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Ainhoa's Birth |
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I found out I was pregnant with my first baby just before my 27th Birthday. It wasn’t expected but my partner and I were both very excited at the thought of becoming parents. From the beginning I knew that I wanted a natural birth if possible, I liked the idea of being in control of my labour and embracing the birth experience.
When I was thirty-two weeks pregnant I had to have an ultrasound to check the low lying placenta that was picked up during my twenty week scan. The scan showed that the placenta was no longer low lying, however our little baby was head up and bum down. I remembered that during my previous antenatal appointments when the midwife felt the for babies' position, she was always transverse but had now turned frank breech. I started to feel worried but everyone told me at that stage not to worry, that it was common for the baby to turn right up until labour. When I went in for my thirty-four week check and baby was still breech I started to panic a little more. The midwife said I had 2 weeks until my next appointment for baby to turn otherwise I would have to meet with the Obstetrician to discuss our options.
So it started…….the obsession with turning our breech baby. I was a regular on the 'Spinning Babies' website; I saw a chiropractor and an acupuncturist and my wonderful partner burnt moxa sticks every night. I did pregnancy yoga, took homeopathic remedies, and was always doing inversions. I tried to be positive but the thought that I could not have a natural birth upset me so much. People told me the stories of babies' turning during labour and that there was still plenty of time, even one of my friends had her breech bub turn head down at 37 weeks.
At thirty-six weeks we had an ultra-sound to confirm the baby's position, which was frank breech. We saw the obstetrician and agreed to try an ECV the following week. The weekend before the ECV I had booked us in to do an active birthing class with the community midwifery program. I thought we should still go in the chance that baby would turn; I wasn’t very familiar with the idea of a vaginal breech birth so presumed caesarean was my only option for a breech baby (as we had been told by the hospital where we were birthing). The midwife that took the class was talking about her own birth experiences and mentioned she had birthed a breech baby. I immediately started elbowing my partner and took the opportunity to find out all about vaginal breech birth. After this I started reading all the books and researching all the literature about breech birth, and although I knew that I wanted to have a natural delivery of my breech baby, there were family pressures that prevented me from making this decision.
My ECV was very uncomfortable and I knew that she was not going to turn. Her heart rate dropped and the Dr said he would not try anymore. The feeling I had during the ECV scared me, I was so worried for my baby and was very emotional when the OB came in the room and said we had to set a date for the caesarean. I think I just nodded through the crying and agreed to come back in a couple of days to set the date. I was very confused about what I wanted to do, I did not want a caesarean but I also did not want to put my baby at any risk. I felt a lot of pressure from our families to have the CS, but my partner was always 100% supportive of whatever I wanted to do. I knew that if I had to have a CS, I wanted to at least go into labour naturally, as I knew this would be beneficial for my baby and for me and my chances of having a VBAC. I had been told by our hospital that their policy was CS for all breech babies so we decided to ask for a transfer to a hospital that would let us go into labour. So this is what we told the OB when we went for our appointment, to our surprise they agreed to let me have a spontaneous onset of labour but only if I consented to having the CS once I was 5-6cm dilated. We were happy at the thought of staying at the hospital where we had become comfortable, and agreed to their terms. I walked out that day happy, but over the next 2 weeks the idea of a natural breech birth would not leave my mind.
I joined the breech birth Facebook group and found that there were many people that were pro-vaginal breech birth. I remember mentioning this to my partner several times but he just got frustrated with me because we had already made a decision, why was I still reading and talking about this?? He always said he would support me no matter what birth we decided on but just wanted me to stick to whatever decision that was.
My next appointment with the OB was at 39 weeks, after much agonising I decided to talk to him about the option of breech birth again. I think he was surprised by how informed I was and understood all of the risks associated with a CS vs VBB. He said he had delivered breech babies back in the UK and if that was what I really wanted then he would let me progress through labour and see how I was progressing before making the decision to do a CS. I was so happy; I could finally relax and enjoy the last weeks of my pregnancy, knowing that this was definitely the right decision for me.
Sunday 18th November my due date arrived; we went for a long walk by the river in the morning then did some light housework in the afternoon. In the early evening I sat on the couch reading a magazine when my waters broke. We rang the hospital and they said to come straight in knowing my baby was breech; we were so excited but very calm at the same time.
