The birth of baby number six
Amber Ellizabeth
June 27 2011
We decided that our family wasnt yet complete and made the decision to try and concieve baby number 6..
After about 5 months ttc we fell pregnant and were over the moon, i however didnt feel right about that pregnancy, something felt wrong and after a few short weeks we said goodbye to our bundle that we called "omlette", i was 6 weeks 2 days. My husband was devestated and said he didnt want to ttc anymore as he was too scared to loose another baby, this was my second angel...
After many months of heart break and a pretty penny or two on pregnancy tests, i had given up, turned my focus to other things and decided that i was already blessed with 5 wonderful children and i should be thankful..
That was the month i fell pregnant again, it had been almost 2.5 years of ttc...
Fast forward through 9 months of pregnancy....
Day 4 of being over due, i was already over the texts and phone calls asking if i was having contractions or if there was any baby news, i ignored them, it was a saturday and hubby was at work, he rarely worked weekends but with the baby on the way we decided we needed the money.
I felt calm, i went on facebook and made an announcement that for today please dont take it personally if i appear rude, i basically said that i didnt want or need advice on how to bring on the baby as it wasnt my 1st but my 6th and wasnt my 1st overdue but my 3rd, and i wasnt keeping her birth a secret etc..
As i had finished posting that statement a song came on tv, it was En Vouge with "free your mind". I turned the volume up and just took in the song, i decided that was what i needed to do, just free my mind..
I was texting AmandaJ and telling her of a few af type cramps etc and she said she though this might be it, i was so hoping she was right. But my the afternoon they were all over.
That night we dtd, i didnt really want to but thought why not lol
I had what i felt was a contraction straight away then nothing...
About 4am the next morning i got again what i thought was another contraction, 2 hours later another then another 2 hours after that, then nothing. We dtd again. We decided to take the kids down to the local beach to walk across the island as it was low tide. by the time we got to the island i had another possiable contraction.
We walked on the sand to the island, and by the time i got to the end i was tired, i waddled back to the main land and we let the kids play on the play ground, i had again another possiable contraction.
On the way home my hubby stopped off at woolies and the kids and i sat in the car, he was getting ingredients for lunch, it was after 2pm, i was 5 days overdue. I came home and baked nachos, still not sure if i was in labour.
At 2.30 i texted Jas to let her know that i had been having irregular but intense contractions lasting from 30sec to 1 min, but being the same intensity and not increasing..
At 3pm they were 5min to 30 min apart, but still the same intensity, they hurt, i had to breath through them, but not enough for me to say yes this is it, after all my false pre labour i was to scared to say this was the real thing for fear that it would stop. i was so tired buy my hubby wouldnt let me nap as thats when all the pre labour would stop, when i fell asleep.
My oldest Grace and my babysitter for the other 4 were at a cheerleading competion at the gold coast about an hr away from home, i was hoping she would be home intime as she was my support person, my mother was still in france and if this was it, she would miss the birth by 2-3 days.
About 4.20 i text Jas saying that i definatly think they are contractions, i however wasnt sure if i believe it, i laughed when my return text was that she was already dressed and her hubby was making her sandwhiches, at 4.40 i told Jas that Graces competition was still going, it was supposed to end at 5, and it didnt look like that was going to happen, she replied that it wouldnt supprise her if the only thing my body is waiting on was for Grace to come home, little did i know she was probably right.
At about 6.30pm the contractions had settled on being exactly 20min apart but still the same intensity, they hurt heaps but not like how i remember my true labours being. Graces competition was still going and my hubbys mum rang to ask if she could keep Grace overnight as she didnt want to drive her home as it was getting late. I started to get anxious telling my hubby that she had to be here, my mum wasnt going to be there so my daughter had to be. My father in law offered to drive her home. I was relieved.
In my texts to Jas she asked me what my guess was for time and day, she asked before or after midnight, my reply was most likey early monday morning, saying that my last 2 labours were about 1 and 2 am, and only 2 hours long, usually labouring for an hr at the hospital.
Grace got home at 8.30pm, and hubby made us both a yummy chicken salad roll for dinner, it had been a long weekend for her and she was tired, at 10.30 we suggested she goes to bed incase we had to wake her, she asked me what time i thought i would wake her up, i said probably 1 am.
I had text Jas and told her that im still going slowly and the 1min ones hurt more that the 30sec, i said i think this might be a long night and wanted to make sure that she and the twinnies in her belly got some rest. By this stage they were 10min apart and 50sec in length, but told herthey were not hospital worthy yet, but getting a bit more painful, i finally said im excited and i think this is it.
I text again at 9.30 and told Jas that one hurt!! It was nice to have her there on the other end of the phone, i didnt think of her as a student midwife she had become a friend, and kept me sane through my pregnancy.
We had text back and forth for a while, at 10pm, i said i think it all still feels like its going to slow and smooth, i mentioned how my last labour was all back pain and this was lower belly, so i was waiting for the back pain to begin, although i didnt realise how close it would be.
At 10.30 they were 7 min apart and lasting 1min and had increased in intensity again, i had forgotten how much labour hurt, it had been 3 years since my last labour, that was the last text i sent to Jas...
