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Positive Birth Story – Hospital Water Birth in Leeds

A dark photo of a woman holding a baby in the water having just given birth.

When pregnant, reading positive birth stories of all types can help us to open our minds to what birth really looks like. What we see in films and TV is so dramatised, it’s VERY rarely anything like the real thing (even one born every minute and other documentary-style programmes are very well edited). So this is the story of my very real hospital water birth in Leeds, with as much detail as I could remember.

When you read this, keep in mind that everyone is so individual and there are so many different types of birth stories.

By ‘types’ I mean births which might include caesarean, induction, assisted delivery, water birth, home birth and many twists and turns. It’s so important, if you do want to read positive birth stories, that you read different variations so you can see the realities and how others’ coped, as well as how some tools and knowledge helped. 

It’s also helpful not to compare too much, because none of us will make decisions in the same way!

NB: If you’ve had a previous traumatic birth, please seek help in the form of birth debrief or resolution and further treatment like counselling, EMDR or CBT with a professional. If you’d like to do a course with me, please let me know and we can approach the course appropriately.

My First Birth – Hospital Water Birth in Leeds

Our first baby was 2016, we knew we were having a girl. We’d been to see the LGI suites and we’d done a local NCT course. We found this useful in some respects, and felt like we were doing something to prepare for birth. Otherwise, to prepare, I made a birth plan, a list of things we’d need for the baby and did perineal massage around 4 times. I didn’t want to think about it too much. The bag was ready, birth plan printed in the front of my notes and I eagerly waited.

I lost some of my plug at 36 weeks- googling it, it was definitely my plug. Did this mean I was in labour? No, I tried to forget about it and thank goodness I did because the birth was nearly 4 weeks later. I agreed to have a sweep around 39 weeks, it was very uncomfortable and I didn’t know much about it, just that someone told me it could help bring on labour.

My in-laws came over for the day to do some work on the house. It was a Sunday, two days before my due date, lovely and sunny weather. I got up feeling a bit ‘off it’, I’d had braxton hicks intensely throughout my whole third trimester, but they were much more intense this day. They were quite painful in fact, took my breath a bit, but the odd ones did sometimes so I didn’t think much of it. I’d been feeling heavy in my pelvis for the last few weeks so I was used to that feeling now too.

My stomach started churning and I realised I needed to go sit on the toilet. Having my in-laws there made me stressed suddenly- I needed space and privacy. My mother-in-law suggested I get a bath for my braxton hicks and so they very kindly went and had lunch outside while I had a bath inside.

I got a bath and it was so soothing, my aches had gone and I felt a bit better again. Getting out of the bath, I dried off, only to find a small pressured splash falling onto the floor. There wasn’t much, but it had a certain smell and had bit of plug in it, so I knew what it was. My husband thought he could keep going with some DIY! No way! I rang the Maternity Assessment Centre who were lovely, and asked me to come in for examination. When I came off the phone labour really kicked in. I felt very rigid, it was a sobering moment and I was completely focused on the intensity of the contractions. I bent over to lean on the bed instinctively but felt like I didn’t know what to do with myself. We used a TENS machine which helped and was a good distraction to get me to the hospital in the taxi.

In the MAC unit I really didn’t know where to put myself. I definitely didn’t want anyone to do an internal examination. Confused and overwhelmed I relucatantly lay back on the bed between contractions and let them have a look at how dilated I was. 3cm, but they could see things were intense, so they’d let me go to delivery suite. On walking round to delivery suite I had to stop and be sick a few times. “Would you like a bath?” The midwife asked. Yes! That helped earlier on, that sounds great.

When I arrived in the Myleene Klass suite of the LGI, I stripped off my clothes down to my bra without a care and got into the birthing pool. I was desperate for something to ease the contractions, so they gave me gas and air too. I’d asked for Paracetamol in the MAU but nobody had got round to getting me any. The warm water and the gas and air relaxed me. My husband was still timing the contractions! “You don’t need to do that at this point”  the midwife joked- she mentioned we could use a speaker, so he put on our playlist for birth.

It was still intense, but more manageable with gas and air and the lovely warm water. After a little while (I honestly didn’t know time scales at the time) things started to feel different. I told the midwife “I feel like I need to poo, and I might want to push soon.” She said “that’s fine, and you won’t be able to help it when you’re ready to push.” Apart from coming over to listen in, she mostly stayed on a stool near the computer. I had a moment of feeling ‘normal’ (transition?) but overdid it on the gas and air a bit so just laughed and tipped my head back to look at the ceiling.

The next few were intense. This part felt a bit scary. Exhausted, I was apprehensive I couldn’t do it. Going with it, I did what it felt like my body was already doing and puuuuushed when it felt right within each contraction. There was a slight burning and there was her head! Sticking right out, I could feel her! What a strange sensation. Another intense contraction with a big push and out she came, I caught her and couldn’t believe what had just happened. That surge of emotion was so unreal. Our little girl.

My husband cut the cord (even though he said he wasn’t sure he wanted to) and I felt a few further contractions, more period pain-like though now. I realised it was the placenta and stood up to let gravity help, another slight push and the midwife caught it in a bowl. I got out of the pool and lay down on a bed nearby for some beautiful skin-to-skin in absolute bliss.

From the force of pushing I’d suffered a second (very nearly third) degree tear. I hadn’t realised this at all at the time, but sat on the bed having skin-to-skin I’d also bled. They tried to get me up to a wheel chair to transfer to another room and I fainted- I was rushed there and put on the bed. This gave my mum (who had just arrived) and my husband a scare, but I quickly came round when I was laid down.

The prospect of having stitches made me anxiouos prior to the birth, but after the effort of birth they were absolutely fine. In fact I spent the whole time on gas and air, so between that and the local anaesthetic I couldn’t feel a thing. After that, two HCP’s helped me with a bed bath and I tried to breastfeed for the first time, still feeling euphoric after the experience of birthing a person! 

The night stay at the hospital was a blurr. I went for my first wee on the ward and passed some clots and blood (which I told the midwives about and thankfully was okay). My husband went home to try get some sleep, and I tried to sleep among the other babies crying and people coming in and out. My jelly belly protruded, moving when I walked, it felt strange. We were lucky enough to go home just after lunch time after she’d been checked over by a midwife.

I realised some time afterwards that the standard antenatal course we did locally didn’t prepare us for our birth very much. Courses differ everywhere, but I didn’t know of any coping techniques, I was tense and filled with fear, I still didn’t really understand what was happening during labour, and I felt I wasn’t encouraged to do any reading or prep for myself.

Postpartum was uncomplicated but a shock, I did feel like I’d been hit by a bus the following week. My stitches healed okay and I pushed through the sleepless nights and the ups and downs of breastfeeding on the adrenaline of having a new baby.

I think back and know now that postpartum is A LOT longer than just healing. You really have to try to give yourself space for the changes- taking time to let things settle in and being gentle on yourself for learning. The early weeks, especially, are about survival. With the right support, though, it can also be a really special time of bonding, love and exciting milestones.

A baby laid on a blanket

Read about my second birth here.

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