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
About this episode
Charlie shares her diverse experiences of three births, including teenage pregnancy, miscarriages, and positive water births.
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…
More episodes of British Birthing Stories
- Gabby: First and Second Births, US Emergency C-section After Failure to Engage, Miscarriage, Successful NHS VBAC, Hypnobirthing
- Rebecca: First Birth, Positive NHS Hospital Planned C Section, Maternal Request, Large Baby Worries, Consultant Midwife Support, Tongue Tie, Delayed Milk Coming In
- Jess: Two NHS Hospital Water Births, Miscarriage Journey, Hyperemesis, Stuck Coil, Episiotomy, TENS Machine, Retained Placenta, Second Degree Tear, Gender Disappointment
- Jo: First Birth, Unexplained Infertility, Adoption Journey, Epilepsy and Chronic Kidney Disease, Consultant-Led NHS Hospital Induction, Five-Day Induction, Labour Stopped Twice, Forceps Delivery in Theatre, Episiotomy, Birth Trauma
- Monika: Two Births, First Hospital Birth, Birth Trauma and PTSD, Planned NHS Home Birth, Precipitous Labour, Born Before Arrival in the Shower, No Midwife or Doula Present, Husband Caught Baby
- April: Third Birth, Positive VBAC After Two Emergency C-Sections, Water Birth, No Continuous Monitoring, Physiological Third Stage, Third Degree Tear
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