rwhite
Mum to Lachie and Clem
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We had a post dates scan on Saturday the 11th - I was 40+5 and midwife just wanted to check that everything looked all right. I considered declining as I didn't feel was overly necessary, but decided to head along. Nothing amiss at scan, or so I thought, and went home feeling a little more impatient to meet this little one.
Phone rang at about 6pm that night and it was my midwife's backup asking how my scan went today, and did the tech mention anything was wrong. I told her nope everything was good, and she went on to say that actually they had been informed that the scan showed low fluid around the baby (2mm when they like there to be a minimum of 10mm apparently!). She said it was up to me how we proceed, but she thought it was best baby comes out ASAP. She mentioned that of course that would mean I wouldn't get the home birth that I had planned, but I felt at ease with that - I had always said as long as baby is safe, that's all I am worried about. She said I could come to her for a stretch and sweep that evening, but if that failed I would need to be induced first thing in the morning. She also said it would be her attending my birth and not my usual midwife because my midwife had tummy bug. That was fine by me, she was lovely!
So I got off the phone in a state of disbelief and told my partner Tom the info, and he called his mum and asked her to come and take our 5 year old son as we had arranged and we went for the sweep. I came home feeling very crampy, went and cleaned the bathroom as I was considering labouring in the bath and had left it grubby up until the last minute so I could clean it in labour
Went to bed about 10pm and by 1.30am in the morning was having some light contractions. I went back to sleep, unsure if they would turn in to anything and assuming we would probably have the induction. I woke up again at about 4.30 and knew I was in labour - pains about every 8-10 minutes lasting a minute. Then I got up at just after 6 with pains between every 2-4 minutes lasting 45 seconds, had shower and breakfast (well, a banana..) and called the midwife. She said she would be over after she had breakfast. Meanwhile, I set up the lounge for the birth. The tarp was ridiculously large but I thought it couldn't hurt having it there - we rent, so better safe than sorry!
The midwife arrived and checked me at 7.30 and found me to be 5-6cm, pains still around the same duration and length as before. I was finding the contractions sore but manageable and talking through most of them. At about 9am I felt sick and went to the bathroom to throw up. While throwing up violently, I had a huge bloody show (grossest feeling ever!).
By 9.45, the pain had become more intense and I asked the midwife to check me as I felt I would be about 8cm. She checked and I was 8-9cm. She called for her backup to come, as she knew it would soon be time to get down to business.
Very soon after that, I started having absolutely awful strong contractions - before that I had been breathing through them and talking through a lot of them, but now I was yelling and it felt almost unbearable. I knew I was in transition because my labour was going almost identically to Lachlan's, and I remembered feeling like it was extremely intense and unbearable in transition with him. I told the midwives that if I wasn't in transition then I didn't know what the hell was going on! I just had to keep telling myself that every contraction was bringing me closer to meeting my baby, and that it would be time to push so soon and it would all be over. I heard the backup saying "It's okay sweetie, it's just like riding a wave - just ride it out" and I tried to keep that in mind with each surge that hammered me.
At 10.30 I started feeling a lot of pressure and had the most overwhelming feeling of needing to push - something I never had with Lachlan's birth. I was laying on my side on the futon I had arranged for the birth, and decided I couldn't bare to change position, despite having planned to birth on hands and knees. I bore down with each contraction - my body just took over. No pushing in between, just when one came. I couldn't bear to push any more than my body wanted to. I apologised to my midwives for the poo that I was certain was on its way too haha I was sure I would, because I was constipated that morning (thankfully didn't happen this time, as my partner will never let me forget it happening last time!).
I could feel bubs moving down more and more with each push and it was really encouraging. Eventually I felt that the head was extremely close and I felt an extreme amount of pressure and that tight stinging feeling. The midwife told me to put my hand down and I could feel my baby's head. She broke my waters, which were very minimal apparently, so scan was accurate about that.
Very soon after that I had another contraction and pushed again, and the midwife told me to stop and pant, so I knew the head must be super close to coming out. Then next contraction I pushed and felt baby's head pop out, and after that the body. It was 11am exactly.
