Oaklee Maxi Buchan
13th February 2023
First Time Parents
Baby Born at 38+3
Aberdeen Maternity Hospital
Episiotomy
Forceps
Intuition
At around 6am on Monday 13th February I woke as I felt a sudden surge of liquid. I lay for a few moments contemplating what it was however when I stood up, I could tell that my waters had broken. I called on Max (who I had made sleep in the spare room as I was so restless at this point) and we decided to call Aberdeen Maternity Hospital. I had an appointment to get baby Buchan’s heart rate checked at 9.30am that morning in Inverurie Maternity Unit therefore they advised to go to that and explain what had happened.
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I got showered and dressed and had breakfast as I wasn’t feeling any contractions at this point. I went to my appointment and the midwife confirmed that my waters had broken and booked me back in to be seen again at 9.30am the following day. She said it was likely things wouldn’t happen too quickly with it being a first pregnancy. I was relieved as I had sent Max off to work.
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Heading Home
I headed home and when I went to get out of the car I had to stop as my first contraction came and this is when I began using the breathing techniques that I had learned. My mum and sister in law were at my house when I got home as we had pre-planned a girls movie day to get the oxytocin going. We put the movie on and I sat on my birthing ball and I continued to breathe through my contractions. I started timing them on my phone and by around 11am I told Max that things were beginning to ramp up, my contractions were getting closer together and he should think about coming home.
Staying Calm
When he arrived home we phoned Aberdeen Maternity Hospital again and they told us to stay at home, take some paracetamol and have a bath, which I did. Max set up our bedroom, dimming the lights and putting on our birthing playlist. After around 30 minutes, I was beginning to think about what the journey into Aberdeen would be like as my contractions felt intense at this point so we phoned the hospital again and told them that we would be heading in. They advised that I would have to go onto the labour ward as the midwives unit was occupied which I was disappointed about but I knew that we had all the tools available to make it the best experience we could. We got in the car and I put my heated facemask on along with our birthing playlist. Max made me eat half a banana on route…I dread to think what people that saw us thought was going on but I remained calm!
Kevin took over the comms with our families and friends because the questions of 'have you had the baby yet' were just too much for me.
Pressure
We arrived around 3pm and the walk from the car to the triage ward felt long, and I had to stop a number of times and breathe through my contractions. When we had been shown to our cubicle, I asked Max to take me to the toilet as I was feeling a lot of pressure. I asked him to get the midwife as I wasn’t sure I could get up. She said “you aren’t going to have that baby on the toilet are you?” to which I thought I have no idea, I have never done this before! She asked whether she could carry out an examination to see how dilated I was to which I agreed. I was shocked, but relieved to find out I was fully dilated. I was then told that the birthing pool in the midwives unit had become available and they were going to take me there…I was delighted.
Pushing
I immediately got into the pool and the midwife told me to continue to listen to my body as it was doing what it should and my baby should be here within the hour. That hour passed and she then advised me to start actively pushing each time I felt a contraction. I pushed and I pushed and I pushed some more, for over 4 hours in total! I knew deep down that baby Buchan was going to require some assistance around an hour before the midwife suggested we consider an intervention. I had had no further pain relief at this stage.
Consent
The doctor came to talk to me and said they thought the baby was possibly lying at an angle and they suggested giving me an episiotomy, attempting to turn her and deliver her with forceps. They also suggested giving me an epidural on the basis that if this did not work, I would likely require a cesarian and would be prepared for it.
I was exhausted from pushing so much, I could barely see properly as I had burst all the blood vessels in my face and I had 2 black eyes! I agreed to their plan and Oaklee Maxi Buchan was born at 9.10pm weighing 6lbs and 4oz at 38 weeks + 3 days. Thankfully I didn’t need to have a caesarean.
Reflections
My original plan had been to have a home birth before Oaklee decided at 36 weeks to give us a bit of a scare with her heart, but despite having a number of interventions I had the most amazing experience!
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I love to tell people I'd give birth again tomorrow!