Positive Birth Experiences

[Baby1onboard11]

I'm due my first baby in 6 weeks and was hoping someone might have a positive birth experience to share?

I'm under no illusion that it'll be a walk in the park but i've heard enough horror stories to last a lifetime and would love to hear from those who've had a really positive birthing experience.

I am planning a home birth and taking part in hypnobirthing

Thank you for sharing

With my first - waters went in a flood at midnight. Contractions started 2 hours later - 4 in t10 from the start but all manageable with walking and distraction techniques. Tens stopped being of help just before 6 and the birth centre told my husband to fetch me in as they were quiet. Turned out it was transition. Hopped in the pool in the birth centre and they lit some lovely oils in a burner and lights were right down. DD was born after about thirty mins of pushing, straight onto my chest. Would have done it all over again immediately. We spent a lovely few hours in the postnatal room learning about feeding and then went home that eve and had a lovely dinner while staring in awe at the baby in the muses basket!

My memories of DDs birth are all positive. Laboured at home for about 4 hours, then had a show and everything seemed to step up a gear, so went to the hospital.

Was examined by the midwife and was 9cm

Was given gas and air and spent the next couple of hours going on about how floaty I felt

DD was born about 3 hours after getting to the hospital. Had an episiotomy but didn't feel a thing at the time and the recovery was straight forward.

DH was amazing, completely unfazed by it all.

I remember people seeming to delight in telling me horror stories too but not all births are like that!

Ive got 2 children and both my labours were fine.

First one 9 hours from first bit of spotting to baby. Had meptid injection.

Second one waters went at 9pm but labour didn't start until 3pm. No real pain inbetween. baby born with gas and air at 5am.

Its not all horror stories. It is hard work (pushing them out you get tired!) and Ive had to had stitches both times.

That should be 3am, so only 2 hours from first pain to baby!

2 DDs both born with just gas and air and no stitches. 1st was longer, but both totally manageable.....

Mine was positive.
Waters went at 9.30am, I rang the hospital as I wasn’t having any contractions. They told me to come in, confirmed it was my waters, gave me a sweep and sent me home, with instructions to ring the labour ward at 8.30am the following morning as I was booked in for induction. Was told to do what I could to get labour started. They said the induction suite already had 11 people booked in for induction with 12 induction beds so it was going to be a busy day!
Contractions started around 1.45pm. DH Nan was in a different hospital and we had already planned to visit so went ahead with that. My waters were still going so I had how many pads on and wore black leggings so you couldn’t see. My waters leaked on the floor in his nans hospital room, embarassing or what! Thankfully only DH and MIL noticed.
Anyway contractions ramped up around 5pm so I got in the bath. Got out around 7.30pm as was having 4 contractions in 10 mins, that was when the hospital told me to ring them. Got to the MLU at the hospital around 8pm. Had an examination, I was still only 2-3cm which I had been at 11am, that was disheartening!! They were quiet though so allowed me to stay. They couldn’t commence full labour care until I was 4cm though so all I could do was have a bath and paracetamol
I started vomiting around 1am due to the pain. Had another examination around 2am and I was 4cm yippee! I said I wanted to labour in the pool which was in a different room so midwife went to start running it. They then had an emergency to deal with so I didn’t end up moving rooms till around 4pm when I was also given gas and air. Ended up having a catheter fitted around 6am as I couldn’t wee!
Next examination was at 6.45am, I remember thinking if I’m not 10cm I’m demanding to go on the delivery suite for an epidural!! I was 10cm though so all good to go.
Took nearly 4 hours of pushing though, DD wasn’t born until 10.29am. Suffered a second degree tear but no other issues, I didn’t even realise. Just had to have one stitch.
It sounds a long time but you lose all concept of time, I had to send off for my notes so I knew what happened when!

I loved having my first. Laboured at home until the contractions were strong, 8cm by the time I got to hospital, went in the water straightaway once admitted, baby out 4 hours later. Only pain relief I used was TENS, no tears or other issues. I was totally euphoric afterwards and felt like an unstoppable warrior goddess. It was awesome. Also the food I ate afterwards tasted like the nectar of heaven.

I had a lot of complications with my first including pre-eclampsia, long induction and forceps delivery. It's probably not what anyone would have hoped for but I found it amazingly positive. Kind reassuring staff who explained everything. I was given choices along the way. And I got to meet my beautiful DS1 who was perfect.

