BIRTH STORY of our beautiful Lillian, drug free, shoulder dystocia AND 4.7KG!!!!!!!!
(Grab a beverage and maybe some chocolate..... you might be sitting here for a little while hehe)
I wrote this months ago but FINALLY finished it now..... Lillian is now 7mths :)
Enjoy!
The Birth Story of Lillian
Born 26 May 2011 @ 6:30pm……10lb 6oz (4725g) 56cm long, 36cm head circ. TOTAL 14.5HR LABOUR
This is our 2nd daughter. First daughter's birth was drug-free, natural 9.5 labour & birth (posterior).
At my 34 weeks check up I was measuring 2-3 weeks ahead in size. My midwife arranged for me to have an appointment with the hospital’s OB. I was also organized to have a sizing scan. At first I was hesitant for this as I know the size is only an estimate, however I decided to go ahead with it as it was a chance to see the baby after all. (we didn't know the gender, was a surprise, unlike our first daughter where we found out at 20wks) I had the scan at 35.5 weeks which showed I was measuring as 38.5 weeks, 3 weeks ahead! The OB at the hospital advised me I would need to deliver my baby at a different hospital (where our first was born), if I was to go over my due date. This really upset me and added stress to it all, because I really had no idea where I would end up until my due date came and went and then I would know. Like our first daughter who was 7 days over, I went over again this time to 6 days over. My due date was difficult for me because it was on this day I realized I would be having my baby at my 2nd hospital of choice. My first choice was M hospital as it’s for low risk pregnancies and they are like a birth centre and are all about having natural, vaginal births, no drugs and natural pain relief methods which is what I like for labour. Also, the entire pregnancy, I was allocated my own caseload midwife, Jane, who saw me for every appointment. I really liked this model of care.
My due date came and went so I accepted that I would be birthing at the T Hospital.(2nd hospital of choice) I had DD1 there, and although it was a great experience, it is a busy, rushed hospital whereas M hospital (choice 1) is much quieter and they have more time to give you the care a mother and baby needs and deserves, particularly with breastfeeding support. I had a terrible start to our breastfeeding journey last time therefore this time around I was determined to have a much better start!! The day before I went into labour, I had an appointment with the OB at M Hospital as I was 5 days over. He offered me a stretch and sweep to which I refused however I did decide to have an internal as I really wanted to know if I was dilated or not. I had been offered a stretch and sweep at 38 weeks and refused, and again at 39 weeks and refused. I believed my baby would come only when she was ready, to which she did…..this internal I had I believe helped things along.
After the internal, which was very uncomfortable (I never had any internals with my first daughter until during labour), the OB told me something which made me doubt my body even though I have always believed in my body’s ability to birth naturally as I’ve done so before. He told me that I wasn’t dilated at all and that my cervix wasn’t ripe and that given the position of the baby’s head he could feel, he couldn’t see any possible way I would go into labour any time soon. He said the chances of me still being pregnant in a week’s time were high and that given the size of my baby (from the scan and from feeling my tummy), he believed a caesarean was on the cards. I left crying…. I felt deflated. I felt angry that he had told me all of this when it was only a guess after all. We left towards the car and my midwife Jane who had tried to make it to the appointment but had been called away to a woman in labour, was there waiting for me. I was so happy to see her as I needed to talk to her. We discussed what the OB told me and she lifted my spirits and reminded me to trust my body in that it knows what it’s doing and that whatever the OB said, doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen. I told her that I believed in my ability to birth this baby whatever size it will be, and that hopefully I can go into labour soon as I was definitely NOT interested in induction. My induction date was booked in (much to my dislike) for 6 days time which would have been 12 days past my due date. Like my first labour, which was spontaneous, I was petrified of induction!
We arrive home that midday after the appointment and it was just an average afternoon like any other. DD1 and I playing together, enjoying the quality time we had left with each other just the two of us. DH came home from work at the usual time, we cooked dinner, ate, watched some TV and went to bed around 10pm. Oh, and had some sex!!! To see if that would help!! I had been having my usual pre labour pains and tightening that day, just as I had for the past few weeks. I went to sleep that night not thinking about it, and kissed DH goodnight and said to him “I’ll be pregnant in the morning”…..
