Elsie’s birth was the complete polar opposite to Zac’s birth. They really couldn’t get more different! I had a natural water birth with Zac (hurt like hell but is what people would describe as a ‘positive birth’). And well Elsie’s wasn’t quite that. But I wanted to share Elsie’s birth story to try and give some reassurance to any other mums facing the same thing. It is a mostly positive induction birth story (during the pandemic).
Elsie was due on 7th June 2021. Zac had arrived on his due date, so I was expecting her to maybe come a bit earlier, being 2nd baby and all. She was measuring quite big (they predicted 9lbs+ at birth), and I felt HUGE. So everyone thought I was bound to have her a week or two early. However as the due date got closer it looked unlikely.
Waters Leaking
I woke up as normal on 5th June. Went to the toilet and noticed that my shorts were a bit damp. The thought did cross my mind “is it my waters leaking?”. But we were in the middle of a heatwave, so put it down to probably sweating in my sleep. Heatwaves are no fun when you’re 9 months pregnant by the way.
Everytime I went to the toilet that day I noticed my underwear was always a bit wet. But again I would think, it can’t be my waters leaking. Its not a gush of water or a lot of it. My underwear was just damp. I kept telling myself it is probably discharge, sweat or that I had wet myself (it wasn’t uncommon at that stage of preganncy to be honest). That evening I decided to put a pad on to see just how wet it was getting. At about 10pm I pulled my knickers down to check the pad, as I did some clear liquid trickled down my leg. I suddenly thought “shit this could actually be my waters leaking”.
Hospital Visit
So I phoned the midwife unit at the hospital to explain and they asked me to come in so they could check. Ricky’s parents came round to look after Zac and we made our way there. I went to the ward on my own (covid restrictions), and waited to be tested. After an hour of monitoring and a swab they confirmed it was my waters leaking. But I had no contractions.
I obviously couldn’t pin point exactly when they started leaking. Just that I had felt damp when I woke up. So they had to assume it started in the night. Which at that point was about 24 hours before. There is a risk of infection and sepsis after 24 hours of your waters breaking. So I was booked in for an induction at 8am.
Induction Using Gel
Ricky was allowed to be there for the start of the induction. So he sat with me while they did a sweep and put gel on my cervix. I was 2cm dilated when the sweep was done. But you always are a little dilated after you have had one baby already, so it wasn’t much progress. 15 minutes after, contractions started. Ricky wasn’t allowed to wait with me. So Instead of staying there on my own we decided to walk around the hospital grounds together. We walked for hours. Contractions were about 3-4 mins apart from the start and didn’t change. At about 2pm I went back up to the ward so they could check how things were progressing. After examining me, they said I was still only 2cm and hadn’t dilated any further.
So they said they wanted to start the hormone drip to try and help move things along. I had a cannula fitted and was moved straight into a delivery room. Now that I was in my own room my birth partners were allowed in. Ricky and my mum came in with me.
Hormone Drip Induction
The midwife advised that once the hormone drip was started contractions would probably come very strong and fast. So she suggested pain relief. Because I was on the hormone drip, and needed constant monitoring I couldn’t have another water birth. If I was going to be stuck on a bed unable to move, I didn’t want to just lay there in pain. I thought about trying some gas and air first. But then decided what is the point if I thought I would eventually have the epidural? I remember my mum saying “there is no medal for doing it without pain relief”. So I decided to have the epidural.
It was literally the best decision I made! If I did go on to have more children I would 100% have the epidural straight away again. Both the epidural and hormone drip were started at the same time. It was amazing, I couldn’t feel a thing! I could see on the monitor that I was having contractions, but I couldn’t feel them. It allowed me to take everything in and be more “present”. Which is not how I felt with Zac at all. I was in so much pain with Zac it’s all just a blur.
Heart Rate Scare
It was all going well to begin with. But then I started to feel really hot, and sick, and light headed. The midwife checked and my blood pressure had plummeted. Which caused babies heart rate to do the same. Suddenly the room was full of people. Midwives, senior midwives, consultants. They gave me an injection to temporarily stop contractions and squeezed a bag of fluid into me.
The room went quiet as they all watched the monitor. Seeing how baby reacted. Deciding if I would need an emergency c-section. Slowly everything started to go back up and stabilise. Babies heart rate needed to be monitored closely, so they fitted a clip to her head. They said they would give her 4 hours to relax before checking and starting the hormone drip again.
At 9pm they checked and as everything was OK, the hormone drip was started again.
The only thing I didnt really like about the whole experience was being stuck in the bed. My legs literally felt dead. Hospital beds are not comfortable. I kept trying to switch sides to help. But that was easier said then done. I needed help to turn over due to the amount of wires I had everywhere! The midwife examined me again at midnight and I was fully dilated ! She said to wait an hour for baby to fully make her way down. As I had the epidural I wasn’t in any pain so the further baby could move down on her own meant less pushing.
The Birth
Then at 1:36am on 7th June (her due date !) After 3 pushes Elsie Rose English was born. She weighed 8lbs 7oz, so smaller than expected ! She felt tiny, I’m sure Zac was much chubbier.
Hydronephrosis
We knew before she was born that she had an issue with one of her kidneys. When I was pregnant she was diagnosed with hydronephrosis at an ultrasound. So we stayed in the delivery suite until paediatrics had been to carry out some tests. They taped a bag to her to collect urine so they could test it for infection.
We were then transferred to the postnatal ward, which meant Ricky had to leave. Under lockdown rules he could only visit 2 hours a day and it had to be booked in.
Baby Urine Sample
It was such a strange feeling just being left on our own. Just me and this tiny baby hidden away behind blue curtains. Whilst on the ward the paediatrics team took her away to carry out some more checks. She was also started on antibiotics which she needed for her hydronephrosis.
Unfortunately the bag they put on to collect urine had leaked, so they had to put another on. We were told once we had collected a wee we could go home! I was so excited !
But the excitement was short lived. The hours passed and we still couldn’t collect a urine sample. I began to worry that she wasn’t getting enough breastmilk to wee. So I gave her some of my colostrum I had harvested. It got to 10pm and it was clear we were not going home that night. I decided to give her a bottle of formula – surely then she had to wee ?! It was a long night doing everything on my own. I was exhausted, emotional and lonely.
Home time!
Then at about 9am the next morning we managed to collect a urine sample! We could go home. I literally cried happy tears. I packed up our stuff and phoned Ricky to come and get us straight away. And that’s when we left to go home and start our life as a family of four!
It certainly wasn’t the birth I planned for. It wouldn’t have been what I would have chose. But actually it was a pretty positive experience. I wasn’t in the excruciating pain that I was with Zac. I could enjoy the birth and it felt so relaxed. If you have made it this far then thank you for reading ! I hope it provides some reassurance for anyone preparing for an induction. Before having mine I had heard so many horror stories about failed inductions and people being in pain for days. But from start to finish my induction was actually shorter than my natural labour with Zac!
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