My Birth Story – A Positive Induction

Reflecting on the journey to my son’s birth, I find myself filled with pride and gratitude. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but this experience turned out to be everything I had hoped for and more – a true testament to the power of preparation, confidence and a supportive environment.

My first pregnancy was a joyful one until the unexpected happened – early rupture of membranes. My daughter’s birth was challenging and looking back, I felt let down by the lack of support I received from the senior midwife. I ended up confined to the bed, opting for pain medication I hadn’t wanted simply because I felt so overwhelmed and as if everything was outside of my control. It left a mark on me, and as much as I adore my daughter and love being a parent, the thought of birthing again was something I faced with anxiety and fear when I found myself pregnant for the second time.

I knew I needed something to rebuild my confidence and that’s when I stumbled upon hypnobirthing. Admittedly, I was sceptical at first – it didn’t seem like something that would resonate with me. But the more I delved into the science behind it, the more intrigued I became. By the time I started my hypnobirthing course, I was fully committed. My teacher, who had experienced a similar journey to mine, made me feel truly seen and understood. I left each session feeling more equipped and empowered and I carried that positive energy into my daily practice of listening to MP3s, breathing techniques and preparing mentally and physically for birth.

At exactly 39 weeks, at the crack of dawn, 4:30 am to be precise, my waters broke. It was a familiar moment, reminding me of my first pregnancy. My husband rang the hospital and they asked us to come in for a check. We quickly bundled our daughter into the car and headed off, dropping her with relatives before making our way to the hospital. I’d been experiencing light cramping for a day or so, but it wasn’t anything particularly consistent or strong. At the pregnancy assessment unit, they confirmed that my waters had indeed gone. The midwife mentioned induction if labour hadn’t started within 18 hours post-rupture, but I wasn’t worried – my daughter had arrived swiftly the day after my waters broke, so I assumed this time would be no different.

We went back home and treated ourselves to a nice breakfast, pancakes with Nutella and berries, the ultimate comfort food! The day passed with a mix of feel-good TV and sporadic contractions that kept me on my toes. By the evening, I was feeling worn out after only catching a couple of brief naps, so I decided to lift my spirits with my favourite musical, Les Misérables. Singing along was just what I needed to keep myself engaged and positive – an unconventional choice for some, but it worked for me.

By 10pm, it was time to head back to the hospital. The moment we arrived, we were greeted by our midwife, Katy, whose warmth and attentiveness immediately put me at ease. I handed over my induction birth plan, one of three I had meticulously prepared to cover every possible scenario. Katy took the time to review it thoroughly, ensuring that everything was in place before we began. Knowing that a water birth wasn’t an option due to induction, I had only one firm request – I absolutely didn’t want to be confined to the bed during labour. This was something I had struggled with during my first birth, and I was determined not to repeat it.

Katy was incredible. She supported my need to stay mobile, helping me remain active and engaged throughout the process. She was present when I needed her and quietly observed when I didn’t, never leaving us alone for more than 10 minutes at a time. I laboured with the help of a birthing ball, my trusty TENS machine and my birthing comb – a surprising hero of the day! Time became a blur as I focused on each contraction, relying on my hypnobirthing techniques and the encouragement of my husband and Katy.

Eventually, my body told me it was time. I instinctively moved to the bed, staying upright and using the back of it for support.  20 minutes from the overwhelming need to push and before I really knew what was happening, our baby boy was here. Katy gently passed him through my legs, and I held him for the very first time – a moment of pure magic. I had done it. I had birthed our son with just gas and air, exactly as I had hoped. To achieve that felt empowering beyond words.

Not all the hypnobirthing techniques I had prepared came into play and that was okay. Hypnobirthing isn’t about rigidly following a plan – it’s about equipping yourself with a toolbox of strategies to draw from as needed. The ones I did use were enough to make this experience exactly what I needed it to be: positive, empowering, and uniquely mine.

Looking back, I feel nothing but pride and gratitude. This birth was a healing experience for me, a reminder that preparation, support and belief in yourself can transform even the most daunting challenges into moments of triumph.

