Tracey's birth experiences

Tracey has had four children, one in Derriford Hospital and the following three at home. Here are her home birth stories:


2007
Tuesday 20th February 2007 (babies due date). It started like any other day. My husband (Colin) and myself were at home with our 2 and a half year old Liam, when just before lunch time I had a show. I began to feel really excited and after lunch I began contracting about every 5mins. Colin rang the midwife line and was told that I’d have to go in as they did not have any midwives available. I became a bit upset and didn’t want to go in. But finally we received a call to say they had a midwife on her way.
Liam went next door to play and at 2pm a midwife arrived. I was then examined and I was about 5-6cm dilated she began setting everything up. My labour was progressing nicely and with the use of a tens machine I was doing well. By 6pm the 2nd midwife arrived as I was fully dilated and ready to push. My waters had still not broken so the midwife decided to rupture them. the contractions became really intense and the tens machine no longer did the job. By 630pm I was pushing with each really strong contraction. The baby started crowning and I was giving it everything I had. Finally bang on 7pm bailey was born weighing 7lb 13oz. I was having a lovely skin to skin whilst the placenta came out and I was stitched after a tear. Liam came back in after I was bathed and all was tidy to meet his new brother, and it was one of the most memorable times of my life.

2008
Monday 2nd June 2008 4am in the morning and I woke up feeling uncomfortable so I went to the loo I noticed I had a show I went back to bed but could not sleep so I woke my husband (Colin) up and told him. We both went downstairs about an hour later I starting contracting about 5-6 mins apart. As I was 3 days over, my midwife was due at 10am to give me a sweep so was hoping to have her. We rang the midwife line and one came out to see me. In the meantime Colin woke the other 2 children up, fed them and dressed them. Colin took one to nursery slightly early but they were fine with it and wished me good luck! The younger of the two went to spend the day with a friend. Shortly after 830am my midwife arrived after she got a message that I was in labour. She examined me and found me to be 7 cm. I asked her to break my waters but she wanted me to become a bit more dilated and she was hoping that my waters would go on their own. My labour was going nicely, contractions were getting more intense, still waters had not gone but I felt like I wanted to push. It was now 10am, I was fully dilated but waters were still intact so she broke them for me and all of a sudden I had urges to really push so I pushed and pushed. As I was pushing at the last minute the baby turned and must have caught a nerve in my back as I had a sudden pain shoot up my back. I started to feel tired and in a fair bit of discomfort in my back. The midwife was getting a bit concerned and was considering a tranfer to hospital. But finally at 1040am, after a few really hard draining pushes, Rhiannon arrived. She was a bit blue as the cord was wrapped around her neck. The second midwife took her and gave her a bit of assistance. After what seemed like a lifetime, there it was, the newborn cry I was longing to hear. She was perfect and weighed in at 9lb 2oz.


2010
Sunday 21st February 2010 I was getting twinges all day but I didn’t think much of it as the past few days I was getting them. But this time they didn’t seem to stop they seemed to get stronger. We began to time my contractions and by 1030pm they we getting a bit stronger and more intense. I knew my midwife was on call that night I rang the line and explained I was in early stages of labour. About half an hour later my midwife rand back to say she going to come out. She arrived just after 1130 and examined me I was about 3-4 cms but she was going to stay as I have fairly quick labours. She began to set up and sent Colin (my husband) out to the car to fetch bits. The living room was all set up with sheets etc and I began walking up and down the room with my tens on shortly after 1am I was examined again and I was 6cm so it was progressing nicely. I could tell I was getting near being fully dilated as by this time my contractions were coming thick and fast and more and more painful. Then something strange happened as I was walking around; I fainted. I was helped to sit up and the baby’s heart was listened to. All seemed ok I was told to eat something so I had some toast and some juice, i felt much better. For the rest of my labour I remained on my knees resting on the sofa. The babies heart was being listened to every 15mins or so. At 3:25am I was examined again and was fully dilated and she decided at that point to call second midwife and when she arrived they decided to break my waters. As soon as they went I was ready to push. After about half an hour of pushing the midwife suggested I try some gas and air so I took hold of it and with each contraction to took in some I was feeling a bit lightheaded but I knew this baby was going to be here shortly and finally at 4:55am Haydon arrived into the world weighing 8lb 15oz. Colin wanted to cut the cord so the midwife let him cut it. He was placed on my chest and I delivered the placenta and received a few stitches due to a tear. After I had a bath and all was tidy, Colin went to wake the other children and it was a really nice family moment to see the children’s faces when they saw their new little baby brother.

