Amelia's arrival VBAC 01/01/2010 *Very Long*
My contractions started New Years Eve around 6:30pm, coming at 10-15 minutes apart and lasting for 40-50 seconds. I hopped in the bath with Joshua to relax a little and then got out, put the TENS machine on and went for a walk around the block.
After the walk my contractions were getting stronger so I hopped in the shower which was really good. Once the hot water ran out I got out and put the tens machine on again. By about 8:30pm my contractions were around 6-7 minutes apart lasting just under a minute. Was feeling a bit restless so had Mat massage me and help me into different positions on each contraction.
Soon they were getting stronger and stronger and I started moaning and groaning through each one. It felt very primal and gave me release from the pain. I had jumped in the shower again and had a couple more contractions. Mat had been timing them and they were now only about four and a half minutes apart and lasting about 1 minute 20 seconds. I decided it was time to call the hospital so Mat did that while I had my biggest contraction yet in the shower. I got out and the midwife on the phone wanted to talk to me which I did and she told me that I should come in. Another massive contraction happened as soon as I got off the phone and I dropped to my knees and leaned over the side of the bed making a huge primal groan throughout it. I threw some clothes on and put the TENS back on, grabbed my pillow and was ready to go.
Mat put Joshua and our bags in the car and away we went. Joshua had awoken by now and I had two more contractions in the car by the time we reached Mats sisters house. After each one, Joshua would say “mummy, noise”. I tried to tone it down as best I could because I didn’t want to frighten him.
The car ride was awful. I felt every single bump. Once we got to Tams place I had to get out of the car for another contraction which I leaned against the side of the car for. SIL met us in the driveway at this stage and I gave a quick goodbye to Joshua and off we went to the hospital – another 10 minute drive with another three contractions.
Once we got to the hospital I had another big contraction as we buzzed the after hours entrance. I groaned through this one leaning over a brick wall. The door opened and as soon as I walked in, another contraction. Thank goodness there was a chair just inside the door! As I dropped to my knees again a man walked past and said “Good luck!” I gave him a half-hearted smile while trying to do my breathing.
We made it up the lifts to the family birthing unit and the midwife met us and led the way to our birthing suite. Just as we got to the door, I felt another contraction coming and leaned against the wall to breathe and groan through it. I later found out from Mat, that the midwife had told him it would not be much longer with the sounds I was making. We then went into the room and I set myself up kneeling in front of a chair hugging my pillow. I stayed like this for what seemed like five or ten minutes with Mat massaging my neck and shoulders and doing some counterpressure on my lower back as I had a little bit of pain there. My groaning and moaning noises with each contraction were ramping up and they were getting closer and closer together. The midwife asked if I wanted to try some gas and I readily agreed thinking it would also help me keep control of my breathing.
After a couple more contractions, the midwife asked if I wanted an internal to see how far I was. I agreed and hopped up on the bed. I was totally surprised when she said I was already 7cm! I wasn’t expecting to be that far along. I was excited and pleased that I laboured the first stage at home! Since I was on the bed, I turned over and carried on through the contractions on all fours, resting on the propped up bed end and lots of pillows in between. I found this position quite comfortable.
Somewhere in here, the clock struck over to midnight and funnily enough it was in between contractions so we all said “Happy New Year!” to each other and hugged and kissed!
The contractions continued and the midwife asked me if I wanted her to break my waters as they were bulging. She explained to me that it would speed things up but it would be much more intense. I asked her how long it would take to get to 10cm if I left them alone and she said she couldn’t answer that. I was really uncertain because I had specified I wanted SROM in my birth plan so she said to me that she would leave it for now because I was uncertain about it.
As I got more and more into transition, I started to lose the plot a little bit (well maybe big time!). I found it really difficult to breathe through the contractions and was biting down the gas mouth piece instead. During one contraction the TENS machine zapped me as I think the connection came loose and it made me jump. I think it frightened the midwives more! After this, the midwife decided it was time to break my waters because the contractions were getting the better of me and I don’t think I was getting any further along. It was quick and painless and I felt this big gush of fluid fall out of me onto the bed. It actually felt quite relieving in a way.
At some point after this, I felt the midwive slip the monitor belts around my waist. I know I had no continuous monitoring in my birth plan, but at this stage I didn’t care and besides I was still on all fours and it wasn’t hindering me. Up until now, they had just been using a doppler.
