Episode 28: Three Fast Girls, with Natalie Baitson

KEY TOPICS: 3 births, measuring small, precipitous labours, frank breech, unplanned home birth, natural deliveries, developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH)

We're meeting Natalie Baitson in this episode: a mother whose labours got progressively faster - from 6 hours, to 1 hour... to just 17 minutes! 

Natalie and her partner were teenage sweethearts before starting their family in their early twenties, with baby Kaila in 2013. There's an unusual twist about about how the couple discovered they were expecting, but the pregnancy was straightforward and Natalie had a good natural delivery at hospital. The only concern was that she measured small for all three pregnancies - although her babies were all around 6lbs born, and she herself has a slight frame.

In 2017 Natalie experienced her only pregnancy that involved sickness, before Baby Kleo was born unexpectedly quickly at home. It was a high-risk situation due to breech position, with Natalie's partner delivering the baby as the ambulance was delayed. She believes they were able to manage the situation as it was their second birth. Natalie describes a complication affecting baby Kleo's hip, that required months of monitoring and trips to the Evelina hospital in London. Natalie tried an unusual treatment technique that proved successful, and happily Kleo now has a full range of movement with no lasting effects.

Her third birth in 2022 is described as Natalie's most traumatic, due to the sheer speed of events. This time her husband insisted on taking her to hospital when he recognised the first sign of labour... Natalie describes a race against time, and another dramatic birth at the entrance of the Maternity ward! She has time stamps on her phone messages that prove just how rapidly the labour progressed - something she points out can be very difficult to adjust to physically and emotionally. I'm very grateful to her for sharing her very fast birth stories! (Recorded June 2025).

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