Kath's birth story

Kaths' story

Hi, my name is Kath and here is my story of a planned home birth which turned out as anything but!

When I found out I was pregnant with my first child I was so excited and knew from the very beginning that I wanted a home birth. I’d heard about the possibility of being told that there would not be a community midwife available when I was in labour and that I would have to go to hospital after all and that thought did concern me a great deal.

As I was still working full-time at this point we could afford to hire the services of an independent midwife called Nicky Flynn so I had the confidence that whenever I gave birth I would have the help of someone I had got to know throughout the pregnancy. It was wonderful having Nicky to come and see me regularly to listen to the heartbeat and take care of all the other checks and she always had time to answer all my questions.

As the due date approached we borrowed a birthing pool from Nicky (the liner inside the pool is bought by the user each time and only used once) and two weeks after my due date I was having contractions 7 minutes apart so we got the pool blown up and filled with water in preparation. Sadly, the contractions got more and more distant so we went to bed, hoping that tomorrow would be the big day.

The rest of that week I was having contractions through the day and night but only every 45 minutes or so. My waters broke slowly and I was told that because of the risk of infection I would have to go into labour naturally in the next 48 hours or be induced. I was trying to avoid induction as I’d learnt through the Hypnobirthing course how to work with the body’s own natural contractions but I didn’t have the confidence in my body’s ability to deal with chemically-induced ones.

I didn’t go into labour naturally so went into hospital for the induction. At least my husband and I had Nicky with us to explain everything that was going on which was a great support. After 12 hours of labour my cervix wouldn’t open any more than 9cms so it was decided that a Caesarean Section was needed.
So, despite doing everything I could to ensure a home birth, including hiring my own midwife, my son Harry was born in hospital after all. After the birth I was just so happy to have my beautiful healthy boy in my arms that the change in birth circumstances didn’t matter anymore. I was very disappointed when it was obvious that I was going to be induced because it felt that all the months of mentally preparing myself for natural birth were wasted and my dream of birthing in a cosy, familiar environment were snatched away from me, but once I had let go of that it didn’t matter anymore.

Harry is now 19 months old and has always been healthy and content so the fact that he was born so unnaturally doesn’t seem to have affected him at all. What I would say to any mum-to-be who is considering a home birth is that it would be a wonderful thing and I’ve heard so many positive birth stories but that you never know what will actually happen so plan for it by all means but don’t let your happiness depend upon it. At the end of the day, the most important thing is for you to have your baby put into your arms, however they get there!

Emma's birth experiences

Megan 1/12/04

Planned a home with Megan from the start created some whispers by also planning a water birth and planning to use hypnobirthing, which at the time was not well known. My surges (contractions) woke me up at around 3am, got my husband Alan to light the fire and began using my hypnobirthing relaxation techniques. called Cheryl (midwife) at about 7.30am, surges still comfortable. I birthed all day and was in the water by mid afternoon. As megan started to Crown my husband was adjusting the water in the pool using a bucket at a crucial moment he caught the bucket on the pool and burst it!! he then had to support me with on arm and plug the the hole with finger on other hand. Broke a tense moment. Megan was a textbook delivery, no tears or anything other than gas or air. Fantastic!

Madoc 23/12/05
My surges started about 11pm on the previous evening, climbed into the bath to relax. My step daughter was having a sleep over and the girls kept banging on the door- very stressful. called Cheryl about 1am. Slow birth, didn't feel comfortable with second midwife, the fact my step daughter had a room full of friends or my 1 year old was around. Cheryl suggested transfer to hospital around 11am. As ambulance arrived gave birth to Madoc, only had gas and air. Definitely recommend no extra visitors and making plans for other children!



Iestyn 10/09/07
Found out Iestyn was breech at 38 weeks. Had him turned and 39 weeks and then had niggles for a couple of days before surges became regular. Dropped kids off at nursery, went food shopping before going home. Then called husband and told him to hurry home. Immediately called Cheryl. Filled pool and climbed in began using hypnobirthing techniques in the meantime. Iestyn was born within 2 1/2 hours of calling Cheryl, another great birth felt fantastic!


