So after having a somewhat happy, chilled (and fat) pregnancy, I was super keen to continue this feeling right through to my labour. I had never even considered the idea of a water birth. Hell, I had never even thought about giving birth full stop. The mere thought of pushing a watermelon sized being out of me frightened me to my very core. Part of me had always hoped that once in labour, my little one would just pop right out, a little like candy from a candy machine. But as labour day grew closer, and I was amidst other mothers to be who seemed to have it all together with their well thought out birth plans, I thought it was about time I put down the donuts and muffins and actually think about my birth plan.
I considered a water birth. I always thought they were for hippies or for the rich. But it was all everyone was talking about and so I decided to do some research. A water birth seemed faultless - less pain, relaxing, soothing, more comfortable birthing positions. I couldn't work out why more women weren't doing it. The more I read about it the more I was convinced it was the way forward and I eventually set my heart on it. We had a tour of the hospitals water birth facility a few weeks in advance, which I believe most hospitals offer. My husband and I fell in love with the room; the calming and beautiful décor, the stars on the ceiling, the music in the background. The ambience was perfect and the more I saw it the more excited and less nervous I was about giving birth. My birth plan was all set - I wanted a water birth with only gas and air for pain relief, no induction, no epidural and definitely no C-section. In my head I had worked out how it was all going to go down on the day. My birth plan was set, hospital bags packed and I was ready for my little sunshine to arrive. And so came my due date. No baby. 12 days, 4 sweeps and one whole bottle of chilli sauce later, still no baby and my plans for a water birth were becoming more and more distant. And so I was finally called in to be induced. I was disheartened but accepted that a natural birth would still be fine just as long as my baby was ok. The inducement was over two days and even after breaking my waters and having the hormone drip, baby was still showing no signs of coming. I was even given an epidural to relieve the pain from the drip, again something not on my birth plan but I felt like I had no choice at the time due to the excruciating pain! 48 hours later and they had no choice but to carry out an emergency C-section. My baby was in a very awkward position which meant no matter how much I was dilated, no amount of pushing or the use of forceps was going to make it move. The doctor had taken two fetal blood samples as baby's heart rate had been dipping with every contraction for most of the day, meaning my baby was in distress. At that point I just wanted my baby out and healthy. At 12.00am I was rolled into theatre and my beautiful baby boy arrived at 12.50am by emergency C-section. I know it's cliché but upon seeing him I instantly forgot the prior 48 hours. It was definitely the proudest moment of my life thus far. So birth plans are great, and if you can have a water birth, despite not having gone through it myself, I would say go for it. It really does seem faultless. But the reality is you just cannot plan for the day, you just have to take it as it comes. A birth plan almost felt like a wish list and in fact I had no control over the whole experience. Despite telling the midwife I never wanted a C-section or an epidural, the reality was they were going to do whatever was best for me and baby and my wishes and plan pretty much went out the window. So my advice would be just go with the flow and keep an open mind. Don't be disheartened if it doesn't go as you planned or hoped. Still write down your wishes and make a birth plan but be prepared that when you're in labour you may want to crumple it up and throw it at someone – probably your partner! I definitely want a second child and I'm sure things will go to plan, mainly because I don't intend to make one!
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