My Birth Story

On Friday night Tia was jumping around like crazy in my stomach and I remarked to Shannon that something seemed to be happening.. We slept well from about midnight until 7:30am, when I woke up and went to the toilet to find "AHHH" Blood and mucous on the toilet paper! I freaked out a little and was OMG'ing to Shannon while I jumped on msn to check with whoever was online if it was normal. Nae reassured me it would be okay and sounded like my show. She said she thought my baby would be arriving by the end of the weekend and I just got the butterflies like crazy!! After all this waiting Tia was on her way..

I rang the hospital and they just confirmed what Nae had said and told me to keep an eye on any contractions that started and time them etc. We went shopping for some lights for the house, and had some hungry jack's! I was experiencing Braxton Hick's but they weren't too strong and they were very irregular. At 4pm I had a nap with Shannon (he works nights so was very tired) and got up at about 7:30pm. I sat around on the net for a while and then about 9:30 I noticed my BH getting stronger and quite regular. Then I used the contraction master because I got sick of writing down the time every 5 minutes hehe. My BH were coming about 5-10 minutes apart and building up much more which got a bit scary! There was no turning back now, Tia was coming out whether I liked it or not.

At about 11pm I decided to have a shower and see what happened. Not much, they were still 5-10 mins apart. Shannon got up about midnight and came into the lounge and as I looked at him with panic in my eyes he realised we were having our baby soon! It was so exciting but then he goes "I'm scared" I nearly belted him hehe. I said "I don't give a ***** if you are scared-pretend you're not so I wont be :P" We watched some tv and I slept a little on the couch but the BH/Contrax were getting so strong I was nearly in tears. Shannon encouraged me to ring the hospital (next time I will be smarter and wait a lot longer at home) because I think we were both nervous of having the baby at home. You just don't realise how much loooooooonger there is to go :P

About 5am and we were on our way to the hospital. We were about halfway there (it's a 45min drive) and you wouldn't believe it... Flashing red and blue lights from behind!! A police man pulled us over for an RBT!! Shannon has had his license for like 10 years and never even had a breath test.. Then we are in labour and what do you know-they decided to pull us over. LOL. I think it was because it was early Sunday morning and Adelaide is getting worse for its drunken Saturday nights. Shannon explained I was in labour and we were on our way after a quick breath test.

When we arrived at the Women's Assessment Service we were taken in and put on the ctg and had a few checks. I was 1cm dilated!! Bummer I was hoping I would be more like 5cm. Tia's heart rate was dropping in the contrax, but it was because the midwife left me on my back. We were in there for over an hour on the ctg machine and getting REALLY bored. Eventually another midwife came in because there had been a shift change. I was very pleased because she was lovely. She sent us off to have some breakfast and a walk and then come back when we were ready. I lost track of time but I think it was 9-10am when we went back to women's ass service. I was put on the ctg again and checked. 3cm dialated!!!! WOOO HOOO made me feel so good - I was saying "Oh I feel like I'm actually doing something!". She remarked that my cervix was posterior and very thick, but I was at 3cm.

We went for another walk, a big one this time up to the newsagent to get some magazines. I had to stop every few hundred meters and lean on Shannon for the contrax. OUCH they were getting stronger!
Once we got back the midwife took us up to the delivery suite. We were suprised because we thought she may send us home for a bit (she had hinted at that earlier). OMG We were going to meet our baby today! I felt great surprisingly, considering I had only had about 2 hours sleep the night before. Once we were in our beautiful big room-with a bath because I was wanting a water birth (my how things change :P) We made jokes about people outside the window and the humping birds in the park. Two midwives were hiding in our room laughing and joking with us-it was awesome. Made me feel so comfortable. Once the shift changed and we were left with the one midwife we even went on the internet and looked at pictures of my ferrets. I moved around the room, leaning over benches when I was having a contraction. It was an active labour to me, and felt good to keep walking around. I felt like when I sat down I slowed things down. I drank heaps of water and peed a lot-the contrax on the toilet hurt so bad because I was stuck in the same position and couldn't rock and swivel through them. The midwife and I read up on the gossip (I bought gossip mags of course) and talked about our favourite celebrities. We both love Reese Witherspoon :D

At about 3:30pm we hopped up on the bed to check how I was going because the contrax were getting much stronger and closer together (they died off a little before that). Checking around... and midwife announces "You're 3cm dilated" "WHATTTTTT, YOU ARE KIDDING ME??!!" I was spewing. She said the cervix was all thin and stretchy and ready to go and I had done a lot of work but all I could hear was "3CM" I felt like all that pain had been for nothing!! She offered to break my waters and said it may speed things up a bit and after a bit of consideration I decided to go ahead with that idea. Another midwife came in to do it because the first had a bit of trouble. She had a check and said they were tight and ready to burst and it would be easy to do as they were going to break themselves soon anyway. OMG it feels so weird it feels like hot pee that you can't hold in. I sooked "I feel like I'm peeing myself" and they both had a chuckle.

WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAM. There was no getting out of it now, these contrax were the real deal they were incredibly painful I felt like my insides were being ripped out with every wave. I kept up my breathing and walking around and rocking and swivelling through the contractions. Eventually I was too tired to walk around so I kneeled over a mat and beanbag on the ground. This was the best position to labour in, Shannon was rubbing my back and encouraging me through the waves of intense pain and the midwife kept telling me how wonderful I was and how great I was doing. Even though it hurt more than anything I have ever felt I felt strong and in control of my body and I knew that I could do this. The midwife didn't offer me any drugs and I didn't ask. I didn't want pethidine or an epidural, but I did want to try this wonder gas that everyone talked about :D I spewed up after drinking a big cup of water. Yukky! I hate that spew taste. Midwife offered to fill up the bath but I wasn’t interested at all. Instead I had a shower and it felt soooo good. I was standing up leaning on the back of a chair and the water on my back felt great, but my arms got colder and colder as they were out of the water. So I was wrapped up in a lovely heated up blanket/towel thingo and back to my beanbag and mats. I kept my sense of humour, and after a particularly bad contraction I went to Shannon “You can do the next one!!”

After what felt like days the midwife suggested I go to the loo. I cringed at the idea-remember how much those toilet contractions hurt!! But I did it, and then when I eventually stumbled out of the bathroom and looked at the bed, and it was where I wanted to be-suprisingly. I never thought I would go near the bed when I was in labour, but it looked like a good spot to go. The midwife wasn’t giving me any indication of how far along I was, but she must have known I was getting close. She asked me if I wanted to try the gas and I was like ‘Hell yeah!!’ It was good because it kept me focused on the long deep breaths I need to do, but I didn’t feel that different. I think it was because she only turned it on a little bit. Dammit, I wanted to be off my face!! And now I started with the “I don’t want to do this anymore” and I could hardly hold back the urge to push. The time between contractions was longer and I just laid there completely still holding onto the gas handle like a crazy woman. Shannon went to get a drink!!!!! I nearly thumped him. I was concentrating too hard to tell him off and while he was gone I had one of those contractions where you just feel like you need to push out that giant poo ;) But I was **** scared because he wasn’t there! I had these visions of him not making it back in time. But everything was okay, and when he got back the midwife checked me again and said I was almost there, but the cervix was lipped over a bit and I had to try really hard not to push or I would swell and it would take longer to get Tia out. So instead-I threw up!! And you know when your body goes all pushy when you are spewing.. I was going “I can’t help pushing” in the middle of spewing! The midwife reassured me it was okay and mentioned because I hadn’t had any drugs that it was my body’s natural way of getting the cervix completely out the way. Sure enough, she checked me again and I was good to go!

The final 22 minutes: I pushed hard.. like I was pushing out a wee. “Nooo, push at your bottom” said the Midwife. OMG it seriously feels like you are pushing out a poo! You use the exact poo muscles. Cept it hurts a bit more hahaha. I could feel something coming out a bit.. This isn’t so bad I thought to myself. “You are doing great, I can see this much of the head” I look up and shes holding her hands showing me a shape the size of a 20c piece. OMG is that all? I thought I had almost pushed it out LOL. Think again! I worked out I could get about 3 pushes in each contraction, but you have to be careful not to fully relax during each push or the head sucks in. You have to kind of push-hold-push-hold-push-hold each contraction. Then I felt it. The dreaded crowning that everyone talks about. I had my arms above my head gripped onto the bars on the head of the bed. And they had the nerve to say “Do you want to feel the head??” “Hell NO” I was thinking as I just pushed as hard as I could. The contraction ended, but she wasn’t there with her head out and the shoulders sitting in so I could rest before the next contraction, she was there with her head half out!! The burning was incredible I have never felt anything so painful in my life. I just pushed without the contraction as hard as I could, I couldn’t bear the burning pain. The head slid out and the next contraction started and I just push, push, pushed her all the way out as the midwife was saying “take a rest if you need it… Oh ok push then that’s alright!” And she was here!! Our tiny little blue looking monkey. Her apgars were 9,9 and she was a tiny 6lb 3oz with a HC of 31cm and 50cm long. (Very contrary to what I was told at an ultrasound 5 days earlier-that she was 7lb 8 oz with a HC of 38cm). The recorded time of labour was 4hrs and 46mins!! With 22mins of pushing.

I have had my trying days where I end up curled in a ball on the floor crying my heart out. But our little Tia was worth every bit of pain. And yes, I would do it again. Although when I was in labour I said “THIS IS IT, I DON’T WANT MORE THAN ONE!!”

If you got to the end, thanks for reading and sharing my birthing experience :)

awwww... that was lovely... great work lovey... what a really positive birth experience.. it makes me sooo keen to do it all over again.
xoox

Well done Mazzie sounds like you did a great job.

Awwww, how sweet, I loved that story! Well done :D

WOW!
What an amazing story, i had tears welling up! - hope mine goes as well as yours.
Congratualtions and thanks for sharing your experience

thank for the beautifull story of your birth, cant wait to do it myself one day.
congratulations!!!

What a great story, you did a fantastic job! Thanks for sharing it with us.

what a reat story, congratulations on the birth of tia :)

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your story!!!

Hope you are all doing well and enjoing being a familly!

Thanks all you lovely ladies :)
It made me want to do it all over again writing that :P And Tia is only 3 1/2 weeks old!!

congrats, thanks for sharing! Tia is gorgeous!

Congratulations, That was a wonderful birth story. I cant wait to do it all over again.

Confratulations Mazzie, she is a gorgeous baby, I hope that I am half as lucky!