My Birth Story
A Week of Induction, an Emergency C-Section,
Maternal Sepsis & a Complicated Recovery
As someone living with multiple disabling chronic illnesses, I knew that having my first baby might come with a few extra challenges, but absolutely NOTHING could have prepared me for the rollercoaster we ended up experiencing!
What started as a planned induction at 38 weeks turned into approximately a week of trying to get labour started, an emergency C-section, a serious infection, a prolonged hospital stay and then weeks of postpartum complications involving retained placental tissue. Even now, more than two months after giving birth, I'm still navigating parts of my recovery.
I'd originally shared a shortened version of my birth story on Instagram, but there's SO much more that happened behind the scenes, particularly after our little boy arrived. I wanted to write everything down properly, both to share the realities of giving birth with complex chronic illnesses and to reflect on some of the things I've learnt about pain, medical advocacy, consent and navigating unexpected complications.
It's quite a long story, so grab a cuppa!
PREPARING FOR BIRTH WITH MULTIPLE CHRONIC ILLNESSES
Throughout pregnancy, I'd been doing an enormous amount of research into how my existing conditions might affect labour, birth and recovery. I have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), cervical instability, PoTS, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), vestibular migraine and several gastrointestinal conditions, amongst others, so there were a LOT of additional considerations.
With hEDS and cervical instability, we needed to think about physical handling, positioning, joint instability and how different labour positions or medical procedures might affect me. MCAS introduced another whole layer of preparation because of my severe allergies and reactions to fragrances, chemicals and various other triggers. We also had to consider medication reactions, how my PoTS might respond to labour and which forms of pain relief would be appropriate for my particular medical circumstances.
Rob and I spent months preparing an incredibly detailed birth plan, medical information documents and even a decision tree to help us navigate different situations if things didn't go as expected. We'd discussed various precautions with the hospital beforehand, and I'd prepared signs and guidance to help staff understand my requirements. I knew that once I was in labour, I might not be in the best position to explain all my conditions from scratch to everyone involved.
But despite all these additional concerns, I was genuinely SO excited to give birth!
This might sound a bit strange, but I've lived with chronic pain for years and was really curious to discover what labour actually felt like. I experience frequent joint subluxations, spinal pain, migraines and various other painful symptoms as part of everyday life, so I wondered how contractions would compare.
I wanted to experience labour without stronger pain relief for as long as I comfortably could, partly because I was interested in the comparison and partly because I'd spent so long preparing hypnobirthing techniques, affirmations, breathing exercises and playlists. I was excited to put everything I'd learnt into practice.
Obviously, I knew plans could change, but I was feeling pretty positive about the whole experience.
WHY I WAS INDUCED AT 38 WEEKS
Our little boy had been measuring big throughout the later stages of pregnancy. At 34 weeks and three days, his estimated weight was already around 2.69 kg, and by 36 weeks and three days, he was estimated to weigh 3.44 kg, putting him above the 99th centile on that scan.
I'd also been diagnosed with gestational diabetes towards the end of pregnancy, so between that and concerns about his size, the medical team recommended induction between 38 and 39 weeks.
At the end of July 2026, exactly 38 weeks pregnant, we arrived at the hospital to begin the induction process.
I was feeling SO optimistic because I was already one centimetre dilated when they examined me. In my mind, that meant my body was already doing something and perhaps we'd get things moving relatively quickly.
Oh, how wrong I was, haha...
STARTING WITH THE BALLOON INDUCTION
We started with a cervical balloon, which is inserted through the cervix and inflated to help it open mechanically. It's one of the methods that can be used to prepare the cervix before labour begins.
I had the balloon in for approximately 24 hours and was really hoping that when it came out, we'd have made some decent progress.
Unfortunately, after the full day, I was only around one and a half centimetres dilated with a stretch. Not quite what I'd been hoping for!
So the next step was a hormonal pessary, which meant staying in hospital overnight for monitoring.
THE HOTTEST HOSPITAL STAY AND ABSOLUTELY NO SLEEP
Unfortunately, our induction coincided with an incredibly hot spell of weather, with temperatures outside reaching around 36°C. The hospital was absolutely BOILING, and I genuinely didn't sleep a single wink during that first night.
For somebody with chronic illnesses, sleep isn't just something that's nice to have. It's an important part of managing my symptoms, particularly my migraines, fatigue, joint instability and dysautonomia. I was already worried about using up all my energy before active labour had even started.
So from that point onwards, when there was a suitable break between induction stages, we arranged to go home overnight rather than continue trying to sleep in the hospital environment. This meant leaving the ward and returning for further care and monitoring.
It might seem unusual, but being able to get five hours of proper sleep in my own bed made SUCH a difference. I wanted to preserve as much energy as possible for the actual labour, rather than arrive at that stage completely exhausted.