They had baby on the mattress while waiting for the cord to stop pulsing, and I sat up to have a look. We had been on team yellow because bubs had it's legs very tightly crossed at the scan, so I looked straight between the legs for the penis I was expecting to see and it wasn't there!
I started crying and said to my mum (her first granddaughter after four grandsons) who was down the other end "it's a girl! Mum, it's a girl!!" And called Tom over too. I couldn't believe it - I have always dreamed of having a daughter and finally I have one! Mum later told me that she couldn't see between baby's legs from her end because cord was hanging down right between them - she thought it was a boy! I picked her up for some skin to skin and within 20min she was feeding.
She is absolutely teeny tiny even for being overdue - 6lb6oz and 52.5cm long (although my usual midwife remeasured and thinks actually 51cm...I will stick to the first one though because that's what I initially announced
haha). So perfectly in proportion, though, like a little baby doll.
Tom and my mum were both there and had both had initially had negative things to say about my home birth plans, but were amazed and inspired by the birth and thought it was awesome. Tom had actually been disappointed at the prospect of *not* getting to birth at home. It figures I think he will advocate for home birth (or at least be positive about it) from now on, as will my mum.
As with most home births, no drugs, not even panadol, and amazingly no tears aside from one little labial one, but perineum all intact! Feels 10000x better than with my son's birth, where I had no feeling of needing to push whatsoever and tore and had an awful time post partum. I lost about 400ml of blood, which was the only thing that really went not 100% but even then that is pretty good in the scheme of things.
Baby had a pretty bad tongue tie which was damaging my nipples really badly and felt like she had razor sharp teeth she was biting me with every time she fed... But have had that assessed and released, and feeding is going beautifully! She feeds like a champ, nothing wrong with her suction...she is a very hungry girl and wants boob almost every time she is awake.
Hope you all enjoyed reading my labour and birth story, and that it will quell some of your fears about birth if you're scared...all I can really say is, keep an open mind
Your body is meant to do this - and each contraction truly does bring you closer to meeting your baby...it's just such a short amount of time in your life to be in pain and then it'll all be over and you'll be staring in to your little one's face.
Phone rang at about 6pm that night and it was my midwife's backup asking how my scan went today, and did the tech mention anything was wrong. I told her nope everything was good, and she went on to say that actually they had been informed that the scan showed low fluid around the baby (2mm when they like there to be a minimum of 10mm apparently!). She said it was up to me how we proceed, but she thought it was best baby comes out ASAP. She mentioned that of course that would mean I wouldn't get the home birth that I had planned, but I felt at ease with that - I had always said as long as baby is safe, that's all I am worried about. She said I could come to her for a stretch and sweep that evening, but if that failed I would need to be induced first thing in the morning. She also said it would be her attending my birth and not my usual midwife because my midwife had tummy bug. That was fine by me, she was lovely!
So I got off the phone in a state of disbelief and told my partner Tom the info, and he called his mum and asked her to come and take our 5 year old son as we had arranged and we went for the sweep. I came home feeling very crampy, went and cleaned the bathroom as I was considering labouring in the bath and had left it grubby up until the last minute so I could clean it in labour
Went to bed about 10pm and by 1.30am in the morning was having some light contractions. I went back to sleep, unsure if they would turn in to anything and assuming we would probably have the induction. I woke up again at about 4.30 and knew I was in labour - pains about every 8-10 minutes lasting a minute. Then I got up at just after 6 with pains between every 2-4 minutes lasting 45 seconds, had shower and breakfast (well, a banana..) and called the midwife. She said she would be over after she had breakfast. Meanwhile, I set up the lounge for the birth. The tarp was ridiculously large but I thought it couldn't hurt having it there - we rent, so better safe than sorry!
The midwife arrived and checked me at 7.30 and found me to be 5-6cm, pains still around the same duration and length as before. I was finding the contractions sore but manageable and talking through most of them. At about 9am I felt sick and went to the bathroom to throw up. While throwing up violently, I had a huge bloody show (grossest feeling ever!).
