Mama C – “The birth was a very calm and natural experience for both myself and my husband. Even though it was more medical than i wanted, I still felt comfortable, in control and very well looked after by the hospital staff.”

Hi Claire,

Here is my birth story. I hope this helps the parents to be feel more at ease as the birth stories did for me.

Due to a small issue i was asked to go for an induction on a Friday evening around 9pm. I was always against an induction as i had not heard many good stories about it. However at that point it would be the less risky for the baby so i went for it. Upon examination the doctor informed me that i was already 4cm dilated and no induction would be necessary. Needless to say i was delighted to hear those news as it meant that: first i wouldnt have to spent the next days in the hospital being induced  but also i had reached 4cm without having any painful contractions (i had felt only very minor cramps till that point). I was then taken to the consultant led unit around 11pm where the midwife broke the waters. Soon after my contractions started. I had a tens machine and gas and air for the next 4 hours. I found the contractions more manageable when i was standing, rocking or sitting on the birth ball. Lying down was pretty much unbearable. After 4 hours i was 6cm dilated which meant i had about 8 hours to go. At this point i decided to have an epidural as i was getting tired and if i couldnt lie down till the next morning i would be exhausted by the time i had to push. The epidural was very straight forward and not painful at all. After this point there was no pain and i was able to rest and sleep a bit. At 9am i was fully dilated and at 10am i started pushing with my tunes on the background and a very supportive midwife. Even though the baby was very far down we could see his hair, after an hour and a bit of pushing he wasn’t born so they offered assisted birth (forceps). The baby was still relaxed so they didnt move me to the theatre but rather where i was already. At 11:57am our baby boy was born after a 12 hour labour. The birth was a very calm and natural experience for both myself and my husband. Even though it was more medical than i wanted i still felt comfortable, in control and very well looked after by the hospital staff. I was also surprised that the recovery wasn’t as painful as i expected even though i had an episiotomy.