Tanya's story, Kent - 34+4 weeks, first c-section, 3rd baby

"Thursday 2nd December

I had a routine midwife appointment which showed Jack's heart rate was way too high so we were sent to maternity day care and strapped to a monitor. His heart rate was up and down but they were not concerned about it at all. Little did we know this was the start of things to come.

Saturday 4th December

I had been getting irregular pains/tightenings since the Friday night but just brushed it off as I had been getting them for a while. I woke up 4am Saturday morning and they seemed stronger and more uncomfortable so I rang the hospital and was advised to go in.

Once there I was given all the usual checks and then the Dr came round and examined me; it was quite a shock to hear I was 3cm and in established labour. I was taken to the delivery ward and given steroids and also drugs to stop labour which I would have to have for 36 hours. To cut a boring story short, I was still getting regular pains so the drugs were not working and I was getting some contractions showing on the monitor so they decided to stop the drugs. I was examined again and was 4cm dilated and I was left in the delivery room. Sunday morning, I was transferred to the ante-natal ward where I stayed until Tuesday 7th December. All the time I was in I was getting irregular contractions but not much else was happening. Every time I was on the monitor Jack's heart rate at times, was going through the roof; everytime we queried it we were told it was normal and it meant he was active even though he wasn't moving. We didn't say much else about it as obviously we put our trust in the midwives!!!!

I was sent home on the Tuesday in slow labour and told to wait it out and wait for labour to start properly. It was an uncomfortable couple of days with hardly any sleep and by the Thursday after trying everything I decided sex was the only thing left to try!!

Thursday 9th December

At about 4pm I started contracting every 10 minutes. This carried on until 9pm when I couldn't take the pain anymore so after ringing the hospital we went in. As soon as I got in the room the charming midwife asked if I was after an induction... hmmmm, no, I knew my baby was safer inside rather then out at 34+4!!! She strapped me up to the monitor and that's when things went wrong. Jack's heart rate was over 250bpm, I knew then something was not right. She used an old fashioned heart listener and it was the same, she was hoping that the monitor was having a moment which it was clear then it wasn't. She called the Dr who rushed in with a scanning machine and scanned Jack. It wasn't good, his heart rate was dangerously high - the next thing I just heard the words c-section and then loads of people were rushing in talking to me, shoving lines in my hands, shaving me!!! By this time I was confused and crying.

I was taken to theatre, given the spinal then laid down. The first cut was made at 23.31pm and my gorgeous baby Jack Aaron William Osgood was born at 23.32pm, weighing 7lb 9oz at 34+4.

He was handed to DH while I was stitched, the whole time his heart rate was being checked. We were told if it didn't slow down he would have to go to SCBU. We were taken to recovery where I held my precious boy for the first time. I held him for a couple of minutes then he was taken to SCBU as his heart rate was still too high.

To cut a long story short my precious boy's heart rate didn't improve so he had to go to St Thomas's where, with medication, his heart is now beating at the right speed. This is the first time I have written my birth story and it is so upsetting to sit and do but I know to overcome the upset I have to do it and face it. I never got to give him his first feed or change his first nappy, I was away from him for the first 24 hours of his life, these hours can never be replaced and I find that hard to deal with, as I do looking at his newborn photos with him strapped to machines. I just thank God every day I went to the hospital when I did otherwise who knows what could have happened. My mother's instinct truly kicked in that day and I now have a gorgeous 8 week old baby boy who is thriving. As hard as it is to deal with his birth, I am forever thankful for being blessed with him, my little fighter."

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Amira's story, UK - conceived with coil in place, unknown until 29 weeks!

"I gave birth to my daughter on the 13th of December '09 at 35 weeks - a shock to say the least but a good one! I had the coil fitted after I had my second son Jacob, after having two boys so close together it was the best idea! Ethan 3 and Jacob 18 months. In November I kept getting really bad cramps in my tummy, I went to the doctors and he suggested there was an infection where the coil was fitted which was causing the swelling and pain and referred me for more tests - I never thought in a million years a week from then I was going to be told I was 29 weeks pregnant!

