A tale of 3 births by North East Family Fun

My lovely Blogging Bestie (yes that is a very real term ok!) Sam from North East Family Fun agreed to share her birth stories with me (and all of you obviously) after I read her husband, describe himself on his blog as 'deliverer of my own offspring' well you all know I love a good homebirth and a good birth story so I was straight on messenger to ask all about it, I shan't spoil things as you can read about Sam and Steve's 3 birth stories here.....

Harry - born in September 2006

I remember being pregnant with Harry and walking around in my own little bubble. It is soon exciting being pregnant for the first time. I bought every book and attended every course going, we even practised putting nappies on some of my old teddy bears to prepare us. I knew that every birth was different and was open to anything. In my own head though I hoped for a drug-free water birth,

34 weeks with Harry

At 42 weeks I was still pregnant and despite 3 x membrane sweeps, Harry wasn’t keen on making an appearance so we were booked in for an induction 16 days past my due date. I remember sitting on a ward and being hooked up to monitors……my natural water birth seemed like a dream now. As the midwives did the rounds examining our cervix and placing pessaries it all seemed so clinical but I didn’t mind, my baby would be here soon!

Unfortunately Steve had to go home at around 9pm and I tried to get some rest (yeah right).

In the middle of the night I remember my contractions getting stronger and stronger and didn’t really want to bother anyone but then suddenly I had a real overwhelming urge to push. I pressed my buzzer and was put in a wheelchair and taken to the delivery suite. As I hadn’t had any real medical intervention and baby was still ok I was able to attempt a water birth - yeah! I was by myself though which was pretty scary. The hospital had phoned Steve and he was on his way.

My midwife asked if I wanted some gas and air whilst she filled the pool and I tried it but hated the loss of control so preferred to just deal with the pain. I just kept thinking that every contraction was a step closer to meeting Harry. The pool seemed to take forever to fill but eventually it was time to get in. OMG I can’t tell you the relief - it really helped to take the pressure off my contractions and felt like a large, safe cocoon. I had a student midwife and a midwife with me at this point and medical intervention was kept to an absolute minimum. They used an underwater monitor to monitor baby’s heartbeat every once in a while and that was it.

Steve arrived shortly after and within about 20 minutes Harry was born. He was born inside his membranes which is apparently very rare the midwife popped them under the water and then he was brought up on my chest, keeping warm under the water. We stayed there for a while before he was taken for his checks and I got out of the pool to deliver the placenta, face the terror of stitches (the worst part I think!) and then shower ect…… Out of all my births, it’s mad that my first was probably my easiest and least terrifying.

Heidi - born in April 2009

My pregnancy with Heidi was a lot more traumatic. I suffered very badly from SPD and had to use crutches to walk around. Climbing the stairs to our upstairs flat was absolutely excruciating and no one can describe the pain until you experience it yourself - it is so much worse than child birth! I battled through though. I did consider a home birth with Heidi but then worried how it would work in our small flat so decided on a hospital pool birth again although I was still open to options. 

36 weeks with Heidi

Three days after Heidi’s due date I had my ‘show’ and started to feel contractions in the morning. Harry went off to Grannies house and I just stayed at home with Steve trying to make myself comfortable with baths ect….. I was having contractions from 7:30am but they weren’t regular - sometimes they would be 10 minutes apart, sometimes 7 and then up to 12 minutes apart. They were pretty painful but I was adamant I didn’t want pain relief. We phoned the hospital twice through the day but were told if I didn’t want pain relief and my contractions weren’t 3-5 minutes apart I should stay at home. At 6:30pm I phoned again - surely after 11 hours of contractions I should go in but the answer again was no because I didn’t want pain relief and they weren’t three minutes apart.

At 8pm I got up to go to the loo and this massive force just passed over my body. I needed to push and I needed to right now. I phoned the hospital and told them I was coming in. However I then realised I was absolutely rooted to the spot and couldn’t move, I could actually feel Heidi starting to deliver. I quickly pulled my PJ bottoms off and could feel Heidi’s head crowning. The midwife on the phone asked her colleague to phone an ambulance and tried to talk me onto the floor but I just couldn’t move. I managed to bend over our sofa and in one push Heidi was born. Luckily, Steve was there to catch! I then turned around and sat on the floor and Steve passed Heidi to me. A few minutes later the paramedics turned up. They cut the cord, wrapped us up and we were ‘blue lighted’ to hospital. Me lying on the bed in absolute shock which was the worst feeling ever and Steve holding Heidi on the chair. I delivered the placenta in hospital and we were discharged soon after. The midwife I spoke with on the phone came over to see us on the ward which was a nice touch. Everything was thankfully fine but I do often think how badly this could have ended. I honestly do believe I was failed by the RVI during this birth. 

Hours after Heidi's birth

Jack - born December 2010

25 weeks with Jack

Heidi wasn’t even a year old and I was pregnant again. This time the SPD was excruciating and I really struggled living in an upstairs flat with a toddler and a baby whilst being on crutches and not being able to drive a lot of the time. I used to cry with the pain, it truly was horrendous. Thank goodness for my mam and Steve who really were the most amazing support. SPD is the main reason I won’t have anymore babies, I simply couldn’t go through it again.

Being heavily pregnant in December is not fun, especially when we spent a lot of our time being snowed in. I will never forget the time when ASDA were supposed to deliver my shopping on 20th December for Christmas and just didn’t turn up, blaming the weather. I was 40 weeks pregnant at home with a baby and toddler and couldn’t walk or drive to the shop. Steve was working 12 hours too so I was pretty much stranded :-( That’s another story though.

Jack was again, three days late and on 22nd December I had my ‘show’ and started having contractions. I phoned the hospital after around 4 hours and told them I was coming in no matter what. I was only 3cm dilated but I refused to let them send me home. This was at around teatime on 21st.

My contractions were regular but again not close together. They were also the most painful contractions I’ve ever experienced! The midwives were keen to get things moving and said I should go for a walk around the hospital and pop to the hospital canteen. Were they having a laugh?? I felt like I was leaking water with every contraction and wasn’t dealing with the pain very well. I did want to get things moving though so did as I was told. It was embarrassing though and I felt mortified :-(

We were put into the same birthing suite where I had Heidi and the student that had been present at that birth was now my actual midwife which was nice. Steve had a sickness bug so spent most of the night in our en-suite loo and I remember listening to Mumford and Sons over and over again. The pain was ridiculous but I really didn’t want pain relief, it was then that I discovered Jack was back to back. I asked to get into the pool and they started filling it up. Meanwhile I started googling ‘back to back’ labour during contractions and wish I hadn’t - pain and forceps were mentioned far too many times!

Just like Heidi I all of a sudden had an overwhelming urge to push. The pool wasn’t ready for me yet but within about 30 seconds he was born. I didn’t even make it onto the bed.

What I loved about Jack’s birth was that we were given a super quick discharge and were sent home after a couple of hours - this is exactly what I wanted as I was traumatised by spending days being ignored on the post-labour ward after my first birth.

I won’t be having anymore children due to my SPD and I feel like my family is complete now. If I was going to have anymore I would definitely opt for a home birth now that we have a lovely house rather than an upstairs flat.

Thankyou Sam for sharing, and well caught Steve!!

If you have a birth story you would like to share, email birthstories@monkey-feet.com