Hospital Water Birth for second baby (after premature ICP birth first time).
Elisa shares the birth story of her second baby (her first was born prematurely and she suffered with ICP- you can read that story here.).
This time she had a spontaneous water birth at 39+5 in hospital with the support of her husband and doula.
Pregnancy
I found out I was pregnant again in October 2021, it was a surprise as we had not been trying. I went to the shop and got a very cheap test - one of the really small strips. Mike was convinced I was not pregnant but Sunday morning did the test first thing and that first line came up right away, even before it had reached the control line and I just remember taking the test to Mike and showing him and he being in shock! And we were both in shock for weeks if not months. I chose to have an early scan again which helped me feel comfortable knowing everything was ok and really seeing baby helped we come to accept the pregnancy.
This time we hired a student doula through NCT. She was lovely and really great to have her at the end of the phone. We had one face to face in Feb and then once in May. I also got Birth-ed’s online course again although I didn’t rewatch it until I was on maternity leave, I did use the meditations early on.
At 24 weeks I did have some mild itching again and got tested for ICP but was only borderline so then got tested every two weeks from then on.
We did found out the gender this time and were having another boy I did find this hard as while I was excited for Max to have a brother I has always wanted a girl but I didn't really have anyone to talk to about it and it just felt so silly to be disappointed as we know this would be our last baby but I was. I did love the boy I was growing but was not really enjoying pregnancy this time around. There was a lot of guilt about it all.
As Max (first born) had been born early and driving is not comfortable at the end of pregnancy I finished work at 30 weeks. Again my mum and sister came to stay- my mum at 38 weeks and my sister a few days later. It was nice to have them up but did make for a full house. After 8 days of them being there and no baby my sister said she would have to go home if he was not here soon.
At 36 weeks my acid levels had been slightly elevated however they were not in the danger zone I was scheduled for an induction but declined there due to having done my research with the charity ICP support. I had a few times been back and forth about whether or not to have a sweep but decided it wasn't for me, especially if I wasn't full term yet and there weren’t any actual problems with baby or me.
Birth Story
Sunday the 5th of June over night I had Braxton Hicks all night mild and nothing unusual got up early. Mike went out to work on site for the first time in months. Braxton Hicks continued but I could still ignore them and breath normally though them.
Had breakfast with Max and watched some TV then my mum and sister had him while I went and got a flat tyre fixed probably had about 4-5 what I was being to think might be contractions while out. I messaged our Doula when I got home and told my mum and sister I had back pain. My mum was a bit over excited when I said he could come soon and squealed with excitement, not very helpful for me as I just wanted to keep ignoring it until I had to pay it attention.
They kindly took Max out for a pram nap and I had a bath to see if it helped if everything picked up or calmed down. I also finished packing bags just in case and packed Max nursery bags for the next day.
I felt like my mucus plug had gone and had some pink/brown watery discharge.
At 13:30 I took two paracetamol sat on my ball and watched TV with Max. I then looked up when you should put a TENs machine on and it said earlier rather than later so I thought I would put it on just in case I could always take it up later if it was too early at 14:40 my sister put it on for my and I went back to the ball and TV with Max he is very interested in all the wires and I told him it was helping me help his baby brother arrive who we thought might be coming soon
I ate small snacks and kept drinking and weeing
Sat on my ball with Max watching TV and just breathing through it. contractions every 5-15 mins lasting 40sec-1:30min. It seems that is just how I labour with long contraction that never get really close together until the very end.
Mike got home about 15:30, watched some TV, had a chat with my mum and sister, packed his bag and wrapped up some work stuff.
Doula Lauren arrived about 17:30 Max was not sure and could really tell things were happening.
We went for a walk around the block with him and went to the park.
Got back and Max had some dinner. At some point I felt like everyone was watching me and wanted some personal space so I layed down on my bed for about an hour or two I think I come back down about 8pm
We then talked about when we might go in and decide we were not ready yet, but called the labour ward to let them know I would be in later and would love to use a pool room. They where happy with that and just said come in when we felt we where ready. My husband had a shoulder injury that happened in December so was unable to drive- so Lauren had agreed to drive us to the hospital which was only 15 minutes away.
Mum and sister did some playing with Max and give him a bath and he came down stairs for a bit again. Then about 10pm he went off to bed with them, but was a bit unsettled about it so we went for another walk to give them space to get him to sleep. When we got back I could still hear him upstairs however I was so focused on contractions it didn't really bother me. In our post-birth meet-up Lauren said this was one of the hardest things for her to hear him being upset, but I knew he would be ok with my mum and sister once he was asleep. I put on Frozen 2 and lay down on the sofa after about 1 hour the contractions got stronger and I remember saying I know why people have epidurals after that one! Both Lauren and Mike said yeah we know we can tell they're picking up however that's not what you want just focus on each one at a time and it really helped. About two or three contractions later we decided it was time to move to labour ward.
Lauren's car was already packed with the bags. I had wanted to take my birth ball as I remember the hospital ones not being the right size for me last time however it got forgotten. I put in my earphones and in the car I listened to Mumford & Sons ‘The Cave’. I thought I would want to listen to my relaxation playlist but I had been listening to that all day and really needed some energy for the car journey as I had been dreading it.
