On Saturday 12th June, Carl and I arrived at Frimley Park Hospital at 10.00 where I was booked for induction. We arrived at the Antenatal Ward, where I was seen to a bed. We made ourselves at home and also prepared ourselves for a wait until the pessary was inserted as we knew they were really busy! They scanned me to double check baby was in the right position and they also hooked me onto the monitor to check on baby’s heartrate for a while.
Just before the pessary was inserted, she examined my cervix, she informed me the cervix was already slightly open and she could touch the baby’s head with her finger! They inserted the pessary at 1.30pm. By 2.30, I had severe lower back ache and could already feel my body was on its way. I decided to listen to some of the relaxing MP3s to keep myself calm ready for the surges. As soon as the surges started, Carl hooked me up to the TENS machine which along with the MP3s, helped a great deal. We took a walk round the Hospital, to ease my back ache and to stretch my legs. Once the surges started to become more frequent, I started my easy breathing whilst listening to the relaxing music through earphones. However, the surges suddenly became more and more frequent, up to the point where I was having around 2 surges a minute without a break in between and when they examined me, I was only 1cm dilated at around 6pm.
They decided to give me an injection to slow down my surges, and they also removed the pessary because of the way my body had reacted to it. The injection did help, but the surges were still very frequent. I continued to use my breathing techniques, using the mountain breathing during each surge and Carl laid next to me, reminding me of the positive affirmations and did the light touch massage, he also played with my hair which apparently I requested this the most but I don’t remember as I was too much in the zone!
At around 9.30pm, the surges were still very frequent and I was starting to feel tired, we spoke to the midwife and she examined me, she informed me I was now 3cm dilated and they would transfer me to the labour ward shortly. Due to the number of surges I’d had, I requested some pain relief as I hadn’t yet had any, they weren’t able to give me gas and air on the antenatal, but offered me Pethidine which although doesn’t help a great deal with the pain, it allowed my body to relax more and feel more at ease. I fell asleep not long after the pethidine injection was given, and although we are not 100% sure on the time frames now (it all happened so fast!) I woke up around midnight with really strong surges, still using my TENS machine. I think I had around 4 or 5 until suddenly I felt my body take over and felt the need to push. Carl called the midwife and they examined me to say I was now 8cm dilated! They couldn’t believe how quickly I had progressed from 3cm to 8 in such a short time.
Just before they transferred me to the Labour Ward, my waters broke on the bed. They pushed me on a wheelchair onto the labour ward where during each surge I was now pushing using my Goddess breathing. The staff commented on how relaxed I was and how well I was doing, especially as I had used only the TENS machine and pethidine. Once on the labour ward, they examined me again and I was now fully dilated at 10cm, and I now had access to some gas and air (hooray!) although, Carl had to keep reminding me to use it.
The midwives then informed me the baby was “facing the wall” and they were concerned about the baby’s heartrate. They spoke about taking me to theatre which I thought they would want to perform a C-section, however, they informed me it would still be a vaginal delivery, but an assisted one, using ventouse. They quickly got me to theatre where they helped deliver our baby girl. After being given the spinal, they told me when to push, in which I continued to use my goddess breathing.
At 1.07am, she was born! As we didn’t know the gender of our baby until this moment, it made it even more special. Carl blurted: “We have a daughter!” and then burst into tears! She was placed onto my chest for some skin to skin and it was a magical moment. She weighed 5lbs 5oz of perfection. Carl cut the umbilical cord and saw the placenta be delivered too which apparently happened very quickly after her arrival. I had a small tear and they performed an episiotomy to help her out. But it’s all worth it!
Given that, when we first started the hypnobirthing course, this is not how I pictured our baby’s birth, it was still for us, an overall positive birth. The labour from start to finish was 11.5 hours long, and we took each stage of the labour at a time, concentrating on the breathing techniques we had practised and listening to the mp3s to keep myself in the zone. The ward staff commented on how calm I remained throughout the birth and I know it is credit to everything we learned during the hypnobirthing course. I am so proud of myself that I managed to get to 10cm with very little pain relief and I’m also so proud of Carl who was amazing at reminding me I can do this when I had my moment of “Carl, I can’t do this, I need an epidural” moment!
A huge thank you to you Hannah, whose voice was in my head throughout my labour! We learned so much as was able to stay in control for as long as possible until the medical staff intervened.
We now have a happy, content little girl and we couldn’t be happier!
Love, Lucy, Carl & Scarlett xxx