The next morning, it’s 4am and I wake up with a very familiar period pain type feeling! I thought “hmmm”, and got up to go to the toilet. I wiped and saw a tiny bit of mucous plug on the tissue paper. Yippeee it’s happening! Went back into bed and 10 minutes later, another period pain! Yes!! This is labour, I knew it straight away. I remembered the same pains I had had with my first labour. Again, 10mins later another one. They were lasting about 12 seconds each. At this point in time, I was alone in our bedroom because through the night DD1 had woken up and DH had gone in to lie down with her and was asleep with her. I lay in bed trying to fall asleep again however I was too excited knowing I was in labour!!! The contractions were also keeping me awake so there was no chance of sleep. I knew I needed to rest though as I didn’t know how fast or slow labour could progress so I just rested in bed looking at the ceiling! 5am came around and they were now about 6-10mins apart and lasting a bit longer now about 12-20 seconds. 6am and they started to get a bit more painful and at this time I decided it was time to get up out of bed and visit the toilet again. I wiped and again lost more plug! I stood up rocking a bit from side to side, had a shower and they were now coming every 6-10mins lasting 15-20 seconds… pretty sporadic. I remember they were with my first labour also.
Around 6:30am DD1 wakes up and comes into the bedroom to find me getting dressed and I told her to go and let Daddy know that Mummy was in labour. She walks out and tells DH “Mummy is in labour Daddy” and he says “yeah right”, not phased at all…. Haha! I said to him “she’s right, I’m in labour! Have been since 4am!” and he smiles….. I said to DD1 “I think Mummy is going to be having the baby soon, maybe today!!”
It’s 6:45am now and the contractions are sharper and stronger, 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds now. I start thinking about my first labour, how things progressed fast and that it was only 9hours in duration. DH and I talked about calling the hospital at what time we should and about who would take DD1 to Kindy today. I think this was when DH called the hospital at this point to say we’d be coming in shortly. I also text my student midwife Taylor to say we’re going in soon and she writes back saying she will try and make it after her exams, to which she does. My midwife Jane is notified too but unfortunately couldn’t make it.
It’s now 7:45am and they are about 3-4 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds still. At this point I had been in the shower about 3 times!! I couldn’t get enough of the hot water, it was so nice on my back as my back was starting to hurt. I thought “oh please don’t turn posterior!!” as this is what happened first labour. But turns out it was just back labour pains.
It’s now 8:45am and we decide to leave the house to take DD1 to kindy. Marty parked and took her in, meanwhile I sat in the car crying because I couldn’t take DD1 into kindy for the first time since she’d started (she is nearly 3). It had always been me dropping her off and this was her routine. She was a little upset but kissed me goodbye bravely. She knew Daddy was taking me to the hospital to have the baby but it’s still very confusing for a young 2 1/2 year old. I had asked DH not to park in a certain spot in the carpark as a bunch of older kids playing in the playground nearby could see me (4 year olds). I was crying and they had noticed and started approaching the vehicle looking through the fence at me saying “oh look she’s crying” so I turned my head away and put my sunglasses on and continued crying!! LOL. DH came back and at this point, contractions seemed to really slow down, I was so disappointed so we went back home, just 1 minute down the road.
9:00am I walked around the house a bit more and tried to sit on the fit ball to bounce but I was too uncomfortable and just wanted to move. 10:20am came around before I knew it and I said let’s go now. I felt it was time. Being in the car, and the kids watching me crying, didn’t make me feel comfortable or in a safe space anymore so this didn’t help. I was also worried about DD1 and how she was feeling. DH told me to just focus on my labour and not worry about anything else. I told him he could take his time and drive to the post office on the way if he wanted to get the mail, so he did. 11:00am we arrive at the hospital and try to find a park but there are none close by. We decide to park a fair walk from the hospital (about 8 minutes) so I can build up my contractions again. They were still slow. I think about 6-8 minutes apart. I felt they should have been progressing but they weren’t. We parked and walked the distance to the hospital even though DH offered to drop me off at emergency, I was happy to walk. I must have looked hilarious, I wasn’t wearing a bra but just a comfy singlet top and a skirt that is a little see-through in the light (it’s a brown strapless dress pulled down to wear as a skirt, it’s my lucky labour skirt, worn at my first labour!!!). I was walking carrying my pillow and DH had my bag. I turned behind me to see the postman on the motorbike smiling at us. It was pretty obvious I was going into hospital to have a baby!!! Haha! My tummy was huge. I was 40 weeks + 6 days and my tummy was measuring 45 weeks so you can imagine how big my tummy must have been!