Baby was checked and I had a scan to confirm the pregnancy and needless to say - I was just a tiny bit scared! I was more schocked they told me I was having a girl than being told I was pregnant! The following week I had a more detailed scan which showed baby to be a bit on the small side and I'd have to have weekly scans to check fluid around the baby and growth. At 35 weeks I went for my routine scan on the Friday morning which showed I was losing fluid, the placenta was facing my tummy and cushioning her movements which was a major explanation as to why I wasn't feeling movements like I did with the other two. They checked my cervix - gave me a sweep - which was followed by 'a show' so they decided my cervix was favourable for an induction which was great after weeks of telling me I would have to have a c-section! I was booked in on Sunday at 7am, it was hectic!

When I got there they did an examination and managed to break my waters. While monitoring the baby, her heart rate kept dipping while I was having twinges so they rushed me round to a delivery room. Then everything stopped! Baby was bouncing around and the twinges stopped - they gave me a Syntocinon drip to bring on the contractions - at 3 o'clock I remember sitting there hooked up to the machine thinking 'God, I'm so bored'! Then by 4pm I was having regular contractions. I chose to have gas and air.

Those next 2 hours consisted of me being sick, actually weeing myself laughing, crying and a little bit of shouting! At half 6 I remember struggling a bit and begging them to take the drip out and being soooo tired! The midwife checked me and I was only 4cm!! I was so disappointed! Then all of a sudden I had the urge to push - well to be honest - poo! I remember telling my partner to get out then the midwife pushing the button on a wall behind me and then the baby just being there! My body had gone into shock and when I pushed I lost a lot of blood, then next push baby came out - she practically flew out! I remember shaking so much all I could hear was the clanging of the bed! She was amazing - just perfect! They put her on my chest and she was just staring around! She starting sucking her thumb and my heart just melted! She was tiny, sooo small and I couldn't believe she was here and she was okay!

She took to my breast straight away, latched on perfectly and had a feed before they took her to be checked. Esmée weighed 5lb 4oz and was born at 19.02pm - I got away with no stitches, just the shakes for the next few hours (courtesy of the gas and air I think). The midwife stayed on even though her shift finished hours earlier, and I can honestly say I loved every single minute of her birth. I breast fed until she was 9 months and got away with the dreaded post natal depression I had with my sons. To this day she's as perfect as they day I brought her home!"

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Polly's story, Hertfordshire - premature ceasarean, no SCBU stay

"After one of my fellow Tweeters asked about the birth of my daughter Joss, I thought I should write up a proper birth story for those that are interested, but mainly for those who are pregnant and concerned about premature labour. I had such a positive experience I wanted to share it so if you are faced with the same situation you can stay calm!

Although falling pregnant with Joss had been difficult (I have PCOS) my pregnancy itself was plain sailing. The only concern I ever had was that she wasn’t much of a kicker. Her movements were far and few between and more like wriggles rather than kicks but I was reassured by my midwife that some babies are just like that, and as long as that was the way it had always been that I was not to worry.

Her due date had been given as 24th August 2010 but I was totally and utterly convinced that she would be late. I myself was 16 days late, my brother 14 days late, and my husband and his sister were also late. I was so convinced in fact that I had planned to work up until 4 days before my due date.

After chatting to a couple of colleagues who had done Hypnobirthing classes and gone on to have ‘easy’ labours my husband and I decided to take classes too and were set on having as natural a labour as possible. Much to my parents dismay we had also decided to try for a water birth at home (they felt the only safe place for us to be was hospital). The pool had been delivered when I was 34 weeks pregnant and we were getting so excited about the impending birth of ‘Peanut’(we didn’t know the sex of our baby so this was her pet name until she was born!).

