Ellie’s positive induction birth

Huge thanks to Ellie for sharing her positive induction birth story. We can so often hear scary stories when it comes to induced labour with very long labour and lots of interventions. Ellie’s story is a brilliant read and shows a different side of how induced labour can look. Ellie trusted her instincts, decided to go ahead with an induction because she had the confidence that it felt right for her circumstances, and she stayed determined to focus inwards and control the things that she was able to.

When I got pregnant, I thought that women gave birth the way they did in films - screaming and in pain - so I was keen to be as prepared as possible going into it. I refused to listen to anyone trying to tell me about their own traumatic birthing experience. Instead, I threw myself into learning about hypnobirthing which led to a complete change in my mindset.

Empowered decision making

I was offered an induction at 40+6 weeks and although I knew about the pros and cons of induction, I came to the decision after much thought that it was the right path for me and my situation. I was given a pessary at midnight and was told that if nothing had happened in 12 hours then they would give me another pessary.

Setting up the environment and keeping her focus inwards

I had a full night’s sleep (my last in a long time) and in the morning I focused on going for walks around the hospital and keeping myself moving. Around midday, my contractions started and ramped up very quickly. My husband immediately set the room up with candles and music and dimmed the lighting. I was completely focused on my breathing during each contraction. I felt like I entered another zone and my husband dealt with everyone in the room so that I could stay focused.

I thought I was still in the very early stages of labour as I knew how long labour can take so I was heavily focused on staying in control. I knew that if I lost control in the early stages then I wouldn’t stand a chance further down the line. It turns out I wasn’t in the early stages of labour after all…

“I kept my eyes tightly shut and ignored everyone”

The midwife asked me how I was and I said I could really do with some paracetamol and that I needed to poo. She asked to examine me. This was my first offer of an examination and I felt comfortable agreeing because I knew that something was happening. She said that I needed to go to the delivery room immediately as I was about to have a baby. I had to be wheeled from the induction room to the delivery room. This would have been the perfect opportunity to lose my cool as I was wheeled along a brightly lit corridor and went down in a big lift to a different floor (there were even other hospital patients trying to get into the lift). I kept my eyes tightly shut, put my arm over my face and ignored everyone. All I focused on was my breathing.

“My body did all the pushing. It knew exactly what it was doing.”

Once in the labour room, my body did all the pushing. I didn’t feel like I had to force even one push… my body knew exactly what it was doing. 30 minutes later my baby girl was born. 3 hours from my first contraction to birth. It was a whirlwind and I couldn’t believe how fast it was, but it was the most incredible feeling.