A safe space to tell your positive birth story

I had a traumatic birth. The hospital didn’t advise me at all and made me chose between natural and c section. I chose natural first cause didn’t know what to do. 12 hours later we had to rush to operating room cause my baby heart beat was dropping too low and she couldn’t come out naturally. So had emergency induction and c section and two failed epidurals. And left medical gauze inside me which was so dangerous. I didn’t hate my birth because in the end I have my daughter and she is fine . And I love her I am genuinely happy to hear positive birth stories. And if someone has a positive birth they should share it. There is no reason to feel guilty. Xx and honestly I always feel relief when I hear positive stories like yours x

I had a traumatic birth but I'm proud of how I coped with it, both at the time and afterwards with recovery. I'm happy that despite everything it brought my boy into the world safely and healthy.

I'm also proud of how well I took to motherhood and breastfeeding straight away - which I often feel guilty talking about as I know that's not the case for everyone x

Michaela good on you for making that choice. I have ptsd from birth and it s hard to cope and take care of a baby. But she brightens my day. I m glad you are ok.
Rebecca I m glad you can breastfeed and it s such an amazing thing. I got shamed so many times for not breastfeeding my daughter. Even tough she was taken away from me 1 h after birth and then only saw her maybe couple of hours a day while she was in neonatal unit.
The most important thing is to do what’s right for you and your baby. My daughter was 5.2 when born now 10.8 lb. I showed people that I made the right decision. She needed food and bottle was the right choice .

I had an amazing experience. Went to the hospital as I had some slight bleeding and just wanted to get it checked. They told me I was 4cm dilated already with no pain! We moved to the birth centre where I got in the pool and remained pain free. I got checked at 12am and was 6cm dilated. By 12:30 babies head was there and ready to go and that’s only when I started to get pain. Took a little while to get him out but he finally came at 3:04 after 2.5 hours of pushing. I was able to stay in the water until 2:30am and he arrived at 3:04 when I got onto the bed - the water was relaxing him too much and he wasn’t helping me. I tried gas and air but hated it so just used nothing in the end. I’m proud of myself and my body! 🥰

wow… you have every reason to feel proud after an experience like that. You’re an incredible woman x

You clearly had the right mindset for birth and motherhood. You should definitely be proud! To go through such trauma and come out so strong ❤️

you are so strong. Who cares how they come into the world?! As long as they are loved and cared for, our bundles of joy won’t care how they got here. ❤️

My birth was perfect until the end my waters burst at 12:05 at home phoned the hospital and had to go straight in because I was 36 weeks. Hadn’t had a single contraction or bit of pain and because it was my first baby I was worried I wasn’t actually in labour yet because I expected it to be so painful😂so went in turned out I was 4cm and everything was moving far to fast for me to get any pain killer. So I handed up having Evie with no pain killers which wasn’t my plan at all I wanted everything but we just had no time😂 and she arrived at 3am. But then after she arrived my placenta struggled to come out and then when it did I lost 2.8 litres and ended up in theatre😭 took me a while to recover but looking back I’d still say it was a positive experience apart from the blood loss.

My first birth was extremely traumatic: in labour for 2 days, back to back baby when I was encouraged to push and was only 7cm dilated. It eventually ended in a spinal block, forceps and an episiotomy. Recovery was long but I know I was lucky.

My 2nd birth was incredible. I laboured at home, just breathing my way through contractions with my toddler to distract me. I took my son to my parents and came home to continue breathing through the contractions which had intensified. We called the hospital only to be told I was far too chilled out to be in established labour and to wait it out. An hour later, I knew baby was coming. My mum rushed down to help, my partner was on the phone to paramedics and my son was born in my bathroom - he was out in 3 pushes. He was 8lb 4oz at birth and 5 weeks later is up over 12lb. I’m tandem feeding my toddler and newborn which I feel really proud of, but don’t like to feel like I’m bragging. I did have a 2nd degree tear which was stitched in hospital! X

thank you 😊

Thank you for creating this space for sharing positive birth stories, it's rare to have the opportunity.

