Positive birth stories

Belated congratulations, this is amazing!

Edited to say - read your update and congratulations!

My waters went at 5pm exactly, went straight to the hospital and got there at 5.10pm — baby was born at 5.20pm. My hospital notes, which I recently found, said I was in labour for 3 minutes 😂.

Luckily, someone was with me when my waters went otherwise I would have had the baby in the garden!

I had my hair blow dried and went shopping before my 40 week check up. Went in and they wouldn’t let me out again. I had my baby the next morning at 8am (took about 30minutes once I started) I was back home by 3pm and my blow dried hair was still looking great🤣 There is a photo of me at home that day and I honestly looked well. (Wish I was like that now) Good luck

2 very quicks births here.
Two hours, then one hour. Both in birthing pool.
All the best!

I've had 3 wonderful births that have given me 4 children.

The first 2 births were on my local birthing centre which was alongside the hospital labour ward. These two births were very similar. In hospital for 8 hours before babies were born, both born in the birthing pool. Only used gas and air (more in the second labour as it made me sick in the first). I did have a 2nd degree tear in my first, and a 1st degree in my 2nd but neither caused any issues and I declined stitches for the 1st degree. I was able to go home and settle really quickly afterwards and just felt elated that my body had done it. For me, the reward of the vaginal births were clear.

With my 3rd pregnancy, I was carrying twins. Instantly considered high risk. Seeing consultants who were pushing for a cesarean. Constant appointments, scans and checks. It caused a great deal of anxiety. I was signed off work really early (29 weeks). Then, I had to be retested for GD and tested positive for it at 33 weeks. The turning point was speaking with the consultant midwife who fully supported my birth preferences. I realised I held the control in the decision-making, and everyone else's input was just advice. Ended up going into spontaneous labour at 35+1. Got to the hospital, and 25 minutes later, baby A was out. No time for any checks or for them to attach the hideous continuous monitors that I didn't want. There were lots of people in the room faffing around because of how quickly it all happened and because of it being twins. One consultant was trying to push me to accept pitocin right after baby A came out to rush baby Bs birth. He also tried forcing me to have an ECV because baby B was breech. I'm so glad I stood my ground because 18 minutes later, Baby B was born breech. There was no tearing and no complications. The placentas fused together and came out as one. Birth weights were 5lb 8 and 5lb 1. Baby B did get taken to NICU as a precaution as she retained some mucus and they said its common in breech babies. This all happened Christmas eve last year. I missed Christmas day with my other children, but all 3 of us were home boxing day.

Right throughout that 3rd pregnancy I felt like the odds were against me to have another positive experience. I was so wrong. I will say sometimes birth can be unpredictable and out of your control but the majority of the time, control can be maintained in a vaginal delivery so long as interventions are kept at bay. I believe hospitals have become intervention heavy which has caused high rates of birth trauma, emergency cesareans, and a general fear of birth. Always question 'what will happen if I decline for now?'.

Really think about what scenarios you would be most comfortable with. I dislike hospital settings and the thought of being in theatre for a cesarean terrified me and I would have requested GA instead of an epidural. Yes it would have been more risky but the trauma from being in a theatre room was not worth it for me. You have to work out where your comfort zone is and manifest. Keep on mind wild things can happen and some things are an emergency but if handled with sensitivity to your preferences it can still be magical. Congratulations and please keep us updated xx

Was it 20 mins*

Wow, 20 minute labour? Did you make it to hospital in time? Was it 20cm from beginning of contractions to delivery of baby?

@Walkinthesun hope things are going well! X

How exciting! Good luck!!

@DRMK79 I don’t think so. If you get anxious and upset by negative birth videos, take all the steps you can to avoid them. My births were positive enough but I didn’t surround myself with crap off the internet! Dont watch it. You are not forced to. I’m totally positive about birth. Unfortunately you seem to be unable to filter out rubbish and videos you should not watch. You don’t have a click on a pop up. Be a responsible adult and look after yourself. Then birth is positive.

This is meant to be about positive birth stories and you're actually being quite negative and condescending. You're completely missing the point and lack understanding.

@DRMK79 Buy a recipe book? Go cold turkey? Don’t look at social media for anything. It’s really not that difficult!

My second birth was absolutely brilliant.
I was given a sweep at 37 weeks (for medical reasons) and after lengthy consultant appointments I refused any other form of induction.

Waters went at 4.30 in bed, contractions started at 5am, was in hospital at 6am and baby was born at 8.30am in the pool. Which was everything I wanted! Just gas and air and no stitches.

I was initially dead set against vaginal delivery after my first so it is a very positive birth story to me!

The after pains though, didn't like those much.

I read your updates, baby will be coming on her way soon enough and I know the end feels like it just goes on forever especially when your uncomfortable and anxious when it's going to happen. The main thing is to stay informed, you can ask whatever questions you like and you do not have to agree to something if your happy about it (unless it's life critical), the more informed you are the more you can focus on your body and your baby.

Good luck and i hope she gets a wiggle on for you.

1- 16 hours, induction, forceps, episiotomy. Not great but worse stories out there
2- about 4 hours 2 pushes, only just made to hospital in time
3 - 3 hours, 3 pushes and half an hour after getting to hospital

worst part was 2 and 3 being told to stay home longer. I’m really glad I ignored them and went in!

I quite like birth tbh, have considered surrogacy because it’s such a powerful high but have decided it’s not for me. I’m quite sad to know I’ll never go through that process again as our family is complete !

this website also has lots of stories that I have found useful. thepositivebirthcompany.com/blog?srsltid=AfmBOoryp8y3hmcZsm1ig5Ppb2ZURMRW9BeU8UQ2hjbhdX19s5fl1J3R

I’m not sure if it’s the case on instagram and facebook, but on TikTok it’s possible to block certain words so you get less videos about those topics.

Like literally I'll be watching a video of a Shepard's pie recipe and then the next one will just be like a baby in hospital! The facebook algorithm is insane! Best thing to do is to immediately stop watching, press the three little dots in the corner and press the not intereted button. Facebook eventually gets the message and stops showing those videos.

Absolutely the only one kissing my babies face is me. I don't mind if people kiss her on the back of the head but never the face. Luckily my family and friends never do it anyways I've never had to say anything. Hopefully yours will be the same.

There's so many scary things out there now just got to try and not focus on them. Try to focus on the lovely things like the fact you're going to have a gorgeous new baby to snuggle! 🥰 buy some more baby clothes, focus on the nursery. That definitely helped me calm. Also you've had a baby before! You're not going in blind I had no clue what to expect.

You're sounding a tad harsh there. I don't get upset about them but they make me anxious. It's also not that I look for them on purpose. I'll literally just be looking through my reels at recipes and DIY and they just pop up.