April: First and Second Births, Two Emergency C-Sections, Failed Induction, Large Baby, Bonding Difficulties, Birth Trauma, Attempted VBAC

April: Third Birth, Positive VBAC After Two Emergency C-Sections, Water Birth, No Continuous Monitoring, Physiological Third Stage, Third Degree Tear

She had been told she would die if she tried to birth at home. She had been railroaded into a theatre she did not want to be in. She had lost 2.5 litres of blood. And she came back for a third time and did it completely on her own terms. April is a mum of three and a doula and antenatal teacher who shares the birth that changed everything. Her third pregnancy was unplanned and she spent months not even knowing if she wanted to continue it. But once she made her decision she built the most detailed birth plan of her life. A consultant midwife who came to her home. Hybrid care that meant a home birth team attended her. No GTT. No consultant appointments. No Syntocin. And when the time came, her waters broke on a walk, she laboured quietly at home for nearly two days, got to hospital at 4 centimetres, and her son was born in the pool at 10.17am. Her midwife appointment that day was at 10.30.   In this episode we talk about: * How April built her dream birth team after two traumatic C-sections * What hybrid care is and how to access it if you want a VBAC * Why April chose not to tell the hospital her waters had broken for nearly 48 hours and the research behind that decision * What it felt like to finally birth vaginally after everything she had been through * How the right care team can transform not just your birth but your entire postpartum experience   This episode is for anyone who has had a traumatic birth and is wondering if they can ever feel safe doing it again. April did it. And it was everything. The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.   British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/britishbirthingstories/] · TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@britishbirthingstories] · YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@BritishBirthingStories] Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here [https://britishbirthingstories.com/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

April: First and Second Births, Two Emergency C-Sections, Failed Induction, Large Baby, Bonding Difficulties, Birth Trauma, Attempted VBAC

She planned a home birth. She hypnobirthed. She did everything right. And after two days of induction at 42 weeks, her son was born by emergency C-section at 10 pounds. She never even got to hold him for the first four hours. April is a mum of three from the East Midlands who shares two very different but equally difficult emergency C-section births. Her first, at 22 years old, left her separated from her baby in recovery, unable to breastfeed, and spending the first six months of her son's life struggling to bond with him. Her second was supposed to be her VBAC. She had done the research, fought her way into the midwife-led unit, laboured in the pool for hours, refused Syntocin, and got to 10 centimetres. And then an obstetrician she had been battling all night took her to theatre anyway. She lost 2.5 litres of blood. She came out with a blood drain in her scar. And she left the hospital knowing she had been let down.   In this episode we talk about: * What it is like to be 22, in labour for two days, and separated from your baby after a C-section * How April fought to access the midwife-led unit for her second birth as a VBAC patient * What actually happened in theatre and why April still has unanswered questions * How being autistic affected her experience of both births and why nobody understood her decisions * What birth trauma really looks like and how it can take years to process This episode is for anyone who has ever felt like the system failed them. April is proof that your instincts matter and your choices matter and you are allowed to say no.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care. British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/britishbirthingstories/] · TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@britishbirthingstories] · YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@BritishBirthingStories] Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here [https://britishbirthingstories.com/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Emma: First Birth, Identical Twin Pregnancy, Termination for Medical Reasons, Chemical Pregnancy, MCDA Twins, Threatened Premature Labour at 27 Weeks, NHS Induction, Emergency C-Section, Blood Transfusion

She had already been through a termination for medical reasons and a chemical pregnancy before she ever got to carry her twins. And when she finally did, she spotted them on the screen at six weeks before the sonographer did. Emma is a mum of identical twin boys, now three and a half, who shares an honest and wide-ranging story about what a high risk twin pregnancy actually looks and feels like from the inside. MCDA twins sharing one placenta meant fortnightly consultant appointments from the second trimester, a scary admission at 27 weeks with threatened premature labour, and a delivery at 36 weeks that started as an induction and became a C-section in the early hours of the morning. Her boys were healthy. Her birth team were warm and calm. And then she went home four days later and the real work began. Emma is just as honest about the year that followed as she is about the birth itself. The loneliness of those first nights in hospital alone with two babies. The breastfeeding journey that she wanted to make work and eventually had to let go. The postpartum rage that came from nowhere and scared her. And the community of mum friends she found about a year in that she says changed everything. In this episode we talk about: * Termination for medical reasons and how grief can sit underneath the drive to just keep trying * What an MCDA twin pregnancy involves and how the monitoring affected Emma's experience of being pregnant * Being admitted at 27 weeks with threatened premature labour and a fibronectin result that gave a 60% chance of delivery within two weeks * An induction at 36 weeks that stalled and became a C-section, and how Emma felt the decision happen before it was ever explained to her * Breastfeeding twins and the moment something had to give * Maternal rage, postpartum loneliness, and what finally helped This episode is for anyone expecting twins, anyone navigating pregnancy after loss, and anyone who felt like the postpartum hit them in ways nobody had prepared them for. The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care. British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/britishbirthingstories/] · TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@britishbirthingstories] · YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@BritishBirthingStories] Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here [https://britishbirthingstories.com/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Charlie: Three Births, Teenage Pregnancy at 17, Premature Labour at 36 Weeks, Ventouse and Episiotomy, Two Miscarriages, Positive NHS Hospital Hypnobirthing Water Birth, Positive Unplanned Lockdown Home Water Birth, No Pain Relief

