Hi Jo and all the other fantastic ladies at Bella Mama who have helped me. Baby Olive has arrived on Thursday 11 Oct 2012. Attached is my birth story…
Earlier in the day 10.30am check-up with midwife, everything business as usual – baby not fully engaged. Blood pressure good, baby heartbeat good. Talk of what happens if we go over 40 weeks, next week book in for a check-up at around 41wks 3 days…
Wednesday night around 6.30pm was my first sign but as usual even though I was supposed to be paying attention to everything I just thought it was another Braxton Hicks. I think in hindsight I thought the real labour contractions would be stronger or different to these ones I have been experiencing throughout the pregnancy!
These were around 30 mins apart so the timeframe also didn’t ring any alarm bells. Just had a regular night, cooked dinner, watched TV, put our daughter to sleep and for some reason we told her tonight if she wakes up in the morning and Mummy and Daddy are not here but Grandma is then we have gone to have baby sister! Freaky looking back J
Went to bed at around 9.30pm and finished reading my HypnoBirthing book, had a couple of contractions but again nothing out of the norm. Told my hubby and (he is so clever) he thought to pack up his work van in case they had to come pick it up tomorrow because we were in labour, did a quick clean of the house and did the dishes as he didn’t want to leave them around – just in case!
Went to bed at 10pm and thought I could not be bothered with the perianal massage tonight and fell asleep. Every now and then I would wake and need to go to the toilet or move and casually glanced at the clock. The last one was around 2.22am and then at just before 3am I had that urge to get up and go to the bathroom quickly… As I was walking to the toilet, waters broke! Well I think they did, I always expected it to be a gush of water but no just a little trickle. No funny colour so I was not sure what was going on as this was the first time I had experienced this. Called out to my husband who was asleep and sat there for a few more minutes until I thought something might have just happened. He finally got up and said to text the midwife and let her know. I’ve always had in the back of my mind I don’t want to call her all the way out especially this time of the morning and it not be the real thing. But like she has always said, this will be another quick one so it’s better to call first and assess each turn of events.
So I called Loraine and she said to time the surges and give her a call back in 30 mins and we can go from there. My husband started arranging the house and completing the half packed homebirth kit while I was on the toilet telling him each time I felt a contraction. After 15 minutes of them being 2 minutes apart he called the midwife and said she better get here quick! Again it wasn’t painful, just intense feeling in your muscles for those few seconds. After having my last daughter on the toilet by ourselves (see birth story below!! – Jo 🙂 ) I asked Dave to run a bath as we had to upgrade this birthing suite from the toilet! Luckily we managed to get into the bath and then what I call the labour started. My hip started to hurt! (no idea why) The main discomfort I felt was in my hip, knees from being in the all fours position (dancing bear yoga very helpful) and my elbows! For some reason I was holding all my tension in my shoulders and no matter what and how many times I tried to relax them it was always up around my ears and reminded of Yoga on Saturday Jo when you mentioned people with very flexi elbows to try and face them inwards. So I managed to get 2 repetitions of Gayatri Mantra (10mins each) on my Ipod in, during which time the midwife arrived. Every time she went to listen to the babies heartbeat another surge. I think she heard it once and then the rest of the labour is a blur but from her notes the intensity ramped up at 4.18am when baby was coming down, had the show at 4.25am and by 4.50am out was our beautiful little baby Olive Miller 7lb 7oz and 54cm long! I did remember Loraine telling me it was time to push during this stage but I was confident I could wait until the next surge and using my deep Ujjayi breath (aka Darth Vader breathing) breathe her out as I didn’t want to tear or anything.
Mission accomplished beautiful healthy baby girl born, no drugs, only a slight graze but nothing needed to be done, cord not clamped until it stopped pulsing, didn’t quite make it to BirthCare Warkworth (which I fully 100% recommend postnatally) but husband didn’t have to deliver bubs, heaps of skin on skin right away. I think everyone should be listening to the Hypnobirthing Affirmation CD and if your keen on a relaxed birth definitely give it a go along with preggy yoga and Bella Mama Massages!
Rachel (mum of Olive and Savannah).
