Pre-labour contractions started at around 11am on the morning of 1 Nov (after a substantial show the morning before).
By 1pm I stopped doing everything else but focusing on the contractions which had become quite intense, but not really regular yet. I made the mistake of taking some panadeine which I think made me drowsy and in many ways less able to cope...won't do that again. Other than that I was able to use my yoga breathing, we had the '25 ways to awaken your birth power' CD on the background and I mostly leant over a ball and the bed. The midwives had suggested getting in the shower but I resisted this for some reason.
By about 2.30pm they were coming almost every 3 minutes, but occasionally longer so we monitored them for quite a while before calling the hospital and telling them we wanted to come in. The contractions in the car were I think the worst because I was half sitting...I don't know how so many women did it that way. We got to the birthing suite around 4pm.
I was told that they could examine me to see how much I was dilated but that as it wouldn't changed anything that we did from here, and it would mean that I'd have to get on my back on the bed, we decided not to bother. They convinced me to try the shower...marvellous. I would stand and have the shower across the back of my hips during the contractions and sit in between with the water running over my lower belly. I must admit that I desperately wanted to take some drugs, but at the same time I didn't want to get out of the shower, so took the 'one more contraction' approach. Jeff sat by me and kept my hydration up but other than that he didn't have much to do as I didn't really want any physical support. After a while my legs got really tired so we decided to climb up on the bed and have a heat pack for a while, which gave me a bit of rest. We put the '25 ways' CD on again which gave me some good distraction/focus too. Then around 6.15pm I felt that I needed to go to the toilet so I sat there for a while and the contractions slowed down. I had completely forgotten that that often happens in the transition to 2nd stage. The midwife came back in and Jeff decided that since there was a lull he'd go get some dinner, about 2 minutes after he left I felt a tremendous urge to push and my waters broke with a pop. By the time he returned, I was up on the bed again on my knees, the obstetrician had arrived and we'd started pushing. 2nd stage last about 50 minutes. Katherine's arm came out with her head, so there were second degree tears...not that I felt them, and she was blowing bubbles, which made the midwife and OB laugh. The rest of her body came out with a single push. Jeff cut the cord (I was very proud of him) The placenta 4 minutes later. The midwife said that I'd had one of the easiest first births that she'd seen.
They say that you forget the pain once it's over. I don't think that is true for me, it's still pretty vivid in my mind. But once it is over it is gone...and that's the important bit.
I actually don't think I used the yoga breathing very much during the labour, mostly it was noise that got me through. The midwife tells me though that it was very rythmic noise and she could tell that I'd done some yoga...so I suspect my subconcious kicked in. I do think though that everything I learnt in my yoga classes about how birthing works and the relaxations really helped keep me calm during the whole process, I was never worried at any stage about what was happening...although of course I couldn't wait for it to be over.
And the second best bit, apart from our healthy baby girl, was that the awful tasted I'd had in my mouth since 5 weeks pregnant was gone with the labour. The nicest meal I'd had in months was the two slices of toast with vegemite that the midwife bought me.
Anyway, the vital statistics are:
Katherine Grace Campbell Bunsell
Born Saturday 1/11/08 at 7.19pm
3.54kg (7lb 13oz)
49cm long
35cm head circumference
What a beautiful story. You brought back some memories about the feelings during birth too, particularly the part about taking it just one more contraction at a time.
Well done, mate. Congratulations!
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Katherine Grace - 1/11/08 - 7.19pm
what a fantastic birth fussy!! Im so jealous!!
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