Hayden’s “better late than never” textbook birth

[Rowellen]

It has been almost a year since his birth, but I’ve been wanting to write his birth story for some time now. The details are mostly still clear but starting to fade on the finer points.

5 May 2008
A few drinkies & little BDing on our first wedding anniversary resulted in the conception of a much longed for baby. We had been told that we would have to go through IVF, but Hayden was conceived naturally with a little medical help.

Saturday, 24 January 2009
Hayden’s due date came without a hint of labour starting. Also came the PUPPPS rash. I spent the next 10 days in a blur of calamine lotion, pinetarsol, round the clock showers & non-stop scratching. I slept better after the birth

Monday, 2 February 2009
A visit to my OB. She thought it might be time for an induction. She rang the hospital and they said they had availabilities on the Tuesday or Thursday. Tuesday happened to be BIL’s birthday so DH said no way so Thursday it was. Booked in for 8am.

Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Approx 1.30am I awoke with contractions that felt “different” to the BH I had been having and I thought, hmmm something might finally be happening. The contractions came every 10 to 20 minutes apart. I was able to doze between contractions. At this stage, they weren’t painful as such, more just uncomfortable. It was quite hot so I had been sleeping on the couch in just my undies with the aircon on.

About 3.30am, DH got up to get ready for work. I suggested that he probably shouldn’t go but I wasn’t sure. He sat with me for about half an hour by which time the contractions were starting to get stronger and closer together. He decided to stay home and went back to bed to get some more rest.

5am – My contractions were getting quite ouchy now. I thought I was supposed to have a whole day of the lighter contractions. But it seemed that my boy was in a hurry now he had made up his mind to come out. At this time, my body decided to (TMI alert) empty bladder, bowel & stomach all at once. Luckily I was in the toilet at this stage so the mess was mostly contained . My wonderful DH cleaned my vomit. Love him!

6 am – I am in the toilet again. I had been walking around the house but seemed to keep ending up there. Contractions are now 5 minutes apart roughly (they were still quite irregular) and the pain factor was increasing a lot. We decided to ring the hospital and after talking for just a couple minutes I had another contraction, screamed down the phone, & was advised that we could come in if we wanted to. We picked up our bags that had been packed & waiting for weeks, I put on the lightest dress I could find (left the undies behind lol) jumped in the car and headed for the hospital. It was about a 20 min drive. In the car my contractions were about 3 minutes apart.

6.30 am – We arrive at the hospital. There are dozens of people in the waiting room at the entrance but we walked straight past them. We went to the maternity instead of the birth suite by mistake, but soon we are directed to our birth room. The mid-wife who would be attending us hadn’t arrived. I headed straight for the furthest corner of the shower, throwing my dress off on the way! I just couldn't bear the feel of clothes on me. The contractions slowed down a bit but were still very painful. A mid-wife came in to check on me as I was being so loud. My mid-wife, Michelle, finally arrived and talked me through the breathing. Suddenly the pain factor dropped dramatically & became so much more bearable.

I spent the next few hours in the shower mostly standing and swaying through my contractions. After a while, the mid-wife suggested the fit-ball. Then we moved to the armchair, I knelt in front of it. All the while Michelle & DH are talking me through my breathing, DH is bringing me drinks & food (I didn’t have much though).

Michelle asked me if I felt like pushing. I didn’t. After a few minutes, she asked again. I still didn’t so she suggested I try. What do you know I did want to push! Around this time I completely lost track of time and I asked for pain relief. I now realise I was in the transition stage. The mid-wife looked behind me and then said, I’m sorry, it’s too late for pain relief. I glanced behind me & realised my OB was there & I hadn’t even seen her come in! This gave me the motivation to keep going – I must be close if the OB is there. After what felt like 10 minutes (DH later told me it was more like 30), I gave a mighty push, tried to keep going for as long as possible, & then the head was out. One more mighty big push and the shoulders and body followed (the most wonderful yet awful feeling). My little boy, Hayden Cooper, was finally here. Official time of birth was 12.43pm. He was passed to me through my legs and we had a breastfeed straight away. He knew exactly what to do!

I had intended to birth the placenta naturally but it was taking a long time so I had the needle. The placenta came out (awful awful feeling). My OB stitched up my minor tear, the mid-wife felt my belly & I was still cuddling my baby. They were a little worried that my uterus hadn’t returned to normal but I passed a huge blood clot in the shower (another awful feeling), & then it was fine.

So there you have it, a little late but otherwise textbook drug-free birth. *gives self pats on back* Weight 9lb 10oz or 4.37 kg. I never had an internal examination so I didn't know how far along I was at any point. They checked Hayden's heartrate every now & then with the doppler but otherwise I was left to labour as I felt like it. Hayden is about to celebrate his first birthday, but I still think about his birth like it was yesterday.

Thank you for reading my story (sorry it was so long).

[feeb]

What a lovely birth story!!

Well done, Hope Hayden has a great first birthday and you have a great birthing day.

xoxox

[AliB]

Oh Rowellen what a lovely story! It is so positive to read about things going as they should (for once!!) and your wonderful support from your midwife and DH.

"empty bladder, bowel & stomach all at once" - I've never heard of a three-way body void!! LOL. I also like that you kept us up to date with the undies situation too (undies on couch, no undies to hospital)

Thanks for posting and what a lovely 1st b'day gift for darling Hayden!

xo

[onthefly]

Wow, great story, thanks!

[boomba]

Well done...great birth story thnaks for sharing

[kristi14]

Oh to have a birth like that with no intervention or constant monitoring. You did so well

Happy 1st bday little man

[human bean]

A very well deserved pat on the back What a great and encouraging birth story - thanks for sharing!

[sneakysparkle]

what a great story!
thanks

[Rowellen]

Thank you everyone

Oh to have a birth like that with no intervention or constant monitoring.

I wish that everyone could experience birth as I did. No matter what happens though birth is such a wonderful special event.

Thanks AliB for kicking me up the bum to write my story. The undies thing cracks me up now looking back so I had to share that bit

[JennaJayen]

WOW! You are one strong lady
I wish it had been like that for me lol, but then I suppose when DS's head got stuck that was it, straight to C-sec. But I would love to be able to do that that with my next one.
Thank you for sharing it with us!
Happy 1st B-Day Hayden!

[donnam]

What a great story Rowellen - thank you for sharing! Nice to read a good positive story. For those of us yet to have a baby, sometimes all these stories can be terrifying (I have a low pain threshold, the thought of labour makes me go faint lol). Yours made me feel so much better - yes it hurt, but you toughed it out and had a beautiful labour.

And the undies thing...

Also love the inherent lack of dignity that comes with labour... walking around starkers, huby cleaning vomit.. this is the stuff they don't tell you!!!

Thanks again