Edie's Birth Story

Edie May Evans. Born at 38+5 weeks on Tuesday 3rd January 2023 at 6:16am and weighing 5lb 14oz.

I feel so fortunate to be able to recount another wholly positive birth experience. Another quick one…but at least we made it to the hospital this time! If you haven’t already read the whirlwind tale of our first born, then click here! We had hoped for another home birth but COVID and staff shortages meant that such services were suspended. I won’t lie; I shed a few tears about this, but then pulled up my big girl pants and made a plan for what we could have.

Finally, before I get into it, Arlo was classified a ‘small baby’ weighing in at just 5lb 3oz, so we were automatically consultant-led this time around. Edie tracked on the smaller side throughout the pregnancy, but our consultant seemed confident this was due to genetic factors, rather than any growth defect. We were due to have a final growth scan at 39 weeks after which, all being well, we would have been signed off to have a midwife-led birth.

And without further ado… 

I started having cramps on the 19th December, nothing major and aside from the first time, not enough to warrant timing or getting too excited. Roll on Monday 2nd January and I had slightly more intense cramping but thought little of it. We went about our day making the most of what should have been our last day together before my husband, Joe, returned to work post-Christmas.

On 3rd January I was woken up by my first surge (contraction) at 12:30am. It was pretty intense, enough to immediately make me wonder, but I did manage to go back to sleep after it. I dozed for the next few hours between surges but kept a track of how far apart they were. They started 30 minutes apart and by 3:30am they were coming roughly every 10 minutes so I decided to wake Joe and get him in on the action.  

I went for a shower and in the 20 minutes I was in the bathroom I experienced 7 surges, so safe to say things had quickly ramped up with being up on my feet. Getting back into the bedroom I asked Joe to phone his Mum – who was on standby to come and look after Arlo - and I rang the Pregnancy Assessment Unit to let them know where I were at. Given the speed of my previous birth, and the pace at which this one seemed to be progressing, they were happy for me to come straight in.

My Mother and Father-in-Law arrived around 4:30am and we drove to the hospital arriving just before 5am. Surges at this point were every 3 minutes, lasting 1 minute each time so the midwives agreed to take me straight through to the midwife-led but advised I would have to wait a short while whilst the room was prepared. Whilst waiting the midwife went to speak to the on-call consultant who, as I hadn’t officially been ‘signed off’, wished for me to go up to the labour ward for continuous monitoring,

This was the most challenging part of my labour. Surges were coming thick and fast, I was trying to stay in the zone whilst in an uncomfortable room with just a few chairs and a doctor was, between surges, sharing his thoughts and detailing the risks of birthing a ‘small baby’. I knew myself that baby wasn’t going to hang around and struggled to focus and concentrate on what was being said. The midwife suggested we move into the room whilst we discussed options, which we did, and ultimately Joe and I agreed and stood firm that we wanted to remain in the midwife-led unit on the basis that if the midwives weren’t happy, or if baby showed signs of distress, we would of course transfer up to the ward.

The consultant made us aware that this meant going against medical advice, but we were confident our baby was healthy and perfectly sized for us.

Following this, at around 5:40am, I was examined and found to be 9cm dilated. Our midwives had already filled the birthing pool and I got straight in. The relief was immediate; both for relieving the intensity of surges, and mentally being able to fully focus on birthing my baby now a decision had been made. I felt in control again and my head was clear. I denied the offer of pain relief, knowing that baby was coming fast and that I could manage using the hypnobirthing techniques I’d practised and used with my first born. Joe was amazing, he was cool, calm and collected, leaving me to do my thing but offering me reassurance when he could see I needed it. I couldn’t have asked for more from him.

Less than 30 minutes after getting in the pool and baby was here in my arms!

I say ‘baby was here’ and not ‘she’ because it was a good few minutes before Joe asked ‘so what do we have – boy or girl?!’…I had totally forgot to check! I was convinced we were having another boy but upon finding out Edie was a girl, everything just clicked into place – she’s the missing piece I didn’t even know was missing.

After a short while in the pool holding our daughter, I moved onto the bed to deliver the placenta whilst Joe enjoyed some skin-to-skin snuggles. After that Edie came to me for a feed and more snuggles and the midwives left us to soak up the blissful first moments on our own. An indeterminate time later (who’s clockwatching when you have a newborn to gaze lovingly at?!) the midwives came back, I had 3 interrupted stitches and the magical tea, toast and biscuits were delivered.

As this was a birth without complication, we just had the 6 hours to wait until the newborn checks could be done and then we were on our way home to introduce Arlo to his baby Sister and start life as a family of 4.

Thanks for reading! This is my birth story and one that I will treasure forever! My first born entered the world in a whirlwind and despite it being a positive birth, I look back and it’s a bit of a blur in places. This one however, is as clear as day – I felt in control, actually enjoyed the experience and would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

The female body never ceases to amaze me. It grew and carried our girl for 9 months, knew exactly what to do when she was ready to enter the world, and has continued to nourish and care for Edie for the past 6 weeks. Ladies reading this, whether you’re a Mum already, you’re pregnant, thinking about having babies, trying to conceive, or you’re not yet ready for kids but love reading a birth story – YOU ARE AMAZING!