Steph is a first time mum from South Devon who spent her pregnancy hypnobirthing and hoping for a straightforward delivery. Instead she got appendicitis at fifteen weeks, gestational diabetes at twenty six weeks, and preeclampsia at twenty eight weeks. She was induced at thirty six weeks, and what followed was, in her own words, hell on earth.
The turning point came hours into pushing, when a doctor and a midwife came in to examine her and realised she was not the nine or ten centimetres she had been coached to believe. She was eight, and her baby was stuck in the birth canal. What followed was an emergency C-section where Steph could feel everything, a dural puncture from a failed epidural that left her unable to sit up or hold her own baby for days, and a birth so far from the one she had planned that it took her years, and a second birth, to make peace with.
In this episode we talk about:
This episode is for anyone who has ever felt like their birth spiralled completely out of their control. Steph's story is proof that you can come through it and come out the other side an advocate for yourself and for other women.
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.
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