My Birth Story

The Birth of Lilah was different to how I had envisioned it, I wasn’t able to have the water birth I hoped for and my place of birth changed last minute, but I as able to remain calm and relaxed and worked with my body, with just gas and air and the use of my wave combs.

I wanted to share my story to show how things can happen that you might have not planned for, but with the right mindset and belief in yourself, you can still have a positive birth experience.

Ok, let’s start with the week I went into labour, I was heading into week 41 and the midwives had already planted the seed that they would want to discuss induction at my 41 week appointment. I had made it very clear early on that I would only like to discuss induction if there was a medical reason and I asked for the midwife to make that clear in my notes.

My 41 week appointment fell on Thursday 7th December. To my surprise I was greeted by my assigned midwife who I had only met once before. From our previous meeting once before, this midwife knew my feelings on unnecessary induction and that I wanted my body to wait and go into natural labour so when she brought up the topic of induction at 42 weeks, she knew I would put up a bit of a fight.

Over the course of that week, I felt different and I knew something was brewing and so I knew in my mind that I wasn’t going to make it to 42 weeks anyway. My midwife explained that as I didn’t want to be induced and because I had refused 2 sweeps already, that she would need to refer me to a consultant to discuss my options. I of course asked the reasons for this and she explained to me that “their policy” was to induce between 41-42 weeks to avoid complications and that the consultant would be able to discuss a plan to support my decision. I agreed to the appointment for the following Tuesday, knowing in my mind that baby girl would be earth side by the end of the weekend. I just had a feeling.

Friday 8th December 11:30pm, I was awoken from a deep sleep by the feeling of water trickling down my legs. This was it, it was our time. It took me a second or so to realise what was happening and when it clicked, I nudged Luke with a gentle elbow and told him to wake up as the curry we had been for that night had worked and that baby girl was ready to meet us!

I got up and out of bed and the feeling of water running down my legs wouldn’t stop. I ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet where my waters just kept coming and I noticed a reddy/bloody tinge in them. I headed downstairs into the kitchen to grab my notes with the number for triage, all whilst these waters just kept going. It definitely took me by surprise at how much waters were coming, so much so, that whilst I was on the phone to triage, I was stood with a bath towel folded in between my legs to stop it leaking onto the kitchen floor where the dog showed great interest at helping to clean up.

Triage advised us to head to Bassetlaw for them to check everything was ok and so after a quick phone call to my mum to collect Alf, the bags were in the car and off we went.

We arrived at Bassetlaw about 12:30am on Saturday morning where 2 lovely midwives met us at the door. We were taken to one of the delivery suites and I was placed on a monitor whilst they checked my waters. Me and Luke were the only ones there and it was so quiet!

At this point my contractions hadn’t started and I knew I just wanted to be back at home, in my own environment so that I could give my body the best chance of my labour starting naturally. After half an hour of monitoring, the midwife was happy for us to go home. She explained to me that I would need to return at 11:30pm that night if my contractions hadn’t started to discuss options as I will still very set that I didn’t want to be induced and she also explained that due to my waters breaking and labour not starting (PROM) that my chances of my waterbirth were probably unlikely due to the increased risk of infection. I was so disheartened to hear these words, but it was time for me to focus on what I could control and to let go of what I couldn’t.

We returned home at around 2am and I got straight into bed for a good nights sleep, ready to take on the day ahead, knowing I needed my body and mind to be fully rested.

I woke up around 8am after a good sleep and had a nice cup of tea in bed. Luke had originally planned a kitchen to fit that day and so I told him to go to work as he was only 10 minutes away if anything progressed and that my plan was to get on my ball and sit and watch Christmas films all day. My mum brought me some breakfast and some tasty snacks and I spent my day working my way through all the festive films on Netflix. I checked my temperature regularly and made note of the times so I could let the midwife know that there was no early signs of any infection and my temperature was normal.

The hours passed and still no progress, Luke came home, we ordered a Chinese and watched Strictly. I was keeping an eye on the time as it ticked closer to 11:30pm, knowing that the longer I went without my contractions starting, the higher the chances they would want to discuss inducing me.

