7/7/2020 1 Comment My Birth Story with ArcherRead about my Pregnancy in my previous blog post! On December 31st I woke up and was 39 weeks pregnant exactly. I had a sudden urge to clean all the house windows. Something I have never done before and have not done since, but that day they had to be done. My fiancé sensed the crazy about to start and was also getting cabin fever, so asked if he could go to watch a fight at the pub with some friends. Maybe after we would even drop in at a new years eve BBQ before resuming our shut in? I made him swear not to get drunk but we both thought “2 or 3 weeks to go, there is no harm” I began washing the windows and flooded the garage in the process. The water was creeping towards a fabric backpack so I moved it. It was really heavy! I was already sweating from the hot summers day working outside so declared that it was time for a break and I did not want to injure myself so close to the birth. I went and sat down to watch a movie early afternoon. During the movie my stomach began squaring off, just like my midwife had pointed out just a couple of days ago as being Braxton Hicks. I still didn’t feel anything but began watching my stomach and not the movie. I thought I had just done too much. They happened every 5min for 30min or so when I message my friend and said ‘aren’t they supposed to be irregular? Is it Braxton hicks? Is it contractions??’ I was so confused but kept timing. After 1 hour and still not feeling anything, I decided to go nap just encase. But I could not. Id changed positions, drunk lots of water but they still continued every 5 minutes. Eventually I got out the yoga ball and started bouncing to see it anything changed. I was doing this when my fiancé returned home. He took one look at me and shouted, “we said we weren’t doing anything to start labour!” (by that he clearly meant he wanted the sex option if we were going to be trying anything off the list and was feeling jipped) My response was ‘I’m not trying to start labour. I am in labour’ his face was hilarious! He was shocked and then asked why I hadn’t called, and do we need to leave? I explained that I still didn’t feel anything but it was a regular movement every 5 min. for about 3 hours at that point. There will still no other signs of labour. We decided to eat early and go to bed super early. We still thought ‘this could go on for days but we will rest just incase tomorrow is the day’ We sat down to eat just before 7pm. As I walked to the table another squaring off happened but BAM I felt it in my back as strong as my period pain (for which I have often skipped work even with pain medication). I ate dinner standing up and then got in the shower. By that point it had been 3min apart but with feeling for 30-40 min. I had my fiancé call the midwife to see if we should be leaving soon (I had it in my head 5min apart for 1hour but I don’t think we had really gone over it with my midwife). As my midwife wasn’t on call he spoke to someone else. I was mid contraction so after he hung up and told me to leave in an hour, we had a disagreement on if she actually meant wait 1 hr or go in after 1 hr of the contractions…which would mean we leave very soon. My friend who was attending the birth was 1 hr drive away so we eventually decided to let her head to our house and we would leave when she got there. If needed she could just meet us at the birth centre as that was on the way to our house for her. My fiancé tried to pack my bag in the car but I wouldn’t let him leave my side. I was mostly in the shower on the yoga ball or squatting but also sat in the bath and on all fours on our bed before heading back to the shower. All fours was really uncomfortable to me! I went to the toilet and saw a spot of blood. I think this was my mucus plug/ uterine seal so I shouted out ‘yes I am actually in labour!’ I was in the shower when my friend arrived. I got dressed, We packed the car and left. The car ride was unpleasant as I couldn’t move. We also had another disagreement when my fiancé drove via the Leederville exit ON NEW YEARS EVE! Lucky there was no additional traffic at the time. We arrived at the birth centre between 10- 10.30pm. the midwife on duty said she would be the one there and they would call my midwife to come in when she thought I was closer to pushing. I didn’t want to have vaginal exams other than on arriving, so I had the doppler put on then my one cervix check. I was so disheartened to be told “you are just 2cm- maybe 3. You are going to be here for along time. I would send you home and I would if we were busier.” I was told I didn’t have to worry about a new years baby because he wouldn’t be born that soon. Lucky for me that I was the only person in the centre at the time and I told her I wasn’t getting back in the car. I wanted to get in the bath but was told I should wait until further along. At this point I thought I was going to end up with an epidural despite desperately wanting to avoid it. I was already tired from squatting for 3 hours and not having more than 2-3min between surges. I felt so defeated by this one comment and wished I hadn’t of had it done. I got in the shower on the ball again but loved that this shower had one nozzle on my front, one on my back, and enough space to have all of us there sitting together. I was so thankful to have my friend there. She was 7 months pregnant at the time but took it in turns with my fiancé to massage my back, hold the shower head on my back and they talked and laughed which helped his mood and mine. I remember coming out of the peak of my contractions to hear them laughing. it was a really good energy with the 3 of us. (well 5 including our 2 wombmates!) At some point my friend said ‘do you want to get in the bath now’ as I think she noticed things were picking up. The midwife filled the bath and I got in. I was still trying to find a comfy position when my membranes released so I was literally in the pool for about 5mins or