Eve: 41+2 weeks spontaneous labour with gestational diabetes

During early pregnancy I first heard about hypnobirthing. A friend told me about it and said she was trying it to keep herself calm during her pregnancy. I did my own research and thought it sounded perfect for me. I had already been telling family and friends about my ideal birth scenario for weeks, which included relaxing in a birthing pool, a fan cooling me down, dim lighting, Beyoncé playing in the background and being lovingly massaged by my partner. Everyone I’d spoken to about this had laughed and thought I was crazy.

I decided to book a 1:1 class with Emma to learn more. She confirmed my hopes that this type of birth was absolutely possible for me and put my mind at ease on so many different occasions. The most important thing I learned was that fear = pain, and I would now agree that eliminating the fear of the unknown really helped me to stay calm during labour and birth and made my experience so positive. We worked together to create a birth plan for each type of birth (natural, c-section, emergency, etc) and we made decisions ahead of time that helped me to feel fully in control no matter what happened.

My pregnancy was fairly straight forward until around 28 weeks when I was given a diagnosis of gestational diabetes. I was worried about how this would affect my birth plans knowing that this would push my pregnancy into the high-risk category. I was forwarded onto consultant care, who met with me at around 32 weeks and recommended an induction at 38 weeks to reduce the risk of shoulder dystocia as my baby would likely be “too big”. I knew from reading lots, listening to hypnobirthing podcasts, and working with Emma that I had a choice and decided to decline the induction. My instinct told me that this was the right decision for me and my baby, and I carried on waiting for them to make an appearance in their own time.

At 8am in the morning, I woke up with a dull ache - a bit like a period cramp. I was now 41+2 weeks pregnant and had resisted all offerings of induction by consultants. I had also rejected the sweep as I just wanted things to happen on their own. I kept myself busy each day after my due date by planning treats like going for an ice cream, getting my nails done or meeting a friend. This really helped me to relax and enjoy this time post due date. I got to 9 days past my “due date” without feeling fed up or “just wanting the baby out” and swear the treats helped so much! However now, the dull ache I felt was coming and going, and I began to realise this could be the start of labour.

I took paracetamol and woke up my partner. We were excited that this could be labour beginning, but I told him over and over that I wanted him to remain calm and to pretend it wasn’t happening for a while longer. I knew labour could take a long time as this was my first baby. We kept an eye on the surges and noticed them becoming more and more frequent, and at around 11am we started tracking using the Freya app. At this point, I had a shower, and washed and curled my hair, thinking how excited I was that this might be the last day before baby! We phoned my mum to let her know things were starting as she was my second birthing partner, and she arrived at our house later in the afternoon. By now, the surges were every 5-7 minutes, but not lasting more than 40 seconds. I was using my calm breathing, listening to affirmations and squeezing combs to distract myself and kept up with paracetamol every 4 hours. The three of us sat in the sun in the garden, ordered a pizza for dinner and chatted about all sorts of things. It was a really lovely day and one I’ll never forget! There was lots of love and laughter and I felt so supported and looked after by them both. It was safe to say I was in my happy place and the oxytocin was flowing. At this point I was going between the sofa, my ball, and a kitchen chair to keep comfortable and remain upright, forward and open as much as I could. By now, my surges were every 3-4 minutes and lasting at least 50 seconds, and the app told me I was in established labour. I still felt I was coping well and not too sore, so I decided I wanted to remain at home as long as I could. I napped on the sofa on and off and tucked into some of my favourite treats. At some point in the evening, I decided to try out my TENS machine which was a fab distraction from the sensation of the surges, so I kept this on and used it each time I felt one coming.

At around 2am something felt different, and the sensations were becoming stronger, so we transferred to the hospital. In the car, I wore an eye mask to block out the light, listened to a guided meditation, used my TENS machine and continued my calm breathing. All of this helped me to remain in my zone and as we arrived at the hospital I waddled along the corridor, stopping every few minutes to breathe through a contraction.

My partner handed over my birth plan and told the midwife about my labour so far. My contractions were now about every 1-2 minutes, lasting about a minute or more and were extremely intense at this point. I asked for gas and air which helped with the breathing and was great pain relief. The midwife was trying to establish how far along in labour I was. I decided to decline an internal examination for a few reasons, and I was coping really well and was very calm despite the intense surges. For these reasons the midwife thought I was in early labour. My blood pressure was higher than normal, so the midwife in charge refused to allow me to birth in a pool. This was important to me, so she agreed to get medical staff to come and have a chat with me to discuss it further. However shortly after she left the room, I began feeling the urge to push. I changed my mind and asked the midwife to examine me, and she immediately said she could feel the top of the baby’s head! I think the midwife was just as shocked as we all were! I was given another dose of paracetamol at this point and quickly whisked along the corridor to the AMU into a dimly lit, quiet and calm room.

I was trying hard to go with my body and breathe the baby down and out each time I felt the urge to push. Although it was sore, I knew that every surge was bringing me closer to my baby. I tried a few different positions and the most comfortable for me was on my knees leaning over the back of the bed. I had the fan on, music playing and both my birth partners by my side supporting me. Thinking back to my visualisations this was pretty close to what I’d imagined birth would be like. 

After a short while, the midwife said she wanted to monitor the baby’s heart rate and asked me to turn around onto my side so she could attach the monitor. Their heart rate was not recovering so well, so the midwife began guiding me to push to get the baby out as quickly as possible. I trusted her and knew this was the right thing to keep my baby safe. After a few more pushes, the head was out, and she discovered meconium in my waters. This gave me even more motivation to get the baby out, and after a final push or two my baby was born. The midwife passed the baby to my partner who was supposed to announce the sex to us all. However, some sort of animal instinct came over me and I grabbed the baby from him and lifted her up shouting “she’s a girl!” over and over. I felt absolutely amazing - like a superhero - and so, so proud of myself for what I’d just achieved. Even more so, proud of my baby girl! She chose her own birthday and came when she was ready. This was made all the more special as it was also her dad’s birthday too. It just felt like it was meant to be, and I am so glad I didn’t give in to any forms of induction despite going so far past my “due date”. She wasn’t late at all; she was perfectly on time. She was born at 6.17am, meaning my labour had lasted 22 hours.

After the birth we had a lovely golden hour together soaking in our beautiful baby. After this the midwives began their routine checks. Her weight was 8lbs 5oz - not too big after all. Her blood sugar was monitored due to my gestational diabetes, and her blood sugars were checked every six hours until she achieved three normal readings in a row, which she did. The midwives also checked my blood sugars a few times throughout the day and night to check everything was normal, which again it was, and we were discharged the following day at lunchtime.

Even though I didn’t end up in the pool, my labour and birth were so enjoyable and better than I’d ever imagined. I know that my positive and calm mindset helped me achieve the type of birth I wanted, and allowed my body the chance to do what it was literally made to do. It was definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and I won’t lie and say it wasn’t painful, but the fact that I felt so in control and knew what to expect made everything feel much easier. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the feeling of pride I have for birthing my baby girl in such a lovely way and I’ll never stop recommending hypnobirthing (and Emma) to all of my pregnant friends.