Want to hear some positive vaginal or natural birth experiences

[letssiq]

Hi everyone,

I am now 28 weeks pregnant and a first timer. I feel that since I entered third trimester, I came across that inevitable awareness that the childbirth experience, much feared by me, is just around the corner. I plan to have a vaginal birth, and if possible, a natural birth with no interventions. I have heard so many negative stories over the last month, so I was hoping to hear from you some positive vaginal/ natural birth experiences, especially from first time deliveries.

Have you looked at the Positive Birth Company? They are a hypnobirthing company and have a fantastic digital pack. You also get access to a private Facebook group where people post their positive birth stories - has been an absolute game changer for me (first time mum to be with 4 weeks to go)!

9lb 1/2 Oz with a 98 percentile head... Tiny grade 2 tear and a couple of stitches, had morphine and entonox.

Had to stay on post natal ward for 24 hours for observation as had a pre labour rupture of membranes, but was out walking the dog on day 2 within a few hours of being discharged.

Both of mine were positive births. 1st baby 8lb & a labial graze, no stitches. 2nd baby 9lb with an off the chart size head 2nd degree tear so had stitches.
Home within 8hours on both. Both were long labours & 1st was back to back, but still manageable. I had gas & air & pethidine on both. If I have a 3rd I'd have a home birth.
I know plenty of people who had fine births with minimal pain relief. You'll be fine!

You tend to find people with straightforward births tend not to share their stories so much, partly because there’s not much to tell but also to avoid upsetting people who had a harder time of it.

My 3 were all big babies (9lb plus) but we’re all quick and straightforward. My 3rd was lovely, I turned up with the birthing pool full and ready for me and 12 minutes later DC was born. Obviously it was painful! But it was honestly lovely.

9lb 1oz with only gas and air. Minor tear so a few stitches needed. Baby was born within half hour of getting to hospital so didn’t get the water birth I’d hoped for but it didn’t matter in the end.

I did hypnobirthing and whilst most of it went out of the window, the breathing techniques is what got me through. I would definitely say it was no where near as painful as I’d imagined, although that doesn’t mean it was pain free!

I was at a party two days before I gave birth, dancing until 1 in the morning. I believe it was keeping moving that helped.

DC1 was a home birth in a pool and was completely amazing. 6lb 7oz with only minimal grazing.
DC2 was a hospital birth due to meconium in my waters, also a very positive experience thanks to having the most amazing midwife who just let me crack on with it. 7lb 1oz with minimal grazing again.

I believe that a positive attitude going into the birth can make a huge difference. Trust your body and go with the flow!
Whatever is going to happen will happen and worrying about it won't change that.

My experience was pretty positive - laboured at home for a few hours as I rang the hospital and they said I wasn’t ready yet as my contractions weren’t long enough. Pain got a bit much and I felt like I wanted to push so woke DH who took me to the hospital. When I arrived I was fully dilated. I had gas and air which was an amazing help and then DD arrived after half an hour. I did tear but had stitches and am absolutely fine now.

Instinct took over for me and, although it obviously hurts a bit, it was over quickly and I’ve not suffered any lasting damage. No incontinence or anything.

Only thing i’d change is trusting my own instincts to realise that I was nearing the end of labour and that I could have gone to hospital a little earlier instead of taking midwife’s word. DH’s car has v hard suspension so journey was pretty uncomfortable when I was afraid I’d have the baby there and then!!

Ds1 - ok he was born at 30 weeks and needed guidance out due to cord prolapse. But the birth was positive. The pain was manageable. The doctors and midwives were lovely. Respected me as the woman giving birth by constant explaining and involving me in decisions. Showed me my baby after birth and held him as they took him to SCBU. Yes I would have loved a cuddle and done it all at 37 weeks but it was the most positive birth I could have done. Please try not be frightened. Yes their will be pain and it is hard work but millions of women choose to go through it again. It can be ok - statistics show that.

9lb 3oz baby PRM on my due date (had been leaking for 2 days) so I was told I'd have to go back to hospital the following day for induction. I went into labour that night so went back to hospital the following morning. Still not in established labour (got threatened with an induction) half an hour before they were going to induce me I was 6cm dilated and wheeled into delivery suit. Had meptid and g&a but nothing during pushing. 2nd degree tear so had stitches and we were out the following morning. I was walking the dogs again 2 days post birth x

With ds2, my second delivery, I was 10 cm when I arrived at hospital. After the midwife popped my waters, after waiting for them to go, it didn't hurt, 20 minutes later I had a baby! There were stitches though.

Only had gas and air. I had so much I couldn't feel my hands. Woo hoo!

2 waterbirths with no drugs here. Hypnobirthing and it was lovely.

Don’t be worried by other people’s stories- you’re going to do an amazing thing your body was made to do x

9.4 lbs pushed for 45 minutes in pool at the birthing unit. When I arrived at the hospital I was nearly fully dilated. Just gas and air. At one point it felt a bit scary (transition apparently) shouted out “I can’t do this!” But it was absolutely fine- midwives talked me through it all. I had no tears but a little grazing which healed in less than a week.

