Pregnancy, Labour, Birth & Beyond

Ever since i can remember i've had this (odd) fascination with the above... and now after having my own children i love everything about it. For as long as i can remember i've wanted to become a Midwife (which i am slowly working on) and that feeling has only intensified since having my boys also.

My pregnancy with Izaak was amazing, it was a 'breeze' so to speak. I was one of the lucky ones that i only had little morning (afternoon, evening, ALL bloody day) sickness which i experienced in the form of constant nausea for 14 weeks and also extreme tiredness especially in the afternoons. When you think about it, it can't be easy to grow a baby so no wonder i was so figgin' tired even after sleeping for 12hrs of a night and needing a 2hr nap in the arvo!

I was even luckier to have the labour and birth experience i so desired and an uncomplicated one at that! Here is the 'birth story' i typed up a few days after he arrived:

I was due on Sunday the 18^th of June and every little bit of me was determined not to go overdue so in the week leading up to this date I started rubbing clary sage oil into my belly and bathing with it, acupressure and brisk walking. To no avail Sunday came and went with no action but a moderately soft and shortening cervix discovered through an internal exam 2 days before my due date.

The Wednesday evening following my due date I started having mild contractions that were about 10 minutes apart but not becoming any stronger or closer together. I thought it was early labour so alerted the Birth Centre and went to bed to get some rest. I slept through the night and woke in the morning to find the contractions had stopped. This happened again on Thursday evening and once again they had stopped when I woke up Friday morning. I had an appointment with my midwife that afternoon at which she did another internal and a stretch and sweep. I was booked in to have my waters broken the following Monday if I hadn’t gone into labour over the weekend. I had some more mild contractions that night but had convinced myself that the baby was never coming out and ignored them and they had once again vanished when I woke up on Saturday morning. (I look back on these now and realize they were just Braxton hicks).

I went to bed at about 10:30pm on Saturday night feeling extremely restless. I dozed on and off until about 1:00am Sunday morning when I started having mild contractions again. I went back to sleep only to be woken at 3:30am with a very strong contraction. I got out of bed and went to the toilet and felt my hind waters break as I sat down. I started timing the contractions which were coming every 2-4minutes and lasting anywhere between 20 seconds and a minute long. They were intensifying quite quickly so I soon realized it wasn’t another false alarm and in fact labour. I rang the Birth Centre and as I was coping ok with the contractions and being my first baby the midwife suggested I stay at home as long as I could (which I wanted to do anyway). By 4:20am the contractions were coming every 2minutes and had intensified so much that I couldn’t time them any more. I got into the shower at 4:30am and stayed there until 5:00am when I got out and got dressed and rang the midwife again. She asked if I wanted to come in and I wasn’t sure so she said stay home a little longer but call back the minute you’re not coping and then come in. By 6:00am I was ready to go to the hospital.

The car ride to the hospital was difficult as I was feeling nauseated but the contractions slowed down a bit so I got some rest in between. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45am and went straight into one of the Birth Centre rooms. I dealt with the contractions by walking around a bit and also by leaning over the sink (cause’ I was still feeling really sick).

 My mum arrived not long after we did so she could see the birth of her first grandchild. At about 7:15am my midwife Jo (who I had become familiar with after having my four previous appointments with) did an internal and found that I was 3-4cm dilated. She then asked if I wanted them to run the bath and I told them I definitely did as the contractions were coming thick and fast and I was having trouble breathing through and coping with them. It took about 15 minutes for the bath to fill and once my body hit the warm water I completely relaxed (about 7:30am).It was at this stage that my student midwife Lindsay arrived. Although the contractions were still coming as intense and fast as before the water really helped to take the edge off them. I was in the water for about ½ an hour (about 8:00am) when I was no longer coping with the contractions as well as I was when I first entered the bath. It was at this stage I asked for some pain relief and started using the gas. This worked fantastically for me and soon I was no longer feeling the intensity of the contractions, which was great as I relaxed even more. At about 9:30am as each contraction came I felt the urge to push and my body also started involuntarily pushing for me. For me the pushing stage was not painful at all and I actually enjoyed it very much. I didn’t get the stinging sensation that had been described to me, as I was pushing the head out, only the feeling of euphoria as I knew that each push was bringing me closer to the moment I would meet my baby.

Izaak Ashley entered the world at 9:47am, peacefully into the water. He was then placed on my chest for our first cuddle. He weighed 8lb 11oz and was 51.5cm long… I got away with just two small grazes.

Contrasting the two birth experiences i had with the boys often has me pondering about their personalities and the sleep behaviours... Izaak entered the world calmly and into a serene environment, he barely cried and was an amazing feeder and sleeper from the word go. Kyan on the other hand, well that's a story for another time and i will save that for Pregnancy, Labour, Birth & Beyond part 2...