Positive fast unmedicated birth - FTM 41+4

I had my baby girl two weeks ago and thought I'd write up my birth story. It really helped me to prepare by reading stories on here so now I'd like to share my own.

Ahead of labour I prepared mostly by reading hypnobirthing books and other people's stories to understand all the ways birth can pan out and to help me feel informed on what to expect. Honestly I didnt practice breathing or affirmations that much but I'm a psychologist and I do similar stuff in my work so I didn't really feel the need. For me it was more about trusting my body with the process like I had done in pregnancy. I exercised a bit - weekly swimming and daily walking, ate dates, attempted perineal massage but my arms were too short to reach around my bump so I gave up lol

I was 41+4 when I delivered my baby. I was booked in for an induction at 41+5 which I really wanted to avoid as I wanted to trust my body to do things in its own time and not to have a cascade of interventions that would make me feel out of control. I wanted a water birth and the hospital wouldn't allow me to use the birthing suite if I passed 42 weeks, so for this reason I opted to have two membrane sweeps at 41w and 41+3. I also had sex with my husband that last night, every little helps!

So at 2:30am on 41+4 I woke up to a contraction and my waters breaking in a gush of fluid that continued as I made it to the bathroom. I called triage to let them know the process had started and to expect me at some point the next day. I tried to go back to sleep figuring it would be a long day, but realised the contractions were 5 minutes apart and 40 seconds long straight out of the gate. I remembered learning that they could quicken and spread out, it wasn't going to be linear, so I went for a shower and breathed through them. They stayed 5 minutes apart so I woke my husband and called triage back who said the baby might just be turning, causing temporary frequent contractions and I've probably got a while to go yet being a first timer. I set up the TENS machine, finished packing my bag, and within a couple of hours the contractions were now 3 minutes apart, then 1 minute apart and lasting a minute. I called triage back and they still weren't convinced but said if I wasn't coping then I could come in (!).

We arrived at the hospital at 7am and I was checked to be 4cm. They kept me in a bay while doing shift handover. I threw up quite a lot of liquid, got some checks and continued using the TENS while breathing through them. The TENS was great, it just about took the edge off and gave me a nice distraction/routine to get through each one. At this point the contractions were really quite intense and I thought if I'm only 4cm I could potentially need to do this for another 12 hours, and if that's the case then I'm going to need some pain relief. I occasionally lost control of my breath and felt panic set in, which now I know was me getting to transition. Soon I felt the need to poo and went to the bathroom, and here my body started automatically pushing. I was bleeding a fair bit and the contractions were so strong I thought I would have the baby in the toilet! I returned to the bay and the midwife heard my next contraction, went a bit wide eyed and almost ran me down the corridor in a wheelchair to the birthing suite.

They checked me again and I had gone from 4 to 10cm in about an hour. They were filling up the pool and trying to find all their equipment as they weren't expecting me so soon. They tried to take my bloods again but there was no way I could hold still. I got into the pool and used gas and air for the next contraction - what a relief! I laboured in the pool with that for about 75 minutes. The doppler wasn't working well and so we couldn't clearly hear baby's heartbeat at times which added some anxiety. I leant over the side, kneeling and angled my feet outwards to create space. I felt a slight burning sensation as baby crowned and her head appeared a contraction or two after. She was born on the next contraction and placed on my chest, I couldn't believe we had made it. She was so still from the peaceful transition into the water, but that coupled with not having heard her heartbeat meant that we panicked for a second that she wasn't okay. The midwives were calm, rubbed her and got her to cry out. All in all labour was 7 hours from start to finish.

I moved onto the bed and had two hours of skin to skin with her. I got a second degree tear and needed stitches - this was my worst fear in pregnancy and it truly wasn't a big deal just like I'd read other people say in their stories. It stung, I was distracted by baby and numbed for the stitches, it's been sore but two weeks out I'm nearly recovered. One of my affirmations was "if I tear I will heal" and that helped. I got the syntocin shot to deliver the placenta to minimise blood loss, and this was really straightforward.

So that's my story! I wasn't prepared for how fast I would labour so a lot of my planned coping strategies (walks, music, aromatherapy, positions) went completely out of the window. The intensity was challenging, more because mentally I didn't know whether I'd be in it for 20 hours or 20 minutes. But it was an incredibly empowering experience, our bodies are phenomenal and capable of more than we know!

Thanks for reading, I'm happy to answer any questions if you come across this weeks or months from now. All the best for your births, you've got this!