Hospital Land Birth - Jenise
Jenise, 1st Baby, Margaret River
It was 6pm when I noticed my waters leaking a little bit. I was 38+2 with my first pregnancy, so I wasn't convinced it was labour just yet. We had been given a few guess dates between the 18th and 24th of December and it was only the 7th. I put a pad in to see if it continued, which it did for another 4 hours. The day before I had experienced some period-like pain, and told my sister that it could be early signs of labour, but also that it could go for up to a week so we thought nothing of it.
I told my partner at 10 pm not to stress, but that I thought my waters had released. His first thought was that we hadn't picked a name yet. So we went through our list and chose one girl and a couple of boys (that we really couldn't agree on). Then at 10:30 I felt a real gush of water. I didn't make it to the toilet in time. I knew then that my waters had definitely released and I was in labour.
We text our midwife, said we were going to try and get some sleep and would let her know if anything changed. She asked if I had had any surges yet, to which I replied no, thinking it was only a small pain and I didnt want to bother her. But a few minutes later another came. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep through them. So I jumped in the shower.
From then on the surges started to intensify. I moved to the bath and put on the hypnobirthing affirmations track. My partner was calming me by reminding me to relax certain parts of my body, to use my breathing techniques and by patting a cool towel across my forehead. All while packing up the car for the hospital (we thought we had a few more weeks and hadn’t even installed the capsule yet!) Our puppy popped his head around the corner to see if I was ok. He knew something was happening.
I was having 3 surges in 10 minutes and decided it was time to get to the hospital. I was worried as I didn't want to be turned around from the hospital for not being dilated enough. I decided to have a feel for myself, and didn't think I was dilated at all, but also thought I could feel my baby's head. I also knew the 40 minute car ride might slow down my surges.
It took half an hour for my partner to get me out of the bath and into the car. There was a moment I thought I was going to have a home birth. On the way to the hospital I gazed up at the stars from my sprawled out position on the back seat and was relieved knowing I’d soon be meeting our baby. We had a birthing playlist I had created to listen to on the drive playing.
We made it to the hospital by 2:45am, and again it took a while to get me from the car to the birthing suite. I even checked my own progress again in the carpark, and my baby's head was a lot closer. The midwife helped me up onto the reclined bed, on all fours. My partner put our playlist on again, got the clary sage oil in the diffuser and used light touch massage on my arms. I asked if I should hop into the bath, as I had always wanted a water birth. The midwife and my partner both laughed and said there was no time for that! My baby was crowning.
The midwife supported my perineum with a warm compress, told me I might feel a burning, and to bare down very slowly and controlled. I was so happy at this point as I knew I was close to meeting our little one, that I didn't care about the discomfort.
By 3:15am after a 5 hour labour my baby was in my arms. My partner cut the cord after it had stopped pulsing. I birthed the placenta physiologically which we kept for encapsulation. I was happy that I had done it all without any intervention or drugs, had minimal tearing and no need for stitches. We were left alone for an hour or so to bond and have skin to skin. We named our beautiful bundle Syala Maisy. She was in such a hurry to meet us but we couldn't be more in love.
Having a private midwife gave us the continuity of care we wanted and meant we could stay in the comfort of our own home for antenatal and postnatal checks. We are also so happy that we did the hypnobirthing course, as it gave us the tools to meet any outcome with a positive mindset. It educated us on what the female body can do and what to expect in labour. It empowered us to really believe that we were built to birth and that we got this!
It was 6pm when I noticed my waters leaking a little bit. I was 38+2 with my first pregnancy, so I wasn't convinced it was labour just yet. We had been given a few guess dates between the 18th and 24th of December and it was only the 7th. I put a pad in to see if it continued, which it did for another 4 hours. The day before I had experienced some period-like pain, and told my sister that it could be early signs of labour, but also that it could go for up to a week so we thought nothing of it.
I told my partner at 10 pm not to stress, but that I thought my waters had released. His first thought was that we hadn't picked a name yet. So we went through our list and chose one girl and a couple of boys (that we really couldn't agree on). Then at 10:30 I felt a real gush of water. I didn't make it to the toilet in time. I knew then that my waters had definitely released and I was in labour.
We text our midwife, said we were going to try and get some sleep and would let her know if anything changed. She asked if I had had any surges yet, to which I replied no, thinking it was only a small pain and I didnt want to bother her. But a few minutes later another came. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep through them. So I jumped in the shower.
From then on the surges started to intensify. I moved to the bath and put on the hypnobirthing affirmations track. My partner was calming me by reminding me to relax certain parts of my body, to use my breathing techniques and by patting a cool towel across my forehead. All while packing up the car for the hospital (we thought we had a few more weeks and hadn’t even installed the capsule yet!) Our puppy popped his head around the corner to see if I was ok. He knew something was happening.
I was having 3 surges in 10 minutes and decided it was time to get to the hospital. I was worried as I didn't want to be turned around from the hospital for not being dilated enough. I decided to have a feel for myself, and didn't think I was dilated at all, but also thought I could feel my baby's head. I also knew the 40 minute car ride might slow down my surges.
It took half an hour for my partner to get me out of the bath and into the car. There was a moment I thought I was going to have a home birth. On the way to the hospital I gazed up at the stars from my sprawled out position on the back seat and was relieved knowing I’d soon be meeting our baby. We had a birthing playlist I had created to listen to on the drive playing.
We made it to the hospital by 2:45am, and again it took a while to get me from the car to the birthing suite. I even checked my own progress again in the carpark, and my baby's head was a lot closer. The midwife helped me up onto the reclined bed, on all fours. My partner put our playlist on again, got the clary sage oil in the diffuser and used light touch massage on my arms. I asked if I should hop into the bath, as I had always wanted a water birth. The midwife and my partner both laughed and said there was no time for that! My baby was crowning.
The midwife supported my perineum with a warm compress, told me I might feel a burning, and to bare down very slowly and controlled. I was so happy at this point as I knew I was close to meeting our little one, that I didn't care about the discomfort.
By 3:15am after a 5 hour labour my baby was in my arms. My partner cut the cord after it had stopped pulsing. I birthed the placenta physiologically which we kept for encapsulation. I was happy that I had done it all without any intervention or drugs, had minimal tearing and no need for stitches. We were left alone for an hour or so to bond and have skin to skin. We named our beautiful bundle Syala Maisy. She was in such a hurry to meet us but we couldn't be more in love.
Having a private midwife gave us the continuity of care we wanted and meant we could stay in the comfort of our own home for antenatal and postnatal checks. We are also so happy that we did the hypnobirthing course, as it gave us the tools to meet any outcome with a positive mindset. It educated us on what the female body can do and what to expect in labour. It empowered us to really believe that we were built to birth and that we got this!