The whole thing took 7.5 hours from waters going to welcoming our daughter.
The really nice part was the unexpected moment when her head was out, and the midwife sat back on her heels and said "you deliver her now" and so I did! This was completely unplanned and was a lovely thing to do

Oh, and I've only ever had a TENS machine for pain relief even with my 2nd who was a 10 pounder

I had backache and period type pains; sat on my birthing ball at home for 3 hours - had a bath - pain got a bit worse so went to hospital.

Was checked over and told they could see baby's head and to start pushing - 12 minutes from arriving at the hospital dd was here - all in 4 hours of labour.
Would have preferred to have some gas & air in all honesty! Haha
It wasn't horrific; painful yes, tiring yes ... would I do it again? Yes!

I think people like to tell the horror stories - I heard loads of them before I gave birth! Ha

Good luck op

Stay upright and walk around for as long as you possibly can. I did this with DS2 and he was out in 2 pushes (water birth - jumped in at last possible minute!).

DS1 was a bit more complicated, in all honesty. Just have a plan but be flexible.

I had a fantastic birth experience, totally unexpected as I was booked in for a CS. He came two weeks early! I had what I thought was BHs from 8pm. By about 2am they were 5-8 minutes apart so we phoned the hospital and they said to go in. I was 7cm on arrival, 8 by the time the reg arrived regarding the CS - at that point decided to go ahead with vaginal birth. Gas and air, no other pain relief. The contractions were yes painful but it was manageable and only for a couple of minutes, I felt completely normal in between them. He was born at 8am, no intervention or stitches required. Due to expecting CS I hadn't done any birth prep, no NCT, no stretching, no hypnowhatsit, and I was absolutely fine - I just got in the zone and focussed. Also had an incredible midwife. She just guided me through the whole thing perfectly.

Re: horror stories, yes people love to tell them! I rarely share this with anyone incase it comes across as smug or upsets someone who had a bad experience.

I had a brilliant first birth! It was better then I expected. I thought it would be way worse. I’m not saying it was easy but I felt empowered and amazing afterwards.
I had on/off contractions for three nights before labour really kicked off. That sucked. They’d start at midnight or and just when I was about to wake DP (around 5am), they’d stop. After the 3rd night I had my midwife appointment and had a sweep. Contractions properly started a couple hours later. I laboured at home with my TENS machine for about 9 hours.
I went to the hospital and was 3cm, so they admitted me after a bit of monitoring (borderline high blood pressure). I was allowed into the MLU. Between 11pm and 3am I went from 3cm to 10cm. I actually asked for pethidine at 3am (mainly because I assumed I’d be at it for hours and was knackered from the lack of sleep) and then suddenly felt the need to push while the midwife was away.
Unfortunately at this point we realised DD was back to back. My midwife was amazing and had me pushing in loads of different positions. Eventually DD turned, after 2 hours of pushing. She was born minutes later with a small tear. Stitching wasn’t too painful but it was a bit difficult for the midwives (tore up the way), so the consultant was called in.
I felt like superwoman afterwards! I’m due again in a little over 3 weeks!

I gave birth 3 weeks ago and had a really positive experience. My waters broke at 7am but I had no pain or contractions. At 4pm I had period type dull pain in my lower belly but didn’t realise they were contractions. At DH’s insistence I timed them and they were less than 2 mins apart after 30mins.

I put my TENS machine on and called the midwifery unit and they told me to come in. I live about 15mins from the hospital so we arrived, I walked from the car park feeling dull back and belly pain that was starting to make me uncomfortable. By time we got to the unit the pains were a bit stronger and I felt lots of pressure.

The midwife examined me and I was 7cm dilated! They filled the birth pool and I started pushing as soon as I got in. Just over 2 hours later I was holding my little boy. I had a 2nd degree tear but didn’t feel myself tear at all. To be honest the stitches being done hurt more than the birth but they did give me gas and air!

I did hypnobirthing and it really helped me. The little mantras repeated in my head as I was pushing and made me feel focused, calm and strong.

It was such an empowering, amazing feeling. I was expecting to be in labor for hours and for the pain to be terrible but it wasn’t that way at all. I wish I hadn’t wasted the start of my maternity leave worrying about it!

I always think that birth stories are like customer reviews. Those who have a good experience don’t mention it and those who have a negative one tell all their friends.

Best of luck 💐

It really isn't that bad. And I am a WUSS.

Contractions started at 1am, was pretty full on from the get go so went in at 2am, got into the pool with the oils and the radio on with the gas and air. DD was born back to back at 11.17am. I'm told that back to back labours are hard. It was no picnic but I'm 30 weeks pregnant with baby number 2 so it can't have been so bad.