Before I arrived at hospital I was labouring in the cinema (kept popping up to stretch). Didn’t really think I was having contractions because they were in my back- thought it was just back twinges! I went shopping and when I got home I had a lovely bath. My advice is to read up on oxytocin and ignore the fact you’re in labour as long as possible. The more oxytocin you can produce, the quicker and less painful the labour. I didn’t do hypnobirthing but was determined to be relaxed and do nice stuff to get my oxytocin levels up (I even enjoyed a glass of wine!). I also didn’t have a birth plan because I wanted to go with the flow and let it happen.

My NCT teacher advised this approach and it worked for me. Everyone I know who has a detailed birth plan ended up disappointed. Not to say you will- but birth isn’t something you can control.

I’m pregnant again and I’ve found the stomach aches during the first trimester (a pregnancy symptom along with sickness for me) much more painful than the labour. Also bf was more painful than laabour - and waxing!!

I had my second baby at home, unmedicated, no intervening, absolutely perfect. 12 hour birth, as his head got stuck for a while, but rebozo fixed that. He was born on my sofa, and it was all in all a very positive experience.

Son was 9lb 1oz born, got to hospital dilated to 9.5cm. Less than 30 minutes later he was born, had a few turns of gas and air as he crowned. No tears or trauma to me, 12 hours later was discharged to go home (would of been sooner but they wanted to do observations on baby as he passed muconium in the womb but all was well)

Oh and my waters broke in the pool just as I was starting to push!

I had two lovely straighforward births, the second time they called me the silent labourer as I was so relaxed. I even enjoyed the pushing stage. First time I hadn't even fully changed out of my clothes, no internal exams - lovely midwife led unit. I'd take labour over pregnancy any day of the week!

Interesting that so many of you with positive birth stories who turned up to hospital near full dilation had large babies (over 9lbs). Midwives told me after dd was born that was her experience- bigger babies tend to be easier births. Which is counter intuitive really

Mine was trouble free too. Went in at 6cm, gas and air, waterbirth after 12 hours of labour and a couple of stitches. I walked to the car 8 hours later.

I read a hypnobirthing book and followed the exercises and approached birth in a confident, positive way. Realistically, you could describe my approach as arrogant - I was so sure I could do it.

I worked, though. I've had two water births, both fairly quick, with gas and air. Tiny tear for the first baby. Good luck, op. You can do it.

My DC were all home births (2 water) so only had gas and air. Slight tearing after but no stitches required. All positive experiences especially the first even though labour was longer. With my first pregnancy I remember dreaming about giving birth - it’s an unsettling time as until you’ve experienced it you can have no real idea of what it’s going to be (& feel) like. I was more worried about what I was going to do once the baby arrived though!

@letssiq here is mine. I'm a FTM aged 38. Did not enjoy pregnancy much.

My baby arrived 5 weeks ahead of due date (so daddy was in Scotland at a wedding I had thankfully decided not to go to - we live in London) but that's the only negative.

Waters broke 11pm on a Friday night 3 weeks ago. I let hubby know, my mum started the drive down from Oxford, and I got myself to the delivery suite (by ambulance!).

Mum arrived at the hospital 2.30am. We were taken to the birth suite and I had absolutely no pain so sent mum to my house 10 mins away so she could sleep. I walked her to the hospital exit at 4am. When I got back to the birthing suite the contractions started, feeling like period pain at first. I was then examined and from 1cm at 2am, I was now 4cm at 4.30am. I was transferred back to delivery suite and called mum to get her back in!

At around 5:30am I started asking for pain relief, so they put me on gas and air. I was then moved to another room (where I eventually gave birth) and by then the contractions were coming thick and fast but I was still managing on gas and air alone. As I was dilating so rapidly, I decided not to go for an epidural in the end 😳

I had the most brilliant midwife (about 10 years younger than me!) who talked me through the whole experience, made me push quite slowly etc. Baby girl (we'd kept her sex a surprise) was born just after 7am 💕 and I didn't tear at all.

She was 5lbs 6 so not too tiny for a preemie and is doing very well. I was back at hot vinyasa by day 5 post-birth, back to Bikram yoga the day after that and then felt good enough to go back to the gym the day after that. All varicose veins and puffiness that appeared while I was pregnant disappeared overnight, all pelvic pain also just went, and I had my first wax in about 4 months yesterday (more painful than childbirth 😂)

Hope this helps xx

Sorry to put a negative slant on things but comments such as 'what your body is designed to do' is what causes such guilt and upset if things don't go to plan for whatever reason. Please just be mindful of comments like this in future

I absolutely loved all my births - genuinely nice, empowering and exciting experiences.

TellMeAGoodBirthStory, Home Birth UK etc all have good birth stories to read up on and I did a lot of hyonobirthibg CD prep etc.

I needed no interventions, had 2 in home, 2 in water and 1 in a consultant-led labour suite and all were really positive experiences.

It's hard work, and can be painful, but I'd do it all over again tomorrow if I could.

I've just had my third and the fear doesn't go away, in fact I think it gets worse because you know what's coming but although it hurts like hell (and mine have got more painful each time!) you forget the pain instantly in my opinion, I've never had any problems, I did read and was cut the first time although can't say I felt it, the following two I had no interventions. First and second gas and air and perhidine, third just gas and air. I would say all of mine have been positive births, nothing anybody will say will eliminate the fear I don't think but baby has to come out now and it will all be worth it x