Miss Harper 15/12/2009

yes i know, a little late, but have been reading a few birth stories as of late and really enjoying them.

A little back ground, DS born 27/7/08 on his due date, ctx started at 4 am. laboured at home all day quite well i think, till we went to small local hospy at 2:30 after chatting with a midwife at 1pm, had some monoriting and was decided, yes, in labour at 3pm. i thought great, its going to be forever labouring in hospital and i just wish i was at home, but after ARM at some stage for an un known reason to me still, ds was born at just before 8 pm, small at 5 lb 13 oz but perfectly fine. Had a 2nd degree tear and got away with the use of some gas


fast forward to ds being 8 months old, dh and i opened our first business together, a cafe when ds was 5 months old, and just when we decide to start for another bubba again, i test and already pg! how exciting! lucky to be very fertile.

So another regular normal boring pregnancy goes by, for some reason, i'm sure i'll go early, but at my midwife appt at 39 weeks, with baby seeming so so far away, middy says " if you havent delivered by next week, due date, :o, i will give you a S&S".....mmmmm not thanks. I was terrified! i didn't want a S&S, i had heard they hurt like all hell!
So i think that thought scared bub into action, and kept having the pre labour i had felt for the last few weeks and here arrives due date, december 15.

Normal day at the rogers household, swimming for ds at 11:20 am, about 10 kms away. Woke at 4am with tightenings, and thought, yay! maybe today is the day! But didn't get too excited, just thought, we will see what today brings, and thankful i had my bags packed.

So since 4am, had tightenings all day, 20 mins apart to begin with. i messaged all my mothers group girls early, saying that today could be the day, ds was the oldest child in the group and we all went swimming together, i was also the first for number 2. Didn't have much sleep till swimming, but dh went in the water with ds. MG girls were gobsmacked that i was there, and were amazed when they saw me, saying, gosh, aren't you having pains? are you in labour? yes, i said, since 4am, but they are fine, i am SO ok!

after swimming, we went home, ds had some lunch and we just lounged around while Dh mowed our 4 acres, in the middle of summer we have PLENTY of grass to mow. So we just hung out inside, reading, playing, watching some ABC2 no doubt oh and i think Cars movie for the millionth time.

Ctx kept coming 20 mins on the dot, but felt just like strong Bh's and i just kept doing what i was doing. So dinner time for ds comes, he goes to bed, without a fus which is good for everyone. at 6:30 ish they start coming at about 15 mins apart. still same intensity- bearable.

Dh and i have a stupid dinner in hindsight, steak, potatoes- really heavy dinner. thank god im not a spewer during labour. still just chillin on the couch, breathing through the pains which seem to be getting a bit more full on, but still not really serious- i dont think anyway.

So i call my midwife at about 8:30pm and she says if im comfortable, stay at home till they are 5 mins apart, or i can't do it any more or my hot water runs out. I say i think im coping really well, she seemed to think so too, saying i'd probably be in over night and have the baby by the morning.

Man was she right! It ramped right up and time becomes a blur from now on in, except dh noticing the clock when we arrive at the hospital.

Pains start getting pretty full on, now im getting off the couch that i have been laying on, resting, to kneeling in front of dh who is sitting and breathing/rocking through them. they start coming right on top of each other and it gets really full on. I have a massive one, right after another whopper, freak out- transition it later seems- and i remember starting to cry and i say to dh " oh god, i cant do this anymore- transition again- not for hours, how am i going to do it without drugs?" i wanted a drug free birth.
I was adamant i was going to be in labour for hours and hours as it hadn't been so bad , i thought it was just the beginning. but BOY was i wrong!

At my last midwife appointment, she said, you could labour really fast, if your waters break it will probably happen really fast, don't be silly, and try to get to hospital, call 000 and stay at home.

Next contraction, my waters break. Odd feeling as i had ARM with ds. It felt warm and like a flood. quite gross actually. i was kneeling in front of dh in the lounge at the time. lovely for the carpet...... anyway, i tell dh to call my mum, she lives 5 mins away, and is coming to be here for ds while we went to hospy. I have another ctx while hes talking to her- moaning through it, she realises, man it is really close and flies over.

Next call to the midwife, and dh gets im madamerogers dh name out, and she hears me moaning in the background and says come straight in!

so i get to the toilet to get pants off and yell to dh to get me another pair and some undies and a pad- and for some stupid reason i felt really wierd with dh seeing me on the toilet?????:redface: no idea why, just seemed like tmi ? haha anyway, have another ctx sitting on the loo- that was awful, come back out, get to the dining table, have another on all fours just as my poor mum walks in- i think she freaked out.

She helped me up, dh has got bags in car, i go to get in the back seat and decide thats not going to work, not enough room to get comfy, so come around to the front passenger side, have another ctx by the side of the car....man it's getting really scary now. no way am i sitting down in the seat, so i kneel facing the back on a garbage bag and towel to protect the seat...hahaha funny what you still care about - don't ruin the seats!!!