This was one of the first moments where I really had to think about managing the induction around my chronic illnesses, rather than just trying to get through each hospital day.
ANOTHER PESSARY AND A FRIGHTENING MOMENT WITH BABY'S HEART RATE
Unfortunately, the first hormonal pessary hadn't worked either, so we went on to try another. This second pessary was in for around eight hours when things suddenly became concerning. Our baby's heart rate was showing signs that he wasn't coping well, and there was discussion about potentially needing an emergency C-section.
It was quite frightening to go from waiting around for something to happen to suddenly facing the possibility of urgent surgery. Thankfully, once the pessary was removed, his heart rate stabilised, and the immediate concern eased. But we were now several days into the induction, had tried multiple methods and were still making very little progress.
By around day five, I was completely fed up with being in this strange state of limbo. I'd wanted a vaginal birth, but I also didn't want to spend endless days trying to get things moving whilst becoming more and more exhausted.
So I decided to opt for a C-section.
At that point, I genuinely thought we'd given the induction a pretty good go.
DECIDING ON A C-SECTION, THEN GETTING SOME SURPRISING NEWS
The following day, before proceeding to theatre, a consultant came to examine me. To my absolute surprise, I was told I was now three and a half centimetres dilated with a stretch!
After days of barely progressing beyond one or two centimetres, this sounded like AMAZING news.
During that examination, the consultant also performed a membrane sweep, which I hadn't been asked to consent to beforehand. This is something I've reflected on quite a lot since because, whilst I'd consented to the examination, I hadn't agreed to an additional procedure.
The consultant then asked whether I really wanted to give up on a vaginal birth. My response was, "Absolutely not!" I REALLY wanted to try, especially now that it seemed like I'd finally made some progress.
So we changed the plan again and decided to continue attempting a vaginal delivery. Later that evening, after we'd gone home, my waters broke spontaneously following the sweep. I couldn't believe it! After all those days trying to get labour started, perhaps my body was finally ready.
FINALLY GETTING TO THE DELIVERY SUITE
We had a sleepless night on the induction floor with both my mum and Rob there with me, and extremely regular contractions. They couldn't take us up till I was 4cm, so I had two further examinations overnight but I was still 3.5cm with a stretch each time (checks from different midwives).
The next morning, we went up to the delivery suite at 8am. I was SO excited that things were finally happening, but then came another rather confusing development. When I was examined there, I was told that I was only around 2cm dilated.
This was quite different from the three and a half centimetres with a stretch that I'd been told the previous day and overnight. I understand that cervical examinations aren't an exact science and that different clinicians can assess dilation differently, but it was still incredibly frustrating to hear after believing we'd made such good progress.
The remaining membranes were then ruptured, and I was started on a Syntocinon drip, which contains synthetic oxytocin to stimulate contractions. After all those days of waiting, we were FINALLY getting into labour!
SYNTOCINON, BACK LABOUR AND COMPARING IT WITH CHRONIC PAIN
One thing that made my labour particularly challenging was that our baby was in a back-to-back position, meaning his back was facing towards mine rather than towards my tummy. I was experiencing really intense back labour, with a lot of the pain going through my lower back.
Once the Syntocinon drip was running, the contractions became increasingly intense and frequent. Induced contractions can feel particularly strong, and with very little time to recover between them, it became incredibly demanding. But I was determined to try the techniques I'd spent so long preparing.
For the first four hours, I managed with my TENS machine and hypnobirthing strategies, concentrating on my breathing and trying to relax rather than tense up against the pain. I'd actually been really curious to compare labour pain with the pain I experience from my chronic illnesses.
In early labour, I found that some of the sensations were surprisingly familiar. There were moments where I genuinely thought that the level of pain wasn't necessarily worse than some of the joint subluxations and other painful episodes I experience during everyday life. It was a pretty surreal realisation. It made me think about how much pain we can become accustomed to living with, and how little other people might understand about what that actually feels like.
But as labour progressed and the contractions became stronger, the pain changed enormously.
There was very little opportunity to recover between contractions, and with the back labour, it became completely relentless. The intensity of the Syntocinon contractions was a whole other experience from what I'd initially been coping with. Only after I had a fever did they give me paracetamol, which frustrated me as I really wanted to 'push' on paracetamol... At this point it barely even scratched the surface but I still had three more hours till what happened next.
I spent approximately seven hours on the drip altogether, trying to manage the contractions whilst my body became increasingly exhausted. Unfortunately, despite all those hours of intense labour, my cervix still wasn't making the progress we needed.
It really brought home something I now think applies to chronic illness more broadly too: just because you're capable of enduring something doesn't mean your body has endless capacity, or that continuing is necessarily beneficial.