I'd 100% rather do labour than pregnancy. Pregnancy does not agree with me.

Don't listen to horror stories, they'll only scare you.

Waters broke 4am. Got to hospital at 4.30, had baby 6..35am. No enema as too far on (thankfully), small episiotomy which was stitched. Easy peasy.

My mother in law's next door neighbour had one in an hour and a half, start to finish.

I didn’t realise I was in labour... I had back pain in the evening, kept getting up to go to the loo overnight, and went into work the next morning. Was fairly uncomfortable by the time I got there - and thought I probably had a UTI. Went home, it didn’t get any better, so midwife advised the day unit at the hospital for a urine test. Got there at 12, was examined and I was 7cm. Straight in the birthing pool, and he was born at 2:45, back-to-back, just on gas and air. The pushing was definitely hard - but manageable! - and I had no tears.

I had ds in May. I look back on it as a positive birth and can't believe how quickly all the pain was over! I never really had an early labour or any indicator that labour was on it's way; so my
contractions started fairly strong and frequent at around 2:30am, they were coming less than five minutes apart. I left for the hospital around 3:30am and arrived at the hospital 4:15ish, was almost 5cm dilated. I really wanted to have a natural birth, but I did end up having gas & air and the lowest dose pethidine around 6am.
It's kind of a blur but my waters broke shortly before I started pushing around 8:40 - ds was born at 9:16am and came straight to me. I didn't tear so no experience with stitches. Honestly I wish I hadn't had the pethidine, the pain is hard but it's manageable. Especially with the right breathing techniques.

Period type pains for an hour or so whilst laying in bed listening to my hypnobirthing cd. Got up to go for a wee and when I got back into bed I had a small gush of water, I just knew it was the start. Pottered around all excited for an hour, first contraction hit at 2am an hour after my waters started leaking. Contractions were immediately 2-3 mins apart, got to the hospital around 3, waited an hour in labour ward reception as the receptionist didn't believe I was in established labour up to the birthing unit around 4ish, waters went like Niagara falls :)

Examined and told I was 5cm, got into the pool, within 90 mins I got the urge to push, after pushing for a while in the pool I felt too warm so got out and hugged a giant bean bag. DD arrived at 7.17am, so just over five hours after my first contraction, hypnobirthing breathing helped me massively as it kept me calm.

The midwives were amazing, it was such a calm and positive experience that I just couldn't believe it had gone so well :)

Every birth is just so different. I had a difficult one with DS1 so I won't go into detail there.
Second time around I cancelled my elcs and opted for a vbac. I found the pain really manageable, so much so I didn't realise I was in established labour! The whole thing lasted a couple of hours, I had really lovely midwives. I did have to have forceps right at the end but which I thought would have been awful but actually wasn't too bad. I just needed a local anaesthetic for the forceps and gas and air. It was an amazing feeling having ds2 delivered onto my chest and having skin to skin straight away and bf within the first hour. I stayed overnight because it was a vbac and went off home feeling great the next day.

Good luck OP and congratulations

I really enjoyed labour (and I say that as someone who ended up having an emergency C-section in the end). I felt calm and listened to throughout, I had pain relief when I asked for it but wasn’t pushed either way, and I had a fab student midwife who stayed with me almost the entire time. It was how I imagine it must feel to run a marathon - painful and exhausting but hard work, rather than ‘bad’ pain if that makes any sense? My favourite memory of labour is reciting lines from Alan partridge to my husband in between contractions and laughing hysterically at my own wit while high on gas and air

4.5 hours from first contraction to birth. Regular fast strong contractions that didn't get worse (high intensity but didn't get higher, if that makes sense?!?).
DS born 15 mins after arriving at hospital. Only had two puffs of gas and air!

Only downside was DH had to wait outside maternity with DD as no childcare, so he missed the birth, but he didn't have to wait long! Lovely midwife smuggled them both into the room afterwards so DH could meet DS and DD could eat all my toast

Good luck OP, hope it all goes well for you!

Thank you all so much for sharing your lovely birthing experiences! :-)

Good luck op! I fully intended to take every drug going but only had gas and air for 1.5hours. My labour was super fast. Stared at 7.30am, contractions 5 mins apart by 8.30, hospital at 10.30, baby out by 12pm. I had an episiotomy too.

I so t lie and say it wasn’t sore. The pain was all encompassing but I got through it and it was all very straight forward.