I particularly like that song for this verse
And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again
In Lauren’s car I started to feel a lot of downward pressure and I also started to feel slightly sick I'm glad it was such a short journey we got there about 11:20pm, I remember holding on to the wall just before we went in feeling like I was going to be sick the midwives met us at the labour ward doors and let us in they had a pool room available for us. Which I was very excited about I immediately went to the toilet and had a wee this was really positive for me after having the in-out catheter with my first labour I didn't seem to have any problems with that this time. As soon as I lay down on the bed and my water is broke and my breathing changed.
In our post-birth meeting Lauren told me she was explaining to the midwife and student midwife how I was a very quiet labourer who breathed through each contraction and that my contractions were quite long but getting closer together.
However as soon as my waters had broken I suddenly felt the need to vocalise. Initially I tried to stop doing this but it was really difficult and I contractions was so much more intense when I wasn't vocalising and I just thought why am I trying to stop doing something that my body wants to do so instead I just vocalised!
I don't even remember what I was doing I think I was just making humming noises and it really helped.
I asked for the anti-emetic injection again as I was feeling really sick and remembered this helped me last time and I honestly think the feeling's sick is worse than the contractions.
About 15 minutes after this I had to get off the bed I couldn't sit there anymore I remember bugging them a few times about why the taps weren't running on the tub and could they please hurry up I know my doula was having conversations with the midwives about not checking me before I went in they definitely wanted to but she said to them let's just get her in see what happens and then if you want to you can always bring her out again to have her checked.
I got in when the pool was about half full and as soon as I was in there I remember getting involuntary injection reflex contractions. I felt a lot of pressure down below I didn't realise it at the time but my bowels were having a clear out! Not the most dignified thing in labour but you don't really know this - Lauren commented afterwards that Mike put his trunks on all the enthusiastic to get in the pool with me and then quickly changed his mind!
I started out on my knees holding on to the handlebars, however every time I had a contraction my shoulders went up to my ears and I was getting cramping them I did have a bit of wobble at this point panicking because it was so intense. Lauren was really helpful of telling me not to panic, to trust my body, just breathe through it; your body is just remembering what it's meant to do and it will be okay and you are safe. I remember reminding myself that the only way out is through there was no going back!
At some point I turned onto my back cos I was not comfortable on my knees. They were monitoring me using the Doppler in the water I think baby had a small dip at some point but everything settled after a bit and they were fine for me to stop pushing, with my first I had an episiotomy so I didn't really feel this stage and it was incredibly intense. I remember feeling his head there but it felt like it was taking ages for his head to come out and I was pushing a bit too hard the midwife kind of snapped at me to listen to her slow down and pants and breathe because I think she was worried I was going to tear.
Everything is a blur at this point I don't remember how long it took for his head to come out but it was definitely longer than they expected when it did it was definitely a big relief after that. I think he came out after two contractions into the pool and I pulled him up onto my chest.
I couldn't pull him up very far and after a few minutes we realised the cord was around his neck which in hindsight explains why he had a few dips when he was coming through the birth canal.
I was just relieved he was finally here it was definitely a very quick and intense second stage he was born at 00:19 on the 7th of June, only an hour after we had arrived.
As the pool was a bit of a mess and getting colder I decided to get out the bath. They asked me if I wanted the injection but I said I would like to try without and she said because I'd had a physiological birth that it might take a little bit longer and that I might lose a little bit more blood. It didn't take too long for the placenta to come away but they were considering the injection and afterwards I lost 710ml of blood so they were still considering the injection for a while but decided I didn't need it in the end. Baby was absolutely fine and we managed to wait until after the placenta was born to cut the cord. Mike cut at this time he hadn't had the confidence with Max.
A while after the placenta was born they said they wanted to do internal checks- it turned out I only had a very small tear and some grazes and I choose not to have any stitches. During this process Mike felt faint and passed out again which this time either thought was quite amusing as the reason I thought he passed out last time was due to lack of food and long time awake but my labour this time was only 15 hours and he had eaten and drunk enough- I think it was just the adrenaline crashing.
Eli latched on straight away and has breastfed like a champion since day one some babies are just born knowing how to breastfeed and I do think having fed Max for so long helped. A few hours after he was born Lauren helped me had a shower whilst Mike had skin to skin cuddles with baby. Then Lauren decided to go home about 4: 00am, she took my bags that we didn't need home and left them in our porch. I think the ward was quite busy as we heard the emergency buzzer go a few times so they didn't come into move us to postnatal until 7:00a.m. We were fine with that and just dozed and fed new baby. Technically Mike wasn't meant to come on to postnatal until 9:00 a.m. but as he couldn't drive and had no way home they said it was fine but just to hide behind our curtain and not advertise that he was there.
Because of the blood loss that I had they gave me iron tablets to take for 2 months.
We stayed on labour board until about 2:00 p.m. when they told us we could go home. My mum and sister came to pick us up in my car. I got home and rested in bed until Max came home from nursery at 5:00p.m. he came upstairs had a cuddle with me in the bed and then noticed this little brother in the cot next to us he immediately wanted a cuddle and I have some lovely photos of them together.
On his day three checks Eli's bilirubin levels were a little high with the light test so he went up to the hospital to have a blood test however they weren't high enough to warrant treatment so he went home and just kept feeding and put him in the sun definitely the joys of having a summer baby, he fed loads and was completely fine.
He is such a different baby to Max and I never anticipated how a different babies temperament would make such a big difference however it really has and he just takes everything in his stride.
Thankyou so much Elisa for sharing your birth stories with us! (And for joining the birth-ed course not once, but twice!!)
If you want ongoing support from birth-ed, you can join the course too here.