So the lightening trip to the hospital. which is in the country,in the next town, through our little town then freeway, so pretty good driving, especially at this time of night, it's about 10:30 pm by now.

so naughty i am kneeling on the front seat, no seatbelt, having ctx on top if ctx. feels like the slowest trip ever and i am having killer lower back pain, so have dh applying pressure with his hand while he drives. fly through town, speeding, and get to hospital in 5 minutes. I'll just say its usually a 20 minute drive.

have a ctx just before we get there and they have been really really hurting, the last few i didn't hold back anymore, just kind of went with what my body wanted. oh how that felt better. I knew baby was nearly there, it felt like the head was between my legs. I said to dh, this baby is going to be here really soon, just as we pulled up to the hospital.

Middy there with a wheelchair, i said, " do you want me to sit down in that?" so finished another ctx, sat down and the girl who pushed me went like a train! it's a really long corridor to the brithing rooms, felt like it went on forever! had another ctx along the way, the lady i shared a room with later that night said she saw them wheel me past and i looked really focused and was just breathing. haha it must have looked funny. me huffing and puffing.

Got to the birth room, waited for the ctx to finish, breathed for a minute, then mw helped me stand up, said can you take your pants off and hop up on the bed so i can have a look, "oh yes, theres the head" :o i think dh was shocked.....

So another ctx comes and i'm sort of climbing onto the bed- ITMS, so kneeling on it at the side, head is born next ctx, then bubba seems stuck a bit. A compound presentation so her hand was up across her throat with it at her opposite ear. Mw had to "help" her out by pulling a bit. didnt feel nice at all, but dh says he remembers when her shoulders "popped" out. So do I!!!

But she didn't just slide out like ds did, no idea why, but mw had to gently pull the rest of her body out. so bubba was passed though my legs and put on the bed, i still have my top on, I pick up bub, and get on the bed. Wow! that was fast. I felt in shock and dh looked shocked too. Another mw came in to assist with whatever they needed to do, and said ' didn't you just come in?" yep, that was me, now heres my baby! Dh said he looked at the clock at reception when we arrived, 10:49, bubba born at 10:54pm!!!

Gosh i was so shocked i hadn't even looked to see what sex the baby was, but yes, a GIRL! Our little Harper Mae. Cute as a button, her nose a little squished because of the compound presentation but gorgeous none the less. another small bubba for me, but perfectly healthy.

Dh called my mum, who didnt believe i'd had the baby already, and also his parents.
We had straight skin to skin contact and she fed within about 20 minutes, very very well which was good. It's amazing that second time around you are relaxed and sort of know what you're doing.
Had injection and delivered placenta with mw, and it was quite gritty, which they say is a sign of smoking- i never have had one in my life, or that it has just done its job.

Had awful awful afterbirth pains, all of the staff kept telling me that with second and subsequent births they can be really bad and to keep up on pain meds, i didnt realise how bad they could be. worse than labour pains to me. But must have been like my body during labour, just doing it's job really effectively as my uterus had shrunk down really quickly.
Had to wait an hour for the dr to come to suture the 2nd degree tear id had, that was worse than labour. Poor dh's hand while i got the local.....ouch.....anyway, all is well, dh stayed for another hour or two then decided to go home and sleep. I missed him that night, but he slept well and came back in the morning with Ds to meet his new sister! how nice!
We had a long night, but i remember that with ds too, so much birth adrenaline pumping around your body, you can't sleep. I think a mw told me off at 5am to go to sleep! believe me, i was trying. i was so tired.

so stats i guess
Harper Mae
15/12/2009
2790g or 6lb 2 oz
49 cm long
33 cm head circ

my second due date bubba!

labour stats 1st stage 4:45
2nd stage 9 mins
3rd 4 mins

So all is well with us now, and a happy healthy gorgeous 15 month old we have now. Who decided to walk at 10 months just to keep us on our toes.
We had planned to extend the family yet again, but sadly lost bubba at 10 weeks on new years day. But waiting for another one to join us whenever they decide

Thanks so much for reading my late and probably long birth story, i enjoy reading others, gets me all excited and clucky again!

x madame x

Just awesome mate - you were so cool, calm and collected!! I should have you on my speed dial so you can talk me through this one ;)

thanks melly, you can call me anytime! It was a fabulous if quick birth x have to thank Ina may a bit...

What a lovely, inspiring, birth story!
You clearly dealt so well with the pains, I can only imagine how much a shock it was for you to come so quickly!
Imagine if your DH didn't speed on the way.... :o She would have been born in the car!
Well done Missy! You did so perfectly

The afterbirth pains were bad for me also, totally agree they're worse than actual labour pains. Ouch!
I can't wait for your next baby to decide to join us :)

Beautiful x

Wonderful story, you did so well and Harper is so lovely. :hug:

Well done!! Thanks for sharing your birth story! It was full of suspense! Wow things happened so fast didn't they!? :D

With the placenta, my MW said to me after I'd delivered it, "are you a smoker?" and I said "nope!" but I was 7 days overdue..... it had started breaking down..... perhaps that's what yours was looking like too? It's fascinating seeing the placenta huh? I can't wait to do it all again soon.

Congratulations on birthing your beautiful princess!! Gorgeous name :p

Welcome to this world Miss Harper!

Thanks for sharing your story - it really was exciting! I felt like i was there in the back of your car speeding down the freeway with you lol!

Loved reading ur birth story, felt as though my heart was racing with u! congrats (belated) lol

What an awesome birth story and such a lovely name... thank you so much for sharing, these stories really do make you clucky (thank goodness I've already got a bun in the oven)

Congratulations! What a fantastic birth story! Love the name too :)