My waters dramatically broke at midnight, and contractions quickly followed. Not even an hour later, they were 5mins apart and almost one minute long. It was then that I noticed quite a bit of meconium stained liquor on my pad. We called the midwife. After a 40min car trip we arrived to the hospital. Once there, more meconium. I was offered by my midwife to do a vaginal examination. I was 7cm, but my midwife couldn’t feel baby’s head. I immediately knew what that meant, she a breech and so we agreed on a c-section.

From then, it was very dramatic. We waited 30mins for an O.R. theatre to be available, and in that time, I got to 9cm. Doctors said “there’s someone on the way who’s interested in vaginal breech”, but that sounded like a science experiment to me! The difference between doctors and midwives was astounding! By the time they prepared me for the spinal, I was fully dilated and desperately trying not to push. 10mins later our baby girl, who had secretly been frank breech* (!!) was born by Caesarean Section. She was perfectly healthy! 

Whilst we certainly had an intense ending, what you said was so true – ‘it’s about how you’re made to feel’. It was a very fast and intense labour and I was very close to having her vaginally – but with all said and done, I loved my labour. I did everything I wanted to do – laboured at home, laboured to full dilation, no drugs (only the tens machine and gas), I just missed the ending. However, I’ve been cleared for VBAC next time!

In terms of the other helpful pieces of information that got me through:

• I really noticed the waves of the contractions: 20sec rise, 20sec intensity, 20sec fall
• Your words continued to run through my head – “You can do anything for 60sec”
• That I had autonomy over my body. I really felt like I was being pressured to deliver vaginally. In the midst of trying not to push, my partner and I remained firm (with the help of my midwife)
• I also loved the way you covered over the c-section content. You didn’t fear monger, you just stated the facts – that it’s simply another option, when required, to birth baby safely. I think that helped me overcome the stigma of it

Most of all, my partner and I both felt really prepared and even excited when that first contraction hit, which was mostly due to the information from Calmbirth and how you presented!

Birth Story shared with permission and anonymity protected