As soon as we arrived at the hospital we were put into a room and waited for the obstetrician to visit us. He was not one that we had met before, and being a Sunday night he was the only one on duty; "You have to have a caesarean" he told us. We informed him that the OB we had seen in antenatal appointments had agreed to allow me to go into labour, and as I hadn’t had any contractions yet I did not feel at all ready to have a caesarean. He told us he did not deliver breech babies and they were not well equipped for emergency caesareans, so the only other option was to be transferred to the hospital that allowed breech births. During this time he had made it very clear that he did not agree with our decision to go into labour and accused my partner of putting myself and our baby at risk. He had offended us so much that we were happy to be transferred to a different hospital even if we ended up with a caesarean anyway. He told us there was no guarantee that King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) would take us, so as he rang them we crossed our fingers.
Luckily KEMH agreed to let us transfer there, so an ambulance was called and I made my first ever trip in an ambulance while my partner drove behind us. After we had arrived, we waited for the Obstetrician on duty to come by and see us but I still wasn’t having any contractions. The Ob on duty finally came by, she said after looking at my ultrasound she was happy with the size of the baby and I looked like I had a good size pelvis. Although it was not her preference to deliver breech babies, she would deliver if I went in to labour while she was on duty. She told me to go home, since I wasn’t having any contractions, and come back the next day when the obstetrician specialising in breech births would be on duty! We were so excited and felt so lucky to even be given the opportunity to have a vbb. By this time it was midnight so we headed home, grabbing a midnight snack on the way and tried to get some sleep.
After a restless sleep I started having slight pains at about 5am, I dozed on and off for a while before getting in the shower while my Partner rang the hospital. They said we might as well get in before the morning traffic and to eat a piece of toast as I wouldn’t be allowed to eat anything after that. My contractions were still ten minutes apart and felt just like period cramps, so I was happily chatting away and looking forward to meeting my baby. At about 9am I had my first check to find I was 3cm dilated, and I was moved into a labour suite. My midwife was absolutely lovely but she told me I had to get my contractions to pick up so I wouldn't have to be induced. So off we went to walk around the streets. My partner timed every contraction and after about 40 minutes of walking, we headed back to the labour ward and my midwife was happy to find me in active labour.
The midwife asked what my plans were for pain relief and I told her that I preferred to have a natural and active birth and she agreed that was best. I found that walking was what was most comfortable for me, so they put some wireless monitors on my belly and I started pacing up and down the room. My mum came in to help with support and I found that I was coping very well with the contractions, each time one would come I would just do some deep breathing and then when it had gone I would go back to chatting and laughing. I was progressing well and I got to 6cm by around midday when the new obstetrician came to visit me for the first time. She had a resident ob with her and they were both very pleased with how everything was going however she said since my waters had broken the night before and I was having a breech birth, I needed to be fully dilated or close enough by 6pm. I trusted in my body to do it and was happy to continue my pattern of walking and deep breathing to get me through.
Other than the couple of visits from the Ob's, the only people in the labour ward with me were my Midwife, partner and Mum. I was so comfortable and relaxed; it was just what I had wanted my labour to be. It was about 2pm when I had my next cervical check, and I had only got to 6.5cm and my contractions were slowing down. The midwife would walk along side me with her had on my stomach feeling my contractions. At 2.30pm the ob came in to check up on me and she agreed that my contractions were not as strong and were becoming further apart. She suggested that I get a drip with Syntocinon just to speed things up a bit, it was left up to me to decide but I had to remember about my cut-off time of 6pm. I had not wanted to have any drugs during my labour but I did not want to get to 6pm and have to have a caesarean. My midwife said she thought I should get the drip but would only give me a small amount to speed things up again, she said she believed I could do it and didn’t want to see me lose my chance for a vaginal birth. So I agreed to get the drip put in.
By the time they had got everything organised it was just after 3pm when I got the drip put in. My Mum had sent my partner out for a lunch break, but within 15 minutes she was calling him on his phone telling him to come back. My contractions had gone from manageable to extremely intense within 20minutes. I could not find a comfortable position anymore and there didn’t seem to be any break. My mum decided to leave for a bit to give us some space. I started getting very worried and I remember thinking, and saying, I cannot do this for another three hours. Although I had read up on the ins and outs of labour I did not recognise the transition stage, thinking that there was still hours to go. My midwife however knew exactly what was going on and told me "it won't be that much longer", as I saw her busying herself getting things ready. Just before I had been given the drip, another midwife had started duty so there were two in the room at this stage. The midwife who had been with me all day had already finished her shift but wanted to stay with me as long as she could.
