Caiden's birth 19-1-09.

The weeks leading up to the birth were filled with excitement, curiosity, patience, anxiety, fear, frustration and pain. Pre-labour started on Christmas day-eve. I remember walking to the kitchen for a drink when I starded getting niggling pains in my lower back. Truly..didn't think much of it. Within the next five mins it became much more intense and I felt the distinct "wave pain" of a contraction. I remember having to sit down while my dp heated a wheat back for me and then placed it on my back. For the next hour this pain had peaks and distinct time between them. I was convinced this wasnt the beginning of active labour as it was no worse then period pain but it was good to feel the sensation of a contraction (however mild it may be). I knew my body was starting to get ready and this in itself was exciting. From this day until the day I gave birth I carried with me that dull back ache.

January 18th-Day before due date


I woke up at roughly 8am for yet another toilet trip and the're it was. I had lost a little of my plug. It had a few blood spots in it and I became immediatly excited. (Strange what us pregnant women get excited about hehe) I woke my dp up and informed him..but this didnt really mean much to him at this stage. He was kind of confused.."are you in labour or not?" ...."well eh not not necessarily but chances are labour will begin in the next 3 days"..."ok so your not in labour?" Grrr. LOL. We decided to head out for some breakfast where I absoloutly stuffed my face with eggs and bacon but became tired soon after and returned home. Because I wanted my birth to be on the central coast..I spent the month leading up to the birth at my parents house. My dp and I live in Sydney. He had to work that afternoon and seems I wasn't having any implications that labour was starting anytime soon he went to work down in Sydney with his mobile close at all times. I had a midwife appointment at 2pm so after a small nap I jumped in the car and started the drive to the hospital. My stomach was going very, very hard as my braxton hicks contractions (which i never had all that often) suddenly hit an all time high. They were taking my breath away to the point I nearly had to pull over but I managed to get there without stopping.
Once inside the hospital and in the midwife clinic, my midwife attempted to measure my belly. My belly was so tight from the BH that I measured 34 and 40 weeks! (I was actually 40 however) My midwife said that I appeared to be in pre-labour and by the frequency and intensity of my BH she guessed id be in anytime in the 24 hrs. Fingers crossed I said!
So I made it back home and basically slumped around the house until dinner. My mum cooked me my favourite meal and I gobbled it up. Almost as soon as I had finished my last mouthful I became so sickly tired I literally fell asleep sitting up at the table. I had no idea where this fatigue came from and I had never felt it so quickly before! I immediatly went to bed at around 9pm. Between 10pm and 12am I was restless. I couldnt work out what was wrong with me and why I wasnt sleeping etc. I remember feeling so irritated I wanted to punch things!!Eventually..I nodded off.