At around 8:30pm I called the labour ward at Bassetlaw, it was a pleasant surprise to hear a familiar voice on the other end as it was the midwife I had seen the night before. She knew my feelings on induction and asked me if I was happy to come in for monitoring which we agreed to.

We arrived at Bassetlaw just after 11pm where we were taken to a ward. It was just me and Luke on the ward and I asked if we could keep the lights off to try and keep my oxytocin flowing and the midwives were great at keeping the environment calm. I was strapped up to the monitor and we sat and chilled and chatted and kept my mind and body as calm and relaxed as possible. At this point I could feel mild contractions and the midwife could see these on the monitor and was happy with both me and baby and had no concerns. I could see the labour ward getting busier and asked if it was possible for us to go home as I knew I had a better chance of my labour progressing there. After a few conversations with the Doctor, they agreed to let me go but had to call at 8am with an update as to how things had progressed.

At 1am we arrived home and I got straight into the downstairs bedroom to go to sleep.

At 1:30am I was awoken by an overwhelming feeling that made me jump out of bed. I put my calm breathing into practice and walked around the hallway, taking nice deep breaths in and then even longer deep breathes out. I went to the upstairs bedroom to wake Luke and Grabbed my wave combs out of my bag and set my contraction timer going, 2 minutes went and the overwhelming feeling was coming back, I got onto all fours on the living room floor, took deep breathes in and out and focused on the pressure of the combs in my hands. 1 minute passed and my body rested. 2 minutes passed and it started again. Luke was in control of timing and helped me to remember my breathing whilst I swayed side to side on all fours again on the floor.

It was after around 10 minutes, we timed that I had 3 surges in this short period and so called Bassetlaw. The midwife asked me how close together they were and I explained they were 3 in 10 minutes, lasting around 1 minute-1 minute 20. She asked if was able to stay at home for another hour as they had suddenly become extremely busy. I knew things would progress even quicker if I stayed home as I was in my zone, but also wasn’t sure how close we were to having this baby, but we agreed to try and labour at home for another hour. I put on some calm music, got on all fours and continued to labour at home for another hour.

At around 2:45am we called Bassetlaw back to let them know my surges were becoming more intense. She asked if she could call me back as she knew I wanted to birth at Bassetlaw but there were concerns they had no room…

5 minutes later, she called me back and confirmed there were no beds available and that she had called DRI who were expecting me. Of course, my first feeling was of disappointment, I had been to view Bassetlaw and when I practiced visualisation, this was where I was able to see myself. I knew the rooms, I knew where we were going, it was familiar. But again, I had to focus on what I could control and let go of what I couldn’t. I couldn’t control Bassetlaw being full, but I could control how I made my environment when we got to DRI. I took some deep breathes, I calmed myself and we got in the car.

We arrived at DRI at about 2:15. I had to keep taking a few steps and stopping to breath through the surges, they were very intense and very frequent but the use of my wave combs was a good distraction.

We arrived at level 6 (that lift journey felt like the slowest life journey of my life) and we were taken straight to the central delivery suite and into our own room. Again, the use of my wave combs was a good distraction and gave me something to focus on as well as my breathing.

The midwife I had was really nice and calming and said it was nice to see me using my breath to control the pain and also the wave combs and encouraged me to keep breathing through whilst she put me on the monitor to check the baby’s heart rate and the level of my surges and went through some of my preferences with me. This was when I then asked for some gas and air and got myself comfortable after I agreed to a VE(vaginal examination) and much to my surprise, I was 6cm!

We were then left alone with the lights turned down with a few little fairy lights round the bed. The environment was calm and peaceful and I asked Luke to put my relaxation music on through my speaker. My surges were very intense and my body wasn’t giving me much of a rest, the midwife actually commented that she could see how intense they were on the monitor and said she was really impressed with how calm I was and how controlled my breathing was.

The only position I felt comfortable was on my side and so I laboured in this position for the next few hours, using my breathing to control my intake of gas and air and holding Luke’s hand. The next few hours were a blur and I just took myself to a happy place and visualised the moment I was going to meet my baby girl.