I had the best birth imaginable - an elective c section. There was no medical need for it, and I felt so empowered to choose the perfect way to bring my baby into the world. No pain, no trauma and a manageable recovery.

I received a fair amount of judgement for it, but wouldn't change a thing.
I'm sharing because I want to change the stigma around elective c sections and tell others that it's a completely valid birth choice if you feel it's right for you 😊

Mines more of a survival story 😅 went into labor after a sweep at 40+2. Everything went smoothly for a while, I laboured at home for 12 hours until I couldn't take the pain anymore. Got to the hospital and was 4cm dilated. Took hours to get to 6 but eventually I did and they broke my waters. I then caught an infection and had a fever and my heart rate was too high. Baby was also the same. We continued anyway until I got to 9cm and then my contractions slowed so I was put on pitocin to speed things up. Finally got to 10cm after 24 hours and they realised she was back to back and I would need forceps. We waited a little longer but the midwives realised she was too high up the birth canal and was stuck when I pushed. Off I went for an emergency c section, my heart rate continued to spike up to 143 but the c section went well. My daughter had the cord round her neck so that's probably why she wasn't well. 4 day hospital stay and an infection in my scar for 5 months after. I'm now 12 months pp (exactly today!)

I had a brilliant birth the first time, and hope my second in a week or so's time will be the same. Around 10amish I felt funny so we went for a walk, did a 4k walk and at around 11ish on the walk my husband timed my 'funny feelings' and said I was contracting every 3 minutes. Called labour line, they said I was talking so was fine, go home and wait for things to progress. We headed home and I got in the bath. Contractions kept coming and got quicker. At 2 minutes apart we called labour line and they still said I was talking so would be hours. At 5:10 I had 3 contractions back to back, threw up and my waters broke. Labour line said I'm throwing up as in pain, still talking so okay and could be another 24 hrs so asked me to come in at 9pm for an exam. At 6:40pm my contractions became pushes and my body took over, 3 pushes later my little boy was born standing in our ensuite 🥰 I had 3 tears, all minor but so proud I did it without any pain meds, with my husband - we were a great team x

I should add that we were planning on going into hospital for a water birth but labour line told us to wait. We thought we weren't as far along and that I was managing it okay. My husband tried to suggest going after the first push, but the first push made him crown so I couldn't go anywhere! We did try and call 999 when I was crowning but they had a high wait volume so put us on hold... paramedics arrived 10 minutes after our little boy arrived. Still perfect in my eyes x

wow, what a lovely thing to say, thank you ❤️ you absolutely shouldn't feel guilty about sharing your birth story. I love hearing positive birth stories and as a society we need to get away from the narrative that it's always traumatic/highly medicalised. Positive birth stories give me hope for future births! X

I had a traumatic induction and birth - was in hospital for a week. Had contractions for 4 days then once in labour her heart rate dropped and we had to have an emergency cat 1 c section. I had no skin to skin and my birth plan went out the window 😪

absolutely! I find it awful that people shame or judge when it comes to breastfeeding. Sounds like your girl is thriving and you're doing a great job despite everything! X

thank you 😊 multiple people shamed me because of it. But my daughter gained weight immediately within first month. So I know was right choice . But people have to be mean 😢

next time (if there is!) I’d absolutely choose an elective section

My birth was traumatic to me I got induced because little man was late he got stuck in my birthing canal because he looked up while I was trying to push him out I was asking for pain relief but weren't able to get any after pushing for 4 hours they checked and that's when they noticed had epiostomy with forceps recovery was terrible

Next time I would want an elective c section as I'm terrified of going through all that again

My first birth had some rough patches but was overall positive. Contractions started at about 8pm the evening of 38+4. I labored at home until just before midnight and then we headed to the hospital. When we got there I was at 4cm and they had me walk the halls for an hour then checked me again. I was at 5cm so they admitted me around 1am. I wanted to go unmedicated if possible and had a really sweet nurse who helped me try out some natural pain management methods. I spent most of the labor switching between the tub and birthing ball, plus some walking, and watching TV and just hanging out with my partner. It was pretty chill. I stalled at 7cm from 7am-noom despite trying to get things progressing so they broke my water at noon. I went from 7-10cm in like 20 minutes which was INTENSE, then started pushing. Baby got caught in my pelvis and I pushed for 2 and a half hours with no progress which was by far the worst part of the whole thing.

