How was my birth at Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton, Hampshire?
Welcome to the world Rothko Faustus Witney!
Born the 13th of October weighing 8.6lbs! His big sister is absolutely in love with him and as are we!
My Experience With Prenatal Hospital Care:
We went to all our antenatal appointments at Ashurst Birth Centre in the New Forest which I really enjoyed. I was assigned the same midwife, Maddie every time and she was such a ray of sunshine. I actually looked forward to my appointments because it was like chatting to a friend and made me excited for birth! She was so caring as she always remembered everything about what I was going through with family and my health.
The birth centre is situated in a beautiful area of the New Forest and if the birth centre had been open (I believe it has been closed since the pandemic) I think it would be a lovely place to have your baby and stay nestled in the trees and the quiet.
We had Rothko at Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton and it was quite a positive experience compared to my delivery in London for my first born (which may have been worse because of Covid during the pandemic). My delivery was very quick and the staff were very pleasant and cordial.
My Birth Story at Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton:
Birth was quite the experience and greatly different than Ondine’s birth. In the morning of the 13th at 38 weeks +2 I woke up at 5am to a dream that I was in labour and discovered I had mild back pains that felt like period cramps. I decided to get my husband to take Ondine to her music class as I just wasn’t feeling good but assumed it was similar to the aches and pains that I’ve had all pregnancy with pelvic girdle pain.
In the back of my mind I was starting to wonder if I was in labour with the back pain and potentially wondered if my waters were leaking. In my last pregnancy I didn’t experience contractions as I was induced with an epidural so I was clueless to what they felt like!
At 3:30pm my husband suggested I call the Labour Line, I felt silly calling for back pain and an urge to constantly pee. They assumed I had a bladder infection and suggested I go in to be checked. At 5:30pm they decided my forewaters had broken and I was 3cm, the midwife suggested I go home and they booked an induction for 8am.
We went to eat a quick bite and then headed home to put Ondine to bed for my in-laws. I started to time my contractions with an app as they started to feel separate rather than just constant back pain. Lucky me, the contractions were all back labour for the entire labour! I raced around getting Ondine’s clothes and meals ready and had cuddles with Ondine on the birthing ball, the pain got increasingly worse in my back and the app told me to go into hospital now.
I thought it was a bit soon and that they’d make us go home again but decided to be safe and head back to Princess Anne Hospital less than two hours after leaving the hospital the first time.
When I got to the hospital in Southampton I could barely walk in and had to stop to vomit 3 times in the car park. I finally made it in and after a check they realised I’d progressed to 8cm! They quickly told me it was too late to have an epidural as the anaesthetist was in theatre. I panicked and cried because having a natural birth has never been part of my birth plan. I’ve always known I’m terrible with pain and needed the help of an epidural.
The back contractions were so immense and I could find no relief but was forced to have a natural delivery. I kept saying, “I can’t do this” over and over, until the midwife actually started ignoring me! She kept telling me he would be here so soon because I was progressing so fast.
At 10:47pm, Rothko was born at 8.6lbs and I immediately forgot all the pain and fell in love with my little guy. It took us a few days to name him as we really struggled with agreeing on boy names. We finally settled on Rothko as we had thought about it years ago as a book on Mark Rothko’s art had jumped out at us at the bookstore.
Despite the horrible pain of birth I’m quite proud of myself that I was able to have a natural, drug free birth which is something I never even imagined I could do! I would do it all over again for my healthy little boy and am very proud of my birth story this time around!