The birth of Finn Peter 22 June 2011
This is the birth I always wanted to have. This is the birth that healed me of my disappointment in myself following my DD’s birth. I always knew I had it in me to birth naturally, in control and without drugs and I was so disappointed in myself after my DD’s birth that I had failed to do so.
When my midwife asked me a few weeks prior when I thought I’d give birth I answered ‘A Wednesday, not sure when though’ – but that was a lie. I had a feeling it would be the 22nd, that date just resonated with me, even though my official due date was the 28th. I’d also known my daughter would be due on her due date 2 and half years prior – so there is definitely something to be said for a mother’s intuition.
I had an acupuncture session on the Tuesday afternoon in the hope that it would start things moving. I’d been experiencing strong braxton hicks for about a month and was eager to get the ball rolling. I was huge and uncomfortable and really ready to meet my little man. I spent the night on hands and knees over my fitball watching Offspring and talking to my sister on the phone. Her son’s birthday was the next day so I jokingly said I’d give him the best present of all – a new little nephew.
I went to bed but woke around 1am with some mild cramps – nothing unusual at this stage though. Couldn’t manage to get back to sleep so decided to get up around 2am. Started timing my contractions on the computer and they were around 7 mins apart. I kept needing to use the toilet as my body decided to clear itself out and I noticed some pink when I wiped.
I started packing the final items into my hospital bag and whenever a contraction hit I would just lean over the kitchen bench and rock and breathe through them. I felt excited that I would finally meet my little man and also excited that I was going to prove to myself that I could get the labour I wanted.
By 3am contractions were around every 3-5 mins. I decided to tell my husband I was in labour but to stay in bed and I’d let him know when we had to move. By 4am I decided to ring the hospital to check in with them. I told them I’d stay home for as long as I could but as it was a 30 min drive and we had to make a detour to drop our daughter at her grandmother’s, I was torn between staying home until the last minute and not wanting to leave it too late!
By 5.30am I decided it was time to head in. Contractions were still mild to moderate but I could definitely feel they were working and knew I was pretty dilated at this stage. We dropped our daughter off and told her we’d be back later that day to collect her. Contractions had slowed down a little on the drive in and I was worried things may stall once I got to hospital. The midwives showed us to our room and asked if I wanted to be examined to see how things were progressing. I agreed as I was curious myself and also we wanted to know if we needed to call our midwife to come in straight away. We were in the midwife program with the hospital and saw the same midwife throughout our pregnancy and she was to be at the birth. She was fantastic and super supportive of everything I wanted. She was ready to stand up for me against hospital regulations if she needed to and I felt really comfortable with her. She knew I wanted as natural a birth as possible with minimal interventions. The midwife who checked us in however was the complete opposite. She was extremely rough in her vaginal examination to the point that it felt like digital rape. She exclaimed ‘Wow you’re 8cm already – but you’re very stretchy and I could push it to 9’ – which she proceeded to do so very painfully! She quickly phoned our midwife to come in and told me that she and the other midwives at check-in didn’t believe I was in labour when I came in. She also kept repeating over and over that this baby was going to be HUGE because my first had been 4kg. She then said she didn’t think my midwife would make it to the birth in time and that my baby would most likely have shoulder dystocia. Okay thanks for trying to scare me just before I’m about to give birth! I just kept praying that my midwife would turn up in time as this horrible midwife was ruining my so far peaceful labour.
Finally my midwife Maree turned up. I could of kissed her I was soooo relieved! The other midwife disappeared and I was able to shake off her negative comments. I continued to breathe and rock through my contractions and visualised my cervix opening with each contraction. After a little while Maree said that there was pressure from the hospital to see how things have progressed. WTF I had only been at the hospital an hour or two! Maree said she had my back and I could refuse another examination as she knew I wanted as few interventions as possible. I agreed to the examination mainly for my own curiosity. Maree checked and I hadn’t progressed any further. She said I could keep going on my own or she could break my waters to see if it helped things along. She said it was completely up to me and I shouldn’t feel pressured to do anything I didn’t want to do. Honestly at that point I didn’t know what to do. From the start I said I wanted as few interventions as possible but I was also eager to get things going. With each contraction I could feel the baby’s head pushing on my cervix and it felt like the waters were holding us back. I agreed to have my waters broken and when the next contraction hit I exclaimed ‘I need to push!’ Maree asked what position I wanted to birth in and I said on all fours so she set up a mat on the floor and I leaned over the end of the bed. She told me that if she said I needed to crawl up the bed at any stage – I had to crawl up the bed! I guess this was in case bubs had shoulder dystocia. This was the hardest part of my labour. Everything in my body was saying ‘PUSH’ but I was told to breathe through the contractions to try to minimise tearing. This was also the first time I made a sound throughout my labour! I roared and wiggled my toes to try and distract myself from pushing but I could feel bub charging down the birth canal. I began to sweat from the exertion of not pushing! I felt his head emerge and the ‘ring of fire’ and finally I was given the ok to push. Another contraction and baby was out. I believe my first words were ‘Thank god that’s over!’ I picked bub up between my legs and cradled him to my chest. We waited for the cord to stop pulsing before DH cut it. The placenta took a long time to come out even after two injections and there was talk of needing surgery to get it out but thankfully it eventually came out with a bit of help from an OB. I had a 1st degree tear but it didn’t require any stitches.
Our gorgeous son Finn Peter was born at 8.50am weighing 10 pounds 1 ounce (4.6kg). He was 54cm long, 35.5cm head with Apgars 9 and 9. We were discharged 4 hours later and introduced him to his big sister who has been besotted with him ever since.
I honestly couldn’t have wished for a better birth and feel so blessed to have our little man who brings so much joy into our lives.
Thanks for reading :)
