British Birthing Stories

Georgia McGivern
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Kids & Family
  • Updated Weekly

A weekly podcast sharing real stories of childbirth in the UK, from labour and delivery to postpartum recovery. Mothers across the UK talk openly about their personal birth experiences, created to educate, inform, and empower women preparing for birth and the early weeks of motherhood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1d ago

    India: Second Birth, Positive NHS Midwife Led Unit Birth, Four Hour Labour, 37 Weeks, Shoulder Dystocia, Healing Birth After Trauma

    Four hours. That is all it took from her first contraction to holding her son in her arms. India is a yoga teacher, outdoor enthusiast and mum of two from the Kent coast. Her first birth left her with a 40 hour labour, a forceps delivery, and months of physical and emotional trauma to recover from. When she fell pregnant with her son on her very first attempt at trying again, she felt joy and fear in equal measure. This time she did things differently. She saw an osteopath and had weekly pelvic floor therapy before he was even born, working through tension her body was still holding from her daughter's birth. When labour came on fast at 37 weeks, she trusted her body completely. She was taken straight through to the midwife led unit, and her son was born on all fours, with no time left for the water birth she had planned, in one of the most instinctive and empowering experiences of her life. In this episode we talk about: Preparing your body for birth with osteopathy and pelvic floor therapy after a traumatic first birthWhat a genuinely fast labour feels like when it goes from first contraction to birth in 4 hoursAdvocating for a physiological birth and staying off your back, even in an emergencyShoulder dystocia and how a calm, confident midwife handled it in secondsWhy her son struggled to settle as a newborn and what finally helped him relax into his bodyThe instant bond she felt the moment he was placed on her chest, after months of feeling disconnected during pregnancy This episode is for anyone who has had a traumatic first birth and is wondering whether their second could be completely different. India's story is proof that it absolutely can. The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.       British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. 3d ago

    India: First Birth, Hospital Birth After Miscarriage, Planned Water Birth, COVID Restrictions and Forceps Delivery

    She had planned a calm hospital water birth after miscarriage, but gave birth during COVID restrictions with no birth pool, continuous monitoring, an epidural, forceps delivery, episiotomy, and a postpartum recovery that took far longer than she expected.   India is a mum of two from Kent who shares her first birth with her daughter Maloo. After a miscarriage during lockdown, she fell pregnant again quickly and carried the anxiety of pregnancy after loss into a healthy pregnancy. She had prepared for birth with hypnobirthing, movement, breathwork and trust in her body, hoping for a hospital water birth on the midwife-led unit. But when she arrived at hospital, the unit was closed, the pool was unavailable, and she was told she needed continuous monitoring. After a long labour, gas and air, pethidine, an epidural and time in theatre, Maloo was born by forceps with an episiotomy. What followed was really hard. India experienced significant pelvic pain, later discovered her stitches had not dissolved properly, and began to understand how much her body was still holding from the birth. She also talks about the support that finally helped her begin to heal.   In this episode we talk about: Miscarriage during lockdown and falling pregnant again soon afterWhat pregnancy after loss felt like and how anxiety showed up throughout her pregnancyPlanning a hospital water birth and how COVID restrictions changed her optionsContinuous monitoring, losing freedom of movement, and how that affected labourGas and air, pethidine, epidural, theatre, forceps delivery and episiotomyPostpartum pelvic pain, stitches that did not dissolve properly, and healing physically after birth  This episode is for anyone who has experienced pregnancy after loss, a birth that moved away from what they hoped for, or a postpartum recovery that felt harder and longer than expected.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.   British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Sep 3

    Jazz: Second Birth, Positive NHS Birth Centre Birth, Home Labour, 12 Days Overdue, Low BMI, Self Advocacy, Membrane Sweep, Oral Morphine, Natural Tear

    Jazz is a content creator and mum of two who shares her honest, informed take on birth. In this episode she shares the birth of her son Drew, a second positive birth in an NHS birth centre that started with hours of labouring at home.   Twelve days overdue and booked in for another induction, Jazz went in ready to push back and buy her body more time. She never needed to. Her contractions started spontaneously the night before, and she laboured at home with her partner and his dad in the next room before heading to hospital already three centimetres dilated. This time she also knew how to advocate for herself, pushing back on being made consultant led again because of her low BMI, and on being told she could not labour in water.   In this episode we talk about: Refusing to be pressured into another induction, and how her labour started spontaneously at home insteadPushing back on being made consultant led again because of her low BMI, and on being told she could not labour in waterTaking oral morphine for back pain and having her waters broken at eight centimetresWhy her body wanted to curl into a side lying position that is not considered optimal for birthPushing for two and a half hours, tearing naturally again, and her advice for any mum in labour who needs to poo  This episode is for anyone about to have a second baby and wondering whether trusting your body gets easier the second time round.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.   British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Sep 1

