12. Colette : Pregnancy at 16 and three "back-to-back" labours

Colette had her first baby at 16, her second at 23 and her third at 38. Colette’s three pregnancies and births were all very different but had one thing in common - her babies were positioned back-to-back, which led to long labours.

Her first experience was positive thanks to a supportive network of family and friends, but was still characterised by naivety and judgement navigating a teenage pregnancy. For her second, she was better informed but her epidural was only effective on one side which led to a less effective pain relief. Now a qualified hypnobirthing teacher, for her third pregnancy, Colette was informed to advocate for herself and her desire for an unmedicated birth. She also experienced something called the foetal ejection reflex: when a baby is born with no pushing at all. Colette is living proof that the different stages of labour do not always correspond to the timings we expect, in her words “the cervix is not a crystal ball”.