As I said, all had gone rather smoothly throughout the pregnancy so it was a bit of a shock when it all started to go wrong on the evening of Thursday 23rd July at 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I’d had a busy day at work as it had been my company's AGM, but my colleagues had assigned me jobs to do sitting down and I was feeling fine if only a little tired – nothing new there! While the AGM was going on I started to write a list of things to do that weekend, top of the list was ‘pack hospital bag’ just in case the homebirth didn’t go to plan and we had to head in. Little did I know that the weekend would be too late!

I got the train home as usual and then got a lift from the station home with a neighbour. I was so knackered I had a lay down on the bed and when my hubby got home he joined me. We lay there for about 30 mins discussing our day then had dinner and had a shower. All a pretty normal evening.

At 9:30 we were putting on our PJ’s to go and watch a bit of telly before bed. I popped off to the bathroom to do what felt like my 100th wee of the day, but when I wiped there was a little bit of mucus on the tissue. I called my hubby in to take a look. He looked pretty worried, but to be honest I wasn’t concerned. It was only a tiny bit and I knew that you can loose bits of the plug and that it can regenerate. Also there wasn’t any blood. But it was the first time I began to think maybe Peanut wasn’t going to be as late as I had always assumed! I reassured hubby there was nothing to worry about and said I’d maybe call the midwife in the morning just to check. Five mins had passed, and I was still sitting on the loo. I now needed wee 101 of the day so stayed sitting there! This time when I wiped it was a totally different story – a huge lump of mucus was on the tissue and I started to panic a little!

This was the point I turned to my Twitter followers for advice: “I think I just lost my mucus plug. No blood but quite a lot of it. Did this ever happen to you? If so, how soon after did you go into labour?”. A few of my followers came back with responses, but the general consensus was with no water, call the midwife in the morning.

At this point I also texted my best friend to see if she had experienced anything similar with her two young children. We texted back and forth and I then called her at 10:20pm. Five minutes into our conversation, I suddenly felt my waters go. I shouted to my husband to grab a towel and told my friend what was happening then promptly hung up and rushed to the bathroom! From the bathroom I directed my husband to my hospital notes for their phone number and called the labour ward. It was now 10:45. As I expected, they told me to pack an over night bag and head in.

It took the hubby and I an hour to pack a hospital bag. Some of the time I was helping him, other times I had to head back to the bathroom shouting directions to him from there as there was a constant trickle of water which sometimes got heavier. I got though about 7 maternity towels in that hour.

We got the hospital at around 11pm. I was strapped up to the monitor, and the second I heard Peanuts heartbeat I felt a huge sense of relief. I just knew everything would be ok. They had a feel of my tummy and said Peanut was head down. I was monitored until around 1am. I had no contractions in that time. So they decided to admit me for the night and said I would be sent down for a scan in the morning to see how much water I had left. I honestly thought at that point I would be sent home for bed rest until 37 weeks and then be induced.

Hubby was sent home and I had a horrendous nights sleep. I think I managed just 2 hours. I’d never spent a night in hospital before (apart from when I was born!). The lady in the next bed was snoring and I kept needing to get up for a wee. Also I felt like I was having period type pains. Only mild ones, and they may well have been in my head, but it didn’t help with trying to get some sleep thinking I might go into full labour any moment!

A midwife came by in the morning and had a feel of my tummy and couldn’t decide which way Peanut was laying, so she went and got a bedside scanning machine to check. I pointed out that I didn’t know the sex, so if she were to see I didn’t want to know. She reassured me that the machine was only very basic and it would be difficult for her to identify a head let alone genitals! Low and behold, she tried for 10 minutes to find Peanuts head but was having no luck, though she thought maybe it was laying transverse. This was the first time the dreaded word ‘ceasarean’ was first mentioned. She went to get a doctor to have a go with the scanning machine to see if she could find a head! Ten minutes later 2 doctors and 2 midwives arrived in my cubicle. Now I was really worried. The doctor scanned, and confirmed the midwife's suspicions that Peanut was laying transverse. I would be needing a caesarean and it would be happening that afternoon. I dissolved into tears.

It was 9am. An hour before hubby was allowed back in. I was alone and scared. This was a million miles from the natural hypnobirth homebirth I had planned. My baby was coming that afternoon 5 weeks early. I knew he/she had a fantastic chance of survival but I also knew there was a good chance baby would be whipped out and taken straight to special care. I asked if there was any other options. Could they not wait to see if baby turned, after all it had been head down the whole pregnancy and when admitted the night before, but I was told the risk of infection was too high to chance waiting. I then asked if they could try to turn the baby but I was told even with waters in tact it is very difficult, and with little to no water left turning the baby is almost impossible. The only hope I had was that I was being sent down for a proper scan at 11am to confirm the diagnosis given by the basic bedside scanner. If they found baby to be head down I would be allowed to try to deliver, but this was very unlikely.

So at 11am hubby and I walked down to the antenatal scanning waiting room. I sat there in my pink bikenstocks and red dressing gown (attractive!) amongst couples eagerly awaiting their 12 weeks scans – it was very surreal! The scan revealed that ‘Peanut’ was breech but was ‘doing the hurdles’ – i.e. one leg up and one leg down, so there was no way I would be able to deliver without her getting stuck. This scan also confirmed I had hardly any water left. So that sealed the deal. Peanut was coming out of the sunroof that afternoon!

The next few hours dragged. It was so strange knowing that the baby was coming! I had written a c-section birthplan just in case, so I went through that with the midwife. I also made sure my hubby was clear about my most important wish – that if Peanut is taken to special care, he were to go with him/her and not stay with me. I couldn’t stand the thought of this new little person being whipped out and not having its Mummy or Daddy with it at all times.

At 4pm we walked into the theatre. 30 minutes later, with Plan B, 'Prayin' playing in the background (the surgeons choice not ours, but I incidentally love the track) Jocelyn Leela was delivered weighing in at 4lb12oz. She was the most perfect little thing I had ever seen. And we were amazingly lucky that she didn’t need to go to special care.

So there you have it – the most crazy 20 hours of my life! Just 3 days later Joss and I were allowed home."

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Tanya's story, Kent - 4 weeks + 4 early, induction

"My Miracle Princess Phoebe

6th October 2009 35 weeks + 3 days

Waking up in the early hours of the morning, I realised that I was feeling rather wet down below, needing the toilet had woken me and I thought I had wet myself but after having a smell I realised it wasn't wee so woke hubby up. As I got up off the bed my waters just started gushing everywhere, I don't know why but I put my hand there to stop it which of course failed, I made my way to the bathroom and sitting on the toilet it was still just pouring from me. I eventually managed to put some pads on and get my friend to have Megan for me and rang the hospital who told me to go straight in. After what seemed like a lifetime I managed to ring my mum who took us to the hospital. By the time we got there I was soaked through, I honestly did not realise how much water you carry!!. I got to the delivery unit and had swabs taken and was put on the monitor and all was fine with baby. At about 7.00am I was transferred to the antenatal ward where I would spend the next few days.

My Dr came round to see me that morning saying she would expect to see me on the postnatal ward the next day, how wrong was she!!!! I spent the next 3 days on antibiotics and had steroids and was given 11/10 has my induction date as I was worried about infection and having hardly any water. Nothing much happened while I was in hospital; although I was getting contractions they were nowhere near regular or strong so they wouldn't do nothing unless they started to show on the monitor, which they never.

On Friday 9th my Dr came and told me that I was allowed home and that they had changed my induction day because by scan dates I would only be 35 + 4 on the Sunday and they wouldn't even think about delivery before 36 weeks so although disappointed that I now had to wait until the Wednesday to meet my princess I was just so happy to get home and be with hubby and my other daughter. The whole weekend I hardly slept through being in pain and having on off contractions and with being in hospital and not sleeping I was just so tired. It got to the early hours of Sunday morning and I just couldn't cope no more - I wasn't eating or sleeping and baby was nowhere near as active has she always had been.

