Birth of Alba-Rose: A Positive Birth Story
At MyBump2Baby, we believe that is important to share real-life stories from parents everywhere- whether they be positive birth stories, or stories involving more graphic topics, such as rape or domestic abuse. Our aim is to raise awareness about various topics, so, no matter what you are experiencing, you know that you are not alone.
This wonderfully written- and rather comedic- positive birth story- “Birth of Alba-Rose: A Positive Birth Story” was written by Sarah Hiatt. In this story, she humorously shows that it is okay if your birth does not always go to plan.
The Beginning of my Positive Birth Story – We found out we were pregnant!
Here is Alba’s birth story; it’s not a gory one so no need for a bucket! In fact, it may seem quite easy..
Let’s start at the beginning, Sunday 11 September 2016, the day we found out I was pregnant. We had only been trying for a few months and couldn’t quite believe what we had been blessed with! We took a pregnancy test, well, actually, we took 8 just to make sure! We had a private scan during our 8th week of pregnancy; seeing our little beating blob was just amazing! From then on, Alba was our entire world!
The first trimester was easy.. in fact, the whole pregnancy was: no sickness, a few cravings, no aches or pains. The only issue was that my Placenta was acting like a cushion so I couldn’t feel her moving. moving much.
37 Weeks Pregnant- Our Baby Wasn’t Moving
Fast forward to around 37 weeks pregnant, on the 27th of April 2017. It had been a quiet day, and I hadn’t felt any movements from little Alba at all. It was at 11 pm that we decided we should head to the hospital.
I had been up to MAU a few times because of reduced movement, but this time it was different. I had been on the monitor for what seemed like forever and I wasn’t meeting the criteria they set- we couldn’t feel the baby moving at all.
When it got to around 5 am the next day, the midwife advised us to go home and to come back at 8 am for a scan. Well, considering we live half an hour from the hospital, that seemed almost pointless; Tom and I weren’t happy about going home without feeling our baby move. We expressed our concerns to the midwife, and all of a sudden we were being taken round to delivery at 7.30 am! We were going to have our baby!!
My Waters Were Broken
At 8.30 am, we met our lovely midwife, Kim, who stuck with us the whole time. She was absolutely fantastic! The only break she had in her 12-hour shift was her lunch! She spoke about what was going to happen, and then she broke my waters.
Now I don’t know about you but.. oh my! What a weird feeling!! It was disgusting! It should not be natural for that amount of water to come out of anyone!! I couldn’t sit there with this water constantly coming out of me.. no way! So I spent my whole Labour standing up!
2cm Dilated- When You Need to Go, You Need to Go!
At around 11 am, they needed to put the hormone drip in to start the contractions. I was already 2cm dilated, so we needed to get things moving.
Seeing as I didn’t want to sit down, she decided to put the cannular in my hand whilst I was standing up.. not my finest moment to say the least. Nearly passed out half-naked! I came back around, and, by 11.30 am, the hormone drip was in and the contractions started- slowly, I must add.
The worst thing about being induced is that you constantly have to be on the monitor. I was only allowed to pee twice, and, even then, she didn’t want me going! When it came to the third time, yep, you guessed it: I peed on the floor, on one of those mat things.. it was only me and Tom in the room at this point. I couldn’t hold it any longer and I know she wasn’t going to let me off again! There was enough water coming out of me anyway so what difference would it make?!
Embarrassment? I Think Labour Tops That!
Not long after being induced, the doctors were doing their morning rounds.. unbeknownst to me. Long story short, about 20 doctors/nurses/midwives/junior doctors (you name it!) walked through the door, to see me bent over the bed with my bum out.. all dignity had been lost!
Does it really matter though? I wasn’t going to see any of them again and they probably see it every day, plus, I was just about to have a baby. I think that’s one thing you overcome when you are about to be a mum: embarrassment. There’s no need for it, plus, there’s no avoiding it!
My Contractions Began
Fast forward about 5 hours, we ate chocolate, we danced around the room to Brian Adams, we talked a lot and we asked a million and one questions- not only about babies and what’s happening- but about everything! It was calm, it was relaxing, it was fun.. that is, until around 4.20 when the contractions started to get strong. I was only 4cm.. only 4cm in 5 hours!! I couldn’t help but think it was going to be very a long night.. oh how I was wrong.
Time for Labour
I started on the gas and air, oh how wonderful it is; it made my head feel funny- but didn’t give me any pain relief! By 5 pm, I needed to push. Kim checked again and I was fully dilated, in 45 minutes I had gone from 4cm to 10cm! As everyone probably does, I expressed how much I couldn’t do it, how much it hurt, and how much I wanted the pain to stop. Well, wise up Sarah! The only way the pain would stop is to push that baby out!!
The Arrival of our Beautiful Little Girl- And More Pushing!?
They gave me pethidine to help with pain management, and, with just 51 minutes of active pushing, our beautiful Alba-Rose was born! 5.51 pm on the 28th of April 2017, weighing just 6lb 6oz. We had our beautiful baby girl.
As many of you know, when you have your baby it’s all nice for about 20 minutes, you have a bit of skin-to-skin.. and then the midwife, all of sudden, announces they want you to push all over again to get the placenta out!! Ok granted it’s not as bad but, hold on, I’ve just pushed a baby out!!
Eventually, this beautiful looking placenta came out. It was full of different colours: pinks, blues, greens, oh it was beautiful!
Remember, Birth Does Not Always go to Plan!
Before giving birth, I had made a birth plan. I spoke to my midwife about everything and the plan was set. I definitely didn’t plan on being induced, I didn’t plan on using pain relief, I didn’t plan on peeing on the floor, I didn’t plan on showing my bum to the world… nothing in that room went to plan.
Neither of my births went to plan ( you can read more about Max’s birth on Friday).
I urge you to go into the delivery suite with an open mind; labour is intense, it’s hard, it’s exhausting and even if you’ve been through it once the next will be totally different- I can guarantee it. If it’s your first, ask about anything and everything that you don’t quite understand: ask why they do things, ask what they are doing and the plan of action. Give yourself the best understanding, it helps; it eases you into it and makes you less scared.
I was never scared of giving birth, I knew it would hurt, I was just scared of the unknown, but, thanks to the staff at Royal Stoke Hospital, they made labour a breeze, and, to be fair, I did have it quite easy. Giving birth is a wonderful thing, you are bringing a human being into this world. Not all births go well, but just know you are in good hands.
Hello, My name is Sarah Hiatt, I am a mother of two beautiful children and a wife of an amazing husband. Blogging my way through parenting one step at a time.