January 19th-Due Date



2am. Im awake with that all to familiar urge to pee! So off I go and bang! I lost my whole plug. It went everywhere (sorry for TMI!) I knew this was it. So I put on a pad, let my mum know what had happened and called my dp to let him know i'll probably be needing him-but as contractions had not stared yet I told him I would call when/if they began. I sat on the couch for awhile with Mum when roughly 20mins later I got my first contraction. Ever so mild but definatly a contraction. They were lasting 30 secs 15mins apart. Still very very early labor. Roughly an hr later contractions began picking up. I jumped on the computer and used the contraction counter online. From this point on my contractions were all over the place. 7mins lasting 1 min, 10mins lasting 20 secs, 4mins lasting a minute and briefly back to 15mins lasting a minute. Every contraction intensified and I called my dp to come asap. My dp arrived at about 4:30am. I was still able to talk etc, but the pain was definatly starting to catch my breath. I told everyone to go to bed-as this was still the beginning and I would let them know when it was time. I attempted to lay down but sleep just wasnt going to happen. I started sipping water as I knew id need it! Sitting with the laptop on my lap, counting my contractions that were now a constant 7mins apart lasting about a minute I watched the sunrise and in that moment I was at complete peace. I knew that before the sun rose again, I would have my son. I savoured these last few moments of being pregnant and being on my own. This small window of time I believe helped me stay calm during my labour and birth. 7am contractions are 5 mins apart lasting 2mins. I can no longer talk during the contractions so I call the hospital. I am told to leave whenever I feel I am ready. I always intended to be home aslong as I could as I am not a fan of hospitals at all. I stuck it out until 8:30am but decided it was time. My dp, Mum and I hopped in the car and arrived at the hospital 10mins later. I walked in and to my luck, my favourite midwife was on for the day! She was extremely into "active birth" methods and this is exactly what I wanted. I wanted a drug-free, active birth. She took me to the birthing suite and talked through my birth plan, checked blood pressure, urine etc then we were ready to go.
Firstly the midwife (wilga) got me a breakfast tray. She said my insulin levels were down and I needed to to eat. However, I am one of those people that have a chronic fear of vomiting and opted out of eating breakfast as I didnt want to labour with food in my stomach. Its 930am and contractions haven't changed since 7am. Still coming every 5mins lasting 2mins. The pain was there, I could feel it, but I could handle it. I still felt perfectly in control. My dp and I used this time to practice and apply the active birth techniques we had learnt. I used the gym ball, I rotated my hips, squatting and massage. This continued until about 12pm. No change. Wilga was trying to show me different ways to get bub to move lower into my pelvis. She offered an internal but I declined at this stage. 2pm things do not seem to be going anywhere. I start getting a little deflated wondering what's going on! I asked wilga for an internal. I was only 4cms dialated. I confess to feeling extremely dissapointed at this point. I was still feeling fine, but I was starting to realise this could be a long, long, labour. Wilga suggested I have my waters broken to help things move along. I decided if it would help move things along then yes. I didnt want to get so tired I ended up having to have an episiotomy or ceaserean. This was my only medical intervention. After my waters had been broken wilga suggested I go for a walk to get things happening. So my dp, Mum and I starded walking the halls of the hospital and even ended up outside. It was during this walk the my first, unbelievably painful contraction hit me. I almost doubled over in pain and couldnt breathe. "Now.Back to the room. Now." I said and we returned. To be honest I dont remember how far apart the contractions were really from this point just that they hurt. Alot. I decided to jump in the shower and oh my goodness the relief! I was on all fours as dp used the shower hose to run water over my lower back and across my front. I starded losing concept of time and as it turns out I was in there for 2 hrs! Thats how good it was in there! I eventually got out and into the hospital gown. I was using my active birth techniques every moment I could. Bouncing and rotating on the ball, heat packs, rotating against the bed, deep squats and massage. All helped. I could feel the contractions getting closer together and the pain getting more and more intense. This continued to about 5pm. Wilga had popped out to a meeting, which I hadnt minded as I appreciated the space. She was on close call however and came back anytime I needed her. She could see by the look on my face that things were getting near. She said anytime now I would feel the urge to push. 10mins went by as she waited with me, but no urge. I told her i'd be fine and call if I needed her. Literally 30secs after she walked out of the door the urge came. I immediatly became vocal as these primal, grunting noises just kept escaping from me. Wilga was back in a flash and starded getting thing's ready. I was leaning against the bed rotating my hips-which at this point was doing nothing, so Wilga