7:15am was the next time point I remember. I felt an intense pressure in my bum and the sudden urge to want to push. The midwife asked if she could check to see how I had progressed and I was elated when she told me I was 10CM. Baby girl was nearly here!

I managed to turn myself onto all fours on the bed and continued to use the gas and air, breathing calmly and letting my body do what it needed to do.

I was still needing to be monitored at this point as there was a slight concern that her heart rate was dropping and it wasn’t coming back up as quickly as they wanted it to and so moving around was tricky.

Unfortunately, I found myself at 10cm dilated and ready to push at 7:30am when it was time for a shift swap and 2 new midwives took over my care. In all honesty, these 2 new midwives were incredible and they were just what I needed at that moment. They were really encouraging of my breathing; they were using calm and reassuring voices and they told me how calm I was and that my labour had probably progressed so quickly because I was so relaxed and that they could tell I had been practicing Hypnobirthing! That was very nice to hear!

They explained to me that they had some concerns for baby’s heart rate and that they could see my surges were very strong, intense and long…

At around 8am the pressure in my bum was getting stronger and as much as I had hoped to be on all fours to birth my baby, they explained there was a concern for her well-being and so and they had to get a doctor to come in who asked me if was happy to turn onto my back so they could assess the situation. The doctor came into the room followed by a paediatrician who was there just in case they needed him and she asked if she could examine me. I agreed to the examination and we waited until my next surge had been and gone. The doctor explained to me that baby had got herself into a position where her chin was stuck and that she was becoming distressed and they needed to discuss my options with me. A ventouse delivery with episiotomy or caesarean birth. The head midwife, who was also called Hannah, was a huge advocate for me and told me how amazing my breathing had been and she knew with just a little help and a few pushes that theatre could be avoided and that she would be out!

In that moment, it’s a lot to take in and I obviously wanted to make a decision that was best for us both. Me and Luke had already discussed that if we were presented with a decision like this then we wanted to try for an assisted delivery and avoid a caesarean birth where possible. In that short time, I was able to use my BRAIN tools and made the decision to have an assisted birth.

The doctor gave me a local anaesthetic and made a cut and within 3 surges, 3 pushes, one loud roar and the use of ventouse, Lilah Edith Rose was born at 8:48am weighing 7lb5oz at 41+2. She was immediately placed on me, her eyes wide open and I was in love.

The doctor then explained to me that she was aware that I wanted a natural third stage but recommended active management to avoid heavy bleeding. This is something I had researched beforehand and so agreed to a managed third stage and also requested we still had delayed cord clamping.

I required stitches due to my episiotomy and so I asked for Lilah to have skin to skin with Luke. The stitches took no longer than 10 minutes and we were then left to have some bonding time and I had an opportunity to feed Lilah.

We had a beautiful 40 minutes of feeding and it was just magical. 9 months of growing this tiny human and she is now here.
After about an hour and half My wonderful midwife Kelsey asked if I wanted to try and get in the shower which was absolutely welcomed. She helped Luke get my stuff from my bag and helped me into the shower. It was so nice to stand under the hot water and have a minute to myself. Taking in all the emotions and feelings of the last 6 hours.

I put on my brand new Primark PJ’s and immediately felt so much better.

What happened next, was the next best thing to happen after the birth of Lilah.

The tea and toast. It’s true what people say when they tell you it’s the best tea and toast you will ever have. I inhaled 3 slices of toast and my cup of tea in about 1 minute. Heaven.

We then spent the next 4 hours in our own room as the ward wasn’t ready (I had to stay in 24 hours due to risk of infection due to PROM), Luke dressed Lilah and we had beautiful new born bubble cuddles until it was time to be moved.

Even though I didn’t get my waterbirth, I had to change birth places and opt for an assisted delivery. I feel very positive about my whole experience. I was happy that I was able to voice my preferences when it came to induction and that I was able to labour mostly at home, listening to my body and using my breathe to control each surge.

Thank you for reading my birth story and how Hypnobirthing helped me to relax and feel calm and confident when things didn’t pan out how I had hoped.