As I was leaning over a bean bag on the floor I started feeling pressure in my bum and I remember saying "I feel like I need to poo", to which my midwife replied "That’s great news!" She got me up on the bed for one last check but saw that I was not yet fully dilated. She sat the back of the bed up, where I leaned over while kneeling on the bed. The other midwife came over to me and said I wasn’t allowed to push yet so I had to pant through the urges. It was the hardest thing of my whole labour, trying to stop my body from pushing my baby out with each contraction. They gave me the gas to see if that helped, and after what seemed like a long time but by then it was only 4pm, I was finally told I could start pushing. It was a relief to be able to push after trying to hold it in; I stayed on my knees until the bottom was poking out. By this time the Ob consultant and resident and my Mum were all back in the room, everyone seemed very relaxed and even at this stage I felt very comfortable.
During the day when I had my cervical checks my midwife announced she knew the sex of our baby but we asked her not to tell us because we wanted a surprise. Now as my baby was on its way out, the ob asked me to turn on to my back as I was told that's how she delivers breech babies. Once I was on my back I was slightly sitting up, I could see the little bottom coming out so my midwife said "Why don’t you tell us what the sex is?" So I reached my hand down and found out, "It's a girl!" I said, and as I kept pushing her legs fell out. The Ob's had taken the bottom of the bed away so when her legs came out they could let them hang down while the rest of the body and arms came out. I was told I would be getting an episiotomy, so just as the head was coming out they did a quick cut while I did one last push. My little girl was born at 4.36pm November 19th, she was placed on my chest straight away, my mum and partner were both crying but I just kept exclaiming "Oh My Gosh!" It was so overwhelming and emotional, having my baby and knowing that I had delivered her the way I had wanted. I had noticed that the Registrar Ob was the one that had been helping to deliver while the consultant had taken a back seat. Apparently he had never seen a breech birth before so she had wanted him to learn, she talked him through the whole thing and he said to me after he was so happy to have the experience and even seemed pleased that my baby had peed on him on her way out!
She stayed on my chest for a couple of hours and had her first feed before they took her over to be weighed and measured. She weighed 3.27kg and was 51cm long, her legs were so long and one of her bum cheeks was all bruised from pressing on my cervix and being felt every time I was checked. The bruise went within a couple of days, and she was absolutely perfect in every way. We named her Ainhoa Thelma and now I cannot imagine my life without her.
I am so thankful to have people who did believe in me even though there were plenty of people that did not agree with my choices. We did not tell anybody that I was in labour until after she was born so many people assumed she had turned to cephalic when they heard I had a normal birth. I was proud to tell them I had a breech birth and it was the most amazing experience of my life.
When I was thirty-two weeks pregnant I had to have an ultrasound to check the low lying placenta that was picked up during my twenty week scan. The scan showed that the placenta was no longer low lying, however our little baby was head up and bum down. I remembered that during my previous antenatal appointments when the midwife felt the for babies' position, she was always transverse but had now turned frank breech. I started to feel worried but everyone told me at that stage not to worry, that it was common for the baby to turn right up until labour. When I went in for my thirty-four week check and baby was still breech I started to panic a little more. The midwife said I had 2 weeks until my next appointment for baby to turn otherwise I would have to meet with the Obstetrician to discuss our options.
So it started…….the obsession with turning our breech baby. I was a regular on the 'Spinning Babies' website; I saw a chiropractor and an acupuncturist and my wonderful partner burnt moxa sticks every night. I did pregnancy yoga, took homeopathic remedies, and was always doing inversions. I tried to be positive but the thought that I could not have a natural birth upset me so much. People told me the stories of babies' turning during labour and that there was still plenty of time, even one of my friends had her breech bub turn head down at 37 weeks.
At thirty-six weeks we had an ultra-sound to confirm the baby's position, which was frank breech. We saw the obstetrician and agreed to try an ECV the following week. The weekend before the ECV I had booked us in to do an active birthing class with the community midwifery program. I thought we should still go in the chance that baby would turn; I wasn’t very familiar with the idea of a vaginal breech birth so presumed caesarean was my only option for a breech baby (as we had been told by the hospital where we were birthing). The midwife that took the class was talking about her own birth experiences and mentioned she had birthed a breech baby. I immediately started elbowing my partner and took the opportunity to find out all about vaginal breech birth. After this I started reading all the books and researching all the literature about breech birth, and although I knew that I wanted to have a natural delivery of my breech baby, there were family pressures that prevented me from making this decision.
