Hannah's second birth left her with a life-threatening complication

Hannah Davison suffered a life-threatening complication after giving birth to her second child. But incredibly, it was still a better experience than her first.

When the New Zealand author went into labour with her first child, Alex, she was overjoyed she'd soon be meeting her baby.

But her positivity was short-lived, replaced with an overarching sense of disempowerment as a cascade of interventions chipped away at the birth she'd hoped for.

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Having researched hypnobirthing and binge-watched births, she had a clear vision for what she wanted: as natural a birth as possible, preferably with no pain relief. ?

But when she was a few days past her due date, her midwife suggested a stretch and sweep?. Trusting this advice, she underwent the procedure - which involves 'sweeping' the membranes at the base of the cervix to try to bring on labour.

"Looking back, you just accept the advice from your midwife. But if I had my time again I would have refused it," the author of the My Big Moments book series told 9Honey.

"He wasn't ready, he hadn't come down and engaged and so it began what became a very long and overly traumatic labour."

"He wasn't ready, he hadn't come down and engaged and so it began what became a very long and overly traumatic labour."

After labouring overnight, Hannah was moved into the labour ward, where she had her waters broken to try to speed things up. It's at this point, Hannah says, her baby started to become distressed. ?

"I look back at those moments and wonder if I'd said no, or made a different decision would what happened next be different? I can never be sure."

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"I was shocked later by how traumatised I felt by the whole process. What happened after the baby became distressed, he passed meconium while still inside me. It went on for so long my contractions had slowed down and were beginning to stop and his heart rate was slowing down," Hannah said.

?Hannah's temperature spiked and she was told the baby needed to be delivered soon. Undergoing an epidural, instead of the calm, present birth she'd wanted, she instead found she only had feeling from her shoulders up.

Feeling 'completely incapacitated physically', the hardest part to reconcile was her sudden and complete reliance on others.

"I was shocked later by how traumatised I felt by the whole process."

And birthing in a teaching hospital, she was also subjected to some unexpected visitors. ?

"I had been awake a long time, had an epidural, was stressed about what was happening with my baby and what was going to happen to me and how we'd have this baby," she shared.

"I'd been through so many staffing changes and there were groups of people coming in and using me in that moment as a teaching opportunity. I lost track of how many people examined me. It's not how I imagined birth would be."

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Having reached the time limit Hannah had been given before they'd need to intervene, she was taken into theatre for a forceps delivery.

While things went 'relatively easily', and her son was delivered healthy, Hannah was left with a dislocated hip, as her legs had not been correctly supported during the epidural, and left that way for so long.

Instead of walking out proudly cradling her son, she left hospital in a wheelchair, with the added pain of the stitches from an episiotomy. ?

Given her first experience, Hannah went into her second labour ready to fight for herself where needed, determined the birth would be on her terms.?

And although it was a more dangerous birth, to Hannah it felt like a greater success.?

Working with a new midwife and having openly discussed her experience, and what she didn't want, she this time refused a stretch and sweep.

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Instead, she went into spontaneous labour five days past her due date. Hoping for a more relaxed approach, Hannah didn't make moves to head to the birthing centre, despite living an hour-and-a-half away. But when her contractions suddenly ramped up, she made a mad dash, arriving when they were two minutes apart.

Twenty minutes later her daughter Frankie was born. ?

"It felt like such a success, she came the way I wanted her to come, it felt like her and I were really in it together. I got to be part of whole birthing process, I felt her come through my body. It was a phenomenal experience."

I got to be part of whole birthing process, I felt her come through my body. It was a phenomenal experience."

However, her euphoria was quickly interrupted when she began haemorrhaging, losing 2.5 litres of blood in the birthing centre, which was not attached to a hospital.

"Luckily for me, my midwife had done a long stint in the ER room as a nurse and she put a catheter into me and knew what to do."

Despite losing an estimated 40 per cent of her blood volume, she wasn't given a blood transfusion. When asked if she had any heart palpitations or dizziness, Hannah brushed off her symptoms in the hopes of returning to Frankie more quickly.

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?Still, she's grateful for the experience. "It was a dangerous thing to happen post-partum, but it was still a success for me. It was a really powerful experience."

Hannah, who co-hosts the recently launched parenting podcast Untidy, says one take away from her labours is that women shouldn't be expected to instantly recover from birth, nor find it an easy transition to motherhood. ?

"Don't underestimate the physical, mental and emotional recovery from your birth, whatever experience you have. The transition is enormous and whatever you need to process that and recover from or heal is valid for you.?"

"The best thing a baby can have is a healthy, well and well cared for mother. And just because births happen every day, this is probably the most life-changing moment for an individual."

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