I have a wonderful, positive birth story here, it involves an ambulance transfer. Written by Mummy, Sarah. I met Sarah and Nick a few months back, they decided to empower themselves with knowledge and it really paid off! Well done guys and thanks so much for wanting to help others.
Enjoy!
‘Hi Emily,
Apologies that I have taken so long to let you know our news. The little ones certainly take over!
Nick and I had a little girl, Charlotte Lucy on 21 June. She weighed 6lb 10 and we absolutely adore her.
Everyone’s reviews say the same and I can’t stress enough how brilliant your classes were and how much they helped to prepare us for our labour. Beyond that, the friends that I met have been a fabulous support as we work our way through the minefield that is motherhood.
I know you’ll be interested in how it went so here goes…
My waters broke at home at 05:30 and following a couple of hours of what just felt like a stomach upset at 09:30 the contractions had become far more distinguishable and we were told to go to the Midwife led Birthing Centre.
Towards the end of my pregnancy, my blood pressure had become a concern but following a number of high readings and the threat of a relocation to the Consultant-Led Birthing Centre I managed to really zone out and bought it back down.
Progress was steady and I tried a bit of time in the water bath and a bit of gas and air, both of which I found I really didn’t enjoy. I liked being curled up on my side on the bed pretty much on a different planet Nick said.
The rest of my waters broke in the birthing suite and there was concern they contained meconium. Again Consultant-led care looked likely, however as more came the midwives agreed they were happy they were clear and we continued.
Nick has filled me in on the next bit as it was a big blur to me but the emergency cable was pulled when Lotties heart rate halved. He kept calm remembering your classes and all the scenarios we were prepared for. The Ambulance to the Consultant-led unit was called, but Lottie was on her way and the midwives got me pushing. She arrived safe and sound in the Midwife Led unit at 15:02. The umbilical cord had been wrapped around her neck – twice!!! Our Midwife said it was the longest cord she had ever seen and many of the girls suggested they fancied trying to skip with it!
I wish that was the end of the story but three strikes and I was out of there. Finally Consultant led bound when my placenta would not deliver. We tried the injection, breastfeeding, aromatherapy, multiple different positions and a fair amount of tugging but in the end I had to have a spinal anaesthetic and have it manually removed.
We stayed that one night in hospital whilst I regained the feeling in my legs and were home by midday the next day.
I recovered quickly and Lottie is thriving.
I am more than happy for you to share if you think this would be helpful to prepare any other expectant mums out there! We definitely found that the more we knew, the less apprehensive we were.
Thank you again for all the information that you shared with us in the classes and for the preparation that I have no doubt made our labour so much easier.
Sarah, Nick and Lottie. Xx’
Talking Babies Takes A Closer Look
Today I wanted to explore transfers with you. A transfer is when an expectant mum is transferred from one birthing environment to another.
(If you would like to know more about Retained placenta I discussed this in a previous birth.)
In class I discuss ambulance transfers in quite some detail. In most areas across the UK Ambulances are used to transfer women from a home or Stand-alone Midwifery-Led birthing unit to a consultant let birthing unit when intervention is more likely to be required. There are various reasons why women transfer in.
Around 10-35% of women transfer (The larger figure is for first time mums). When the general public think of an ambulance transfer in labour they think of panic, emergency and danger. Of course, occasionally there are times when an EMERGENCY ambulance transfer is required, but, it is no way the majority!
The My Birth place study (2011) showed us that across the country the top three reasons for birth transfers are… (These three easily account for 60% of transfers!)
- Delay in progress – This is when, for some reason your Midwife notices that your progression is outside the parameters of ‘normal’ indicating an increasing risk of requiring intervention. Midwives will take this ‘early warning sign’ and transfer then to ensure mum and baby are in the best place for their birth should anything go amiss. Again it is unlikely to be an emergency.
- Meconium Stained Amniotic fluid – this is when your baby has pooped in your waters. Remember your Midwife would have been listening into your baby’s heart beat regularly prior to your waters breaking and therefore, it is unlikely that your baby is showing current signs of distress. (I have also discussed Meconium waters before.)
- Epidural – Women requesting further pain relief. A transfer will not be denied for further pain relief. Again, not an emergency.
Now I want you to think of the busy, underfunded ambulance service provided by the NHS. For the safety of all patients using the ambulance service in the community the exceptional service providers have to continually prioritise cases (we would not want it any other way.) These top three reasons for transfer alone are not emergencies and are not more important than… let’s say a cardiac arrest. So there might be a short wait for your ambulance. However, let me reassure you that if there was a real emergency, your Midwife together with the ambulance service providers will make sure that you and your baby become priority.
During the Ambulance transfer you have access to Gas and Air and your Midwife, in many areas will stay with you. Because most transfers are not emergencies birthing mums often decide it best for their birth partner to follow behind in their car, this way they have it the other end.
I hope this has helped you to understand transfers better. If you would like to read the My Birth Place Study here is a link.
If you too would like to remove the fear and prepare properly for your birth please join one of the Talking Babies 5 *, Midwife Led, Antenatal or Hypnobirthing courses today! Click here for courses.
Feel free to browse through more empowering positive birth stories written by past TB parents and/or bitesize Pregnancy information written by myself, Emily a Midwife and Hypnobirthing Teacher. The TB blog.