#24: Reggie’s mummy’s powerful, positive and unforgettable preterm induction …
Trigger warnings: please note that this birth story discusses preterm birth & neonatal doctors.
Before we get to birth, let’s start at the beginning. How was your pregnancy?
Pregnancy was not for the faint hearted. 3 days after that beautiful positive pregnancy test came the nausea and sickness. I remember being on a dog walk with my partner and parents and the smell of the flowers on a hot summers day was making me gag. My mum looked at me and said “Erin are you pregnant” and then came all the happy tears and the immense surrounding of love.
I was a very anxious first time mum, I had so many questions about every part of pregnancy and whilst the days and weeks felt long I remember it being Christmas Eve and suddenly I was in my 3rd trimester. Throughout my pregnancy I was under consultant-led care so had great support from both my community midwife and area consultant.
I had an anterior placenta which definitely felt like baby was trying to keep me on my toes (we didn’t find out the gender of our little boy until his arrival). We also had multiple growth scans due to fundal height measurements being on the smaller end of normal. However, all scans and all appointments showed a completely healthy baby.
At 33+6 I had just seen the area consultant and followed on by seeing my community midwife afterwards. I had expressed that I felt baby’s movements hadn’t been as frequent and I had increased vaginal discharge (something which had been reoccurring in pregnancy). My lovely midwife advised to attend triage. When I got home myself and my partner went into triage in our work uniform as we would be “home soon”. Whilst walking into triage my partner had said how he was going to run me a bath when we got home and he was going to cook us tea.
I met a lovely midwife who did all my initial checks and popped me onto the CTG monitor. After about 10 minutes I said to my partner that my tummy felt hard and uncomfortable so I looked at the monitor and it looked as though I was having a tightening. A doctor came in to see us and advised a vaginal swab to just make sure that the increased discharge wasn’t my waters. She even mentioned she was sure it wasn’t. The test was taken, I got dressed and ready to go home when the doctor came back in and said “I’m really sorry it’s come back positive, your waters have broken*”.
I remember so clearly the upset I felt in that moment and the fear of my baby coming early.
A lovely consultant came in and gave me the biggest hug and said they would do everything they could to keep us both safe, she explained the next steps and advised admission to the ward for 48 hours. Once settled on the ward, I sent my partner home to get some things, then I got ready for bed. Just before I shut my eyes, I felt this uncomfortable tightening feeling again. I sat and clock watched for 20 minutes and they were coming every 2 minutes.
A midwife came in and popped me onto the monitor, shortly after a doctor came in and advised we transfer to delivery suite. After being monitored for 12 hours the tightenings had stopped so I was able to return to the ward. I spent a further 24 hours in there before being discharged the day before my baby shower. I was discharged and advised to come back daily for monitoring and to have an induction of labour at 37 weeks if baby hadn’t already arrived by that point.
After 5 days of monitoring it was very apparent baby was comfortable however emotionally and mentally I was struggling. Collectively as we were unsure when my waters broke they advised an earlier induction at 36 weeks. Something I felt so fearful of as I wanted baby to reach “full term”. However I knew that this was the best for both me and baby and spent the days leading up to it reminding myself of this.
Learning Point: Full term is 37 weeks of pregnancy, and any sign of labour (eg: waters breaking) after this is exciting not worrying. However, if there are signs of labour before this time, it can have complications and more medical support is required.
And, before the event, how did you feel about giving birth?
I felt as though I did lots of preparation.
I bought/rented as many hypnobirthing books as I could possibly read.
I listened to podcasts and started listening to hypnobirthing tracks from about 18 weeks.
Then the big day arrives. How did it feel when you realised your baby was on their way earthside?
Induction day!! I was scheduled to go in at 4pm so I made a lasagna that morning to be reheated when I got to the hospital. Bags packed and my dad dropped me and my partner to PAMW.
I can’t lie and say I wasn’t slightly terrified because I was but I was so excited to meet this trouble maker.
Propess was put in at 8pm, I had a shower and went to sleep.
So, how was your birth experience?
6am I woke up and thought I was going for a wee to find my fore waters had just broken. I sent Olly home to freshen up and I got ready for the day.
At 10am I messaged Olly *copied and pasted from our messages* “I have started contracting, don’t rush or panic but if you could get here soon that would be great. Also DONT FORGET THE SNACK BAG”.
He arrived shortly after this message and my 1pm I was timing my contractions. A neonatal consultant came down to discuss delivery with us and what condition to expect baby to arrive in. He explained every scenario imaginable so we felt briefed and ready to approach anything.
At 2pm I was getting more uncomfortable so had a bath on the ward which lasted all of 5 minutes because I felt the need to move. At 2:20pm I put my TENS machine on and by 4pm I had started to check out of labour (something you definitely can’t do) but nothing was keeping me focussed. So I popped my headphones on read some birth affirmations my friends had written me and listened to a hypnobirthing track.
We then decided to go for a walk and at 5pm I walked back into the ward and a lovely midwife had come to take me upstairs to delivery suite. I opted to not have an examination until I felt ready.
At 7pm I felt ready and I was 6-7cm. By 7:30pm they recommended an FSE clip* as the pick up of baby’s heart rate was poor. I was then unofficially 8cm. Throughout this time I was listening to my birth playlist with my TENS machine on and birth comb in hand (definitely recommend a birthing comb) whilst my partner was reading affirmations and squeezing my hips.
At 9:30pm I reached the overwhelming “I can’t do this anymore stage” but simply couldn’t sit still for an examination so was advised to listen to my body. Here comes the embarrassing part… I needed a wee but couldn’t wait for my midwife to get a bed pan so I hopped off told the bed and squatted on the floor and weed. Something my partner likes to remind me of😂
At 9:45pm I started involuntary pushing, I had no control over what my body wanted to do. As this was a preterm delivery* it was important the neonatal team were present. They were called and 2 lovely doctors arrived. They respected I was in “the zone” and carried out their checks quietly in the corner. I was adamant I didn’t want to be on my back in labour, however at this point that was the only place I was comfortable. My midwife discussed every stage and even asked another midwife to come into the room to capture photos and a video as this was something I felt strongly about.
At 22:02 his head was born and the “ring of fire” lasted seconds, I had prepared myself for minutes!
At 22:03 our gorgeous baby boy, Reggie was born, crying and delivered safely onto my chest weighing 6lbs 5oz! The neonatal team stayed present and completed all there checks with Reggie on my chest. Even writing this makes me feel emotional because I had spent so many days in fear, for our little boy to show just how strong he was.
Preterm delivery is when a baby is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. There are additional complications for baby that can come with being early and neonatal doctors are present for these births in case medical support is needed to help baby transition to life on the outside.
Do you remember what you said to your baby when you first met them?
I have this on video so know it was “Hello chicken” which is very funny as I nicknamed my dog chicken years ago so unsure how I cross referenced here🤦🏼♀️
Looking back, what was the best part of your birth experience?
How empowered I felt. In that moment of pushing I felt fearless, I was so ready for the next step.
And on the flip side, if you could, what would you have changed about the way your baby entered the world?
I don’t think I would have. I feel so positive about my whole experience. It was truly magical.
If you could give parents-to-be one piece of advice about preparing for the birth of their baby, what would it be?
Trust your instincts and listen to your heart. If you want to do all the research about labour and birth, do it but if you don’t also do that! But definitely buy a birthing comb. Oh and pack a snack bag for your partner. You do not want them eating your labour snacks.
