Julie and Heidi’s birth story

It all began on Friday. I was 38 weeks pregnant and felt I had a while to go before meeting our little bundle. At times throughout the week I experienced some “lightening crotch” and found myself stopping mid conversation with the shock of the sensation.

I noticed the elastic on my shorts was tighter than usual. I felt an urge to deep clean the house. I felt uncomfortable and a lot of pressure but put that down to over exerting myself when cleaning. I was also very hungry despite having dinner. At 9:30pm, while travelling on the m50, I felt a pop which was followed by a sensation that I had just peed myself. We were in shock, I knew for sure it was my waters. They continued to come in gushes as we made our way home. I phoned the coombe from the car and they suggested I come in to the hospital to investigate if it was definitely the waters. At this point, I felt no pain. We were giddy, excited and apprehensive knowing our baby would be delivered in the next two days.

We came home, I quickly showered and put on a pad. At 10pm, we arrived at the coombe. I got my chart and went to the assessment unit, a place I was familiar with from previous scares. I was met by a lovely midwife who confirmed my waters had broken. I told her I felt no pain or surges. She sent me home with a plan for the next day. If my labour didn’t start naturally, I would have to come to hospital at midday and get antibiotics. If the labour didn’t start throughout that day, I would have to start an induction process by 9pm that night (24 hours from when the waters broke).

We came home and I got everything organised and finalised the hospital bags.
At this stage, I started to feel very small tightenings low down in the crotch area. I was not convinced that they were contractions as I always imagined contractions to be around the bump. They continued to ramp up  caused me to stop what I was doing when they came. At this stage, they were still bearable but noticeably stronger. I decided to practice my breathing using my winner flow and my most comfortable position at this stage was on my knees bent over the bed. These surged started to become very consistent lasting 45 seconds every 3 minutes.

At this stage, I was not sure if it was necessary to go to hospital. Some contractions were more intense than others. I didn’t want to leave it too late and wasn’t sure how much worse it was going to get.

At 4:30 we decided to go to the hospital, just incase. Some contractions were more gentle than others which made me feel silly for returning to hospital. Others were more intense which made me want to be there immediately. While walking in, I had to stop in my tracks to allow a surge to pass.

I was met by the same midwife from earlier that night who said she was glad to see me. I was 1cm dilated. She said I would be better off returning home and labour in my own space. She said the wards were busy and warm and it could slow things down. She needed to finish the trace before sending me home.

At this point, the surges had increased to a level 7 and were still very low down in my pelvis. I was trying my best to breathe through them using my winner flow but could not stop myself from making noises. The midwife gave me the option of going to a ward to get pethedine but Stuart would not be allowed to come. I didn’t know what to do. I really didn’t want to go home as things had gotten a lot more intense and feared I wouldn’t cope. I also didn’t want to go anywhere without Stuart by my side.

The midwife asked me to lie sideways to get a clearer reading on the trace. This was when my pain really ramped up to a pain level of 9/10. I started to make animalistic (moo) sounds to ease the pain. At this stage, a lot happened very suddenly. I felt I was no longer in control of my body, I felt my body bearing down and I couldn’t stop myself from curling up and making loud noises during each surge. At this point, I felt an intense urge to vomit. I started heaving and vomiting. It felt as if my body was expelling my insides out. I couldn’t bear to lie on my side and begged to sit up however, the midwife really needed the trace reading. At this stage, I told Stuart I couldn’t do it anymore, I was scared and struggling. He told me I was going through transition. I didn’t believe him as I had arrived to hospital less than an hour previous.

5:30am: Noticing my change in behaviour, the midwife decided to do a vaginal exam. She said I was 6 cm and could go straight to the delivery suite. At this point, I had no bags, just my winner flow. It felt like my body wasn’t my own anymore and I couldn’t stop the sounds/movements. I begged for an epidural.

6:00am: I felt a huge relief as I arrived to the delivery suite. The room was big and spacious with nice low lighting and a salt lamp. The bed was huge and a lot more comfortable than the assessment unit. I was met by my midwife, who told me “if you keep up with those loud noises, the anaesthetist is going to think you’re close to pushing and won’t give you an epidural” I really wanted that epidural and my midwife wasn’t someone you would cross. At this stage I felt like a child being repremanded in school. She offered me gas and air which I had no idea how to use. I inhaled it like a smoke, my midwife then showed me how to use it properly. I felt safe in this room. The midwife ordered the epidural and said it would take 30 mins. I felt like I was taking back control of my labour by using the gas and air. I was stronger than these surges and could last another 30 mins.

I felt a sense of excitement in this room, despite the intense pain. I felt like I was finally getting the experience what I had always imagined. The anaesthesiologist came and the midwife did a vaginal exam, she asked “how much do you want that epidural?” To which I replied “a lot”. She said I was 9cm and almost ready to start pushing. It was too late for the epidural.

I thought to myself, I can do this on my own. Part of me was in disbelief I was actually doing it. I told my midwife I felt my body was involuntary pushing during each surge. Pushing was actually easing the pain of the surges. Heidi led the way and my body followed. I got onto my knees facing the back of the bed and stretched into child’s pose during each surge. I was biting down in the gas and air with all my might and the midwife suggested easing off if I wanted to keep my teeth, she had a very dry humour which added to the experience. At one point, I thought I might give birth on my knees, which is what I wanted. We discovered our bags were still in the car and the midwife told Stuart to run to get them. Part of me feared he would miss the big event and tried to ease off on the pushing until he returned.

The midwife suggested turning back around for the final stage of labour. It was go time. I held my legs up and pushed with everything I had. I could feel exactly what surges were bringing me closer. Some surges, I pushed right on time and could feel her coming. Others, I felt I was missing them. After about 10 minutes of pushing, Stuart and the midwife could see the head. Baby was doing a seesaw motion, coming and then sliding back up. I felt fear that I would need intervention but my midwife assured me forceps and ventouse would not be necessary. I continued to push and the midwife allowed me to feel the head. There was not time to give the midwife my birth plan, but she seemed to know exactly what I wanted. Between contractions, I wasn’t in any pain. I felt happy and excited and on a buzz.

I was loosing strength in my arms to hold my legs so the midwife put them in stirrups. I felt I was getting closer with every push. I was determined to keep going. I finally started to feel the “ring of fire”. I felt Heidi’s hair as her head pushed through. Heidi’s head came first and she started to cry, it was the most amazing feeling. We had to wait for the next contraction to birth the rest of her body, it felt like the longest 3 minutes of my life.

Finally, at 7:30am, I pushed Heidi out and she was immediately placed on my chest. birthed the placenta and had a tear. The doctor came to stitch me up, I felt every single stitch but did not care as I had my baby in my arms. It’s hard to explain, my body was in pain, but it was a nice pain. Worth every single bit of it. Tea and toast was delivered and we were on top of the world as we shared the surprise with our families.