The birth of our very last (and very lucky) chicken
From the beginning - DH and I were not having any more children. We were happy with our four healthy children, and started organising on who would perform DH's vasectomy. However, before we could, I was "accidentally" pregnant - theoretically I should have been safe on day 17 of my cycle when ovulating on day 14, however, it seemed the Universe had other ideas.
After much deliberation, we decided to go with whatever the Universe had deemed appropriate - and whatever will be, will be.
I organised to have a home birth, I figured if it was going to be my last birth, I could at least give this a go. Despite the expense and some guilt about using family money to pay for it - we went ahead and organised a group of midwives to take me on. I was given the all clear from them and their participating OB on staff for a home birth.
My pregnancy wasn't full of that much drama, some gallbladder issues and SPD but nothing that was remotely uncomfortable as anything I suffered through my last few pregnancies.
A couple of nights before 41 weeks I hadn't been sleeping very well, and on Thursday 19th September, took a drive to the Sunshine Coast to talk to my midwife about how she would support me during my birth as I had been having panic attacks about what to expect having never used her before. After we chatted she checked me over, gave me a S&S and then I was on my way home.
I had some pains that afternoon and a lot of pressure, mostly pains like someone was hitting my bladder or hitting the nerves down there and it was very uncomfortable. The pains got worse towards 8pm that night, and it was so bad we were trying everything to stop it. I got DH to perform the rebozo technique on me to see if we could move the baby's positioning to see if that was causing it. I was on the couch with a heat pack, and some pillows, and also had a codeine to try and take it away. Finally, I messaged my midwife to see if she had any ideas, and she suggested I take a bath. I managed to get into the bath, and the pain faded a bit.
Then, as my midwife called a bit later to check on me - I started having little niggles while she was on the phone. She said she was leaving the coast now and will be at my house for anything that could happen.
They arrived at around 10pm and I was having regular-ish sensations in the bath, nothing I couldn't breathe through and they only lasted for about 20 seconds maximum - probably every 10 minutes or so. DH was made to set up the birth pool, just in case.
She then set me up in the bedroom to snuggle with DH and just try and relax, and disappeared to our loungeroom with the other midwife.
After a while, regular contractions set in that I was breathing through. This was it! OMG, I was actually going into labour before 41 weeks! Amazing.
I moved around our bedroom a bit, the contractions had moved to coming every 2-3 minutes and getting stronger in intensity. This was probably around 11.30-midnight-ish.
I moved to the room with the birth pool and worked hard through each contraction, squatting to bring baby down because he was still high and mobile. I was having fairly regular contractions, good strength and intensity and bub's heartrate was perfect.
It wasn't too much later when I got into the pool and started feeling a bit pushy. But it was a weird kind of pushy, I would have a really bad contraction that hurt the front of my pelvis, and then a weaker contraction. I also had a LOT of back pain, which didn't make sense either because the baby wasn't sitting in a bad position, was just a bit high.
We kept going, and eventually I was pushing with all my might. Nothing was happening. My midwife did an internal, I had a bit of a lip so she wanted me to work through a couple of contractions and then push again. Had a few very painful contractions, but they felt a bit odd to me. We kept going and trying to push through MANY different positions, and it just didn't feel right. Something was off, but I didn't know what - bubs was down, but then he moved back up again.
I had some waters break, but it wasn't all of them, just a little bit. Then a bit of bloody show. I got back in the pool, started trying to push again - again nothing was happening. Then I got back out of the pool and she did another exam (which she rarely ever does) and my cervix had started to swell and had gone back to 8cm. Something was definitely wrong and we mutually decided to transfer to the hospital. My pain had changed from a normal contraction like pain, to a searing pain at the front of my belly, so instinctively I knew we had to hurry up and get to hospital.
It took me about half an hour to get to the car, I just couldn't move without bringing on a contraction, and every contraction I would hold back pushing, and DH would be rubbing my back like crazy - the back pain was just incredible (but we didn't know WHY! Referral pain has been blamed for this now, because he definitely wasn't posterior).
Eventually we got to the hospital, and I started having a panic attack. The midwife there got me to lie down, and started her exam, meanwhile, I'm still contracting every 2-3 minutes, with very intense contractions. They put the CTG on me, perfect trace, nothing wrong with baby. I'm trying to get through the awfully painful contractions with gas at this stage, and DH couldn't rub my back - so I was writhing around on the table trying to breathe properly. The pain was like nothing I had ever felt before. Then the Registrar came in, and was discussing a c-section - I told her I wanted a general and she tried to talk me into a spinal. I said no - I need to be knocked out ASAP - I just felt it. Something was wrong. Even though the CTG was perfect and there were no signs of anything happening, I knew I needed my baby out.
The midwife said I had a full bag of waters - so she broke them. After my next contraction - I hemorrhaged. Everyone in the room freaked out, I was crying because I had to have full on contractions on my back, they were inserting a catheter twice without pain relief and inserting the canula at the same time. They whisked me into the theatre and held down my arms while I was having another intense contraction, it felt like my belly was about to rip into two. DH and my midwife could hear me screaming from the waiting area, I felt like I was going to die and I didn't care, I just wanted the pain to stop.
I woke up a little while later from the general.
And then I was told that I had had a placental abruption. And my uterine scar had a hole in it, and was only 2-3 contractions away from rupturing completely. I lost 2.3L of blood.
Baby was safe - short visit to the SCU with breathing issues. Nobody could work out why this had happened with NO signs of it happening. All monitoring at home with the doppler had been perfect. CTG at the hospital was perfect. No fresh blood, just a bloody show which is normal at that dilation. No obvious pain between contractions. It has completely baffled my midwives but we are all thanking someone up in the universe for letting us follow our instinct - even on no signs. Just a feeling.
So! After all that drama - our little boy was born at 5.51am on the 20th September. DH went home a bit later and then came back later telling me that the midwife who was with me in surgery told him that he should be calling the baby Lucky. So he googled Lucky and came up with a name that I had suggested a week earlier - completely out of the blue. Felix.
Meaning: lucky or fortunate.
So Felix Azarias has joined our family in the most dramatic fashion and hopefully will be a really easy going child to bring up for the rest of it lol
Wow Arimeh, what an incredible story! You've done such a brilliant job, well done following your instincts and getting him here safely. Good job Mama and welcome Felix!
So glad you trusted your instincts! That is what every woman should be helped to do. Glad your mw's listened to you and helped you do what needed to be done. But gee, it does sound really painful. I hope you have space to debrief all of that.
Oh my goodness arimeh! I'm so glad ur both safe.... Well done to u and ur midwife for listening to ur instincts. I am wishing u a very speedy recovery xxx
mel, youre a brave lady. so so proud of you and thrilled that you all came through something so scary. glad you're safe and well with another gorgeous babe to add to your lovely family. congratulations and welcome to the world felix. enjoy those newbie snuggles xox madame xox
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The birth of our very last (and very lucky) chicken
You did a wonderful job trusting your instincts, congratulations and welcome to Felix!
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