    Jazz: First Birth, Positive NHS Birth Centre Birth, 13 Days Overdue, Membrane Sweep, Full Labour Ward, Pethidine, Waters Broken, Birth Centre Transfer, Natural Tear

    Jazz is a content creator and mum of two who has been sharing her life online for sixteen years. In this episode she shares the birth of her daughter Bluebell, a positive birth in an NHS birth centre after thirteen days overdue and a booked induction that never actually happened.   She went into hospital ready to be induced, only to be told twice that there was no room on the labour ward. She stayed both nights anyway. When a consultant finally offered her a third membrane sweep, her body took over on its own. She went on to labour for hours in the water, get transferred to the birth centre, push for three hours across four different rooms, and welcome her daughter with no induction drugs at all, tearing naturally rather than needing a cut.   In this episode we talk about: Being thirteen days overdue and turning up for a booked induction that kept getting delayed because the labour ward was fullChoosing not to do hypnobirthing and trusting her body to figure it out insteadTwo membrane sweeps that did nothing, and the third one that changed everythingAccepting pethidine and gas and air, and having her waters broken by the midwifeBeing transferred to the birth centre, pushing for three hours across four rooms, and tearing naturally rather than needing a cut  This episode is for anyone who is dreading an induction, or who just wants to hear a birth story where the hard parts still ended somewhere good.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care. British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Aug 27

    Kirsten: Second Birth, Planned NHS Home Birth, Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Fast Labour, Physiological Water Birth, Fetal Ejection Reflex, Physiological Third Stage, No Stitches, Healing Birth After Difficult First Experience

    She had been awake for hours, then asleep for two, when she woke up to the strongest contraction she had ever felt. Her waters broke. She looked at the clock. It was 4am, exactly when she had known it would be.   Kirsten is an independent midwife who shares her second birth, a home water birth that gave her everything her first had not. Her second pregnancy brought hyperemesis again, a baby measuring on the 97th centile who turned out to be 6 pounds 12, and weeks of prodromal labour that stopped every single night just before she thought it was finally happening. When labour did come for real, it came fast. She was in the shower on all fours, making the sounds any midwife would recognise, while her partner ran up and down two flights of stairs between contractions to fill the pool. Her son Arlo was born in the water at five to six in the morning. Two midwives she already knew and loved caught him. Nobody cut the cord. Nobody gave her an injection without asking. Nobody touched her without her permission.    In this episode we talk about: Why weeks of prodromal labour is so hard to manage mentally and what actually helped Kirsten get through itWhat it feels like to go from asleep to transitioning in the space of about 15 minutesThe fetal ejection reflex, what it actually is, and how Kirsten describes it in a way that finally makes it make senseHow Kirsten declined suturing after a small tear and what she did insteadWhy she had always planned to leave the NHS, and what eventually pushed her to go independent  This episode is for anyone who had a first birth that felt like it happened to them, and is wondering if they can take back control the second time around. Kirsten did. Completely. The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.     British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Aug 25

    Kirsten: First Birth, Planned NHS Home Birth, Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Fast Labour, Hospital Transfer, Ventouse Delivery, Episiotomy Without Consent, Episiotomy Breakdown, Autism and ADHD

    She planned a home birth and got one. Right up until she didn't. And what happened at the hospital, at the hands of a registrar who did not ask her permission, is something she eventually made a formal complaint about.   Kirsten is an independent midwife, mum of two boys, and half Dutch, growing up in a culture where home birth is simply normal. Her first pregnancy was dominated by hyperemesis gravidarum so severe she lost 10 kilos and lived on potatoes and crisps for months. Nobody mentioned HG to her until she was 36 weeks, when a patient she was treating spotted it first. Labour began quietly at 39 weeks, a walk around Hackney Downs, some swaying she could not explain, a Pride and Prejudice evening, and then her waters breaking in the middle of the night exactly when she knew they would. Labour was fast and intense. She reached 7cm at home, got into the birth pool, and pushed for two hours without progress before making the call herself to transfer to hospital.   In hospital, she refused forceps and got what she wanted: a ventouse delivery. What she did not get was her consent asked before the episiotomy. Or before her cord was cut. Or before the hormone injection was given to her leg. Three things happened against her wishes in quick succession. And then she walked home from hospital, 45 minutes, with a fresh baby in a pram, because they had not brought a car seat. And came home to a flooded flat.   In this episode we talk about: What hyperemesis gravidarum actually felt like across a whole pregnancy, and why nobody named it until Kirsten was 36 weeksHow being autistic affects interoception and what that meant for how Kirsten experienced labourWhat it is actually like to transfer to hospital as a planned home birth, and how to stay calm when everything changesWhat happens when a registrar does not ask your consent, and what Kirsten did about it afterwardsWhy the episiotomy breaking down led to 8 weeks of barely being able to walk, and what finally helped  This episode is for anyone who has ever felt like the system moved too fast and did not stop to ask. Kirsten lived it, made the formal complaint, and came back for a second birth that was everything she had planned for the first time.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care. British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Aug 20