Deri 23/08/09 (hospital)
I ripped my toenail off whilst moving furniture about 2 weeks prior to birth. Didn't both to go to Doctors (big mistake!!). Started to feel unwell 3 days before I had Deri whilst on holiday in Wales, began having regular surges about 1 in 10 minutes. This went on for 2 days with my temperature peaking. Went into hospital overnight where I thought I was going to have antibiotics. released the following day no treatment still having regular surges. That evening fever became worse and a friend who is a midwife suggested I went into hospital for pethidine to stop contractions and give my body a rest. On arrival into hospital the doctor did a sweep and the surges started to get closer together. Doctors refused to let me off monitor and wouldn't let me eat or drink, I therfore went on a drip because of being dehydrated. My waters broke about an hour later. Because of the monitoring and drip I was unable to get off bed it was extremely difficult to get up or change positions because of the way they had set the monitor up. Doctor kept trying to persuade me to have an epidural incase I needed a C-section. About 3 and 1/2 hours in they demanded I have an internal examination to see if my waters had broken, an argument ensued because they knew they had, after arguing with 2 midwives and the doctor I gave up and let them do the internal. I now understand they stretched my cervix because at last exam only about 20 mins before I was 6cm. Immediately after an extremely painful internal the midwife immediately said I would feel like pushing! Deri was born with 4 1/2 hours of arriving at hospital. Wasn't allowed natural 3rd stage, to hold the baby immediately after the birth despite him crying immediately and being fine, or my husband allowed to cut the cord. Felt cheated, angry and disappointed for choices being taken away form me without satisfactory reasons. I am so glad I had 3 good home-birth to compared with this experience. Fight continued to be released from hospital 2 days later before stating we were leaving anyway!!! Definitely back to my old-self. Became ill two days later when blood test revealed I had a strep A infection from my toe!! Moral- go easy on the nesting and definitely put myself first sometimes!!

Local info - Antenatal

Aquanatal classes: 
Central Park Pool - Tuesday 9am - 10am
Plympton Pool - Monday 11am - 12noon
China Fleet - Friday 9.45am - 10-30am
Ivybridge Leisure Centre - Thursday 10.30am - 11.30am

Pregnancy Yoga

Mellow Mammas Pregnancy Yoga
Yoga is a complete holistic system of balancing and harmonising body mind and spirit. Developing a yoga practice now will be of great benefit in helping you to enjoy your pregnancy. Pregnancy is a time of transition so whether you already have a yoga practice or if you are coming to yoga for the first time, approaching the birth of your baby is a wonderful time to start. Yoga when practiced during pregnancy helps to keep your body supple, relieves stress and anxiety increases vitality and helps to maintain your health and well being while also giving you practices that you can use to help you adjust to both the joys and the challenges of pregnancy , birth and motherhood.

Yoga classes for pregnancy are designed to help you to boost your energy levels and refresh when you feel tired. Yoga postures and movements are approached in a safe and appropriate way, they are done slowly with meditative awareness and breathing practices are combined throughout. The gentle stretching helps to tone muscles without strain, breathing practices help to induce feelings of calm, meditation, visualisation and relaxation techniques help to remove fatigue replacing it with positive thoughts and feel good hormones which help the body work at its optimum efficiency. Pregnancy yoga is a wonderful way for mother and baby to bond.

Smooth pregnancy and a natural childbirth are just some of the benefits of yoga. Yoga works wonders on the physical and mental development of the foetus. Ensuring a healthy baby is every parents dream and yoga helps you do just that.

Mellow Mammas Pregnancy Yoga helps you to relax and connect with your unborn baby in a safe and peaceful environment. We are registered and certified by the Guild of Pregnancy and Post Natal Fitness Instructors recommended by midwives.

* Sweetpea's Childrens Centre 290559. Friday 3.30pm - 4.30pm cost - £2.50 (subsidised by Sweetpeas, booking may be required)

* Devonshire Health & Racquet Club. Monday 7pm - 8pm. Members free, Non-members £5.00

Pregnancy Yoga with Gay Kent
Tuesday 5pm - 6.30 Swarthmore Adult Education Centre, Mutley Plain, Plymouth

Pregnancy Yoga with Julia Hopkins
Posture, breathwork, relaxation and positions for labour. On-going weekly class in Ashburton for women 15+ weeks.
Tel: 01364 653214 Email: juliah@dsl.pipex.com

LEILA SEEL Yoga Therapist YTh Dip (YBT) Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7
Tel: 01548 854 774 Email: leilaseel@rainbow-kingsbridge.fsnet.co.uk

Specialises in pregnancy yoga, mother & baby yoga and & meditation
Leila trained with Devon School of Yoga in 1994 and during that time attended several Ayurveda Workshops at Ickwell Bury with Dr. Vasant Lad and Robert Svoboda. In 1997 she gained the Yoga Therapy Diploma from YBT and for a short while was a member of the YBT Yoga teaching team at the Ayurvedic Charitable Hospital in Ormond St.