As the contractions were on top of each other and intensifying, I felt like I was more and more out of control with my breathing. The groans quickly became grunts and the midwife asked me if I needed to push. I said I did and she did another internal and I was 9cm. They were telling me not to push but it was so damn hard not to. The overwhelming urge to push was unbelievable and that’s all I wanted to do. I was on my side at this point which was actually quite comfortable. Mat was standing behind me just touching and I remember my top arm reaching up and gripping his arm. I started doing the pant pant blow breathing at this stage to try and hold back from the pushing. I also started saying all the classic things women say in transition. “Get it out of me!” and ”I’m going home!” I even said “I don’t want it anymore!” along with “Give me the drugs now!”
The contractions were getting the better of me and I had a couple of really intense ones where I just started screaming. One of the midwives firmly said to me “Lynette, stop screaming, it’s not helping anything!” and I narkily retorted back to her “I will scream if I want to!” It wasn’t what I wanted to hear at the time because the groaning, grunting and even the screaming was all helping me deal with matching the intensity of contractions. But now I do understand she was just trying to get me to focus my vocalisation on the contractions and not let them get the better of me by screaming and wasting energy.
I’m not sure how long I was 9cm for but I still needed to push so badly and the pant pant blow wasn’t working anymore. Neither was the TENS machine. I had it maxed out on the highest setting with the boost held down and I remember almost sobbing and saying “It’s not working!” The midwife turned the gas up higher and I called her a liar saying she hadn’t really turned it up!
I noticed the monitor drop out and knew that it meant they lost the heartbeat, but for some reason I didn’t worry about it. I was just aware of it. I think I felt like I knew the baby was alright. I think when the monitor starting dropping out is when they called the obstetrician in.
The overwhelming urge to push was just incredible and the midwives and Mat were really trying to get me not to push and I tried so hard not to. But then I just had to, I couldn’t stop it. I said to the midwives “She’s coming now!” The midwife did another internal and said the baby’s head was right there so they got me off my side into a sitting up position on the bed leaning back into the pillows. The obstetrcian was there and suddenly I felt a bit calmer. He is a really quiet, calming man. He wasn’t my original Ob (he was on holidays!). So this Ob was the fill in and I had met him twice in the previous two weeks for my check ups. He stood beside me and gently explained that I could put one foot up on each midwife and place my hands behind my knees, but not to push my feet into the midwives, to hold my legs back and push down like I was going to do a poo.
I listened to him as I suddenly realised this is it, I’m at the pushing stage! My lovely midwife placed a finger on my bottom to give me some sensory idea of where to push down into and that really helped. It was so good to finally be able to push after trying to hold it back for what felt like forever! I was bearing down and they said the head was there and asked me if I wanted to feel it. I shook my head no. The midwife asked me if I wanted a mirror and I thought for a second and shook my head no again. A few times while I was pushing down, I shouted out “Come on baby!” which made the midwives chuckle. I think I was pushing for about 20 minutes all up. At one point, the midwife asked me if I wanted to feel the baby’s head. I thought about it for a split second and shook my head no. She then asked me if I wanted to see in the mirror and again I shook my head no. I was afraid it would put me off. Finally her head came out and then another couple of pushes and her shoulders came out followed by the rest of her. It felt like a sudden release of pressure!
They placed her on my belly straight away and Mat got to cut the cord. I was still wearing my t-shirt so pulled it up and she started nuzzling at my breast. That was the best feeling. The midwife placed a warm blanket over us while I delivered the placenta. I wasn’t overly joyed about the way the Ob did this part because he was pulling and tugging on the cord and pushing on my belly, but it was out in two more contractions. I had a vaginal wall tear and 2nd degree perineum tear. The midwife told me afterwards that when the head came out nice and clean, she was thinking how great it was that there was no tearing but then the baby had her arms up and as her shoulders came out, she moved her arms down which caused the tearing.
I was just amazed that I actually achieved my VBAC. I birthed my baby girl vaginally with some gas. I still can’t believe it and would do it all over again in a heartbeat!
Amelia’s stats were:
Date of birth: 01/01/2010 (she was the first one born in the hospital, but not in Perth or WA)
Time: 01:31
Weight: 3.25kg or 7lb 2 oz
Length: 50cm
Head circumference: 33cm
Apgars: 8 and 9