My ECV was very uncomfortable and I knew that she was not going to turn. Her heart rate dropped and the Dr said he would not try anymore. The feeling I had during the ECV scared me, I was so worried for my baby and was very emotional when the OB came in the room and said we had to set a date for the caesarean. I think I just nodded through the crying and agreed to come back in a couple of days to set the date. I was very confused about what I wanted to do, I did not want a caesarean but I also did not want to put my baby at any risk. I felt a lot of pressure from our families to have the CS, but my partner was always 100% supportive of whatever I wanted to do. I knew that if I had to have a CS, I wanted to at least go into labour naturally, as I knew this would be beneficial for my baby and for me and my chances of having a VBAC. I had been told by our hospital that their policy was CS for all breech babies so we decided to ask for a transfer to a hospital that would let us go into labour. So this is what we told the OB when we went for our appointment, to our surprise they agreed to let me have a spontaneous onset of labour but only if I consented to having the CS once I was 5-6cm dilated. We were happy at the thought of staying at the hospital where we had become comfortable, and agreed to their terms. I walked out that day happy, but over the next 2 weeks the idea of a natural breech birth would not leave my mind.
I joined the breech birth Facebook group and found that there were many people that were pro-vaginal breech birth. I remember mentioning this to my partner several times but he just got frustrated with me because we had already made a decision, why was I still reading and talking about this?? He always said he would support me no matter what birth we decided on but just wanted me to stick to whatever decision that was.
My next appointment with the OB was at 39 weeks, after much agonising I decided to talk to him about the option of breech birth again. I think he was surprised by how informed I was and understood all of the risks associated with a CS vs VBB. He said he had delivered breech babies back in the UK and if that was what I really wanted then he would let me progress through labour and see how I was progressing before making the decision to do a CS. I was so happy; I could finally relax and enjoy the last weeks of my pregnancy, knowing that this was definitely the right decision for me.
Sunday 18th November my due date arrived; we went for a long walk by the river in the morning then did some light housework in the afternoon. In the early evening I sat on the couch reading a magazine when my waters broke. We rang the hospital and they said to come straight in knowing my baby was breech; we were so excited but very calm at the same time.
As soon as we arrived at the hospital we were put into a room and waited for the obstetrician to visit us. He was not one that we had met before, and being a Sunday night he was the only one on duty; "You have to have a caesarean" he told us. We informed him that the OB we had seen in antenatal appointments had agreed to allow me to go into labour, and as I hadn’t had any contractions yet I did not feel at all ready to have a caesarean. He told us he did not deliver breech babies and they were not well equipped for emergency caesareans, so the only other option was to be transferred to the hospital that allowed breech births. During this time he had made it very clear that he did not agree with our decision to go into labour and accused my partner of putting myself and our baby at risk. He had offended us so much that we were happy to be transferred to a different hospital even if we ended up with a caesarean anyway. He told us there was no guarantee that King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) would take us, so as he rang them we crossed our fingers.
Luckily KEMH agreed to let us transfer there, so an ambulance was called and I made my first ever trip in an ambulance while my partner drove behind us. After we had arrived, we waited for the Obstetrician on duty to come by and see us but I still wasn’t having any contractions. The Ob on duty finally came by, she said after looking at my ultrasound she was happy with the size of the baby and I looked like I had a good size pelvis. Although it was not her preference to deliver breech babies, she would deliver if I went in to labour while she was on duty. She told me to go home, since I wasn’t having any contractions, and come back the next day when the obstetrician specialising in breech births would be on duty! We were so excited and felt so lucky to even be given the opportunity to have a vbb. By this time it was midnight so we headed home, grabbing a midnight snack on the way and tried to get some sleep.
After a restless sleep I started having slight pains at about 5am, I dozed on and off for a while before getting in the shower while my Partner rang the hospital. They said we might as well get in before the morning traffic and to eat a piece of toast as I wouldn’t be allowed to eat anything after that. My contractions were still ten minutes apart and felt just like period cramps, so I was happily chatting away and looking forward to meeting my baby. At about 9am I had my first check to find I was 3cm dilated, and I was moved into a labour suite. My midwife was absolutely lovely but she told me I had to get my contractions to pick up so I wouldn't have to be induced. So off we went to walk around the streets. My partner timed every contraction and after about 40 minutes of walking, we headed back to the labour ward and my midwife was happy to find me in active labour.
The midwife asked what my plans were for pain relief and I told her that I preferred to have a natural and active birth and she agreed that was best. I found that walking was what was most comfortable for me, so they put some wireless monitors on my belly and I started pacing up and down the room. My mum came in to help with support and I found that I was coping very well with the contractions, each time one would come I would just do some deep breathing and then when it had gone I would go back to chatting and laughing. I was progressing well and I got to 6cm by around midday when the new obstetrician came to visit me for the first time. She had a resident ob with her and they were both very pleased with how everything was going however she said since my waters had broken the night before and I was having a breech birth, I needed to be fully dilated or close enough by 6pm. I trusted in my body to do it and was happy to continue my pattern of walking and deep breathing to get me through.