Leila teaches a pregnancy yoga class in Kingsbridge and shares the teaching of Mother & Baby Yoga with Sarah Wood, alternating weeks in Totnes and Kingsbridge and assisting each other. She also runs an after-school class for Staff and VIth formers at the local comprehensive school and several general classes as well as one-to-one tuition and a Gentle Yoga class wich is suitable for women recovering from, or working through, breast cancer.

Back and Pelvic pain in Pregnancy

Mutley chiropractic clinic, for the safe and gentle relief from pregnancy related low back pain, symphysis pubis dysfunction and other pregnancy related conditions such as nausea, indigestion and constipation. Also cranial work for skull strains in infants,colic, feeding and sleeping problems. For advice or to make an appointment please call Michelle Peters on 01752 222050.


Devon and Cornwall Independant Midwives
How would you like traditional midwifery care where you see the same midwife at every antenatal appointment? How would you like to be certain that your midwife will be with you when you have your baby? How would you like to have as many post natal visits, in your own home, as you feel you need and expert advice on breastfeeding and newborn care? With an Independent Midwife all this is possible!

We provide all your antenatal care in your own home which enables you to get to know us and build a trusting relationship. Then, when your baby is due we go on call for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So when you go into labour not only do you know there will definitely be a midwife available for your home birth but it will be a familiar and friendly face! Imagine someone who will not only provide your clinical care, but also knows you well enough to provide the nurture and support that you need.

Nicky and Mandy believe in supporting you to have the birth that you want. We are experienced in natural, home and water birth and HVBAC (Home Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) and Nicky is a fully qualified HypnoBirthing practitioner.

I firmly believe that my homebirth would not have happened were it not for their support. They were fantastic and both I and my husband would recommend them in an instant. 2nd time mum, first baby born in hospital.

Tel: 01752 721505 www.dcim.co.uk

Children's Centres

There are many Childrens Centres across Plymouth offering fantastic opportunites for both parents to be and new parents. Antenatal classes, baby massage, baby social groups to name but a few.  For more details please see the Plymouth City Council website where you will find details of your nearest Children's Centre. http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/education/earlyyearsandchildcare/childrenscentres.htm

Local info - Postnatal

After your baby has arrived, some great activities for you to consider:

Jo Jingles Music and Movement classes for children 3mths – 4yrs are a fantastic, fun and educational way to introduce children to music. Music helps children develop good social skills as well as with maths and reading. Classes are age specific, limited to 15 children, structured and great FUN! Nursery classes also available.

Weekly classes are held in Plymouth, Ivybridge, Yealmpton and Tavistock. Call Claire on 01752 698651 www.jojingles.com/plymouth for further information.

There are many Childrens Centres across Plymouth offering fantastic opportunites for both parents to be and new parents. Antenatal classes, baby massage, baby social groups to name but a few.  For more details please see the Plymouth City Council website where you will find details of your nearest Children's Centre. http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/education/earlyyearsandchildcare/childrenscentres.htm.

Oscar's birth story

The birth of Oscar Leo Bridge

My due date was 31st May and, although I had been told first babies are often late, when I got to 40+7 I was getting really impatient as I was determined not to have to go into hospital to be induced! I really wanted to have a home birth for lots of reasons, particularly so Ali, my husband, and I could be together for the first night with our new baby and I also wanted to use a birthing pool which couldn’t be guaranteed at Derriford. The Ivybridge midwives had been fantastic in the weeks preceding the birth and Liz even did my check ups at home as the time got closer. She was really encouraging, by my due date apparently I was already dilated 1-2 cm but as the days went past and I still had no twinges I did get a bit grumpy! I did a lot of walking as I found that helped pass the time and I hoped that gravity might help get the baby moving!

When I went to bed that evening I was convinced the baby wasn’t coming any time soon as I felt no different. At about 3am, I got up to go to the loo as I did fairly frequently every night. I got back into bed and as I was drifting back to sleep I heard a pop and felt warm liquid. I got up and grabbed a towel which was by the bed, telling Ali that my waters had broken but not to get up as it would probably still be ages. I was too excited to go back to sleep so I went downstairs to have a cup of tea and some toast. Not sure what to do with myself at this point, I decided to do some ironing! I’d barely started when I felt something a lot more than a twinge. A few minutes later I felt it again, more strongly and each time there was quite a lot more water. Even though I knew it was supposed to take a long time for a first baby, and my waters had only broken 45 minutes earlier I suddenly felt things were happening quite quickly and went to get Ali up.


