacks!! 

We called the hospital and they said wait until they were more frequent but lasting for longer. By 1.45pm they were lasting a minute and coming every 2-3 minutes. We called again and they said wait until they ramp up and then we could go in. By 2.30pm I was struggling to cope and called the hospital again. I knew my body was getting ready to have this baby and that I needed to get to the hospital. The midwife we spoke to was a little reluctant for us to head in and asked to speak to me rather than my husband. I was finding it pretty difficult to do anything but breath my way through the contractions and the midwife advised that I could head in but that contractions would probably slow and I would likely be sent home. She did ask if I felt like I was coping at home and I said no, so she said we could head in. 

I know she was trying to set my expectations and I’m glad she did, but woweeeee the contractions did not slow down. I had another 4 or 5 on the way from the car to the labour ward where I had to wait to be assessed. I was oblivious but my husband said that at one point the sister of the ward asked if anyone was seeing to the lady ‘crawling up the wall’ and they said they were to waiting to asses to, to which she replied ‘you don’t need to asses her, this lady is most definitely in labour’. Pretty quickly after this we were shown to one of the birth pool rooms on the midwife led unit. I think we arrived to hospital at about 3.15pm

I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and my breathing had gone out of the window. It was a pretty warm day but I felt so hot and pretty soon after getting into the room I was sick. I just knew my body was getting ready and I’d meet my baby soon. I was examined at 3.45pm and the midwife confirmed I was 4cm and we could stay in hospital! Wahoooo. I couldn’t believe it was already almost 4pm. The midwife confirmed that I could use the pool now, but that she would need to examine me again at 8pm to see how we were getting on. 

She started to fill the pool up and offered me the gas and air. I said no as I was in the zone breathing and I didn’t want to use it too soon. In hindsight I wish I had said yes! My husband went to grab the hospital bags out of the car while the pool was getting ready. The room was amazing, really dimly lit with pretty fairy lights and the radio on in the background. 
Once the pool was ready at about 4.15pm I headed straight in. The instant relief and calm I felt getting into the was was indescribable. My whole body relaxed and I felt so content knowing that we would be meeting our baby soon. I would recommend a water birth to everyone now as it made my experience so much better! 

The contractions were getting stronger, but I kept my focus, closed my eyes and counted my breathing. I did start using the gas and air at this point and that actually helped me focus on the breathing even more, however I’m not entirely sure that it was helping with any pain as I didn’t not get the woozy drunk feeling everyone tells you about. 

The midwives were amazing and everyone was so calm. They were talking my husband through everything and giving me words of encouragement every now and again but they understood I just wanted to get in the zone and breath my baby out. 
I definitely remember the transition stage! My body took over and I remember looking at the midwife and saying ‘I can’t do this, my bones are too close together so baby can’t come out and I need some pain relief’ ???? she reassured me that baby would be here really soon and that I was definitely able to do this. 

I moved around the pool at this point and had hold of my poor husbands thumbs. It was about 5.45pm when the midwife said that if I felt that I needed to push I could. I felt so empowered at this point. It was difficult and I can only describe it as trying to poop a watermelon, but I knew my body could do it. The midwives and my husband at this point were amazing, keeping me calm and giving gentle words of encouragement. I could definitely feel the ring of fire! Wow. But I knew that soon my baby would be here. At this point the midwife said she could see baby had lots of hair and suggested I feel it. Just touching my baby’s head was the motivation I needed to push and get them here. 

At 18:36 our gorgeous Molly arrived into the world ❤️ my husband caught her and brought her out of the water and her big eyes looked straight at me. The feeling is just incredible. 

I had a really short cord so I had to stand up to keep her head out of the water. We wanted to have delayed cord clamping and managed it for a few minutes, but my legs were like jelly and it was quite hard for them to clamp it. My husband cut the cord and had skin to skin while I got out of the pool to deliver the placenta. At this point we realised that we haven’t even checked if baby was a boy or a girl ? my husband had a quick look and confirmed that we had a Molly Elizabeth!

I had the injection to help deliver my placenta and I’m really glad I did, as the midwife was helping the cord snapped, which caused a bit of commotion as it was already short. The senior midwife came in to give a helping hand and confirmed that my placenta was still a bit attached. Everyone was so calm and talking me through everything, I continued with my breathing and managed to keep calm. They emptied my bladder with a catheter as they though this might help and a short while later my placenta was delivered. I was having skin to skin and feeding Molly the whole time this was happening. 

I had a couple of grazes which were stitched, which did take longer than I expected but at this point I was high on life staring at my baby girl! The midwifes went away to sort out the paperwork and left us to have some family time. It was so magical cuddling our baby and calling our parents to tell them the news. A short time later the midwives confirmed that as everything had pretty much gone to plan we could go home. So 6 hours after our baby girl made her way into the world we walked out of the hospital as a family of three ???

#positivebirthstory

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.