Dear Arlia ♥

Dear Arlia,

March the 16th. That's the day I had convinced myself you were going to be born. On that day you would be 37 weeks and 3 days new. Your brother was born at 37w4d and your sister at 37w5d, so it seemed pretty safe to assume that you would decide to came around the same gestation. I should have known, based on the story of your conception, that you were a rule-breaker, and that my expectation of the 16th would not come to fruition...

Once the 16th came and went I changed my mind and decided that with so many birthdays in my family and your father's falling on a 22nd, then surely you wanted to have one too. Once again, you didn't want to follow my plans and had ideas of your own.

Even though I hadn't technically reached your estimated due date, for me it felt like you were overdue based on prior experience. For every day that you stayed inside I felt I was missing out on an extra day of holding you in my arms. I started trying all the tricks for trying to help labour start but nothing seemed to be working. I was having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, and on two occasions you even tricked us into thinking you were on your way with frustrating pre-labour.

On the night of Sunday the 25th of March 2012 your Daddy was at work Djing so I decided to curl up in bed with my laptop. Around 11pm I started to feel some stronger than usual contractions and around midnight I realised that they were coming quite regularly. I sent your Daddy a text message at 12.06am letting him know I was having “some contractions”, but “nothing major”. He decided to come home straight away which turned out to be lucky.

When Daddy got home I was still laying in bed and only in pre-labour but within 15 or so minutes we decided that it seemed like labour was imminent so we sent Grandma a text message at 12.45am to see if she wanted to come over for a sleep-over to look after your brother and sister. While Grandma got ready and drove the hour trip over I started making sure we had everything ready for the hospital and got everything ready for your siblings for the next day.

Around 1.30 my active labour started and my contractions started coming much stronger and very quickly together. I was timing them using a phone application and was surprised when they seemed to be coming every 4-5 minutes apart. Pregs (my Obstetrician) had warned me that 3rd labours can be very unpredictable and very fast, and based on how quick your sister's labour was he wanted me to get to the hospital as soon as possible once the contractions were even 5 minutes apart. I still felt in control though and felt I was dealing with the contractions really well.

Grandma arrived and I gave her some instructions for the kids. She was surprised how strong my labour was and how quick the contractions were coming because she hadn't seen me in labour this strong when I was having your sister. I was actually getting a little nervous that you were going to come really soon because the contraction were now 1.5 – 2 minutes apart and 40-60 seconds long, so before we left I went to the bathroom to feel how close you were in the birth canal. I could certainly feel the top of your head, but my cervix still felt like it had some opening to do, so we jumped in the car.

I didn't tell your Daddy how worried I was that you might be really close to being born as I knew he would stress more. As it was he was doing 140km/hr on the freeway! The car trip was really difficult for me. I was on my knees on the front seat, facing backwards with my arms over the head rest. The only way I could maintain focus was to count how many seconds the contractions were going for, and to count how many contractions I was having. The trip took about half an hour and I had 13 extremely strong contractions during that time.

We arrived at the hospital at around 2.50am. I had two contractions getting out of the car, one in the elevator, and another just as I walked into the labour ward. The nurses must have been watching our progress because they pre-opened all the doors for us and even commented that they had been about to get a wheelchair because they weren't sure I was going to make it up. I told them the contractions were really strong and they took me straight into a room. Of course the first thing the midwife wanted to do was get me up on the bed so she could feel where you were. She got to feel my tummy for about 4 seconds before another contractions came and it was totally unbearable on the bed. That was the worst contraction I had during the entire labour. I then had the bed raised up nice and high so that I could labour leaning against it while I stood. The midwife strapped on the monitors and your little heart beat filled the room while I concentrated on breathing and swaying through the contractions. When the midwife mentioned “wow, they really aren't giving you a break are they?” I actually laughed at her.

I knew I was in transition and was determined to remain calm and not let the pain make me panic. I remember briefly thinking about pethidine, but I very quickly pushed it out of my mind knowing that ultimately I did not want it. I was certainly hoping that transition went as quickly with you as it did with your sister though! Then I felt the need to use the bathroom. With your sister I needed the bathroom just before I started pushing so I was hoping this would be the same with you. I told the midwife I just needed to urinate, which was a little white lie, but I knew she wouldn't let me go to the bathroom alone if she knew the truth. She left the monitoring on and just disconnected it from the machine. She then left the room while I went into the bathroom, and feeling self-conscious I sent your Daddy out of the room. He kept calling through the door to see if I was ok, so I told him I'd yell out if I wasn't ok. Just as I was finishing my business my uterus contracted and my body started doing the longest and strongest push I have ever felt. I had no control over it and couldn't have stopped it even if I had wanted to (which I didn't!). It lasted for a long time and while it did it I somehow managed to strip off my pants and socks, rip of the monitoring, and wipe myself clean. I even reached down to feel how close you were and I could feel your head about 2cm inside the birth canal.

