What does it feel like to go back into labour knowing everything that went wrong the first time — and come out the other side feeling like you got your birth back? In this episode of British Birthing Stories, Mil returns to share the birth of her son Billy: an NHS birth centre water birth, a shoulder dystocia, and the most healing experience of her life.

After her first birth left her with a postpartum haemorrhage, a serious infection, birth trauma, and postnatal depression, Mil was determined to do things differently second time around. She switched hospitals, switched her birth plan from a list of preferences to a set of feelings — safe, heard, in control — and fought to be approved for a birth centre birth despite her history. What followed was a labour that started calmly, progressed quickly, and then threw one final curveball: Billy's shoulder got stuck, and the midwives hauled Mil out of the bath, laid her on the floor, and freed him in what she can only describe as a wrestling move. He was briefly given oxygen, then handed over screaming. She was stitched up in ten minutes and eating toast in a fairy-lit room while her husband fell asleep beside her.

She wrote the midwives a letter when she got home. She told them they had fixed something she hadn't realised was still broken.

In this episode we chat about:

• Switching hospitals after her first experience and fighting to be approved for a birth centre birth
• Going overdue at 41+1 and choosing induction after weeks of false starts and sweeps
• A positive induction experience — and how different it felt from the first time
• Labouring calmly in the birth centre with just a TENS machine and no pain relief for hours
• Waters breaking at 3pm and things progressing quickly from there
• Transition, vomiting, gas and air that didn't really help, and being 8.5cm without realising it
• A shoulder dystocia — and the midwife who hauled her out of the bath and onto the floor
• Billy needing a little oxygen before his first cry — and the relief when it came
• A first-degree tear, ten minutes of stitches, and being up walking within the hour
• The night and day difference in recovery compared to her episiotomy first time around
• Combo feeding second time around and how much it helped her mental health postpartum
• Writing the midwives a letter — and what she means when she says they gave her something back

Find Mil on Instagram and Tiktok

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.

What happens when you've done the NCT course, made the birth plan, and gone into hospital as prepared as you possibly can and it still falls apart? In this episode of British Birthing Stories, I sit down with Mil, a stay-at-home mum, content creator, and freelance copywriter, who shares her honest account of her first NHS birth: induction, forceps, episiotomy, a postpartum haemorrhage, and a blood transfusion.

Mil was admitted for a routine reduced movement check at 39 weeks when the decision was made to induce her that day - no warning, no chance to go home and prepare. What followed was 12 hours in a waiting room in active labour, a serious infection, a baby in distress, and every intervention she'd hoped to avoid. Then the haemorrhage. Then a blood transfusion at 2am. Then eight days in hospital while her daughter recovered from severe jaundice. And a postnatal anxiety and depression that went undiagnosed for nearly a year.

Mil also opens up about the breastfeeding guilt that compounded everything — a missed tongue tie, a supply that never came in, and hiding her daughter's bottle in the car park at Baby Sensory. But this isn't where her story ends. Her second NHS birth was, in her own words, the most beautiful and magical experience of her life.

In this episode we chat about:

• Going in for a reduced movement check and leaving being induced with no time to go home
• 12 hours in a waiting room in active labour with inadequate pain relief
• Labour stalling, a serious infection, and being rushed to the labour ward
• Forceps, ventouse, and episiotomy after baby's heart rate dropped
• A postpartum haemorrhage and blood transfusion
• Eight days in hospital while her daughter recovered from severe jaundice
• Postnatal anxiety and depression going undiagnosed for almost a year
• Breastfeeding guilt, a missed tongue tie, and formula-feeding shame
• Why her second NHS birth was everything her first wasn't

Find Mil here on Instagram and Tik Tok

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.

She always knew she wanted a home birth. From the moment she decided she wanted children, there was never any question. Hospital was not even in her mind.

Dani is a first time mum from Devon who shares a deeply beautiful first birth story after two years of trying to conceive with PCOS. She conceived the day before moving across the country from Hertfordshire to Devon — a moment she describes as feeling like pure divine timing. She prepared for her birth like a marathon. Hypnobirthing with a doula, affirmations on the walls, a birth playlist, fairy lights, an astronaut projector covering the ceiling in stars, and a birth pool set up in her mum's annex. She refused extra growth scans in her third trimester on instinct alone. Her baby was born weighing 8lb 3oz.

Labour started at 2am on her due date. She laboured quietly through the night and all the next day. She ate a Chinese takeaway on the toilet while going through contractions. She never had a single internal examination and never knew how dilated she was. Her daughter Aurea was born at 11.26pm with no pain relief, no stitches, and a delayed cord clamp. The midwives she had never met before did everything on her birth plan without being asked.

In this episode we talk about:

• What it is really like to try to conceive with PCOS and what finally helped
• How hypnobirthing completely changed Dani's mindset around birth and fear
• What a doula actually does during pregnancy and how to find the right one
• Labouring at home all day without intervention and what that felt like
• Why she refused extra growth scans and what her instinct told her
• Placenta encapsulation and whether it helped her postpartum recovery
• Grieving your old self after becoming a mum and how long that really takes

This episode is for anyone who has ever dreamed of a calm physiological home birth and wondered if it is really possible. Dani's story is proof that it absolutely is.

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.