Summer's water birth 29th Feb 08
My 4th pregnancy was very different to the others, had terrible morning sickness, severe SPD, had to have a CVS as my eldest DD has cystic fibrosis plus all the challenges of working up until 2 weeks before my due date. My DH had to go overseas 3 days after my due date also so had a little stress worrying about being alone in the labour room.
So 2 weeks before my due date i started trying a few different things to get my labour started, acupuncture, naturopath herbs, you name it i tried it (except castor oil i passed on that one) I would have happily waited but being DHless didn't appeal.
I think all the stress of it was probably stopping me from going into labour so i made a decision to just give up trying, relax and just enjoy the last bit of the pregnancy, so i spent the day of the 29th (3 days before my due date) walking around the shops, then had a little nap then after picking the girls up from school i spent over an hour in the bath, DH then got us some takeaway and i had a little glass of wine (i didnt drink at all during pg) and was just having the best day/evening.
Well about 7pm i was sitting on the computer on BB of course and felt a bit of a gush i stood up and thought 'was that my waters?' about a minute later another gush and i knew this was it. With my other labours from the time contractions started i never went over 3 hours so basically had to get organised asap and get to hossy so i called my Mum got organised and by the time she arrived we took off. My MW was out to dinner so i was meeting another MW so that she could assess me and when we arrived i was put on the monitor, bubs was happy and i was having contractions but couldn't feel much at all. I was allowed to go home but knew that if i went home i would be straight back again so just waited it out. Nothing much was happening until around 9.30 when i started feeling the contractions, they weren't hurting much but were 2 mins apart, i had an internal and was 3cm so wasn't in established labour yet. MW pretty much left me to it which was great and kept popping back in. At 10.30pm she came back in and by now i was having really strong contractions, so the bath was filled (was the longest 15 mins of my life) and getting in was the best feeling ever. By then i had alot of pressure and couldn't handle the pain anymore so Sue offered me gas which really helped, the trick was to suck on it between contractions so that by the time they hit i was "gassed up" . I was really focused on relaxing as much into the contractions as i could and just letting my body do what it had to and it seemed to be working, i really felt like i had a long way to go but when i felt the burning sensation i knew she was nearly here. Just as i started pushing my wonderful MW Anne Marie arrived and a couple of pushes later my little Princess Summer arrived at 11.20pm. She was so pink and just so beautiful, i can't believe how much you can love a little person so quickly.
The water really helped with the pain of pushing her out, she came out so quickly as i was so focused on getting that burning sensation over with, i got a small tear but no stitches.
I went into a bit of shock and couldn't stop shaking for over an hour probably from such a quick labour, 49 minutes from the time i was in established labour. I felt so dizzy and spaced out for most of the day but just over the moon.
I would recommend a water birth to anyone thinking about it. I had the best experience plus i had the same MW all the way through and she came to my house every day and it was like having an old friend deliver my baby and look after me. It was sad to say goodbye to her.
So now i have 4 Princesses and wouldn't change a thing...
Thanks for reading this far
Trina xoxoxox