My Birth Story

At 3:15am on the Sunday morning I felt like I was constipated with lots of pressure bearing down. After being on and off of the toilet for an hour and a half I realised that, actually, I wasn’t constipated I was in actual fact in the early stages of meeting my baby! I think it took so long for me to believe because I was still 5 days from my due date and was fully expecting to go over! At 6am, I started to feel very mild period type pains and by 6:30 I’d had my show. I went downstairs to tell my husband (who’d got up around 4:30 because of my constant up and down to the toilet!) I started with ‘it is probably still going to be ages…. but….’ my stepsons were also upstairs and by the time they came down around 7:30, my early surges were around 15 minutes apart. They were easy to breathe through, just uncomfortable and they weren’t distracting me from what I was doing, however trying not to let on to my stepsons was tricky!

My husband took them to their mum’s and it gave us time to focus on what was happening, begin timing and to try to work out how to use the TENs machine that my friend had leant me. By now my surges were slightly stronger, but still sporadic between 10 and 20 minutes apart. My mum and dad came to see us, so that my mum would stop panicking, and my surges slowed to every 40 minutes but were more intense. The TENs machine was working a treat, as well as starting to use breathing techniques learnt during the hypnobirthing sessions At around 4pm the surges picked up their pace and intensity and we walked round to my husband’s sisters. My inlaws and husband’s sister’s inlaws were also there so I sat in a corner trying to look like I was breezing through my surges, turning the TENs machine to around 7 at this point and breathing through. By the time we walked home the surges were around 5 minutes apart so my husband phoned the midwives to let them know that they’d be needed soon.

As we were having a home birth, he ran us a bath and we got in to try to ease the pressure on my lower back. At this point we started to engage with the hypnobirthing techniques fully. All day, when the surges had felt particularly powerful, I would use breathing techniques to get through them but we now started to use the MP3s and hubby started to use some of the positive affirmations that we had agreed on. At 10pm the midwives arrived and examined me I was 3cm and at that point my body seemed to stall a little. By midnight I was being sick and still only 3cm so the midwives left to give us some time to reset. We used the hypnobirthing MP3s and lay on our bed cuddling, despite the surges being around 3 minutes apart I felt so relaxed that I actually managed to sleep for an hour!

At 2am the midwives arrived back and after an examination it was confirmed that I was finally in active labour- thank you hypnobirthing! They set the pool up and by 2:30 I was in the water which was instant relief. The effects of the water began to wane around 3:30am so I requested gas and air. The surges weren’t painful but they were intense and coming thick and fast by that point. The next few hours passed by in a blur and by 10am I was around 6cm. To me that felt like the end of the world, like I still had a mountain to climb but the midwives were so encouraging. We were still using the breathing techniques and I was reaching out for my happy place but I was feeling overwhelmed by this point.

At 31 hours in and on 1 hour sleep and hardly any food and I felt like I couldn’t continue. I tried really hard to reset again and we listened through the background MP3s and the bond and breathe my husband was using outside touch to guide me. Around 11am, my body was trying to push the baby out, even though I was only at 7cm, because of the position of the head and I really needed to focus on allowing my body to recognise that it wasn’t the time for baby to come. By 12:30pm, it all started to get a little more dramatic, baby still hadn’t turned in to the optimised birthing position and still had their bottom to one side, their heart rate was dropping and I had to get out of the water to try to move things along a little.

Once I was out of the water I also started to bleed so the midwives were repositioning me to try to get baby to move. All of a sudden I felt an overwhelming sensation, like something was very wrong, the noise I made caused my husband to nearly faint and the midwife that wasn’t actively involved in my care was straight on her phone (unbeknown to me.) At that point my body took over, I rolled off of the sofa on to all 4s and began to push, I also hummed and within 5 minutes baby had made their appearance. We had a beautiful baby girl! I can tell you now though that the ring of fire is real and I had to keep telling myself that the burning and stinging of my baby crowning was bringing me closer to meeting them! It turns out that the overwhelming sensation that I felt was my body transitioning rapidly, I went from 7cm to having my baby girl in my arms in under 22 minutes.

I was just so grateful that she was here, safe and sound! We didn’t know that we were having a baby girl and those precious skin to skin moments after birth are ones that I will cherish forever.