Laura and Éile’s Induction Birth Story

Hi Lainey,

Sorry only getting aroud to this now and if this is long winded i wanted to make sure to include everything!!

So as I had mentioned during the classes there had been concerns on and off throughout my pregnancy that my baby was measuring small. (Same in first pregnancy but turned out to be wrong) Because i was scanned by different dr throughout the growth scans were so inconsistent and Because of this there was alot of pressure on me for induction from 38 weeks.

I used BRAIN to help make my decision and decided to decline induction and opted for extra monitoring instead and was scanned every 3 days. All appeared well with baby and myself at each scan. At 39 weeks I had two days of on and off contractions so I knew something was happening in the background but in hindsight i was quite stressed with the pressure from consultant for induction and feel my body didn't feel safe to go into labour. At 40  weeks I really focused on calming myself, I felt particularly relaxed and confident after that weeks yoga and I had reflexology on the  Thursday and felt that helped too.

The following day at my clinic appointment I opted to have a sweep. A few minutes after sweep I started to get mild tightenings. I was due to come back two days later for extra monitoring however ended up being admitted after the sweep due to one irregularity on the ctg.

Once admitted at 3pm I was brought to the labour suite and put on the wireless continuous monitoring. I was told by the midwives that ctg was textbook and that the baby was appeared very happy. However at 5pm the consultant came to see me in the delivery suit, I was brought from the ward to the delivery suite. It was the same suite that I had my daughter in and in a way this calmed me as it felt familiar. The consultant insisted that she break my waters and start induction ASAP. I asked for more time as the ctg was so reassuring at this point and I really wanted to have a much time to see if the sweep would get things going. She agreed to let me wait another two hours.

I remembered your induction story Lainey and asked if I did agree to having waters broken to have as much time as possible before being put on the induction drip.
She really didn't appear happy that i wasnt just going along with her plan but agreed to give me 2 1/2 hours. After speaking with my partner we both agreed that having my waters broken was the best thing for me at this point . She said she would be back after 7pm to do this.

I used this time to really relax and mentally prepare myself for the possible induction. my partner set up the labour suite with fairy lights and tea lights and I used your labour mist (which was fab). Consultant came back  around 7:30pm and turned out she couldn't  break my waters as the labour ward was full there was no midwife to look after me until 1am. I was actually so relieved and more than happy to have more time and requested to have the gel to see if that would kick start labour. I had to lie in the bed for one hour to give gel time to work.
I used this time listening to my gentle birth app and myself and Bobby fell asleep for an hour. When I woke up I felt so relaxed.

My midwife introduced herself shortly after 9pm and commented on how lovely the labour suite looked and smelt from the mist.
We chatted for a while and this was actually so lovely to have this time to get to dicuss my birth preferences.

I told her that my during my first birth I felt very restricted to the bed and that instinctively I wanted to be able to move around and feel grounded but unfortunately i did not feel supported or listened to the first time around.
I asked her if she would support me with this. She responded by saying "Laura, if you want to give birth standing on your head ill help make that happen"!! I instantly felt that she got the kind of birth I hoped for.

At this stage the gel had not done anything and I was still on the continuous monitoring which was perfect. Although i was able to move around and bounce on the ball I felt like I need to move more and asked my midwife if I could go for a walk outside. She advocated for me and the Dr signed me off to go for a 45 min walk.

When I got  back to the delivery suite I was put back on the wireless monitor. All appeared well with baby. I was still having mild tightenings but nothing  had progressed from earlier. I listened to my body and felt that I needed to rest so I put back and my gentle birth app and fell asleep again. My midwife woke me at 00:45 and and told me that the Dr would be around after 1 am to break my waters.

My waters were broken at 1:25am dr told me i was 2cm dialted.  my body instantly started shaking when waters went. (The same happened when my waters spontaneously broke on my first labour). Within minutes I was getting strong regular contractions. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath as everything kicked off quick and it was very intense. The breathing techniques learned in yoga really helped me get on top of my breathing.
It was definitely much more intense than my first labour and after a half an hour I asked for the gas and air as I was finding it hard to stay on top of the contractions.

I remember having two extremely intense contractions that felt like they went on for  ages. I had a bit of a wobbly moment and remember asking my midwife if there was something wrong. She was so calm and reasuring and told I was safe to go with the contractions. I then recognised this to be transition.During these contractions I instinctively started swaying my hips to help move my baby. I could feel my baby move position and move down. My breathing, and affirmations from yoga along with the gas and air really helped during this intense time.

After this my body started bearing down. And I began to push. My midwife left me to push only when I felt the urge.
After a few minutes my midwife suggested that I change position as I was finding it hard to concentrate and push properly. I moved onto the bed on my side and then onto my back although i wanted to avoid being on my back, it worked for me. My midwife suggested that I take a break from the gas and air to concentrate on my pushing and this was exactly what I needed. She guided me when to push and told me to pant, after only 2 pushes our baby girl Éila Paige was born weighing a HEALTHY 6lb 10oz after just over 2 hours of labour.
Thankfully, I didn't need any stitches.  Recovery this time has been so much easier.

My placenta did not come for an hour after the birth and I was a couple of minutes away from having to have it surgically removed. Thankfully I did not need this in the end.

Even though I really wanted to avoid induction, everything worked out for me and I honestly had the most amazing positive birth experience!
In hindsight I think everything happened for a reason that day and I'm glad I was admitted as I don't think I would have made it to the hospital or had such a calm and relaxed experience had my waters went spontaneously at home!!!

Thanks so much for all your support Lainey and for sharing your induction story as it stuck with me when negotiating my options for mine.

I learned so much from pregnancy yoga that attributed to my positive experience and will be recommending to all my pregnant friends in the future!

To all the girls in the class. Our chats and advice shared were invaluable and helped me to gain knowledge and confidence to trust my gut. So thanks to you all too. Best wishes to all you ladies who are going to meet your babies soon. I am so excited for you  

Can't wait to do it all over again! 

But for now looking forward to baby massage!