Birth Stories continued.....
Lindsay Roberts Home VBAC, this is her story....
After what was a pretty awful time having my first child I was sure I couldn't go through an ordeal like that again. With my son my water broke at term +7 and then was induced in hospital the following day. All seem to be going fine until they started to administer the drip, my labour stalled. The team at the hospital increased the drip, but my son wasn't coping too well with it. The midwife then decided to break the remaining fore waters and at this point I was unable to cope with the labour. I asked for an epidural, which worked for about 2 hours then stopped working. I was left unsupported without seeing a midwife for about 5 hours. I had no idea what was happening. I was assessed by the registrar at about 2am and then without seeing anyone for a further 3 hours was told by the registrar they were taking me for a c-section. The labour was 27 hours of what I class as torture. I didn't have the overwhelming emotions of love for my son when he was born, although this saddens me I fully believe that the negative emotions that I experienced after my sons birth were due to the trauma of the labour.
When I found out I was pregnant again I told my husband the type of birth that I wanted, I would not let the doctors and midwives interfere and I would give birth as naturally as possible.
At my 16 week check with the community midwives I explain that I wanted to have a midwife to labour with me at home as long as possible then transfer into hospital to give birth. I was told as a previous section the NHS wouldn't accommodate my wish and that I would have to go into hospital to be monitored as soon as labour started. I was adamant that this was not going to happen. It was then she suggested that I take on an independent midwife to labour with me.
At 18 weeks I met Vicky, she was passionate about allowing women to labour and give birth without interference and suggested a home birth. Although I wasn't against the idea I still thought the best place for me to give birth was the hospital. I decided to enlist Vicky's help and carried on having regular contact with her, slowly warming to a home birth.
At 35 weeks I went for a tour of the maternity unit and panicked when I entered the delivery suite, the midwife leading the tour was very sharp and after I asked how many midwives to 1 labouring women she bitterly replied “This is the NHS, if you want one to one midwifery care I suggest you go private” . At this point I said to my husband that there was no way I was going into hospital and decided fully on a home birth.
My Birth Story.....
Just like my first pregnancy I went over due. At term +9, I had a hospital appointment at 11 am to meet with the consultant and Vicky had agreed to join us. At 9 am whilst making my bed my water broke. I called Vicky who came to check me over at home before the hospital appointment. At the hospital I was scanned and monitored all day then was allowed to go home, they wanted to induce me at 8am the following day panic set in, I wanted the baby out, but I was also anxious of having to go through induction again.
I went home and arranged for child care for my 2 year old son. So off he went to my sisters for the night. My husband and I decided to go out for tea thinking this would be our last chance for a while so we decided to take a walk to a pub alongside the canal. Only 5 minutes into our walk I had a little more leakage so decided to go home.
At about 7pm I cleaned the bathroom, mopped the floors and finished the ironing. Then settled down at 8pm on the birth ball to watch the shows on Paramount comedy. I started having little contractions and felt relieved, although not convinced at first that they were contractions as they only seemed to be around the bottom of my belly. I called Vicky who confirmed that these were contractions, she had said to call if I wanted her there or for reassurance. We sat down and ate some frozen pizza, the height of my husband's culinary expertise and waited.
My husband had gone for a lie down anticipating a long night ahead and I continued timing my contractions 9.30pm every 8 minutes lasting 50 seconds.
At 11pm the contractions were still regular and I asked my husband to fill the birth pool while I had a lie down. Filling the pool was a nightmare as our kitchen tap is a strange shape and no hose attachments fit it, so he had to connect it to the bathroom tap, feed the hose out of the window and through the patio doors into the birth pool.
It wasn't long before the contractions built up, I shouted help to my husband when he had finished filling the pool and he came into the bedroom to rub my back. I asked him to set up the room with the essential oils, candles and the protective sheeting Vicky had given us.
My husband came back upstairs and put the TENS machine on, he asked if I wanted Vicky, and I had said no, “it'll be ages yet”. I remember standing up and having a contraction, then I got to the landing and had another one then in the bathroom I had another one. I finally made it downstairs; I got on the floor and started to rock back and forward over the birth ball. My husband had asked again if I wanted Vicky and I had said no, I think he got a bit agitated because he said do you know how fast they are coming, I couldn't reply as I was having another contraction.
He phoned Vicky at 12.10 and I remember hearing him say “she wants you here now”. I thought it's not me who wants her here yet, it's you!! Vicky arrive 30 minutes later right in the middle of a long contraction, I could not look up or speak to her as I was breathing and trying to control the sharp pain. Just the smell of Vicky's perfume was enough to relax me. When I looked up Vicky was perched on the end of the sofa, she said “that's what we want, long hard contractions”. She asked if I wanted to get in the pool, again thinking it was going to be a long time yet and coping well with the birth ball and TENS I declined. Vicky did a few checks on the baby and me and went and had tea in the kitchen. For the next hour things went on fine, contractions were long and hard, Vicky recording her observations every so often. I was coping with the contractions through breathing and the TENS machine.
About an hour after Vicky had arrived I had a contraction and felt the urge to push a little. I sent my husband to get Vicky, when she came in I told her that I had to push, she said that it can happen when you're reaching fully dilated and that she would observe my next contraction. When the next contraction came it seemed like I was possessed with huge pushing and grunting sounds, Vicky went and called for Jo the other midwife and sat down on the floor with me.
Although I only pushed for about 30 minutes it felt like ages, the fore waters hadn't broken so at one point as I was rocking back and forth I had a huge bag of cold water hitting my legs, this wasn't pleasant at all, especially as at first I thought I had given birth to baby's head. I remember asking Vicky for gas and air, but when I got it I just decided to hold it and didn't use it. Vicky kept telling me the head was sitting there and I kept thinking I don't want it to sit there, I want it out. At one point I shouted at her to stop fiddling down there, she apparently held up her hands to my husband to show that she wasn't even touching me
At last Vicky told me with the next contraction the baby would be born, after a few minutes with a great gush the baby was born. Vicky told me to sit back and see what I'd got, I was a little confused and turned around to see my darling little girl lying on the floor. We were all shocked as we all expected a boy. I had the fantastic overwhelming love for her that I hadn't had initially with my son.
It was the most amazing birth experience I could have hoped for, it was calm, relaxed and a welcoming place for my daughter to arrive. I was so proud of myself for only using the TENS machine. I never used the birth pool after the fiasco of setting it up as I honestly thought after my son's birth that I would be there all day.
Throughout the whole birth I was calm and felt confident that I could give birth. During my pregnancy I assured myself that my body was designed to give birth to my baby and I came from a long line of women who had successfully birthed their children without intervention. Vicky was a rock of support and I always felt confident in her ability to assist me and also trusted Vicky's advice.
I will definitely have a home birth again and use Vicky, the friendship and trust that is built up when one midwife looks after you all the way through is truly something special.