She found out she was pregnant at 15 weeks. She was 17. She had not packed a hospital bag, had not read a single book, and had no idea what was about to happen to her body.   Charlie is a mum of three from Sheffield who shares three births that could not be more different from each other. Her first, at 17, was a premature labour at 36 weeks with a low-lying placenta, a hormonal drip, an epidural she pressed too many times, a ventouse delivery, a traumatic room, and a wave of guilt that stayed with her for years. She did not want to be a teenage parent. She was ashamed of her pregnancy. And then she held him, and all of that shame turned into something else entirely.   Between her first and second births came two miscarriages. One managed at home on her own. One at 17 weeks, with a tiny coffin and a midwife she will never forget. Charlie went back to trying almost immediately after each loss, and the anxiety that followed her into her second pregnancy was unlike anything she had experienced. She called her midwife out to check for movements more than 20 times. And when she walked into that delivery suite at 41 weeks and was recognised by a midwife who knew her sister, everything shifted. She breathed her son out in a pool of water so clear you could read the hospital towel through it. Nobody made a sound.   Her third baby was conceived on a whim during lockdown, three weeks after her son's christening. She barely told anyone she was pregnant. She set up a birthing pool in the living room, sent the boys to the grandparents, drove to Dunelm to pick up a rug during contractions, and came home to waters breaking straight onto it. Thea arrived at 5pm. By evening Charlie was in bed eating a takeaway. The baby slept through the night. The house was spotless.   In this episode we talk about: * What it is really like to find out you are pregnant at 17 and go through it entirely alone * The ventouse delivery Charlie was not prepared for and the guilt that followed her into early motherhood * Two miscarriages, what medical management actually looks like, and how the NHS care differed between them * The anxiety pregnancy after loss brings and the midwife who came to Charlie's house 20 times * How hypnobirthing changed everything and what a truly calm water birth actually feels like * A lockdown home birth with no gas and air mouthpiece, a confused partner, and a baby who arrived in three hours This episode is for anyone who has ever come to motherhood the hard way and wondered whether they would ever feel at peace with it. Charlie did. And her story shows exactly what is possible when a woman finally gets the support she deserves. The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care. British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/britishbirthingstories/] · TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@britishbirthingstories] · YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@BritishBirthingStories] Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here [https://britishbirthingstories.com/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Annabel: Two Planned NHS C-Sections, Breech Baby, Miscarriage, Secondary Infertility, Breastfeeding Challenges, Tongue Tie, Postpartum Constipation, Honest Postpartum Recovery

She always wanted a C-section. From the time she was a teenager. And when her son turned out to be breech, she finally had the reason she felt she needed to say yes. Second time around, she asked for one with no hesitation at all. And she would do it again without question.   Annabel is a journalist, TikTok creator, and founder of The Moon Suit who shares two planned C-sections on the NHS. Her first birth was with her son Jasper, who was breech, in England before the family moved to Iceland two weeks after surgery. Her second, her daughter Ophelia, came after a long road of secondary infertility, a miscarriage before Jasper, breastfeeding into Jasper's second year affecting her cycle, and a frightening bleed early in Ophelia's pregnancy. Both births were calm and controlled. Both recoveries had their challenges.   What makes this episode stand out is how honest Annabel is about everything that sits around the births themselves. The brutal breastfeeding journey with Jasper that lasted nine months of pain. The loneliness of early motherhood in Iceland with no village around her. The postpartum constipation that she describes as worse than anything she experienced in either surgery. And the very real emotional weight of gender disappointment with her first pregnancy that she sat with for a long time.   In this episode we talk about: * Why Annabel always wanted a planned C-section and how she navigated the NHS conversations to get what she wanted second time around * What it is actually like to go through a planned C-section twice and how the two experiences compared * Secondary infertility after extended breastfeeding and the book and lifestyle changes that she credits with helping her conceive Ophelia * A miscarriage before Jasper and a significant bleed in Ophelia's pregnancy and what those experiences were like emotionally * Breastfeeding with tongue tie, Raynaud's Syndrome, and mastitis for nine months and why it was completely different second time * Postpartum constipation after a C-section and what actually helped * What it is like to raise two small children without a village and how much that changed when family came to stay This episode is for anyone who has chosen or is considering a planned C-section and wants to hear from someone who has done it twice and has absolutely no regrets. The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.   You can follow Annabel on social here [http://tiktok.com/@annabelmaud] and if you'd like to buy her Moonsuit you can purchase it here [https://www.moonsuit.co.uk/] British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/britishbirthingstories/] · TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@britishbirthingstories] · YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@BritishBirthingStories] Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here [https://britishbirthingstories.com/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.