Sunday 11/10 35 + 4 by hospital dates 36 + 1 by mine.

I woke up at 4am and couldn't sleep as the pains were too much, I decided to have a bath and pain killers to see how I went and also redone baby's hospital bag as I had to buy smaller clothes has I know she would only be around 6lb by the growth scan I had. After doing all this I felt no better so the hospital told me to go in. I was put on the monitor and Phoebe's heart rate was up in the 180s (which it had been since my waters went but no one seemed to bothered so I took it it was a normal rate) and also my pulse was up which they were worried about, so they called the Dr in. The Dr scanned me after thinking she was breech but she was head down. After asking some questions and feeling my tummy he could feel I was getting contractions, it was then he told me he was going to induce me has he wasn't happy with the heart rate at all, it was far too high. So I started panicking. He also told me that if I didn't deliver in a certain amount of time then it would be a c-section as baby wasn't happy inside me. So a quick phone call to let my daughter know that I would be having baby, then I was taken to the delivery room and put straight on the drip along with lots of antibiotics, this was at 10am.

I was told that I would be checked at 2.30pm to see how I was going. My contractions started at 1.30pm and I was shocked at how controlled I felt with the pain. At 2.30 I was examined and told I was 2cm. I really thought I would have been more and was told they would check me again at 6.30pm which I really thought I would be told I was only 4-5cm so had decided if that was the case an epidural would be likely!!.The pains were getting a lot stronger and I was breathing through them; although painful I didn't think they were that bad, the midwife was shocked that I hadn't asked for pain relief; I knew I wanted to get as far as I could with none as I wanted another natural birth. At 5.45pm I caved and asked for gas and air, god I fell in love with that stuff, I couldn't help having a giggle, it was lovely and helped with the pain, even DH had a go on it!!

By 6pm the pains were getting bad and I just wanted to stand up but couldn't has I had to be monitored the whole time. I was getting frustrated but knew it was best for baby so just tried to get comfy as best I could on the bed, not easy. At 6.30 I was examined and told I was 8cm. I couldn't believe that after hardly any real bad pains I had gone from 2 to 8 in 4 hours. The relief I felt was amazing knowing I was nearly there. Not long after I was getting the urge to push really badly but was being told I wasn't ready, I forgot how hard it is to try and stop yourself pushing when you get the feeling to. This went on for about half hour, being told not to when I knew I had to, I could feel her head coming down, I kept telling them I had to so they looked and could see her head so another midwife was called in and I started to push.

After 8 minutes at 19.28 I set eyes on one of the most beautiful little girls ever, I couldn't help bursting into tears as I set eyes on her. After 5 years I couldn't believe she was mine. Me, hubby my mum and Phoebe's big sister were all in tears in the room, even the midwife shed a tear telling us she had never made the whole room cry at a birth. I was so glad that Megan was there to witness her baby sister coming into the world, apart from having her it was truly one of the best days of my life and I can't believe how easy and short the labour and birth was. It didn't put me off, in fact if every birth could be like that I would have it again tomorrow, LOL.

Phoebe was weighed and we were shocked at her weight: 6lb7oz. As she was so early, I thought she would be smaller than that. She was healthy and happy as were we all. I delivered the placenta 4 minutes after having her and then had a massive bleed, midwifes running in the room etc but to be honest I can't remember that bit, I was just happy to have my baby in my arms although DH and my mum were quite worried. I was just in my own little world. Luckily after an injection it stopped and no stitches were needed. We were left in delivery till 9.30pm when I was transferred to the ward. The only thing I didn't like was DH had to go straight home. I laid in my bed all night just staring at my beautiful little girl, I couldn't believe she was mine, I was the happiest mummy ever.

Sorry it is so long, I tried to remember everything to put down although I'm sure I have missed lots out. All in all I really enjoyed my labour and birth and would do it again in a flash if I could."

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