British Birthing Stories

The consultant told her on her head be it. She was 30 weeks pregnant with identical twins and asking for a water birth so she changed care providers and started again.   Layla is a doula now based in Devon who shares one of the most extraordinary birth stories on this podcast. Already known to listeners from her first episode about her home birth with her son, this time she was navigating a h...

She was admitted the day before her due date with reduced movements. And then her body kept expelling every single pessary they put in.   Erin is a mum of two from a small town who shares a calm, grounded and ultimately positive first birth story after an induction that did not go quite to plan. Three pessaries. None lasting longer than an hour. A body that had its own ideas. And then a drip,...

  Her first birth was a calm, quick water birth at the birth centre. Her second was a home birth except the pool wasn't filled, the midwife wasn't there, and her partner was on a 999 call cutting off her leggings when their son arrived on the living room floor. Kat is a mum of two from Huddersfield who shares two very different but equally positive NHS birth stories. Diagnosed with deeply inf...

  Everything was calm. Candles on, playlist playing, TENS machine working, and Rosie labouring at home exactly as she had hoped. And then the police arrived to take a statement about her stolen car.   Rosie is a first-time mum whose pregnancy took an unexpected turn when a routine fundal height measurement raised concerns about her baby’s growth. What followed was consultant-led care, gr...

  Everything was going perfectly. Six hours of labour, no pain relief, at home exactly where she wanted to be. And then her waters broke and there was meconium in them.   Layla is a doula now based in Devon, but when she had her son 8 years ago she was simply a first time mum who knew she wanted to birth at home, surrounded by fairy lights, affirmations she had painted herself, and the s...

She had planned a home birth. She had done hypnobirthing. She had her playlists ready. And then the NHS called and said there were no midwives available. Most women would have panicked. Faye walked into that hospital, held her ground against a doctor pushing for induction, and had the birth she always wanted anyway. Just not where she planned it.   Faye is a mum of two who had her first baby...

  She was a midwife. She knew the system inside out. And she still couldn't get the care she actually wanted.   Katie is an independent midwife now based in Cornwall who shares two home births that could not have been more different. Her first was a planned Halloween home birth during COVID, with a private midwife who looked her in the eyes at 37 weeks and told her she could do this. Her...

Welcome to British Birthing Stories. This weekly podcast is a space where women across the UK share honest, real-life birth stories. In this introduction episode, I share more about myself, why I decided to create this podcast, and how my own birth experiences influenced British Birthing Stories. I’m Georgia, your host, and each week I sit down with a different woman to hear her personal experienc...