less. It left like a spa jet on my leg. The midwife was brought back in and checked with a torch. She suspected meconium (when baby poos in the womb) but none of us could see anything. She checked baby heart beat with the doppler and my temperature, for the 2nd time since arriving, which were both fine. I was told I'd need to get out and possibly be transferred to the main hospital for further monitoring. I felt calm and ok but just didn’t want to have to lie down on a bed to move. As soon as my membranes released I had some non stop surges/contractions so stayed in the bath until I was able to move. I got out and a giant pad was put between my legs. I was told it would be checked in 5 minutes and nothing on there I can stay in the birth centre. I sat on the ball again and someone tried to towel me off. I felt suddenly hot and threw it off. I don’t think anyone else noticed or realised but looking back, I was in transition phase at this point. My friend offered me the gas and I took it. I hadn't ever thought of the gas nor wanted it but she could see that my 2 water options had just been removed and everything was building. I instantly felt dizzy after trying the gas and like I wanted to pass out so yelled out ‘lay me down lay me down’. I rested on the bed on my side. The midwife grabbed the pad, said it was clear and asked if I wanted to get back in the water. The gas kicked in and I felt like I could rest my legs finally so I said ‘20min rest then I will go back in and continue gas free’ She left the room and I continued to suck on the gas. Suddenly I heard myself do this massive deep groan. I thought my body was protesting to the side laying position but I kept saying ‘just 20min just 20min’ to myself. I saw my friend leave the room and thought ‘stupid! You can use the toilet in here’ and a combination of 'why are you leaving me!' I didn’t know she could see my body was pushing and went to get the midwife. My friend, my midwife and the original midwife entered the room. My midwife said ‘hey I almost missed this! His head has crowned and everything. She took the gas off me. I didn’t know until later but she was called with an update when my membranes/water released but was told don’t come in just yet- it will still be awhile. She decided no, id been to calm all pregnancy and left at that moment. If she hadn’t she would have missed things completely. I could feel a pressure as his head moved down, then moved back up, exactly as they explained in the birthing class. I was told to stop pushing and just breathe, even though I'd never actively pushed (that I was aware of). I was then told to try and do one push to help his shoulder. I was laying on my side and thinking ‘well tell me HOW I push? What do I do???” they just kept saying ‘push push’ so I decided well I heard its like pooping and maybe if I do poo they will realise they need to tell me what to do?' But I didn’t poo, he came out completely and was put on my chest. We didn’t know the gender and had 2 names to choose from. We had decided my fiancé would tell me the gender and we would decide a name, but as soon as I saw him I just kept repeating “Hi Archer, you did so well!” Eventually I asked “Well is it a boy?” and my fiancé just nodded and said ‘I guess the name is decided then!’. The one thing I did like about having a land birth over a water birth was that after his birth, I rolled to my back and we stayed there for a couple of hours. The birth centre policy is to get out of the birth pool for the placenta delivery, which when I had witnessed this with my friend, looked a little uncomfortable to move so quickly. While the waterbirth would have been great, I wasn’t disappointed that it didn’t happen for me. In my birth plan I had stated I preferred not to have a managed 3rd stage (injection to release the placenta) but after 1hr it had not released on its own so my midwife revisited the idea with me and I consented. I had the placenta encapsulated and we didn’t cut the cord until the placenta was birthed which allowed for optimal cord clamping. While I do think I had a great birth and am excited to get to experience it again, the 2 things that I want to change in my birth plan for the future is to not have the gas nor the injection. My aim was always to do it without and I now know there are things I can do to help that plan, such as making sure my team knows not to offer me any gas or pain relief, to trust and listen to my body rather than the cervix measurement, and I can change position or try hypnobirthing techniques to apply to the birthing of the placenta, not just use those tools for birthing the baby. Archer Patrick was born on 1/1/2017 at 12.41am and given his middle name from his grandfather. He was the 1st baby born in the birth centre for 2017 and the 2nd for King Edward hospital by 4minutes. My ‘pushing faze’ was noted as 16minutes and due to being 2cm in admission my ‘active’ labour stage was noted as ‘estimated to be 2hours’ Due to another birth at the centre 2 hours later, we were allowed to stay a little longer than the usual time frame of 6hrs as the paediatrician came over just once. We were home at 9am complete with Maccas Breakfast drive threw on 1/1/17. That night I sat in my loungeroom watching the news report the ‘first baby of the year’ born at 12.57am in midland. My midwife was disappointed we didn’t get to be the 1st and be interviewed on TV but we were very happy not to be! We called our families as soon as we got home, who all thought we were just breaking our silence to wish them a happy new year. I will never forget saying to my mum “it’s a boy” and she just said “yes I said HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO!” Despite not wanting a public holiday baby, I now can’t imagine a better way to have started our 2017. Breastfeeding Journey Story coming soon! Image by Bella Julie Photography
1 Comment
Nina
7/7/2020 04:56:52 pm
Lovley story!
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