They were just telling me partner they though I'd need a C-section when baby wiggled perfect and got unstuck. Healthy 7lb 7oz baby born at 3:11pm at 38+5. I got a second degree tear and felt like I'd been run over by a truck for solid month but so worth it.

My second birth was the dream honestly. I was electively induced at 39+2. We got the hospital at 9am and got settled and went over the process and my birth plan. At 10am they broke my water and started pitocin. Around 10:30am contractions started and I mostly labored on the birthing ball. Around noon I was 6cm and not long after that I went into the tub to try to relax because contractions were pretty intense, they didn't have any build up like in my first labor. I wasn't in the tub for very long before I felt a ton of pressure so got out to be checked and was at 8cm. My nurse called my doctor to let her know and before she was even off the phone my body started pushing totally on its own. I had no control. I pushed for about 20 minutes and my doctor barely made it in time to catch baby. My second baby boy was born at 1pm on the dot, 8lb 4oz, after only 2 and a half hours of labor. No tearing and I was up walking around with almost no pain within a few hours

After 6 days of unsuccessful induction, my body was exhausted so I opted to have a C Section which I had said I never wanted. However the staff were fantastic and so helpful and made me feel like it was the right choice for me and my LO. I spent a total of 8 days in the hospital and I can't fault the midwives at all, they were amazing with me.
I certainly want to try a VBAC next time but if it wasn't possible I'd take a section again, just without the recovery time 😅 xx

@Laura I totally agree, I feel so guilty about having such a ridiculously positive birth, but at the same time I want to tell newly pregnant women my story. I was petrified of labour because of the trauma stories told by well intentioned friends.

I personally believe that 2 things changed my birth story for the better. I did a hypnobirthing class and listened to the great birth rebellion podcast on spotify. This made me feel so empowered and ready, it completely changed my mindset.

I was able to breathe through my contractions and use a tens machine at home until the contractions were too much for me and went into hospital at 1am.

I laboured for a few hours in the birthing suite, when contractions started getting too much I went into the bath. It was seriously so good! I had instant relief.

In the end I didn't feel the need for any pain relief at all and I pulled him out in the water at 6am, with a 1 degree tear, that didn't require stitches. I felt like a powerful bad ass bitch!

this is incredible! You are one bad ass bitch for sure! People need to hear your story 🙌

40+4 had contractions but couldn't feel too well due to taking codeine ( severe back pain which was early labour) stopped taking codeine as I could feel tightenings from about 3pm. Waters broke at 7pm (on the dot) and rang triage straight after. Arrived at hospital at 8pm and after being examined was 3cm with regular contractions and started having high temperature. Moved to labour ward and baby girl was born at 11:17pm. Active labour was put down at 46 minutes which is quite short for first baby. Only had time for paracetamol( trying to lower temperature) and gas and air ( absolutely hated this). I said to my partner that it was easier and less painful then I thought it would be seconds after she was born 😂 only bad part was the postnatal ward due to me having sepsis, baby girl not being able to hold her temperature, the ward being extremely short staffed and the lady opposite us on the ward having a very verbally abusive partner with her 😢 safe to say we were very happy to leave after 3 long nights 🙃

hey! My first birth was quite traumatic aswell same with using forceps and episiotomy. I was curious as to whether you tore at all in your first birth ?

No tearing beyond the episiotomy, but I was in theatre for the forceps as they were concerned I wasn’t going to be able to push him out and might require an emergency C-Section. I only had a 2nd degree tear with my second labour because he was born so quickly and was out in 3 pushes, but also because there were no medical professionals around to help support my labour. The recovery from my 2nd birth has been much easier and much quicker than with my first!