Shanelle & Baby Theodore
My pregnancy was high risk because I live with type 1 diabetes, even though it is controlled very well. I had always envisioned going into spontaneous labour and having a vaginal delivery… I was very against having an induction unless it was medically necessary. However, I was frequently told “it will be safer for you to be induced”, “you’ll probably get to around 37 weeks and then you’ll need to be induced”, “has anyone spoken to you about being induced?” “your risk of stillbirth doubles if you go past 37 weeks” and so on, despite my baby being healthy, appearing to be an average size, and my blood glucose levels remaining well controlled. Throughout my pregnancy I educated myself on the risks and advocated for what I wanted the entire way.
I woke up around 8am on Sunday the 22/09/24, at 38 + 5 weeks pregnant, rolled over and felt my underwear fill with a small amount of fluid. I never peed myself during pregnancy so I knew this was something else! I went to see my midwife and she confirmed my waters had broken up high, which is why it was more of a trickle than the gush you see in movies. I agreed to be booked in for an induction the following morning as there’s an increased risk of infection after 24 hours of waters breaking. I spent the rest of the day trying to get labour started! I glued myself to an exercise ball, went for walks, did curb walking, drank raspberry leaf tea and sniffed clary sage oil whilst doing all of the above. At around 8pm I sat on the couch to fold laundry with my husband. I remember feeling an intense level of pressure and I said to myself “I think I need to do a poo”, which was followed by a massive gush of fluid! My contractions started about an hour later (as soon as I went to bed… of course!). They continued to get closer together and more intense, so my husband applied a TENS machine around 1am and I tried to focus on my breathing whilst distracting myself on my phone.
We headed into the hospital around 7:30am on Monday the 23/09/24 and by this point my contractions were coming every 1-3 minutes, and I was 6cm dilated. I found the pain to be manageable, however the pressure during each contraction was the most uncomfortable part. I couldn’t find a comfortable position, and I had been up all night with contractions (plus being awake all day prior), so I decided to have an epidural. I’m so glad I did this because my son showed signs of fetal distress when I started to push. My midwife had me flipping from side to side to try and reposition him (before the epidural it took me a whole 5 mins to roll from one side to the other). His heart rate was dropping during the contraction/push, and its recovery time was slowly each time. There was a brief moment the nurses, midwives and obstetrician mentioned going into theatre, however we managed to avoid this.
I agreed to have an episiotomy and vacuum to get him out, and once he was born we saw that his cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times. Each time I was pushing, his cord was pulling on his neck which caused his heart rate to drop. I held him briefly once he was born, before he was then taken across the room for some breathing support. My husband stood next to him and my midwife said my eyes were glued to his face the whole time - his smile gave me reassurance that Theodore was alright. Once the doctors were happy with his breathing and oxygen levels, he was brought to my chest and he stayed there for the “golden hour”. I’ll always cherish this time as it was just me, my husband, Theodore, and my midwife popping in and out of the room. I feel so lucky to have had the labour I dreamt of, and Theodore is the absolute light in our lives.