Maja was my third pregnancy, I was well and truly exhausted. In my third trimester, I was diagnosed with Pubis Symphysis Disfunction. I was in lots of pain and discomfort, the only relief I would get was floating in our big bath.
At 38 weeks I was offered an induction, I was reluctant as both my previous births were natural, so I decided to wait longer, hoping I would naturally go into labour. At 39 weeks and 3 days, I had enough. That day I had an appointment with the Ob at the hospital, he did an internal to see if I could be induced but to my surprise I was already 4cm dilated! (that explained the strong Braxton Hicks I have been having for over two months). He said I won’t need an induction and that I will be back within 24 hours.
Maja’s Birth
As soon as I left the hospital I started to have very mild contractions and by the time I arrived home I had a show. I started to get excited.
By evening the contractions weren’t any stronger but were definitely coming on every 10 minutes or so. My husband put the boys to bed and I decided to have a warm bath, some Panadol and go to sleep. My previous labours started in the middle of the night so I never got any sleep. The next thing I realised when I woke up was that it was already 7am! I slept an entire 12 hours through all the mild contractions!! I lied in bed for a while still timing them, they were still 10 minutes apart but definitely starting to become more painful. My husband was starting to become panicky (my 1st labour only lasted 5 1/2 hours and my second 2 1/2 hours) but I was very relaxed, I thought if things speed up we will just call an ambulance.
By mid-morning, I rang my mum so she can come down and look after William (4) and Alexander (1 1/2). While we waited I still had time to chat to all my friends and play with the boys. When my mum arrived we decided to head off to the hospital.
At the hospital
We arrived at the hospital at about 11am (after a pitstop at Maccas – I was starving!) I settled myself in and at about midday I had another internal and I was still 4cm so I figured this will take a while yet! For the next two hours, my husband and I sat there reading the paper and eating. The contractions were definitely stronger but still manageable, I was feeling really good. I then had another internal I was now 6cm and coping wonderfully. I was offered pain relief but didn’t feel I needed it. I decided to hop in a bath to relax.
The contractions were now about 3 minutes apart and getting intense, I found my self breathing through them and just relaxing, it worked wonders! After about 45 minutes I slowly made my way back to the birthing suite. By now the contractions were about 1-2 minutes apart, but still feeling really good and in complete control. I decided to stay upright and in between contractions I still managed to eat a muffin!
I then had another internal and now was 9cm! The midwife asked if I can start pushing to try to break my waters which it didn’t work, they said not to worry as they will break shortly. At this point, I felt like this was the perfect labour!! I felt I could do this 100 times!
My mind changed pretty quickly as I got one GIANT contraction which did not ease off for even 1 second. This contraction lasted about 20 minutes. I have never had such an intense feeling of pain that would just not ease!
Throughout all this I was continuously pushing. My baby’s head crowned and came half way out but then in between a breath, it was pulled back in by the intact membranes. By now I was starting to lose the plot from the pain, all I could do was scream as I pushed it’s head out for the second, then third time! The midwifes by then I think became panicky as my waters would not break naturally. Finally one of the midwifes broke my waters which were bulging between breaths and it literally sprayed about 2 metres in every direction (what a relief!). I then didn’t even push when the head came out!!
The midwife asked me to relax as the baby had a cord around it’s neck, I tried but the body was sliding out by it’s self so I just yelled for her to hurry. Within a few seconds my little girl was born. She was placed on my chest but had some breathing difficulties (because her head was out 3 times before being born, she had tried to breathe too early and swallowed amniotic fluid). She was given some oxygen for about 10 minutes but then was okay. After a far from perfect pregnancy to a almost perfect labour, I finally had an absolutely perfect little baby girl named Maja Grace, weighing 3.7 kg (8 pounds 4 ounces), 54 cm long with a head circumference of 39cm (and no stitches!) and the official labour lasting 3 hours. Her two big brothers adore her!!!!
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