My Surrogate Birth Story by Brenda Porter
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At MyBump2Baby we feel it is important to share real-life stories to raise awareness and support other people going through similar experiences. Today Brenda Porter from Brenda Porter Sleep shares her positive Surrogate Birth Story.
My Surrogate Birth Story
Alba Grace Venables was born on 12th June 2017, 7 days after her due date and 1 day before her planned induction.
My first labour with my own first child had been spontaneous – 11 days after her due date and after a rather ‘effective’ sweep, my second was 10 days over and by induction and my third (my first surrogate baby, Alba’s big brother) was 9 days over and by induction. So when I wasn’t feeling quite right that morning, I didn’t think anything of it. My partner knew though- he’d felt my bump contract during the night while I was sleeping, and could tell that today was the day. I kept telling him I wasn’t sure, but he rang mum and dad and told them to make their way over as soon as they could. They live in London, however had rented an AirBNB a few minutes down the road. As they arrived, my partner took my eldest to school and then my youngest to the childminder.
Alba’s Mum was my birth partner
Alba’s Mum was to be my birth partner, so before we set off for the hospital, her job was to fit my TENS machine. She was so nervous and fingers and thumbs so it was just as well I wasn’t in any pain at this point! However when we set off for the hospital, the pains started to come. The hospital was over an hour’s drive and featured an almost head on collision with an articulated lorry, but by the time we were in the local town to the hospital, I felt we had time for a costa and teacake. Mum and Dad had their own car behind us and I think they got quite a fright when I pulled over into the Costa car park (Alba’s big brother was born within 90 minutes of my first pain!)!!
The Birth of Alba
As with my first baby, as soon as I reached the hospital my body relaxed and the contractions eased (slightly) – it was about 11am and I was only 3cms dilated. We had time to get organised in the delivery room, I bounced on the birthing ball and we decided that we would fill the pool for a water birth. So as the pool was filling, the boys gathered up all our belongings and made their way along the corridor while I had a final check before heading along too. However Alba had other ideas, I was fully dilated and my waters literally exploded everywhere (the midwife had to go and take a shower!) – there was meconium in the waters so that ruled out any chance of a water birth. So the boys had to bring all the stuff back up to the room, and I had to do it the hard way. At approximately 2.15pm Alba was born – like all my other births, I had no other pain relief than gas and air, however Alba seemed to sting that little bit more!
First Cuddles
Alba’s Dad cut the cord and mum had her first cuddles – it was truly wonderful and very emotional! Alba was perfect and her mum was the best birth partner I could ask for – though at one point wanted to rub my leg and I wanted to rip her arm off – but luckily we are very close and that was all ok! The hospital were truly amazing throughout and let us stay together in the delivery room for as long as we needed. When their first child was born, I tried to deliver the placenta without the injection and I lost a fair bit of blood in the process, so I wasn’t feeling my best when he arrived, however, this time my partner and I had lots of cuddles, and we watched mum and dad dote on their new daughter – it was such an honour to be party to those first special moments. Alba had all her checks, we all shared my tea and toast, I showered and we all went home just a few hours after she was born.
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