Sophia’s Birth Story

I had a fairly straightforward pregnancy, luckily. The first trimester came with terrible nausea and living on crackers and toast, but thankfully that passed around 14 weeks. I really enjoyed my second trimester, while the third was much as expected — getting slightly more uncomfortable by the day. I had heartburn and insomnia, but nothing too out of the ordinary. We also had a few heatwaves during my third trimester, which were challenging!

All my scans had come back as “low risk”, and I was hoping for a water birth with as little intervention as possible. As a personal trainer, I’d stayed fit and active throughout my pregnancy and hoped this would work in my favour during the birth. That said, I was always very aware that if the situation changed, I would follow the advice of the experts around me. I hadn’t really considered being induced unless I went past my due date, as all of my appointments had been “all good”.

At my 36-week midwife appointment, my bump measured small, so I was sent for a routine growth scan. I wasn’t worried, especially as it was a different midwife who had measured me.

At the scan on the Friday afternoon, my baby’s growth was completely fine, but the sonographer kept repeating one of the tests. Eventually, she explained that I had an abnormal arterial Doppler reading, which suggested there was an obstruction affecting oxygen flow to the placenta. She said a midwife would come and speak to me.

After a short wait, a consultant took me into a side room and explained that I would need to be induced. They booked me in for the Monday morning and recommended a sweep there and then, which I agreed to. I felt blindsided and worried by this but tried to stay calm and positive as much as possible.

I spent the weekend trying to bring on labour — lots of walking, gardening and even a hot curry! Early on Sunday morning, I thought my waters had broken, so I was told to go into hospital. It turned out they hadn’t, but by this point I felt really upset and out of control. The prospect of being induced the next day didn’t feel right to me.

The experienced midwife picked up on how I was feeling and explained that I didn’t have to agree to the induction. After lots of thought and tears that Sunday, I decided I would attend my appointment on Monday and have the monitoring, but not necessarily agree to the induction.

Monday morning came, and once I was hooked up to the monitor, all was not well. The heartbeat kept fluctuating and, at one point, three midwives came in and were preparing to put a cannula in so I could be taken to theatre there and then. Thankfully, it turned out that these fluctuations were normal for my baby, and they continued throughout my labour. However, understandably, the concern around the heart rate made me agree to the induction.

Because of the concerns around the heart rate, I was only offered the balloon induction rather than the hormonal pessary. I waited all afternoon on the ward before being taken to a side room in the delivery suite at around 11:30pm. The balloon was inserted and my waters broke almost immediately, so I stayed in the delivery suite.

I barely slept that night, as I was trying everything I could to bring on contractions and avoid any further intervention. The 24-hour clock had also started because my waters had broken.

By 10am the following morning, unfortunately, no contractions had started, so I was given the oxytocin drip. The contractions soon began, and for a few hours I managed them with a TENS machine and some gas and air. They became three strong contractions in ten minutes, but I was still only 3cm dilated.

The hormone dose kept increasing, and then things went from zero to 100 far too quickly and I was in extreme pain. I asked for an epidural, which luckily was administered within about 20 minutes, and the emergency button was pressed to reverse the oxytocin drip.

At my next examination shortly after, I was 10cm dilated and ready to start pushing. It was around 6–7pm. The epidural made the contractions much more bearable and luckily I could still feel when I needed to push.

I then had six long hours of pushing, eventually ending in a ventouse delivery and episiotomy to help get the baby out. From around 11pm, the obstetrician wanted to take me for a C-section, but my amazing midwife advocated for my wishes as much as possible. Somehow, I managed to deliver my baby without going to theatre – at five minutes past midnight!

As I was just over the 24-hour mark and had also had a high blood pressure reading, we stayed in transitional care for a couple of days due to infection risk. In some ways, this was actually a blessing, as I had extra support with feeding.

We hadn’t found out what we were having, so our baby boy, Zayn, was the perfect surprise.

The birth was absolutely not what I had envisaged or expected, but I can look back on it with overall positivity because of the incredible care I received. The midwife and student midwife who looked after me during the second half of my labour were amazing and supported me so well. I played my favourite music during my labour and this really helped get me through it.

It wasn’t the birth I had hoped for, but ultimately, I got to meet my beautiful boy — and that’s what mattered most. I was also very lucky and happy to have avoided a c section which was a preference of mine.

The recovery post birth was tougher than anticipated and the first few weeks post partum are extremely challenging. However the reward when Zayn started smiling at me has made it all worthwhile and feel more manageable.