He came downstairs and started to time my contractions, and when the first time he recorded was less than three minutes, we decided we’d better ring the midwives. I sat bouncing on our pilates ball, while he phoned, only to be told that the midwives on call had already gone to a homebirth and we would have to call the labour ward. Although a bit disappointed, my overriding feeling was that this baby was coming and I wanted to be somewhere with some midwives wherever that was! The lady on the phone asked to speak to me and as I was speaking to her between contractions and sounded fine, she assured me I would be hours yet and to go upstairs and have a warm bath and call back later. Just as she was ringing off she had a message to say the midwives could now come to us as the other lady wasn’t having her baby any time soon – I was so relieved!


A few minutes later the midwife called and said she was on her way. Ali started moving the furniture in our sitting room and pumping up the pool while I bounced away, breathing through my contractions according to the hypnobirthing CD I’d been listening to in preparation and feeling much better about things. When the midwife arrived she introduced herself as she was from a different team and I hadn’t met her before. Then she examined me and told me that I was 5-6 cm and could get in the pool as soon as it had filled up – our baby was coming today! I’d been worried we wouldn’t have enough hot water but in fact the pool was too hot and it took them a while to get it to the right temperature. Finally I was able to get in and it felt fantastic. I asked for some gas and air and a combination of that and the pool was enough for me to float away on a little cloud, reliving a beautiful walk we’d done a few days earlier at the beach and feeling completely relaxed. Unfortunately the gas and air suddenly stopped working – the canister had been leaking and run out and the other one was empty. The second midwife was on her way with some more, but by the time she arrived I was having pain in my back and couldn’t really get comfortable in the pool. I got out and when I was examined I was nearly 10 cm, but there was still a lip. I chose not to get in back in the pool and asked for some of the diamorphine I’d been prescribed to relieve my back. As I was nearly in the second stage they only gave me a fifth of the dose, but it was enough to get me back in my little cloud of relaxation! After about half an hour they examined me again – I was fully dilated and ready to push. I tried but it just didn’t feel right and after a while the midwives suggested I might want to consider transferring to hospital as the baby had possibly turned back to back. As I wasn’t using the pool anyway, this seemed like a good idea as by this stage my only thought was that I didn’t want any chances to be taken that could affect the baby. Everything was very calm and relaxed, the diamorphine had completely worn off and I was walking around sorting out what I needed to take with me – I even managed to walk downstairs and pack up a bag of snacks from the kitchen. When the ambulance arrived, they offered me a stretcher but I felt fine to walk up the steps outside and climb in myself. Once in the ambulance they gave me the gas and air again which I loved and I totally relaxed, feeling that whatever happened our baby would be ok. At one point we pulled over so the midwife could listen to the baby’s heartbeat, which had been strong throughout – it was still fine and we carried on calmly, although I was quite pleased when they turned on the siren at Manadon roundabout – I’d never been in an ambulance before and wanted the full experience!


When we got to Derriford they quickly transferred me, on a stretcher this time, into a delivery suite. I got a bit panicky as Ali had been following in the car but he was there by my side in a few minutes. My midwife had stayed with me throughout and I was introduced to Carla, the ward manager, who then examined me. I had no idea how close we were, but the baby was nearly crowning and Carla told me if they performed an episiotomy the baby would be born with the next push. Two pushes later in fact the head was born and with the next contraction, 20 minutes after we’d arrived at the hospital, our baby son arrived, weighing 9lbs 8oz! I had the injection for the third stage and the placenta was delivered shortly afterwards with no problems – I barely noticed it happening. They put him on my tummy and he soon starting sucking his fist so I tried breastfeeding him and he took to it straight away. Ironically, I was in the room with the birthing pool, which they filled up for me to have a bath afterwards – bliss. Ali, Oscar and I spent the whole afternoon cuddling together in the room and at about 5 o’clock they moved me up to a ward. Oscar was perfectly healthy, but we stayed in overnight as they wanted to monitor him for one night to check everything was ok – which it was.


I feel really positive about the whole experience – Oscar was a large baby and had turned posterior so we did the right thing to transfer in case there had been any complications or things had slowed down too much. It was great to be at home for so long – I felt in control and secure. I believe that by being relaxed and active at home, without knowing it I helped him move into the right position, speeded things up and avoided any intervention that may have been suggested in hospital. Having said that the staff at Derriford were also really great and my experience there was all good. I would recommend a home birth to anyone, the care I received was fantastic and I definitely hope to plan a home birth next time too!