I was due April 6th and baby boy came March 26th instead after a wild and unexpected birth experience. This was my 4th pregnancy but second delivery. I was hoping for a healing birth experience but ended up with more trauma added onto my first traumatic birth.

On Thursday the 24th I had my 38 week midwife appointment and was measuring 44 weeks which was alarming to my midwife after a relatively uncomplicated pregnancy so she sent me for an urgent scan the next day. They got my results late Friday evening but figured they’d call me Saturday morning since it was so late. Well 7am Saturday my water broke Hollywood style and soaked our bed, 4 towels and a small rug 🤯. I texted the midwives to let them know and started to prepare everything as we were planning a homebirth. The midwife on call came over to check me around 8:30 and told me that yesterday they got my results and I had polyhydramnios which explains the Hollywood water breaking. Since my contractions already started she suggested I get some rest and gave me a shot of gravol to help me sleep as baby should be along later that day.

Hubs, Nathan and our 2 and a half year old Theo played and cleaned up all morning while I laboured and rested as much as I could. Nathan called the doula, midwives and photographer around 11:45 as I couldn’t talk through the contractions anymore and was starting to transition. Theo went down for his nap at 12:00 and everyone arrived then too. I was checked and was already 8cm but baby boy was really high still. At 1:00 I was 9cm with a lip which happened with my last birth and I was stuck there for 6 hours which was incredibly painful and my doctor kept trying to “push” my cervix out of the way. I started to panic hearing this but they assured me it wouldn’t happen again and they would help me and not hurt me. I continued to labour while feeling the need to push constantly until 3:30. At that time they started discussing a hospital transfer as I was still stuck and baby was trying to move down which was causing the cervix to come with it and a cervical tear could be an emergency. They also thought some pain relief and rest could be beneficial and I agreed this was a different kind of pain than I felt with Theo it wasn’t pressure it was like a stabbing sharp pain high in my vagina. They had the anesthesiologist on hold for 4:45 so we got everything ready and headed over around 4:00 (only a 5 minute drive).

When we got to the hospital they started my fluids and tried to get me to labour more but I was struggling bad. Gas and air wasn’t working and the fentanyl they gave already wore off after a few contractions. I stopped believing in myself and was quite distraught as I had some lingering ptsd from being there with Theo’s birth. The anesthesiologist was late but made it to me at 5:50 and the epidural helped immensely however I got hit with uncontrollable shakes which was crazy.

At 7:20 my contractions had slowed a lot so my midwife checked me and I was 10cm but she was pretty certain she was feeling his eye. Wt that point she called for an ob consult as this just got a whole lot more complicated. The ob came at 7:40 and tried to manually move him through my vagina which was painful even with the epidural. The manual rotation didn’t work and the ob explained the situation at 8:10. Forceps weren’t an option neither was a vacuum extraction due to his positioning and if my body continued to push him down it could end up fatal as his neck could be hyperextended and possibly snap. The only safe way to deliver him was an emergency c section and it needed to happen fast.

I was feeling like a failure and really scared as I wanted so badly for this to go differently but knew that the main thing was for baby boy to be delivered safely. They explained that due to him continuing down the birth canal someone was going to have to insert their hand into me and push him up and someone else would pull him at the same time as he was stuck. I was whisked off to the or by 8:20 and after 15 minutes 8 attempts of trying and failing to get my spinal placed they finally got it and began. They weren’t kidding when they said he was stuck, when they pulled him out it was like the loudest suction cup releasing I’ve ever heard. He immediately began crying and was safely delivered.

Charles Arthur (Charlie) arrived at 8:47pm on March 26th weighing 8lbs 3oz, 21 and a half inches long.

I still am struggling with recovery and my postpartum body and processing everything that happened but my baby is so lovely and his snuggles make everything seem less bad.

Also 100% recommend a birth photographer, even though due to the emergency c she couldn’t be there for his immediate birth all these photos mean so much to us.