Is an IVF birth any different? – Erin’s Birth Story

Welcome back to my fertility series , if you want to check out my previous posts click here: Fertility files

So, when IVF comes good and does the job it’s supposed to do, you become pregnant. As I have said before an IVF pregnancy is no different. Funnily enough neither is an IVF birth. Quite a lot of people were shocked about this and thought you would be under a consultant due to the fact you had IVF.

38 weeks pregnant

I was under a consultant but for a completely different reason. I started my blog when Erin was two so I have never mentioned her birth story. Now she is five I always think I will start to forget the details. So, I wanted to document it. So here is why my birth was no different to any normal pregnancy;

When I was pregnant with Erin, halfway through I was put under a consultant. She was on the 99th centile on the height and weight chart after my 20-week scan. This meant I would have to have growth scans throughout my pregnancy. Every time I had a scan they told me she was still big. What they meant by big was slightly above average but for my frame far too big. What I learnt from this is to not let this scare you as it can literally make not one ounce of difference.

Finally, I went into labour on the 7^th May one day prior to my due date in the middle of the night around 3am. I popped my Tens machine on and tried to get back to sleep. I called the hospital to let them know around 7am, I had an appointment that day at 11am anyway so confirmed I would stay at home until then. At this stage, my contractions were uncomfortable but nothing major.

I went to the hospital and was set up on the delivery ward for the long wait. Not a lot happened and I stayed at 2cm dilated. I had been at 1cm for weeks whenever they had checked me for a normal appointment anyway.

After a long day of waiting and my contractions being 5 minutes apart at 9pm they stopped. Nothing. I was devastated. They said I would have to stay in as my front waters had gone and they didn’t want me to get an infection. My back waters were bulging and they confirmed that if nothing happened by the morning they would break my waters. I got all upset and was put in a side room because I hate hospitals.

I went to sleep to try and get some rest. At 3am I went to the toilet and my contractions started again but much worse this time. I lay back on the bed and popped my Tens on. At this point it hurt a lot. The midwife bought me some paracetamol. At 5am my waters went. This is where everything goes into a bit of a blur. I was in a lot of pain and the nurse came at 6am to take me to delivery. Since my waters went I dilated very quickly.

The last time I opened my eyes until Erin was born was as I got into the wheelchair in the side room. I was shattered. My body obviously tried to reserve energy and I literally didn’t speak, move or opened my eyes.

Everything seemed to go very quickly from there on in. At 9am I was ready to push. My Tens machine and gas and air had got me this far. I naturally delivered Erin at 9.34am on the 8^th of May 2012 (her due date- in fact within the hour that she was implanted 40 weeks prior).  I opened my eyes as soon as she was born as the adrenaline had kicked in. She was a big porky bubba weighing 8lbs 7oz, she was as round as she was tall! Bless her.

The only piece of advice I would give anyone due to give birth is go with the pain and don’t fear it. My mum had told me that after her mum told her. I am one of those smug people who would give birth again tomorrow as it wasn’t traumatic. I was very lucky! Fingers crossed if I ever did it again it would go as smoothly.