Maria’s 2nd Birth

I had my first daughter (you can read that story here) at 38+2 weeks after my waters went and labour started spontaneously. This time I was ready for an early baby again and finished work a bit earlier. But I was over 37 weeks and hadn’t noticed much so I thought I had to prepare myself mentally for the possibility of a longer wait this time. 

Baby had other plans though.

On the Wednesday evening, when I was 37+6, I started to feel much more pelvic pressure/pain; and the same again on Thursday. Being on the ball made it better but I was still very uncomfortable. Thursday night, I went to bed early and after a couple of hours I woke up feeling some mild contractions. They were bearable and I could still sleep and rest in between. Around 5am, they were very close together and the contraction timing app said that I should go to hospital as it looked like I was in established labour. I didn’t feel my contractions were strong enough but I was worried as everyone kept telling me that second babies were much quicker and I didn’t want to leave it too late to get to the hospital. Therefore we called Bluebell and they offered me to go and get checked. 

Once there, contractions were still close together (every 2 min) but mild. The midwife offered to check my cervix and I accepted as I wanted to know what was going on. She then told me I was only 1 cm and part of me felt like it made sense. We went back home and gave myself time to rest, prepare and use some relaxing hypnobirthing techniques that we learnt on the course while dealing with the contractions. 

After the whole day at home, once the sun had set, we decided to go for a little walk to see if it made things progress quicker. After no longer than a 10/15 min walking, we were back home with very strong and close together contractions. They didn’t stop while sat on the ball at home and I had to use my breathing and focus completely to get through them. I felt it was time to call Bluebell again and they advised us to head there. 

Once there (around 20.20pm), the midwife took us to one of the birthing rooms straight away (I think she could tell this time I was in labour). Once in the room, I went straight on the ball and she read through my birth plan, asked a couple of extra questions and started running the bath for me. She was so calm, knowledgeable and reassuring, I felt very comfortable and in the right hands.

The midwife offered to check my cervix but emphasised how it was my choice and she didn’t need to do that if I did not want to. I agreed to it as again I felt I wanted to know what was happening. She then said I was 3cm dilated but my cervix was very stretchy and close to 7cm when she touched it. She said baby’s head was slightly higher but she felt that as soon as my waters went and his head moved down slightly, then I was going to be fully dilated very soon (and I am still impressed how accurately she described everything that was about to happen). 

Very soon after that, the midwife said that the water was the right temperature and I got in the pool, feeling relieved straight away. My partner sat by me, stroking my hair, handing me some water and passing me the gas and air when contractions came. Between contractions I asked the midwife for some advice, as I had an epidural last time so I didn’t feel much in terms of “bearing down/pushing etc”. She kindly went through it with me and advised me to just follow my body and let it take over. This was so reassuring to hear as it aligned perfectly with what I had learnt with Amy and my preferences too.

After around 20 min in the water I felt my waters going, luckily they were clear. I had asked for the gas and air just before that and I continued using it (it helped me so much as contractions were so painful by then). I had a couple more contractions and I started to feel the need to bear down. I didn’t really push as such, my body did it all itself and I just allowed it. The midwife reassured me again to follow my body and called for another midwife and support worker to come in for the delivery. 

I had around 4 contractions during this second stage and then I could feel baby going down the birth canal and my cervix opening up. With the next contraction the head was out and with one more I birthed my baby. The midwives helped to bring him to my chest and I enjoyed the cuddle with tears in my eyes. I couldn’t quite believe what I had just done, I felt so grateful and powerful. 

Soon after that, the midwives asked me to come out of the bath so they could observe and asses the blood loss. We waited for the cord to be white and empty before my partner cut it. I had the injection for the placenta and couldn’t wait for it to come out as I was still in pain and having contractions. 18 min after my baby was born, I delivered the placenta and again I was amazed at how my body again knew when and how to push for it.

After that, I had some pain relief and had to proper pinch myself when the midwife said that my perineum was intact and I did not need any stitches. While having my baby on skin to skin, the midwives noticed he was making a grunting sound and checked him over. Luckily he seemed to be ok and they said it was because of all the mucous that was still in him (delivery was so quick that he didn’t have time to squeeze all the mucous out like most babies do). 

After the golden hour, baby was weighed and dressed. He was 3.080kg and had been born at 21.51pm, only 1.30h after arriving there. We were allowed to stay the night (and the following day) in Bluebell. The paediatrician checked baby the day after due to his grunting and we were discharged 24h after delivery once the sound had disappeared. Baby managed to get rid of that mucous and we were all ready to head home after such an amazing and speedy water birth. 

I am forever grateful to hypnobirthing and Amy’s class to once again give me the information and strength to make the right decisions for me and baby, trust my body and overcome the fear. Bluebell was such an incredible place to give birth and my midwife Keeley was beyond amazing. Some people say not to “plan” for birth as it is unexpected and you never get what you want but hey I got exactly what I wanted, my ideal birth on paper. So as Amy said to me, sometimes dreams do come true (specially when you fight and prepare for them).