    Rhianna: First Birth, Positive NHS Midwife Led Unit Water Birth, Gestational Diabetes, Five Hour Fast Labour, Guided Pushing, Early at 38 Weeks

    Rhianna is a first time mum who shares a fast and positive NHS midwife led unit water birth. She was diagnosed with gestational diabetes late in pregnancy but stayed diet controlled throughout, with no concerns for her or baby Teddy. She spent months preparing with hypnobirthing, antenatal classes and online birth communities, hoping for a water birth with as little intervention as possible. When labour arrived two weeks early, it moved faster than anyone expected.   Within fifteen minutes of calling the midwives, her contractions went from nothing to intense. By the time she reached hospital she was already six centimetres dilated. What followed was a water birth, a stretch of guided pushing when her baby's heart rate needed close watching, and a birth so fast that the midwives in the room told her to consider a home birth next time. In this episode we talk about:   Being diagnosed with gestational diabetes late in pregnancy and staying diet controlled throughoutGoing from six centimetres dilated to holding her baby in under five hoursUsing the birthing pool and gas and air as her only pain reliefGuided pushing when her baby's heart rate needed closer monitoringWitnessing a student midwife's very first birth from start to finish  This episode is for anyone who wants to hear what a fast, positive water birth can really feel like, even when it happens nothing like you expected.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care.  British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Aug 18

    Bonnie: Two Births, Forceps Delivery, Missed Third Degree Tear, Postpartum Haemorrhage and NHS Birth Centre Water Birth with Gestational Diabetes

    Bonnie went into her first birth with a detailed plan for a water birth. She left theatre with forceps, a missed third degree tear and a hemorrhage that was still waiting to happen at home two weeks later.   Bonnie is a certified babywearing consultant, mum of two and originally from Hong Kong. Her first birth started with real promise. Contractions kicked off the day before her due date and progressed fast. But the hospital was too busy to admit her, so she spent hours pacing a corridor in established labour with nothing but paracetamol, only to be checked and found eight centimetres dilated. From there the birth centre she had planned for was closed due to staffing, an epidural slowed everything down, and a dip in the baby's heart rate meant forceps in theatre. The real turning point came two weeks after the birth, when a tear that had been recorded as second degree turned out to be third degree, missed at the time. Bonnie collapsed at home with a postpartum hemorrhage caused by retained placenta and had to be blue lighted back into hospital, where both were finally treated. For her second birth she went in determined, fought a consultant who tried to block her from the birth centre, and this time gave birth in the water she had wanted all along.   In this episode we talk about: Being turned away in early labour and told to walk the hospital corridorA birth centre closing due to staffing on the night she needed itForceps delivery and an unplanned move to theatreA missed third degree tear and a postpartum hemorrhage at homeFighting a consultant for access to a birth centre and water birth second time roundGestational diabetes, induction and a fast birth centre water birth  This episode is for anyone who has been told to just wait, who has had a birth plan fall apart in front of them, or who is preparing to fight for something different second time round.   The stories shared on British Birthing Stories are real, personal experiences from real women. I am not a medical professional and this podcast is not a substitute for medical advice. Every pregnancy and birth is different, and I always encourage you to speak to your midwife or doctor about your own individual care. British Birthing Stories shares real, unfiltered stories of childbirth in the UK, from pregnancy and labour to postpartum recovery. These stories reflect personal experiences and should not be taken as or replace medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Follow us on social: Instagram · TikTok · YouTube Want to come on the podcast? Get in touch and share your story here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

A weekly podcast sharing real stories of childbirth in the UK, from labour and delivery to postpartum recovery. Mothers across the UK talk openly about their personal birth experiences, created to educate, inform, and empower women preparing for birth and the early weeks of motherhood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Georgia McGivern
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    69
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © British Birthing Stories
  • Show Website
    British Birthing Stories