By 9.45, the pain had become more intense and I asked the midwife to check me as I felt I would be about 8cm. She checked and I was 8-9cm. She called for her backup to come, as she knew it would soon be time to get down to business.
Very soon after that, I started having absolutely awful strong contractions - before that I had been breathing through them and talking through a lot of them, but now I was yelling and it felt almost unbearable. I knew I was in transition because my labour was going almost identically to Lachlan's, and I remembered feeling like it was extremely intense and unbearable in transition with him. I told the midwives that if I wasn't in transition then I didn't know what the hell was going on! I just had to keep telling myself that every contraction was bringing me closer to meeting my baby, and that it would be time to push so soon and it would all be over. I heard the backup saying "It's okay sweetie, it's just like riding a wave - just ride it out" and I tried to keep that in mind with each surge that hammered me.
At 10.30 I started feeling a lot of pressure and had the most overwhelming feeling of needing to push - something I never had with Lachlan's birth. I was laying on my side on the futon I had arranged for the birth, and decided I couldn't bare to change position, despite having planned to birth on hands and knees. I bore down with each contraction - my body just took over. No pushing in between, just when one came. I couldn't bear to push any more than my body wanted to. I apologised to my midwives for the poo that I was certain was on its way too haha I was sure I would, because I was constipated that morning (thankfully didn't happen this time, as my partner will never let me forget it happening last time!).
I could feel bubs moving down more and more with each push and it was really encouraging. Eventually I felt that the head was extremely close and I felt an extreme amount of pressure and that tight stinging feeling. The midwife told me to put my hand down and I could feel my baby's head. She broke my waters, which were very minimal apparently, so scan was accurate about that.
Very soon after that I had another contraction and pushed again, and the midwife told me to stop and pant, so I knew the head must be super close to coming out. Then next contraction I pushed and felt baby's head pop out, and after that the body. It was 11am exactly.
They had baby on the mattress while waiting for the cord to stop pulsing, and I sat up to have a look. We had been on team yellow because bubs had it's legs very tightly crossed at the scan, so I looked straight between the legs for the penis I was expecting to see and it wasn't there!
I started crying and said to my mum (her first granddaughter after four grandsons) who was down the other end "it's a girl! Mum, it's a girl!!" And called Tom over too. I couldn't believe it - I have always dreamed of having a daughter and finally I have one! Mum later told me that she couldn't see between baby's legs from her end because cord was hanging down right between them - she thought it was a boy! I picked her up for some skin to skin and within 20min she was feeding.She is absolutely teeny tiny even for being overdue - 6lb6oz and 52.5cm long (although my usual midwife remeasured and thinks actually 51cm...I will stick to the first one though because that's what I initially announced
haha). So perfectly in proportion, though, like a little baby doll.Tom and my mum were both there and had both had initially had negative things to say about my home birth plans, but were amazed and inspired by the birth and thought it was awesome. Tom had actually been disappointed at the prospect of *not* getting to birth at home. It figures
I think he will advocate for home birth (or at least be positive about it) from now on, as will my mum.As with most home births, no drugs, not even panadol, and amazingly no tears aside from one little labial one, but perineum all intact! Feels 10000x better than with my son's birth, where I had no feeling of needing to push whatsoever and tore and had an awful time post partum. I lost about 400ml of blood, which was the only thing that really went not 100% but even then that is pretty good in the scheme of things.
Baby had a pretty bad tongue tie which was damaging my nipples really badly and felt like she had razor sharp teeth she was biting me with every time she fed... But have had that assessed and released, and feeding is going beautifully! She feeds like a champ, nothing wrong with her suction...she is a very hungry girl and wants boob almost every time she is awake.
Hope you all enjoyed reading my labour and birth story, and that it will quell some of your fears about birth if you're scared...all I can really say is, keep an open mind
Your body is meant to do this - and each contraction truly does bring you closer to meeting your baby...it's just such a short amount of time in your life to be in pain and then it'll all be over and you'll be staring in to your little one's face.
I loved being team yellow for my second home birth, too. 
Aside from some haemorrhoids, I don't much feel like I've had a baby a week on, can't believe it. Apart from the night feeds, I guess 