THE FEVERS THAT WERE GETTING INCREASINGLY CONCERNING
Something else had been happening throughout labour, which at the time was quite confusing. I kept spiking high temperatures.
The delivery room was already incredibly hot, around 35°C at points, and there was initially a question of whether the heat was contributing to my raised temperature. But my temperature repeatedly rose above 38°C, reaching around 39°C at its highest.
Whenever it went over a certain threshold, I was given that paracetamol I mentioned to help bring it down. Obviously, looking back, the fever was FAR more important than my original plans around pain relief!
There were also concerns about changes in the baby's heart rate during labour, and I'd been feeling increasingly unwell.
At that stage, we still didn't fully understand what was causing the fevers. What we later discovered would completely change how I looked back on this part of the experience.
WHEN WE FINALLY NEEDED AN EMERGENCY C-SECTION
After hours on the Syntocinon drip, with very little progress, ongoing fevers and growing concerns about how the baby was coping, the team recommended proceeding with an emergency C-section.
By this point, I'd spent approximately a week trying to get labour started, several hours managing incredibly intense contractions and was completely exhausted. I'd wanted to experience a vaginal birth SO much, but the circumstances had changed, and continuing was no longer the right option.
We agreed to proceed with surgery. It's quite strange to think that I'd initially elected to have a C-section after the failed induction attempts, then changed my mind when the consultant told me I was progressing, only to end up needing an emergency C-section anyway.
I learnt an enormous amount from those hours of labour, and I was glad I'd had the opportunity to experience it.
At the same time, I also learnt that there's a difference between wanting to persevere and recognising when the situation calls for a different decision.
OUR BABY BOY WAS FINALLY HERE!
At the start of August 2026, after approximately a week of induction and labour, our beautiful little boy finally arrived by emergency C-section, weighing 4.03 kg!
After everything we'd been through, he was finally here. It felt completely surreal to think that after all those months of pregnancy and days of induction, we were suddenly parents. I'd spent SO long preparing for birth with chronic illness that I'd almost forgotten there was going to be an actual baby at the end of it, haha!
We were completely over the moon to finally meet our gorgeous little boy. Unfortunately, whilst the birth itself was finally over, the complications were far from finished.
THE INFECTION THAT BECAME SO MUCH MORE SERIOUS THAN WE REALISED
Following the C-section, my temperatures continued to spike. These weren't just mild fevers. My temperature was repeatedly climbing into the 38–39°C range, and I was feeling increasingly unwell. There were concerns about a serious infection, including sepsis, and I was treated with intravenous antibiotics whilst the team investigated what was happening.
I ended up receiving around six days of IV antibiotics, involving more than one antibiotic, before I self-discharged with further oral treatment as I just wanted to be home once baby was discharged.
The fevers continued for several days, rising and falling despite treatment. At the time, it was difficult to comprehend what was happening because I was trying to recover from major abdominal surgery, manage my existing conditions and learn how to look after a newborn, all whilst feeling SO unwell.
Eventually, the culture taken from my placenta came back showing heavy growth of E. coli. Suddenly, there was a much clearer explanation for the serious infection concerns. I also started thinking back to some of the symptoms we'd noticed during labour, including an unusual smell associated with the bleeding or discharge, which we'd mentioned to a midwife.
I don't know whether this would have changed how events unfolded if it had been investigated differently at the time, but it's something that's really stayed with me.
"IF WE'D LEFT IT MINUTES LONGER, IT COULD HAVE BEEN A DIFFERENT STORY"
One of the most frightening things came when a consultant discussed how serious the situation had been. I remember being told, "If we'd left it minutes longer, it could have been a different story." That sentence has stayed with me ever since.
Up until that point, I'd been so focused on getting through each stage of labour, surgery and recovery that I don't think I'd fully appreciated just how dangerous things had become. Hearing somebody explain that the timing could have made such an enormous difference was incredibly sobering.
I'd spent months planning around all the potential complications associated with my chronic illnesses, yet one of the most serious things we faced wasn't something we'd specifically anticipated in our birth plan.
It was an infection involving the placenta.
Looking back, I have so many questions about the fevers during labour and how the infection developed. I can't know whether an earlier intervention would have changed what happened, but it's difficult not to wonder. The whole experience was also a reminder that even when you're used to feeling unwell, new symptoms deserve attention rather than automatically being attributed to your existing conditions.
RECOVERING FROM SURGERY AND OUR EXTENDED HOSPITAL STAY
Recovering from a C-section whilst battling a serious infection and managing multiple chronic illnesses was a whole other experience! My body had already been through approximately a week of induction, hours of intense labour, very little sleep and emergency surgery, so I was absolutely exhausted. With hEDS, cervical instability and PoTS, even getting out of bed, walking to the bathroom or finding a comfortable position required additional care. Between the constant observations, antibiotics, blood tests and looking after our newborn, I was sometimes getting literally minutes of sleep.
