"36 Hours In. Still 5cm. So I Did Something Nobody Expected — Including Me." | Hannah's First Birth Story
About this episode
Hannah shares her empowering story of navigating a 36-hour labour and making the decision for an unplanned C-section.
She planned a natural water birth. She hypnobirthed. She researched everything. And after 36 hours in labour and a failed induction drip still stuck at 5cm, she made the most empowered decision of her birth. Asking for a C-section she never planned for. And she would do it all again. Hannah is a first time mum who shares her honest and empowering story of a 36 hour labour, a failed induction, and an emergency C-section on the NHS. Despite spending months preparing for a medication free water birth, Hannah found herself at a crossroads in the early hours of the morning, advocated for herself clearly and confidently, and came out the other side feeling something she never expected to feel. Completely proud of her birth. Hannah did not get the birth she planned. She got something better. A birth where every single decision was hers, made with knowledge, clarity and confidence. She is not someone who feels like her birth went wrong. She is someone who knows exactly why it went the way it did and would make every single choice again. In this episode we talk about: Planning for a natural birth and navigating when labour does not progress What it really feels like to go on an NHS…
People in this episode
Host: Georgia McGivern
Guest: Hannah
Topics covered
- natural birth
- C-section
- labour experience
- self-advocacy
- postpartum recovery
Keywords
- water birth
- hypnobirthing
- induction drip
- emergency C-section
- birth planning
- NHS
- recovery tips
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NHS
More episodes of British Birthing Stories
- Chloe: First Birth, Positive Emergency C-Section After Water Birth 48 Hour Labour and Succenturiate Placenta
- Kaci’s Birth Story: From Obstetric Cholestasis to a Cord Prolapse and CAT-1 Emergency C-Section
- Kailey: Third Birth, Birth Before Arrival (BBA), Freebirth at Home, Precipitous Labour, 42+4 Pregnancy & NHS Experience
- Amanda: Two births, Hospital Induction, Forceps Birth, Home Water Birth, Physiological Birth & Becoming a Doula
- Jeanette: Two Births, Breech Baby, Attempted Vaginal Breech and Unplanned C-Section, VBAC and Emergency C-Section Under General Anaesthetic, Miscarriage, Tongue Tie, Breastfeeding Challenges,
- Ellie: Infertility, Positive NHS Hospital Induction, 3B Tear, Retained Placenta & Fibroids
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