The home water birth of Orson Phoenix Paul
I guess it all starts about 3 weeks before Orson was born, on 26th January. I started having pre-labour signs and was thinking things were close. All along i had thought at least ?something? would happen on 26th Jan, but i thought it would be more than just pre-labour!
During the week I got Jacob to check to see if my cervix had dialled any. By Wednesday we thought i was about 3-4cms. Looking back now i honestly have no idea what he was feeling because i certainly wasn?t 4cms by Friday lol. But i had been losing some of the mucous plug so that was some good news.
The pre-labour contractions lasted until the Thursday morning when i had to go to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, i guess the trauma of the pain had stopped things. I then got some labour inducing acupuncture done that afternoon but not much happened after that. The next morning i had more acupuncture done and started having painful tightening right away. They started getting stronger and more regular about 5 minutes apart so i decided to call my midwives and doula. They decided to come as we thought i was in labour.
By 10pm that night things had basically stopped. I asked my midwife Linda to check my cervix. I was about 2-3cm but it was still quite long. She gave me a stretch and sweep and then they decided to go back home.
The next day i had a show but other than that nothing at all happened for the next 2 weeks. I was so angry at my body. I felt like it had failed and that i was never going to have this baby. I had waited so long for this and my body was just playing games with me, it wasn?t fair.
I had pre-paired so much for this homebirth. Read books, did countless research and set my mind to focus souly on this birth. But absolutely nothing could prepair me for how the birth actually went.
At 3am on Friday 14th Feb ruary, i woke up to a contraction. About 5 minutes later another one came and then anothe. So i decided to get up and time them properly. They were 5 minutes apart lasting about a minute. I had around 5 while sitting in the lounge room. They didn?t really hurt much. I was breathing calmly through them and felt quite good. I still didn?t know if this was true labour or not though as i wasn?t in much pain at all.
After about 20 minutes of being up i decided to go and wake up Jacob as the last contraction was a bit more intense than the rest were. But as soon as i walked into the bedroom i had a massive contraction that hurt so much i nearly cried. Then another of the same intensity came about a minute later. They kept coming, getting stronger and stronger and closer and closer. Then my whole body started shaking furiously between each contraction. So i started thinking maybe i?m in transition already. But i was so confused and couldn?t think straight because the contractions were ontop of each other. I really had no idea what was happening. I then needed to use the loo really badly and had to go about 6 times within the space of 5 minutes. And let me tell you trying to use the toilet while having contractions is not pretty!
I was feeling scared and worried. I knew something wasn?t right. I couldn?t even walk out of the toilet. I remember bashing on the wall just to release my fear and pain of the contractions, they were so fierce. At this point i got Jacob to ring Linda and our doula Emma and tell them to come. It was around 4:15am when he called them. Now i didn?t think anything of it at the time but as he was on the phone i started feeling the urge to push. At the time i thought he was actually posterior and that was the reason for the pressure and pain. Maybe i was still in denial?
I asked Jacob to run the bath as the birth pool wasn?t filling up quick enough. I finally got in there with a lot of help. The warm water was nice to sit in but it didn?t ease the pain at all like i thought it would. The urge to push was getting stronger but i was holding back. I was still scared and confused at how this could be happening so quickly. I then did massive spew and then i knew this baby was defiantly coming now because i always spew when im in transition.
For the next 40 or so minutes i was resisting the urge to push and having less than 1min contractions. This was the only time i felt a lot of pain and actually made any noise. And it was a lot of noise at that. Trying not to push is by far the hardest thing ever i think and im sure the whole neighbourhood heard me!
I kept asking Jacob to call an ambulance as the midwives were still at least 1.5hrs away from getting there. I told him to call them cause i didn?t feel right but really all i wanted was a damn epidural lol. I think he knew this because he never did call an ambulance and just kept telling me i was doing fine and i didn?t need one. And im so thankful he didn?t either.
As our bath is quite small, Jacob didn?t think i could push the baby out in there and definalty not while i was sitting down, which by the way is not an ideal position to be in! So he finally got me to at least get on my knees in the bath, which was so difficult because Orson?s head was so far down my hips couldn?t move properly.
Then i felt my body starting to push him out and me resisting wasn?t stopping it anymore. I could feel his head coming down, there was no stopping him now. I put my hand down to feel his head but it wasn?t there so this is when i knew i had to start pushing, which was a relief because the pain of the contractions stopped when i did. I gave one small push, put my hand down and there was his head. Another push and felt him crowning and omg it burned! I have never felt it before, it was so strange. Around this time my waters broke just as his head was coming out in the next contraction. So he was born in the caul. I then felt him turn and he was kicking so hard inside me it actually hurt. One more push and at 5:09am Orson?s body shot out under my leg so fast i didn?t have time to catch him. I brought him to the serface and put him against my chest. I gently blew on my face and he opened his eyes. He looked around and gave a few little grunts but he didn?t cry. He was so calm. He gave a little cry about a minute later and then peacefully fell asleep in my arms.
Jacob then called Linda and Emma to tell them Orson was born. They were so shocked at how fast he came but relieved he was ok. The placenta then came about 15 minutes after he was born, while i was still in the bath. Jacob had to get it out and put it in a bucket which i think was the hardest thing for him to do. He never wanted to see it let alone touch it and his biggest fear was Orson coming before the midwives came. But he did great, even though it took him about a week to get over the shock of it.
I got out of the bath and went and sat in the lounge room with my new baby. I breastfed him and he attached perfectly like he had been doing it for years. He fed for around 2 hours. Emma arrived about 30mins after he was born and the midwives arrived about 2 hours after he was born. We kept the cord attached until they arrived where Lily helped to cut the cord. We then woke Charlie up to meet his new brother but he wasn?t interested at all. It took him nearly 2 weeks to even start talking to me again. It must of been a real shock for him.
Orson was then checked and weighed and measured. He was 4160g or 9lb2oz and measured 55cms long. Although we now think that was wrong as he is only 52.5cms now.
Jacob then finally got to have a hold and i went and had a bath in the birth pool since i didn?t want it to go to waste. Photos were taken and then i took him off to bed with my for a snuggle and fed.
After waiting almost 20mths for him i finally got to hold my beautiful babe and he has been a dream baby ever since.