We arrive at the women’s care unit around 11:15am and we are shown by midwife Rad, my birthing suite room, number 1. Rad would later be the midwife who I trusted when shoulder dystocia was suspected. My first daughter was born in the room next door to this one so it was strange going into a different room but I just focused on what I needed to do and I got comfortable. Sat on the fitball, went to the toilet, sat on the fitball, bounced, went to the toilet, looked at the clock, then realized I shouldn’t be looking at the clock!
I started worrying about DD1 because she was at kindy and I was concerned about how long my labour would last for and what time DD1 would be picked up from kindy. I got DH to make some calls to organize to ensure DD1 was picked up at a reasonable time and not too late. I was so distracted by worrying about DD1 I believe this slowed my labour down. The midwife looking after me at the time who’s name I can’t remember as she was only in the room for 2hrs before her shift finished, she suggested going for a walk outside the hospital so as we gathered a couple of things to take with us my contractions picked up. I decided to walk anyway down to the hospital café and pick up some lunch as I was a bit hungry. This helped as my contractions picked up again now and I was in a bit of pain leaning over the wall while DH grabbed a sandwich for us. Made it back up to the room and it was around 1pm by now. DH offered me some sandwich and I could only manage one bite, I was too uncomfortable to eat or drink. Only really wanted to sit on the toilet and keep wee’ing! I kept getting the urge to wee so I’d sit down but nothing would happen, so annoying. The pressure of the baby was enormous and I was starting to wonder when my waters would break, I was so wanting it to happen! Midwife offered to pour the bath but I didn’t want to sit in the bath, same as last labour, I get too restless and just have to keep on moving around the room. I wanted to rest but I couldn’t stay still long enough. I was also worried about baby turning posterior like last time so I kept upright and moving. I was determined not to have another posterior labour! I
From when we arrive at the hospital around 11am to 2pm I must have been in and out of the shower about 5-6 times! It definitely helped sitting on a chair straddling it while DH poured the hot water down my back. It was also a private space where I felt safe, away from the midwives that would walk into the room now and then.
2pm Carly my midwife arrived as her shift just started. I was glad to see a familiar face as I saw her with my last pregnancy at one point so we recognized each other. Around the same time, another midwife Belinda turned up in the room to say hello as she had delivered our first daughter! We were so glad to see her and asked if she could hang around but her shift had just finished unfortunately. I asked Carly if I should get an internal as I was now getting very impatient, I had been in labour for 10hrs and my first labour was only 9.5hrs! I felt I should have had the baby by that stage so was feeling really deflated. This was hard to overcome these feelings as I was comparing my labour from last time and looking back, this wasn’t helping me to focus. Carly said it was up to me if I wanted an internal or if I wanted to wait another hour but I said no check me now. I was 6cm at 2pm. I was ok with this, had been hoping for about 8cm but I was ok with this, I knew this baby was big and that he/she needed time to come out. I just knew I had to focus and relax a bit more, and so from here on I stopped looking at the clock so much! Every time I went to look at the clock, DH would stop me.
3pm and my contractions were really increasing by this stage and coming quite frequently I was really uncomfortable and my waters still hadn’t broken. I asked about getting my waters artificially ruptured but between DH and myself, we both knew this wasn’t what I really wanted. I also know that this can sometimes bring on distress with a baby and lead to caesareans which I definitely did not want to happen. I just kept telling myself, ‘it will all happen in good time, just be patient’. My birth plan for my first daughter and this time around, stated not to offer me any drugs or anything to help bring on the baby, it was all to be done naturally, same as first time around. My blood pressure was checked every hour and it was really annoying me but being in a hospital, I guess it has to be done. It was at this time around 330pm they administered the antibiotics for my Strep B which I’d tested positive for during pregnancy. I gave my consent for this after much consideration. At one stage wasn’t going to have this as I had read about it’s a very unlikely chance the baby can catch strep b once born and that e coli in hospitals pose more of a danger than strep b yet during labour I made my mind up and was happy to have it.
4pm and I think I was back in the shower for some more hot water and back on the toilet yet again trying to do more wee’s! I kept doing little wee’s it was so annoying, the pressure was just immense down there.
I reminded myself of Ina May’s book I had read and kept thinking “open” and allowing my pelvis area to be as wide as possible with different positions, I was rocking, swaying, up on the bed on all fours, on the floor on all fours, squatting, every time a contraction hit I would say “pressure!!” and get someone to rub my lower back, someone HAD to rub it. I really needed this. Funny though, because with my first daughter, I didn’t want ANYONE to touch me when a contraction hit and she had been posterior so all back pain! This time around, the back pain was pretty bad too considering she was anterior and I think it must be because of her size.
Fast forward to 5pm and my midwife Carly is sitting opposite the bed and I’m on the other side leaning over it and she is comforting me saying I’m doing great and what a great team DH and I are, she even took a photo of the two of us together rocking. I knew the birth was very close and I had done most of the hard work, my contractions were really full on at this stage and overwhelming at times. I just reminded myself to keep breathing through it, keep breathing. I told myself ‘this baby is coming out TONIGHT!’ as I had been in labour since 4am and I was exhausted. I was given ice chips and water to suck on at this stage as I had told DH to remember this when I get to the point where I can’t talk anymore like last labour LOL. He was so good getting me this and kept offering it to me. The ice chips were amazing just like last time. That’s all I feel like in labour. Ice chips and water. Ice chips and water. ☺
5:25pm I’m leaning over the bed in my ‘lucky labour’ dress I was wearing (wore it last time too!) and I felt this urge to push, not a huge urge but just a little one so I thought to myself, why not, so I gave a little push without telling anyone and my waters gushed all over the floor. OH MY GOD. I will never forget that feeling, I felt so much better and the sound of it as it hit the floor was so funny! Just as if someone had dropped a bucket of water everywhere!! Haha DH got such a fright as he had been standing right next to me rubbing my back when it happened!! I just kept saying “far out that felt good” and everyone was laughing. Rad the midwife came in to check at this stage as she must have heard that I was close to birthing, and I think this was when I decided to get up on the bed. The birth stool was never an option this time around, I didn’t want to try it. I wanted to rest, so I lay down on the bed on my side just for 1minute just to get ‘some’ quick rest before the pushing stage began. My contractions had slowed a bit too, and I felt like transition was over at that point before the pushing began…..
5:50pm I’m up on the bed leaning against pillows and on my knees and Carly asked me did I feel like pushing yet? I said I wasn’t sure, and I felt scared. She asked me why. I told her with my last labour I never got a huge urge to push, never got that uncontrollable urge like women talk about, and I think it’s because she had been posterior right until the end of the labour. From here on, she was a mountain of strength for me talking me through the pushing and reminding me of how it felt last time I pushed and trusting my body and believing in me. She had done an internal just before this time and said that I could probably give a little push if I felt the urge and that I was ready. I started to give a little push around 6pm and worked my way up to bigger pushes where I started to feel the real urge to push, yes! It was happening!! This baby was coming out VERY soon!! I felt so uncomfortable on my knees so was asked did I want to lie down, I was so tired by this stage so I said yes and I had lied down on my back when I birthed my first daughter also, with pillows all propped up behind me. Knees up. I have always wanted to birth standing up or squatting but it’s just never been an option for me by the end of labour, I’m always just simply too exhausted after hours of laboring standing up and my legs had started to get very sore again so midwives were massaging my legs and calf muscles in between my pushes.
Must have been around 6:15pm midwife Rad came into the room with someone else and a registrar doctor (who was very annoying) and my student midwife Taylor and DH so about 4 or 5 people. There was some talking between midwives about the stage I was at and I was so focused on what I had to do and pushing that I wasn’t paying that much attention and I am pretty sure I had my eyes closed most of the time LOL…. It’s around 625pm and our baby’s head is 1/3 out and it’s feeling really stuck even though I am pushing so damn hard (so proud of myself, I didn’t poo this time!! LOL) and midwife Rad who first took us into the room, stands right next to me and with a very firm, matter of fact voice says “we need to get this baby out so you need to listen to me and put your knees right back towards your chest now and on the next contraction and urge to push, you are going to push the rest of the head out and the baby” I knew at this stage, we had shoulder dystocia. The registrar doctor accidentally pushed the emergency button instead of the ‘extra hands’ button and about 6 midwives/staff rushed in, apparently some came from ICU also!! I had quite a few in my room…. I didn’t really have time to get scared by this, because it all happened so fast, Carly on one side of me and Rad on the other side of me holding my knees up to my chest (I thought geez didn’t realize I was this flexible! LOL) and DH had then gone down to the other end to watch the birth. I remember gripping onto the bars of the bed SO tight, thinking that if this was someone’s hand, I would have crushed it! DH was letting me hold his hands minutes prior to this but I let go because I thought I’d hurt him.
Last contraction hit and with this came the overwhelming urge to push, this was it, my last push and our baby would be born. I gave an almighty push and did not stop pushing in that single push, until the head and the rest of the body slipped out. Oh wow, best feeling in the world. It’s so awesome when that baby’s body squirms out and you feel instant relief all over. Our beautiful baby was placed instantly on my chest and I started laughing hysterically! I was so happy, it was so weird because all those hormones were just going crazy and I was on the biggest high. I don’t even remember being so giggly after the birth of my first daughter even though I had a great birth with her and no drugs either. I think the length of this labour and the lead up to the birth with everything that happened, it all just contributed and so everything was just exaggerated if that makes sense! I kept saying “you’re so beautiful, you’re so beautiful” then I heard a midwife say “he” in a sentence and I looked at my husband and said “it’s a boy!” we hadn’t even checked yet!! I was just so happy to have my baby out, I didn’t care! Marty said ‘have a look’ and I lifted our baby up and checked, and as DH had predicted, another beautiful baby girl. (not sure why a midwife had said ‘he’ must just be a general thing some of the midwives say or maybe they’d seen the cord and got confused. I then looked and saw the cord had been cut and it was clamped and I asked why? We were hoping DH could cut it again like last time and we like delayed cord clamping. Unfortunately due to the nature of the birth, being a big baby and shoulder dystocia they wanted to be safe and so cut it immediately which we found out later, didn’t really need to have happened so that was a bit disappointing. Would have liked the cord to have been attached for a few minutes and for DH to cut it again. They cut it just incase she had needed resuscitation as with shoulder dystocia they can lack oxygen if left too long with their head out. I was told later on by Rad, that they will allow no more than 7mins for a baby’s head to be out before the rest of the body has to be delivered. Thankfully that part of her head was only out for 2-3mins approx before the rest of her head and body came out in that final push. Using the McRoberts manouvre (on back, legs up to chest) this enabled her to come out with ease and Rad had somehow assisted by putting her hand or arm or both inside to help release her tiny shoulder that was stuck behind my pelvis. It was a really strange feeling when she had to do that part in that final push but we had no choice! I needed assistance!
I held our baby and couldn’t believe how much she looked like her big sister, but the only difference was that she was so much bigger and CHUBBIER! Beautiful rolls on her legs and so chubby, just gorgeous and so healthy and so full term! We got to see the placenta and cord again and touched it again. I’m always so fascinated by this part. I watched the midwife Carly look through it to check it was all there and we took photos.
I got plenty of beautiful newborn cuddles with my little baby girl for the next 1.5 hours before they weighed her and she was 4725g!!! Yep! 10lb 6oz, my big little girl!!! (big sister was 8lb 1 oz) I couldn’t believe I had grown such a big healthy girl. I knew when I was cuddling her skin to skin that she was a very big girl but still thought about 9lb. I just love her chubby legs and tummy even to this day! So delicious.
Big sister was able to meet her only 3 hour old little baby sister at the hospital while I was still lying in the delivery suite later that night! She was very tired and hadn’t slept yet (it was 9:30pm!) but we were all so excited she had to meet her baby sister! Their first meeting was amazing and she held her and we got some really special photos of our two little girls together for the first time.
Our first breastfeed was about 40 minutes post birth and it went well. She’s always been a strong, good feeder and a hungry little thing! We only encountered one tiny graze on one of my nipples on day 2 in hospital but besides that, nothing! We are still feeding very strong at 7 ½ months old!! It’s been such a care-free journey second time around with the breastfeeding unlike my first experience where I encountered lots of problems and at present I am tandem feeding both my girls!! My nearly three year old has a quick feed once a day by request.
Thank you for reading my birth story of my 2nd beautiful baby girl born healthy!!! She's just gorgeous. I am really enjoying my two precious girls and love being their Mummy :)
