Birth stories

[flower246267]

I'm currently 6 month with my second still have a while to go and I'm already getting impatient, anyone want to share their birth stories ?

Currently sat with my beautiful 4 week old baby girl so I’ll share mine.
There was a point in my pregnancy where the cord flow was too high so I had to have twice weekly scans so monitor it. It then sorted itself out. I had one last growth scan a week before I was due and the consultant offered me induction on my due date as a precaution. I accepted this and also booked for a sweep at 39+4. I had the sweep and had quite a bit of bleeding so had to be monitored. It showed I was having regular tightenings so I thought “brill, labour is going to start on its own and I’ll be back in no time”. Nope! Bugger all happened!
Forward to due date, I had the pessary put in at 2pm and things started super quickly! Pains got very intense, very quickly and my waters went on their own at 1am. Throughout this, baby wasn’t responding well to the contractions and her heart rate kept dropping. By 2am I was moved to the labour ward as I was (apparently) 4cm and in active labour. A consultant came to check and wasn’t happy with the heart rate again. She also examined me and said I was actually only 1-2cm:

I was mortified

I seriously thought I should have been at the point of pushing, given how intense and frequent my contractions were. I also had some unexplained bleeding. She then advised an emergency c section which I gladly agreed with. I was whisked away and my daughter was born at 4:05am weighing 7lb9oz.
It all seems such a blur now!
Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy OP 😊

My first wasn't good but my second was lovely 😊. A tough pregnancy, I was extremely sick despite medication until about 24w and then ended up getting to 42w with no signs of labour! I declined induction but agreed to daily monitoring.

At 41+1 I was examined and my cervix was tightly closed, posterior and hard. I was told it'd be a v long wait. I did think something was happening but was told that was impossible. The next day I still felt like something was going on, no pain but I'd lost my plug and just felt "birthy" Haha. I was explaining to a dr that I was still declining induction when I had a very obvious contraction. I agreed to an examination there and then and I was 6cm, so that long wait was not very long!
From there I'd planned to go home for my home birth but after a few minutes I realised that wasn't going to happen and I asked for a pool, walked down and got in, it was bliss! About 90 minutes after the first contraction my waters went in the pool and it started to hurt quite a bit more (I'd been breathing through it) I tried gas and air but it didn't do much so I reverted to mooing 😂. Got out of the pool to push, I found I needed to stand and after what felt like about 3 or 4 pushes, but may have been more, my 10lb3oz boy arrived and was passed up through my legs to me. Just 2 hours start to finish and was home within a few hours. Lovely experience to be honest and the polar opposite of my first. Good luck!

I was induced at 40+10 with my boy. I'd had three sweeps and each did nothing and I had no signs of impending labour.
Arrived at maternity unit for induction and pessary was inserted at around 2pm. I decided to walk to the shop with dh and dm as I was encourage to walk. We made it downstairs in the loft before I said 'this is rather uncomfy, I don't think I can make it to the shop'. We went back upstairs and by 4pm I was in absolute agony. I was contracting constantly, with the next contraction starting before the previous had subsided.
The midwives didn't believe me until my mum showed them the times of each contraction, which caused them to check me and put me on the monitor. I was 6cm!
I was given gas and air and pethidine to slow down my contractions.
By 7.45pm I was pushing and my little boy arrived with the cord only about 30cm long and tightly round his neck. He couldn't reach my chest for skin to skin straight away so my husband held him whilst I gazed in awe.
My placenta was delivered naturally 10 minutes later and at this point I held my boy.
Overall, I lovely experience! I'm hoping for a natural start to labour this time.