Other than the couple of visits from the Ob's, the only people in the labour ward with me were my Midwife, partner and Mum. I was so comfortable and relaxed; it was just what I had wanted my labour to be. It was about 2pm when I had my next cervical check, and I had only got to 6.5cm and my contractions were slowing down. The midwife would walk along side me with her had on my stomach feeling my contractions. At 2.30pm the ob came in to check up on me and she agreed that my contractions were not as strong and were becoming further apart. She suggested that I get a drip with Syntocinon just to speed things up a bit, it was left up to me to decide but I had to remember about my cut-off time of 6pm. I had not wanted to have any drugs during my labour but I did not want to get to 6pm and have to have a caesarean. My midwife said she thought I should get the drip but would only give me a small amount to speed things up again, she said she believed I could do it and didn’t want to see me lose my chance for a vaginal birth. So I agreed to get the drip put in.
By the time they had got everything organised it was just after 3pm when I got the drip put in. My Mum had sent my partner out for a lunch break, but within 15 minutes she was calling him on his phone telling him to come back. My contractions had gone from manageable to extremely intense within 20minutes. I could not find a comfortable position anymore and there didn’t seem to be any break. My mum decided to leave for a bit to give us some space. I started getting very worried and I remember thinking, and saying, I cannot do this for another three hours. Although I had read up on the ins and outs of labour I did not recognise the transition stage, thinking that there was still hours to go. My midwife however knew exactly what was going on and told me "it won't be that much longer", as I saw her busying herself getting things ready. Just before I had been given the drip, another midwife had started duty so there were two in the room at this stage. The midwife who had been with me all day had already finished her shift but wanted to stay with me as long as she could.
As I was leaning over a bean bag on the floor I started feeling pressure in my bum and I remember saying "I feel like I need to poo", to which my midwife replied "That’s great news!" She got me up on the bed for one last check but saw that I was not yet fully dilated. She sat the back of the bed up, where I leaned over while kneeling on the bed. The other midwife came over to me and said I wasn’t allowed to push yet so I had to pant through the urges. It was the hardest thing of my whole labour, trying to stop my body from pushing my baby out with each contraction. They gave me the gas to see if that helped, and after what seemed like a long time but by then it was only 4pm, I was finally told I could start pushing. It was a relief to be able to push after trying to hold it in; I stayed on my knees until the bottom was poking out. By this time the Ob consultant and resident and my Mum were all back in the room, everyone seemed very relaxed and even at this stage I felt very comfortable.
During the day when I had my cervical checks my midwife announced she knew the sex of our baby but we asked her not to tell us because we wanted a surprise. Now as my baby was on its way out, the ob asked me to turn on to my back as I was told that's how she delivers breech babies. Once I was on my back I was slightly sitting up, I could see the little bottom coming out so my midwife said "Why don’t you tell us what the sex is?" So I reached my hand down and found out, "It's a girl!" I said, and as I kept pushing her legs fell out. The Ob's had taken the bottom of the bed away so when her legs came out they could let them hang down while the rest of the body and arms came out. I was told I would be getting an episiotomy, so just as the head was coming out they did a quick cut while I did one last push. My little girl was born at 4.36pm November 19th, she was placed on my chest straight away, my mum and partner were both crying but I just kept exclaiming "Oh My Gosh!" It was so overwhelming and emotional, having my baby and knowing that I had delivered her the way I had wanted. I had noticed that the Registrar Ob was the one that had been helping to deliver while the consultant had taken a back seat. Apparently he had never seen a breech birth before so she had wanted him to learn, she talked him through the whole thing and he said to me after he was so happy to have the experience and even seemed pleased that my baby had peed on him on her way out!
She stayed on my chest for a couple of hours and had her first feed before they took her over to be weighed and measured. She weighed 3.27kg and was 51cm long, her legs were so long and one of her bum cheeks was all bruised from pressing on my cervix and being felt every time I was checked. The bruise went within a couple of days, and she was absolutely perfect in every way. We named her Ainhoa Thelma and now I cannot imagine my life without her.
I am so thankful to have people who did believe in me even though there were plenty of people that did not agree with my choices. We did not tell anybody that I was in labour until after she was born so many people assumed she had turned to cephalic when they heard I had a normal birth. I was proud to tell them I had a breech birth and it was the most amazing experience of my life.
