“Hi Edwina!

I just wanted to send you a message to say thank you and let you know Jonny and I welcomed our daughter, Paige Langley Robson, on Sat 5 Sep. Her first 10 days have flown by and we’re enjoying (almost) every moment! A full night’s sleep and leisurely trips to Milton seem like a lifetime ago! 😀

After a very easy, straightforward pregnancy, birth was a little more eventful! Just in case it’s of interest I will recount it as briefly as I can!

I went into labour spontaneously on Fri at 41+6 (we had decided to wait until 42 weeks before booking an induction – a decision the lovely staff at Royal Womens in Randwick were happy to support because everything was looking fine). I laboured at home for about 20 hours – alternating between shower and TENS machine.

On Sat at 2am I started to get a bad pain on one side of my tummy that didn’t subside when contractions did. I called my midwife and she told me to come in – they thought it might be that baby’s position was blocking my bladder so gave me a catheter to drain it but that didn’t resolve the pain. They gave me morphine to help. They also put a clip on baby’s head, which broke my waters and showed meconium.

I kept labouring for a few more hours but baby’s heart rate kept dropping – each time they’d ask me to lay on my side to try and help it recover but that made contractions and the side pain absolute agony and I vomited every time. The waters I was leaking changed to bright red blood and it was all starting to point to placental abruption. After 24 hours or so I was still only 3cm dilated. I had an epidural but 20 mins later I was still in pain, so that hadn’t been successful. Doctors were in the process of offering us some options (syntocin drip to see if we could move things along) when baby’s heart rate dipped very low and was taking longer to recover so at this point they strongly advised urgent cesarean. I was a zombie by this point anyway – no energy and over the pain. We agreed it was the best option and were whisked off to surgery and had Paige at 10:55am Sat morning. The placenta was sent off for testing so we’re awaiting results to see if they can confirm there were any issues like placental abruption.

Anyway – Jonny and I really want to say how grateful we are for your awesome Birth Beat program and all the resources you make available. I had hoped for a more natural birth but it wasn’t meant to be.. and having watched all your content, Jonny and I always knew what was going on, and why. Despite the pain, and the urgency of some moments, we were still able to remain calm and confident.

I imagine the unplanned cesarean could have been quite an overwhelming, disorientating experience had we not watched your module and felt totally prepared for what it would ‘look, feel and sound like’! Jonny and I also accessed other antenatal programs and resources, but always found we came back to Birth Beat and your Call the Midwife sessions. You have a really genuine, down to earth, personable style which makes all your content so watchable! Thank you for everything you and your team are doing – it’s much appreciated :)”

Helen & Jonny and Paige