suggested I use the 'toilet position. She placed a towel under the seat and then I jumped on. This positing was extremely unusual but effective. I didnt realise how much fluid I was losing until I saw how soaked the towel was!! I was moaning and groaning as I felt the strange sensation of bub moving through me. I was sweating, panting and also very tired, I had already been labouring for 15hrs! From this point on it was if I am in a trance. Time stands still and details become blurred. All my attention was on these contractions that had no start or finish...just felt like one long contraction. I was pushing because thats what my body said to do. I didnt know wether I should or not, but I wasn't going to fight it. About 6pm I was up on the bed on all fours pushing with all I had. I pushed and pushed. I was becoming so tired as every contraction drained me. Before I knew it it was 7pm and Wilga saw bubs head ever so briefly. This is when she considered the pushing stage to have actually began. I was pushing so hard but couldnt feel any progress. His head was coming, coming, coming but then went back in. He kept slipping in then out of my birth canal. This was so distressing. 8pm. I had enough. Through this whole labour this is when my confidence began to slip. I looked to my mum and said "I don't think I can do this anymore. I am to tired." but sure I enough I just kept going. At this point I turned onto my back-the position I most wanted to avoid but I was so tired and dazed and didnt argue just went with the flow. Wilga left at 8pm so there was a nurse change over. Great! So Janelle, my other fav came in and took over. Janelle decided to put a mirror at the foot of the bed so I could see when bubs head was there so I knew when to push harder. This was extremely effective and helped with that extra oomf! 8:30pm. Still pushing..so tired. I try and remember back to the pain but I really was in a trance. I was so focused on getting this baby out I ignored the pain and went with it. Suddenly there were 6 midwives and a doctor in the room. They were starting to get worried about how long I had been pushing for. The doctor hooked my straight up to the monitor to see hows bub was going. He still seemed calm and they werent worried yet. 8:50pm. I am seeing more and more of his head and I am getting anxious. "GET HIM OUT" I was saying to myself.
Suddenly, the room went into panic mode. Bubs heart rate was soaring as he was getting stressed by the lengthy situation. "I'll get it ready". That was the head doctor speaking. I didnt know exactly what she was doing but I saw her fumbling on the bench putting some instruments together. Im still trying to push with all my might. I begin to feel nauseas. Please don't let me vomit I tell myself. But something was brewing so I said "WAIT!" to everyone in the room and then, "BUUUUUUUUUURP" I did the biggest burp I have ever done! Got a laugh from everyone at least haha. Straight back into it. Then as it straight out of a horror movie, I see the head doctor turn around slowly with this massive needle. She was getting ready to give me an episiotomy. She said "try one more time, but after the next contraction we have to get this baby out." This was all the will power I needed. I looked at my dp, my mum, all the nurses started tensing every muscle in my body ready for the biggest push of my life. I shut my eyes and pushed. Caiden James finally entered the world at 9:01pm. Weighing 3.8kg and measuring at 51cms. I just shut my eyes and rested if only for 10 seconds. It was such relief. He was put directly on my chest and tried to have a suckle. During this time the midwives had given me an injection to speed up the delievery of the placenta and with one little push out it came. He starded wheezing on my chest and the nurses had to take him off me to give him oxygen. After five minutes of assessing him they decided he should spend the night in the nursery so they could keep an eye on his respitory distress. My dp went with Caiden and I had a shower and some much needed food. I was fourtunate enough to only have a graze. If it had been a quicker birth I am sure I would have torn as he was a much larger baby than expected. Caiden was back at my side the following morning and went home later that afternoon.

Thanks for taking to time to read it all!!

WOW, I was holding my breath right to the end.
Congratulations hun, you did an awesome job, welcome to the world little Caiden.

That was the most amazing story ever!
you are an inspiration and proove that if you listen to your body you can do anything.
truly truly an excelent effort :clap:
Your an amazing person for doing that for your baby

congrats on the arrival of Caidan!
You did an awesome job you muct be so proud of yourself! :clap:

Well done! Thanks for the honour of announcing the birth of your beautiful son!! LOL about the burp....that is hilarious.

Its amazing how the threat of an episiotomy or the likes can summon up the most powerful strength in us..........just when we thought we had no more.

You did so well :D

Congratulations :D

Thanks for sharing your story :) I've gotta admit, I'm a little tired after reading it :lol:

What a great birthday Caiden chose (Jared arrived the same day), and so clever on his due date :)

wow! what a beautifully written birth story!

congratulations and he looks so cute!!

Wow, you did fantastically, well done!!

Thanks for sharing your awesome story :D

well done!!!