Steph’s Birth Story

The best place to start was probably when Nora became engaged at 35 weeks. After a quick assessment, I was told by the midwife she was fully engaged and may be coming early, but hopefully I’ll get to full term and induction was looking extremely unlikely. I’d expressed to the midwife from the early weeks that an induction was something I wanted to avoid, so it was reassuring to hear Nora was on her way! 

At 36 weeks I was tested for group B strep, a routine test that is done in some trusts. The test did come back positive, and I was reassured that it doesn’t change anything; I would just need some antibiotics when I go into labour and in the very unlikely event that my waters go before I’m in active labour, I would have to come straight into hospital to be induced. They reiterated how unlikely that would be and I could just push it to the back of my mind. 

Over the next few weeks, I was having pretty constant Braxton hicks (to the point where I kept thinking I was going into labour) and I also lost my mucus plug so I was expecting her to arrive any day! Once I was full term, I was doing everything I could to bring on spontaneous labour (never something I thought I’d be doing before completing Esme’s course,  as the thought of labour and birth previously terrified me)! 

When I was roughly 39 weeks, the topic of induction unfortunately came up. As mentioned earlier, I had always said from the start that I wanted to do everything I could to avoid induction, and to be able to go as long as safely possible before it came down to this. Esme gave me the confidence to stick to my guns as I would inevitably receive a little bit of push back from the doctors when I expressed this preference. After plenty of research and lengthy discussions with my midwife and Esme, I made the decision that, if it came down to induction, I would prefer to have a cesarean over the oxytocin drip. We booked in for an elective at the latest possible date before it would have become unsafe for Nora to stay put, so I had a couple of weeks to do everything I could to get her out before then! 

Days went by and there was one specific date where Brett (fiancé) was working in Manchester and would be away from around 8am until midnight. I would have been 40+3 on the day he went away. Unsurprisingly, I was desperate for Nora to arrive before then, so I opted to have a sweep at 40 weeks (something I originally wanted to avoid, but our change in circumstances meant it was the best decision at the time). Sadly, it didn’t seem to do anything so I decided to just hope I could hold out until he was home and stopped excessively bouncing on the ball and curb walking!

Friday came around and I’d managed to make it through the previous night and day without any signs of Nora arriving. His game started at 7:30pm and lo and behold, I felt my first ‘twinge’ at 7:15pm. I knew it felt different to normal and was sure something was starting. I remembered Esme’s techniques and remained calm, knowing that labour can take a while to progress and there’s no need to panic. I had such a sense of relief that my labour had started spontaneously without induction and I could hopefully have the vaginal birth I wanted. I didn’t want to tell Brett as I was worried he’d be driving home in sheer panic, and as the contactions felt very light and were sporadic, I didn’t feel I needed to worry him. I spent the night relaxing, eating sticky toffee pudding and watching tv with my best friend. She left around 10pm and I assured her I’d be absolutely fine! 

I got ready for bed and at around 11:45pm I felt a very small trickle while I was lying down. Immediately I thought my waters had broken after remembering what Esme had taught me about different ways this can happen. I went to the toilet and the water kept slowly coming, so I was pretty confident they’d gone. Brett came home 15 minutes later at midnight and I let him know about my first early contractions and that my waters had gone. I remembered my midwife told me that if my waters go before I am in active labour, I had to call the ward due to the GBS. This meant Nora could be at risk of infection if they weren’t in tact anymore, so I would have to be induced if this were to happen. I nervously gave the ward a call and they told me I’d have to come in straight away, which immediately worried me. Brett reassured me that I wouldn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to and I could explain my birth preferences to the midwife. We packed our bags ready to go, knowing we’d be coming home with a baby – so surreal! 

Once I got to the hospital they confirmed my waters had gone with a speculum and swab as they were so minimal, and I could see my contractions on the monitor ramping up, although they still felt manageable. I was put onto a drip of antibiotics which I had to have until I gave birth. A couple of hours of monitoring went by and my labour wasn’t progressing quickly enough, so a doctor was brought in to tell me it was time for an induction. If I hadn’t have had GBS, I would have been allowed to let labour progress for 24 hours before induction was needed. I immediately became quite stressed as I felt as though I wasn’t given a choice, and was told I was having the oxytocin drip immediately. My blood pressure shot up and wouldn’t come down, so they said ideally we need to move quickly. Knowing what I wanted, Brett advocated for me and explained my preference for a cesarean over the hormone drip. Multiple (strongly worded) conversations later, all through Brett, and given the GBS and high blood pressure, the doctor listened to him and allowed me to have a cesarean. 

I was so grateful to have had Brett with me who advocated for me when I lost my confidence. He said he never would have been able to do that without the help of Esme, who gave him the confidence to explain our birth preferences and gave him the knowledge that there is always a choice. Esme genuinely made all the difference and I don’t know what sort of birth I would have had without her – we are so grateful for the confidence and knowledge she gave us. 

Nora was born around 6 hours later the next morning at 10:18am, weighing 8lb10. The section was technically classed as ‘unplanned’ instead of ‘emergency’, so it was the most incredible and calm birth, with all the staff being so wonderful. As my labour had already started, I was told Nora was very far down and needed forceps to come out, which did make recovery a little more challenging! She also had the cord wrapped around her neck twice and was in some difficulty, so we didn’t get immediate skin to skin. Despite this, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience and it was the best day of our lives without a doubt. They took photos and videos and she was placed on my chest as soon as she was safe. 

We will be forever grateful to Esme and the course for giving us the knowledge that we always have a choice, despite what you might be told. Nora’s birth was the best moment of my life and I wish I could relive it over and over again!!