At 11pm they were 5 min apart, still breathing through i sent my hubby to bed, i stayed up to watch XXX Vin Diesel was a good distraction lol
By 12am they were 4 min apart and had finally become back labour, and oh wow did they hurt!
With my last labour i left for the hospital when my contractions were 2-3 min apart so though i would do that again. My contractions were still 4min apart and although i had the heater on i started getting the shakes and feeling really cold. Still 4 min apart i had a contraction and what felt like preasure so decide we might head off to the hospital.
It was 1 am, i woke hubby, he woke the kids and i made the phone calls. I had a contraction on the phone to the baby sitter, another on the phobe to Jas, told her about the shakes, she suggested it could be adrenalin, i rang the midwifes she told me not to leave it to late to get there.
The drive to the hospital was the worst, we hit every bump, every pot hole, we dropped the kids off and headed to the hospital, the pain had gotten worse but they were still 4 min apart.
It was aprox 1.45 in the morning ..
I saw the midwife at the end of the hallway, but had to stop and hold onto the rail and breath through another contraction, when i opened my eyes she was standing infront of us, i felt a warm hand on my back and a friendly voice say hello, it was Jas, i was relieved she had made it intime.
We walked through the doors of the birthing suit and this is where things get vauge for me, i remember things happening to an extent, it was like it was going in slow motion, but everything seemed to be going so fast.
I remember hearing conversations, I remember going to the toliet, then getting on the bed, i was still fully clothed i remember hubby and Jas pulling my PJ pants off.
The midwife used the doppler to find her heartbeat and it was 160, i was trying to listen to what she was telling Jas as i was breathing through my contractions. I remember hearing that 160 was as high as they like it to be and they were looking for fluctuations or something. Instantly i had thoughts run through my mind, ones i didnt share with hubby till days after birth, for thoose few min while they were talking about the heart beat all i heard was white noise and in my mind i was saying ask for a c sec, if she was going to go into distress then ask for one now, i cant do this is said to myself. All of a sudden i had thoughts of my dear friend and what she must have felt like, and for thoose few seconds i felt powerless. I had another contraction and the white noise disapeared, the midwife told me she was going to place a moniter on her head.
I was still only 7cm, and she was still quite high, i figured she must have been as i felt her move through all my contractions. I looked at the clock it was just after 2am i say to myself this is going to be a long night, we are here at least for another hour. As the midwife placed the moniter on her head, my waters broke and she said she felt her move down a bit.
I lay on the bed looked around, i saw the midwife at the end of the room taking of her gloves, Jas was to my right and hubby and Grace to my right. I felt calm, i felt at peace, i felt no contactions....
I look up at Jas and say to her that was my longest break id had, i think we may have both known that my transition was here, i dont think we realised how close.
The next words out of my mouth were the baby is comming!!!
I had started to crown, it was all happening so fast, i hear the midwife say not to push, i hear her tell Grace to put gloves on, i wasnt ready, i didnt feel her move down, i was expecting at least another hr, i forgot to pant and i kept breathing, i should have panted, i opened my eyes and saw Grace step back, i though oh no she doesnt want to help deliver, i say something like, just pull her out, it was burning, i open my eyes, i close my eyes, i feel her head come out and the fire was still burning, where is the swoosh, my favourite part of delivery the swoosh as her body passes through the fire and the flames are put out, i felt like i wasnt ready and i felt like i had no control.
Then there was the swoosh the fire was put out, the pain had stopped, she was being pulled out and put on my chest by my daughter and the midwife. MY perfect princess was here.
It was 2.14am and i went from 7cm to birth in aprox 8min, i had been at the hospital less then 30min.
I asked Grace later why she stepped back from the bed when she was putting her gloves on, she replied cause i didnt want to get my slippers wet, there was a lot of fluid on the floor lol
Grace and hubby got to cut the cord, and its something she talked about for days after the birth, the girls have this special bond, i love watching Ambers eyes light up when she sees Grace.
Theres probably some things i have left out or forgotten, but u get the idea
She was 6 days overdue and my mum missed the birth by 2 days..
Amber is now 8months old, and just as beautiful as the day i met her....
Last edited by Anila; March 6th, 2012 at 10:39 PM.
Wow! It all happened very fast at the end! How lovely that Grace helped to 'catch' her sister and cut the cord. Thanks for sharing your pregnancy and birth journey.
Grace was 7 when she got to watch her little brother come into the world, and when she found out we were having another baby she asked if she could be there again, because she was 10 we thought she could help deliver for a few different reasons, and we dont regret it at all..
She will always remember that moment, and besides the midwifes, her hands were the first out of the family to touch her...
As i typed it all out last night, it brought back so many memories......
You had a wonderful birth there with Miss Amber and how special was it to share it with her big sister Your birth happened just a bit faster than mine lol I think the more babies we have the faster it gets. If either of us go again we will have to rush at the first pain or have a homebirth (hmmmm wouldn't that be nice).
aww thanks KimB, i forgot to ask them what they actually wrote down the length of my labour as.. but when it got started it went fast... The kids are all telling hubby they want another, i find that fasinating actually, u would think being 6 already they wouldnt want anymore, but i guess they love having a big family as much as we do
The birth of baby number six..
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks