Birth preparation:
Read 'Waterbirth' by Janet Balaskas
Re-read 'New Active Birth' by Janet Balaskas
Evening Primrose Oil taken orally from 36 weeks
Each and every 'Birth Story' on this site - to cover every labour angle that might arise!
Positive thinking and a feeling of excitement about the birth!
Heaps of prayer for specific things about the birth (good midwife, no complications, high pain threshold, calmness, good hour for onset of labour and birth, no mec, relaxed labour ward, no tearing, peace etc. etc.).
I'll try keep this short and sweet!
I woke around 3.40am Sunday morning and discovered that I was having contractions. They were 10 min apart and were fairly weak. I lay there getting all excited for about 45 min. During this time I needed the loo three times which was just weird as usually I go all night without getting up. Probably nothing to do with the labour (?) but anyway, that's how it was Sunday morning! Around 4.30am I whispered to Mitch (DH) asking if he was awake, which of course woke him (hurrah, my intent!). I started poking him in the ribs with my fingers and said 'guess what?!!'. Before he could answer, I said 'I've been having contractions' and he replied (probably as all sleepy husbands do) 'You sure?'. What a silly question, but anyway, I digress!
We lay there a while timing them (still 10 min apart and only going for about 30 sec) and discussed our girl and boy names. We were about 98% on the girls but still undecided about boy names. Leaving this discussion unresolved, I got up at 5.30am and ran the shower as the contractions were getting a bit longer and intense. I'd been noticing that every time I went to the toilet (still frequently) that being upright intensified them so after a while lying back down in bed wasn't so pleasant. Around this time I vomited and was annoyed to find I only had green stuff from my tummy come up, weird that it wasn't last night's curry...guess I'd digested that already. Anyway, I was standing in the shower rocking and swaying, waiting for the bath tub (which I was standing in) to fill up so I could get some sweet relief. When it finally did and I sat down, I found there wasn't much relief, which surprised me as a lot of my last labour was spent in the bath and it had been great. I was pretty disappointed and was getting increasingly grumpy (at no one and for no particular reason) so I got out of the bath and just stood there rocking and swaying again. Mitch had called my sister (who lives in a unit out the back) to come and take over responsibility for Caty (still asleep). This was at about 6am.
6.15 I called the birth centre where I was asked to 'Stay at home as long as I could' and not wanting to bother the midwife, I assured her I would. Famous last words! I got off the phone and promptly went into transition! I got quite scared at this point as I realised we were cutting it pretty fine.
I started getting dressed and started thinking about what I needed to add to the labour bag which was only partly packed (it had all the baby stuff and only some pads and undies for me). By this time I was getting panicky and had decided that we needed to leave NOW. I didn't know what Mitch was up to (he was putting Caty's car seat in Meg's car), and got even crankier, standing at the top of our front steps with the camera and my pillow, which I had decided were the essential items I needed for the labour bag....in reality they were only ones I could bother to gather, hehe. For some reason I had decided that it was up to Mitch to pack everything I'd missed and was grumpy with him (in my head) for not packing it earlier. I yelled out 'What IS Mitch doing? We need to leave NOW'. Then I thought 'Hmmm, perhaps I should go back and get a towel for the car in case my waters break' but again, couldn't be bothered getting one and for some silly reason justifed this thought by thinking they wouldn't break anyway as they'd not broken naturally with Caty .
By the time we got into the car it was 6.30am exactly. I perched on the seat, mostly balancing on my tiptoes (too uncomfortable to sit down). I very nearly ripped my undies and pants off as I thought I might have to give birth in the car. Ha, but my pride (or modesty?!) stopped that thought pretty quick!
About 2 minutes into the drive my waters broke....it was a nice little neat 'pop' and only felt like about one cup full. I kept sniffing the air and when I couldn't smell anything too weird I decided not to tell Mitch as I figured he'd panic and given we had a 25 min drive ahead of us, I didn't want him driving like a maniac. As it was, I then urged him to run the red lights and was quietly satisfied when he exceeded the speed limits (he said he reached 130km!). A few times he would slow when he came to a red light and I'd say threateningly 'Just go through it'. I was pretty annoyed he hesitated when the road was clear. I guess he's never been in labour!
My contractions were now 2-3 min apart and I was getting the urge to push during them. This was quite scary as I'd never had the urge to push with Caty so didn't know if I could control it. I shot up a prayer during each contraction and praise God, it worked! I also tried to smile during each contraction as I'd read something about the happy hormones working when you smiled. I felt a fool and looked out the window each time so Mitch wouldn't see me and think I was delirious or something.
FINALLY we arrived at the emergency room and we walked in. It was exactly 7am. There were a few wheelchairs just inside the door so the minute I reached them I leaned over one, swaying my hips and contracting. I knew I had a massive wet patch on my butt and realised someone was walking past me but I didn't care as I figured they realised I was in labour and I hadn't lost control of my bladder. Then an old orderly came up and got me to sit in a chair. He then fast tracked me to the lifts with Mitch trailing. I decided now was the time to tell Mitch about my waters breaking in the car. This was partly because no one was saying anything and I wanted to lighten the mood, and partly because I found it slightly amusing that I'd ruined our car seat and wanted to see Mitch's reaction. Mitch has no memory of this so he must have been in his own little world by then!
Up we went and the orderly started wheeling me through into the maternity ward. I yelled 'birth centre, birth centre, birth centre' and was offended (and I don't mean to offend anyone with the coming comment, but it's what went through my head at the time so I may as well report it), and was offended that he thought I was a maternity ward girl rather than birth centre one! Weird, weird, weird but there you go.
In we went and I thanked him as he left. I ordered the midwife to start running the bath and proceeded to strip off. It was then that I realised that the clothes I was stripping off were the only one's we'd bought with us. Talk about unorganised but anyway. At least I had some pads and undies in the bag...a good start!
The orderly had told Mitch he'd have to move the car and Mitch had left to do so. I thought 'Hmmm, silly husband, don't you realise I'm about to pop?!'. Lucky for him (and me) he couldn't navigate his way out so came back in the room a few minute later.
I asked the middy to check my dilation as I didn't want to start pushing too early. I got the impression she didn't want to but I insisted so she did and told me I was good to go. Yay.
I jumped in the spa and watched with dismay as the water rose around my ankles. I thought 'Crap, by the time this fills I'll have had the baby' and tried to turn the taps on stronger. Needless to say, the midwife knew what she was doing and they didn't turn any further. After a minute or two of swaying and holding onto the support bars, I looked down and asked the midwife if it was deep enough to get down into. She said 'Yep, hop down'. For some reason Mitch was in the bedroom so I called him into the dark little bathroom and so he came and stood near the spa. I was on my hands and knees and was trying to relax my pelvic floor. I put my hand down to see if I could feel a babies head and I could, so I told Mitch 'I felt a head!'. This confused him a bit as he thought I'd birthed the head rather than felt it. I then felt that familiar heavy, burning, stretching feeling and decided to not push but let my body do what it was already doing without me initiating it if that makes sense. The put my hand down again and felt the head come out. I was pleased with this as I'd read that guiding the head out yourself can somehow prevent tearing and I wondered if I tore. The next contraction came and I felt the shoulders slide out. This was more uncomfortable than the head which was weird as I figured the head would be the worst bit as it was the biggest part but anyway. I sat there in shock with a baby in my arms as I realised that not only had I not pushed my baby out (or rather, not deliberately) but I felt no pain, just some discomfort, and could see no blood in the water.
I held my baby and looked up at Mitch with a smile. He was still recovering from seeing the midwife unwrap the cord a few times from around bubs neck, so I only got a weak smile from him. I felt a bit teary as I looked down at this purple little baby. After a few seconds it gave a squeal then settled back down. We hadn't seen if it was a boy or a girl and to be honest I was a bit annoyed when the midwife moved the cord around a bit to check. She didn't say anything (thankfully) and I said 'What do we have....we have another girl!'. I would have liked to sit there not knowing as I would have loved not finding out for a few hours....to marvel at the birth of our new baby and yet to keep that lovely feeling of excitement and anticipation as to whether it was a boy or a girl! Anyway! The time was 7.12am!
Can't believe we had time to run the bath and have a baby within 12 minutes of arriving! Crazy!
I stood up and asked if the midwife should hold our girl as I stepped out of the spa but she reminded me that it was still attached (duh! Not sure how long I was expecting the cord to be!) so she held my elbow and guided me to the bed where we put little Ceri on my chest and started snuggling and feeding.
I then got Mitch to dial my parents and I happily told them the news. Dad later said that I called him at 7.15 which is just bizarre as that means I had Ceri and three minutes later was on the phone yakking away. Seemed like a lot later but phones don't lie about call times!
The midwife disappeared after the cord stopped pulsating and we'd cut it. All was quiet and lovely. So different to Caty's birth where the two midwifes faffed about doing apgars and measurements etc for ages before leaving us alone.
I sat there on the bed feeding but a bit in shock. Despite the happy ending I was already fearfully thinking about my perhaps future labours and how I didn't want a repeat of this speedy birth. Although I'd managed without intervention as I'd wanted, I felt labour progressed way too fast and all I'd experienced was that panicky transition stage. And to be honest, as I sat there holding Ceri, I realised with irony that my overriding emotion was a rushing relief that I was no longer in labour.
But that is the past - we're in love with Ceri.
Stats are:
August 4th (around 39 weeks)
7 pound 5.5 ounces
49 cm long
34 cm head
First stage was a little over 4 hours
Second stage was a few contractions, maybe 5 minutes?
Third stage was perhaps 30 min.
No tears and physically it feels like I didn't give birth but just had a baby dropped down the chimney! Crazy, crazy, I'm still confused and in awe of how well I feel! Make what you like of that - I realise it sounds boastful and proud but I just feel great :)
Angliss Birthing Centre
Ceri means 'Beloved' or 'Divine' depending on what you read! Welsh origins. Pronounced 'S'ree' or like the start of 'Serena' without the 'na' at the end.
Middle name 'Jean' after both my grandmothers.
She's feeding well and has only lost 75g off her birth weight (she's 3.5 days old today) so we're pretty chuffed with that. A big sleepy head but that's ok!
Ok so that wasn't so short but I hope you found it sweet!