I love hearing all your stories I find it fascinating how different each labor can be ! My first baby I refused induction wanted to do the whole natural water birth thing, 8 days over due and my waters went at 10am on a Monday great I thought ...... went in to get checked 8 hours later I was 1cm ....... didn't sleep that night went in to be put on drip next morning at 7am. They put the drip on me at around 4pm along with an epidural pains had picked up they wernt really bad but I just wanted some sleep I was still only 2cm 😂 . All set on the bed but couldn't sleep as their was a midwife there the whole time chatting away to me or Dh and waking me up every 30 mins to do blood pressure . Baby's heart rate was raised I had an infection told me if she wasn't here by midnight it was a c section . 9pm still nothing mayby 3-4cm ? At this point my body started shaking on the bed couldnt stop, they checked me again at around 9.30-10ish oh your fully dilated you'll be ready to go soon . Pushed twice once the doctor got in the room and she finally arrived at 11pm I got a good look at my beautiful daughter and then quickly passed out asleep after being awake for 40 hours . I'm hoping my second comes out a lot quicker! Im ivf so can choose to be induced on due date but I'm torn I was on the drip for 6 hours and it did sod all apart from move me 1cm . Hopefully a nice water birth this time if not I'll be back on that bed demanding the epidural while I lie there and wait.

#1 EMCS 40+6.
Contractions started around 7pm, went to hospital around 11pm and was sent home after monitoring for a while. Contractions continued through the night so we returned to hospital at 7.30am. Midwife checked me over and passed over to a Consultant as I wasn't progressing past 3cm.

Foetal monitoring confirmed that baby was in distress And had to be out quick so waters were broken and I was prepped for surgery. He was born at 9.19am with his cord wrapped twice around his neck and had been compressed by contractions hence the distress but thankfully he soon recovered. Looking back I was shell shocked and everything was/is a bit of a blur so i don't see it as traumatic. DH says it was terrifying though!

#2 ELCS 39+6.
Advised to have an ELCS as #2 was stubbornly breech/transverse and was worried about another emergency situation. I was actually much more nervous this time as there was time to process what was going on but it all went smoothly. Booked in at 7am, waited on ward with DH - spoke to midwife and anaesthetist before heading down for surgery. She was born at 1.43pm

I refused induction following a growth scan at 40w over concerns for a small baby. Had to go in every 2 days for a week for CTG and a scan to check cord blood flow and fluid levels (all fine and a very happy baby, no complications, low risk first pregnancy so I continued to refuse the induction) they really pressured me to make a plan of how baby was coming out and when so I agreed to them booking an ELCS at 42 weeks (personal preference over an induction). Felt incredibly stressed, upset, impatient and pressurised in the final few days which I believe stressed my baby out. I was hoping for a natural water birth. Was street walking the dogs at 9pm at 41+2 when I had my first contraction followed immediately by my waters breaking. With meconium running down my leg I went home and had a bath and washed my hair (bit naughty in hindsight!) before calling the hospital and heading in due to the meconium. Within an hour of starting my contraction were 2 minutes apart (thought it was fake labour and tricking me, everything I read said this would go on for hours if not days haha). I had planned to refuse all vaginal examinations and all intervention (unless concern for me or baby overruled this) but baby had a decelerating heart rate after every contraction dipping down to 50 and then back up to 150. Within 3 hours of labour starting I was 7cm dilated still going strong with my tens machine. I ended up being stuck on the bed on delivery suite on my back with my legs in stirrups strapped to the CTG throughout, cannula in the hand and fluids limiting my movement on the bed, had numerous examinations (to monitor progress as baby was distressed and they wanted him out). Had gas and air for 30 minutes before I puked then no pain relief from that point. Pushed for 2 hours before my beautiful boy arrived with his hands on his cheeks! He arrived while the doctor was shoving an ultrasound wand in to my pelvis preparing to yank him out with forceps but thankfully not necessary! I came within minutes of an assisted delivery or c-section but despite getting everything I didn't want and having no control over anything, I personally feel quite positive and empowered by my birth experience. Sadly I lost 1.5L of blood and ended up in theatre within minutes of my baby being born but that was just a minor setback! Had I known I'd be getting a spinal in theatre anyway I'd of asked for an epidural in labour for a first pregnancy it was all over within 6 hours of the first contraction!