My haemoglobin also dropped significantly, with one result showing around 69 g/L and prompting discussions about a possible blood transfusion. There was some confusion over subsequent results, but thankfully it gradually improved to approximately 110 g/L by late August without me taking iron tablets. It was such a strange combination of emotions, being completely in love with our little boy whilst simultaneously feeling so unwell and struggling to recover. It certainly wasn't the peaceful newborn bubble I'd imagined!
Altogether, we spent around two weeks in hospital, by FAR my longest admission. With so many different healthcare professionals, changing shifts and sometimes conflicting advice, I was incredibly grateful to have Rob advocating for me when I was too exhausted or unwell to do so myself. All our preparation, including my medical documents, MCAS protocols, birth plan and decision tree, proved invaluable despite everything going so differently from what we'd planned. Eventually, after several days of IV antibiotics and monitoring, we were finally able to go home. I was SO relieved, but unfortunately the complications weren't over.
RETAINED PLACENTAL TISSUE AND POSTPARTUM COMPLICATIONS
For weeks after birth, I continued experiencing unusual bleeding, with frequent gushes of fresh blood and lots of little clots, particularly when going to the toilet or showering. Strangely, I wasn't soaking through pads, despite how much blood I seemed to be passing. I was also experiencing abdominal pain, cramping that travelled through to my back and increasing discomfort around my C-section scar.
At around three weeks postpartum, I passed a particularly large mass of blood and tissue, bigger than a plum, which prompted a visit to maternity triage. I was prescribed precautionary antibiotics because of a possible infection, but initially delayed taking them whilst awaiting investigations, particularly after already having so many antibiotics in hospital and with concerns about breastfeeding. The bleeding and pain continued, sometimes accompanied by nausea, abdominal swelling and strange tingling sensations around my scar.
Almost six weeks after birth, an ultrasound finally revealed approximately one centimetre of retained tissue in my uterus, with possible inflammation or infection of the uterine lining. The medical team recommended antibiotics rather than surgical removal because of the small size and potential bleeding risks, hoping the tissue would resolve naturally. I started co-amoxiclav, which unfortunately caused quite a few gastrointestinal side effects on top of my existing conditions.
Thankfully, a repeat ultrasound at the beginning of October showed that the retained tissue was no longer visible! During my birth debrief, I was told that my presentation had been unusual because I wasn't soaking pads with heavy bleeding, which was one reason the problem hadn't initially appeared as urgent. It was another reminder that medical complications don't always present in the way we expect. I've since had what appears to be my first postpartum period, although I'm still experiencing some pelvic discomfort as my body continues to recover.
WHAT THIS EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT ME
Looking back, I think the biggest lesson is that preparation doesn't give us control, but it does give us options when things change. I'd spent MONTHS researching, preparing medical documents and creating a detailed birth plan, yet we still faced complications nobody had anticipated. None of that preparation was wasted, though. It helped communicate my complex medical needs and meant Rob could advocate for me when I couldn't.
I've also learnt a lot about pain and the difference between being able to endure something and actually being okay. I went into labour excited to compare contractions with my daily chronic pain, and in the earlier stages I was fascinated by how familiar some sensations felt. But as labour intensified, I realised that having a high pain tolerance doesn't mean we have endless capacity, and we certainly don't earn anything by suffering unnecessarily.
Consent and medical advocacy are two other things I've reflected on, particularly the unsolicited membrane sweep, conflicting examinations and concerns we raised throughout the experience. When you're exhausted, frightened or seriously unwell, speaking up becomes SO much harder, which is why having somebody who understands your medical history and wishes can be invaluable.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was just how much happened AFTER our baby arrived. I'd spent so long preparing for labour and delivery, but comparatively little time thinking about what recovery might look like if complications arose. The infection, anaemia, retained tissue and ongoing pain became an enormous part of our birth story, and it's something I think deserves much more attention.
Despite everything, I'm incredibly grateful that our gorgeous little boy arrived safely and that we're finally home together. Watching him grow has been wonderful, but that doesn't mean the experience of bringing him into the world wasn't incredibly difficult. We can feel enormous gratitude whilst still acknowledging the physical and emotional challenges we've been through.
Our birth certainly wasn't what I'd imagined, but it's reinforced so much of what I share through Positively Chronic_: the importance of adapting when circumstances change, advocating for our needs and recognising that coping doesn't always mean we're okay.
Thank you for following along with this rather unexpected journey!
Katya x
PREPARING FOR BIRTH WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS?
I've also created a detailed birth preparation guide with everything I learnt, alongside free editable templates, including a birth plan, medical decision tree, hospital door sign, affirmations and hypnobirthing resources.
