Sophie tells her birth stories in her own words…

This birth story is a bit of a wild ride.

It all started when I was getting my 38-week growth scan (I caught covid early in the pregnancy so we were doing some extra monitoring). The next day, I met with my OBYGN for a check-up and to go over my results. It turned out that my dopplers were measuring alarmingly high. Basically, this indicated that I may have had a kink in the umbilical cord, and it was no longer feeding my baby to its best extent. I had to get another ultrasound from a specialist to confirm and if it was correct, I was getting induced that afternoon. Sure enough, the ultrasound showed the same problem and so began the induction process.

Now, induction was one of the things I did not research, as naive me thought everything would go smoothly. I experienced two types of induction over two days to bring on labour. The first was a Cervidil induction and then the next day, a balloon catheter. Both extremely uncomfortable and painful processes.

After these processes, my husband started feeling quite off and tested for covid. To both of our horror, he tested positive, and we were told that he was not allowed to be there for the labour and the birth. The panic set in that I was going to go through this alone.

Upon waking the next morning, I had dilated 3cm and we started the labouring process by 9am by getting my waters broken and getting IV of oxytocin to bring on contractions. Thankfully, my Mother and sister were my support people throughout the entire process and they made sure that my husband was a part of the experience through facetime.

From 9.30am until 11pm, I was experiencing back-to-back contractions without a break. I tried every strategy under the sun from my Calm Birth course to stay calm and in control of my mind. Towards the 11pm mark, I was so exhausted that I was passing out between contractions. After being assessed, I had only dilated to 4cm, which was not what I wanted to hear after experiencing hours of non-stop pain. The next step was to increase the oxytocin and get an epidural seeing as I was exhausted and at the end of my pain threshold.

Two hours went by and I was in and out of sleeping and managed to dilate to 9cm. I then spent the next 1.5 hours trying to push until my baby indicated that he was in distress. I was then taken to theatre where I ended up having an emergency c-section, as he was stuck in my pelvis.

Darcy was welcomed into the world at 3.59am on Saturday the 17th of December, after starting the whole process on the Wednesday. I experienced every facet of labour, and it was overall, an emotional rollercoaster. We had an emotional reunion with my husband once he tested negative. Now, we are thoroughly enjoying parent life and couldn’t be luckier to be blessed with a son who is cool as a cucumber in every way possible!

What do you wish you knew before birth?

I wish I knew more about induction processes.

If you could, would you do anything differently?

There is nothing I would do differently. It was a gruelling labour, but I am proud of now I handled what came at me.

What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?

He was stuck at home with covid but he was brilliant with giving my mum and sister advice and doing what he could on facetime to make sure I was okay.

What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?

Absolutely to the Calm Birth course!! I went into labour confident and in control with my mind and decisions being made. Also, do not beat yourself up if things do not go to plan because it quite rarely does!