As soon as my body stopped pushing with that contraction I raced out of the bathroom calling out to your Daddy “you better call them back in, the baby's coming!” as I launched myself up onto the bed that was still up high from when I was leaning on it. The midwives just happened to be entering the room at that moment anyway and saw my acrobatic launch onto the bed! I had just got onto my knees facing the head of the bed when another contraction hit and I started pushing again. I had my right hand between my legs guiding your head while I kept telling you how close you were, that everything was ok, that you would be here soon, that we were nearly done. With that push your head emerged, still in the caul, before the membranes broke and nice clear amniotic fluid gushed out. I heard the midwife mention that the cord was around your neck just as I felt you turn and another contraction start. I pushed your body out into my hands. I gently hooked my finger under the cord and looped it over your head. There you were! A gorgeous little pink creature finally in my arms as my heart swelled with my love for you. You arrived just 15 minutes after we got into the labour ward, and after only three pushes.

I sat back on my heels as I cradled you in my arms. Daddy excitedly asked if I saw what you were. He knew from the time you were only 12 weeks in my belly what gender you are, but it had been a secret from me. I wanted to experience the surprise when you were born. You were laying in my arms with your head closest to your Daddy, he couldn't see when I gently lifted one of your legs to have a peek. I looked at him and exclaimed “It's a boy!”. The look on his face was priceless. Even the look on the midwife's face was hilarious as she had been able to peek when I did. A few seconds later I laughed “Just kidding. It's a girl!!”.

I turned around on the bed and got help removing my top so that I could lay you on my chest and just gaze at you. Perfection! Time for a nice drink of breastmilk after all that work. Twenty minutes later Pregs arrived (that's two out of three births he missed haha) and shortly after I birthed your placenta following a physiological 4th stage. Once again I had no tearing or even grazing. I couldn't have asked for a better labour and delivery. The midwives didn't touch me or you even once during your delivery and I'm so proud that we accomplished such a beautiful and natural birth together.

Your journey into our family was certainly unexpected and against the odds, but it seems that fate knew that we needed you in our lives, and so we named you Arlia Feyt. You are an absolute treasure and we adore you.

Arlia Feyt
Born at 3.15am, 26th of March, 2012
Weight: 3.655kg (8lb1oz)
Length: 49cm
Head Circumference: 36cm

Active labour: 1hr 45mins
Second stage: 5 minutes
Physiological third stage: 22 minutes

Just beautiful Mylitta. What an incredible feeling it must have been to guide her out yourself, straight into your arms!

Thanks for sharing.

Just gorgeous thanks for sharing my awesome friend! She is a gorgeous girl just like her spunky brother and adorable sister!

Awww, so beautiful! Thanks for sharing and congratulations again

That's beautiful :) Congratulations on an amazing birth :)

A truly beautiful birth story. Thankyou soo much for sharing Xx

I have tears in my eyes ... Very moving and beautiful.

What a beautiful, amazing birth! Congratulations! Reading this makes me want to go back and do it all over again ;).

Such a gorgeous birth story!

Congratulations, and what a lovely name!

Awww lovely Mylitta - so many similarities to my recent experience. We dont muck around do we? hehehehe
A perfect way for your Beautiful Arlia to enter the world! xx

Congratulations. What a beautiful birth story.

Gorgeous, just absolutely gorgeous. I love that you tricked your DH :)

A beautiful and very moving birth story, thank you for sharing! Congratulations on the birth of wee Arlia :)

Welcome Arlia!

What a wonderful story. oxoxox

Everything is just beautiful about your birth story of Arlia!
Beautiful name, beautiful parents and a wonderful story to read! Xxx

Well done mamma! Such a quick beautiful birth! Congrats to the whole family!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk..... I'm probably feeding my cherub :)

Awwwwww, thats a beautiful story. Well done guys!!!!

Awe I think I'm going to cry. How beautiful, congratulations!