BellaBee's Birth Story - Baby Sofia
I'd just like to share my birth story with you all, hoping to convince some people that birthing doesn't have to be a traumatic experience! :)
I was 10 days past my due date and was booked in for an induction in 4 days time. On Thursday 1st January, around 4:30pm, I started to feel pressure on my bowel, thinking that bubs was just very low and trying to make it very uncomfortable for me. We had dinner earlier than usual that night, at around 5:45pm and I kept getting this uncomfortable pain in my bowel area / uterus. Hubby said they must be contractions, but I thought there was no way they could be as they didn't feel like contractions (of what I had read contractions were suppose to feel like). At around 7pm they were 5 minutes apart and decided to phone my midwife and see what I should do. She suggested I take a bath and see how they go over the next hour or so, if the pains were getting worse and closer together that I could then meet her at the birth centre at the hospital. After sitting in the bath for about half an hour, the pains were indeed getting more painful and closer together. At this point they were about 2 minutes apart. At just after 8pm I phoned her back and we agreed it was probably best to meet at the hospital and take things from there.
Once we arrived at the hospital and were taken to a birthing room it was mostly just a matter of waiting to see what happens... to see whether the contractions continued or subsided. After about an hour and a half at 10pm my midwife decided to do a check to see if I had dialated. She had warned us though that there was a possibility that I could just be sent home if I wasn't dialated or if the contractions just didn't progress. I was at 4cm so I wasn't going anywhere :) The next check was at 2am, and during this period of 4 hours a lot of different emotions were felt. It was mostly a time of just waiting out each contraction and dealing with the pain as it came and went. I was in the mindset of going through each contraction one at a time and assessing each one as it came and went. As this was my first birthing experience, I obviously had no idea as to how painful it was going to be, but decided I wanted to experience it first before going down the path of an epidural or morphine. I'm not anti drugs or anything but I felt if I could do it without them then I would. As each contraction came and went, they varied in intensity and as such I had to move around and find the most comfortable position to be in. This changed from walking around the room in the early stages to sitting on the edge of the bed, sitting in the bath and bending over to lean on a pillow on a bench. The most helpful I found was sitting on the edge of the bed with hubby rubbing the tops of my thighs while I concentrated on my breathing and getting through each contraction. There were times where my legs started shaking and it was getting pretty intense. It was around this time that I started with the air / gas mix. At first it didn't really help me much, and I gave up using it for an hour or so, but then the pain was getting a little unbearable and I tried the gas again. This time it worked a treat, just taking the edge off each contraction, but I was pretty out of it when the gas was doing its job.
At 2am my midwife checked me again and now I was 8cm dialated. It was around this time I wanted to give up, I felt I couldn't handle it and was in so much pain. I felt I couldn't possibly go on, pleading for someone to just rip this baby out now! My waters were broken at this point and it was a nice relief of warm water gushing out. With the support of hubby and the midwife though, I somehow made it through to the pushing stage, which started at about 3am. I was convinced there was no way I could deliver this baby, but my midwife was great, all she said was "Yes you can do it, you know you can, there's no way back now, your baby's coming out". I will never forget those words and know that she and my husband pulled me through.
The pushing stage was probably the hardest. I felt as if no matter how much I pushed that I wasn't making progress. I longed for the words "here she comes" that wasn't happening. You feel like your pushing and pushing and nothing's happening! After each push, was a wait for the next contraction, which gave me time to catch my breath and regather my thoughts. There was a lot of yelling and screaming and I nearly broke hubbys hand after holding onto him for each push (but I think he forgives me for that :)
After an hour of pushing, finally there was progress. My baby's head could just be felt and I was so close. I think it took another 10 or 15 minutes for the head to pop out and then I had to wait for another contraction before pushing the whole baby out. At that moment, it was a feeling of immense relief that it was over, and that I actually could do it, after so much disbelief in myself. As soon as she came out, they placed her on my chest and I could never explain the emotion that is felt at that moment. It was truly amazing. Hubby cut the cord and then the placenta was delivered with one more push.
Sofia Margaret Lucia was born at 3:56am on Friday 2nd January 2009, weighing a healthy 9.4 pounds and 56cm long. I had a minor tear that required only 1 stitch, and apart from that my body had recovered fine.
I hope my experience helps others. I strongly believe that you can't plan a birthing experience minute by minute, but having an open mind and realising it doesn't always have to end up traumatic is a great help. I didn't plan my birthing experience, it just happened on its own, and I'm so pleased with the outcome.
