After 41 weeks of pregnancy I was offered an induction. There were many factors that lead to me making this choice. But I must stress that it was a choice. Luna is my first baby and I had dreams and plans of how I would give birth naturally in my own home or in a midwife led unit. But that did not turn out to be my reality but that doesn’t mean that my birth was not positive.
As I said there were many factors that lead to me choosing induction, firstly at 16 weeks I was diagnosed with PGP (pelvic girdle pain) so as my baby grew bigger I was in more and more pain and by the end of my pregnancy I couldn’t walk more the 100 metres. Then when I was 39 weeks pregnant my grandmother passed away. I felt so much anxiety that I may not be able to go to her funeral. Or that my mum who was one of my birthing partners would be faced with the choice of being with her birthing daughter or her bereaved husband. This caused me a lot of upset and feelings of being out of control of what was happening to me.
However on the Tuesday before Luna was born. I had numbness in my tongue. I mentioned it to my midwife at my appointment that day. Along with the fact that I had protein in my urine and swelling in my hands and feet she asked me to attend the midwife triage at my chosen hospital. No one knew what to make of my mum’s tongue, but they were querying pre eclampsia. I was offered a sweep which I had and then offered an induction. Before I chose to do it I asked loads of questions none was too silly or stupid, every question was answered with respect and to empower me. I took the next available appointment which was Thursday. So I went home because it was deemed safe for me to do so. And I spent that time preparing for my birth. I took baths, I cleaned, I packed and unpacked and packed again my hospital bag. We bought food for the hospital and on the Wednesday night we had our last meal at home as a couple before becoming a family. I felt so calm. The option to induce gave me my power back. And my body was ready for baby to arrive.
Thursday arrived and we took a taxi to the hospital and the process began. My induction started at 4pm when the pessary was fitted. And lucky me this kicked off contractions and I was in labour. The pessary can be left in for 12 hours but I asked for mine to be removed after 7 as the contractions had become very intense and I felt I needed a bit of respite. When the midwife checked me I was 4cm and was ready to go to the labour ward. As I had my pessary removed my contractions slowed down and I was able to recover a bit between them. I laboured through the night and had gas and air as pain relief.
In the morning I had not progressed much as I was then at 6cm so we decided to have syntocin, the dose was gentle increased through out. I had heard many scary stories about ‘the drip’ but I found I was coping with gas and air morphine. I had it in my birth plan that I would asked for pain relief if I needed it, that I didn’t want to be offered it. This was respected and I was given the choice. After I few hours on syntocin I has got to 9cm and was staying there. My baby was back to back and I had stopped progressing. At around 1.30 pm the consultant assessed me. She tried to manually thin my cervix, she told me that she needed to operate on another lady first but then I would have to go to theatre afterwards. I didn’t know if I would be having a section or an instrumental delivery. At this point I became extremely emotional and inconsolable (I now realise that I was in transition) I changed positions to kneeling on the bed for a while then asked to lie down so I could rest. I felt defeated, I slept for what must have been five minutes or less and woke up with the urge to push. My midwife checked me and low and behold that pesky cervix had moved and I was ready. I pushed for twenty minutes and 3.21 pm Luna Marie was born.
I had been in labour for just under 24 hours. Luna came out and we had an hour skin on skin followed by my partner having an hour skin on skin. I was so proud of myself that I pushed my baby out and avoided theatre.
Throughout my labour I had a great team, my birth partners were by my side advocating for me, I felt empowered, listened to, important. The small moment that I became distressed was resolved quickly and all of my questions and concerns were respected and answered. And me and my baby girl were kept safe and I was delivered my baby.
