Ola
Ola’s birth story (Home birth - 40 weeks and 6 days)
On Tuesday the 3rd of June at 40 weeks and 6 days I had been stressed about being past my due date, but was feeling better after a reassuring appointment at home with my midwife Josephine.
I walked Josephine out and sat down on the couch around 6:30pm, and suddenly felt my waters break. I couldn’t believe it as I think I had mentally just resigned to the fact my baby wasn’t coming any time soon. It was also crazy because when I first found out I was pregnant I predicted her birth date as the 3rd of June (due date had been 28th of May) and I had said earlier that week ‘if I’m not in labour by the 3rd of June I’ll be shocked.’ My subconscious must have known somehow.
I called Josephine to let her know, she said she’d call back in an hour to check in.
An hour later my contractions had started. When we spoke to Josephine again she advised us not to get too excited just yet and to rest / try to sleep. We never got a chance to do either as within an hour my contractions were intense. We were frantically getting things ready, rushing to set up the lounge room with waterproof floor coverings, candles and affirmation cards and doing last minute things like brushing my teeth and setting up the TENS machine.
Within an hour my contractions were 5 minutes apart, within 2 hours they were 3 minutes apart lasting around 1 minute. We called Josephine to come over as things felt very intense very quickly.
By the time she arrived I was having regular intense contractions, it felt like I never had any early labour and I went straight into active labour. I used the TENS machine and birth comb initially and later got into the birth pool.
I did find it hard to relax my muscles during contractions even in the pool, the pain was extremely intense. I found it hard to change positions or keep as active as I had hoped and spent a long time on my knees in the pool.
I was able to breathe / moan through contractions initially but as time went on I was hearing myself make noises I didn’t even recognise!
I never asked what time it was, how far along I was or for a vaginal exam, I just wanted to keep focusing on getting through the next contraction and trusting that my body was doing it’s job.
I felt the knowledge from the Calmbirth classes around the stages of labour and what they might feel like coming back to me and this gave me confidence that I was progressing as I felt new sensations coming on.
For me the worst part was that urge to push / opening feeling, it felt so intense and out of control and I didn’t feel I was getting anywhere for a long time during this stage. I didn’t have much of a break between contractions at any point and was feeling really exhausted. Ola’s heart rate was quite high, so Josephine had me change positions.
Her heart rate remained high and she wasn’t descending so an ambulance was called in case I needed to be transferred to hospital for an instrumental birth.
I tried a few different positions at this point, squatting, toilet, all fours with knees in ankles out, but Ola wasn’t descending and her heart rate remained high. I felt really scared at this point. I knew I had to get her out, and that I couldn’t face the move into an ambulance or the use of forceps.
Josephine offered me some coached pushing which she was hesitant about as she wanted me to be able to move and push intuitively, but I was happy to accept as I didn’t feel I was getting anywhere and wanted the guidance. We began the coached pushing which was really hard, I was in so much pain and was so exhausted. I couldn’t feel her moving down like I had expected so I didn’t feel like it was working.
In that moment the paramedics arrived. I was desperate to get her out safely and to avoid transferring to hospital in peak labour, and to avoid facing an instrumental birth which was a big fear of mine. I summoned every last scrap of strength I had and pushed and pushed with Josephine’s guidance.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done physically and mentally. All of a sudden Josephine said her head was out. I breathed and panted and tried to stay calm as I felt a burning stretching sensation. Josephine said in the next contraction her body would come out.
All of a sudden there she was, in my arms, warm and slippery. I couldn’t believe it. We looked at her in awe, our little girl finally arrived at 5:15am on the 4th of June.
Afterwards:
Unfortunately we did have to spend the day in hospital as when we went in for my stitches we discovered Ola’s oxygen and blood sugar were low so we spent a day there for her to be monitored. She stabilised and we went home at midnight that night.
Thank you and happy reading!