My Birth Story by Emma
I started having tightenings/ april 28/29/30 on and off and other early signs of labour. Ended up spending time at hospital the Saturday night/Sunday morning as baby had just stopped moving much, and after trying all the things to get him to wriggle he wouldn’t. The midwife’s and docs were fabulous but suggested I come back Sunday night to. Get gels in to just prepare cervix so we could birth him safely .
Went in for gels Sunday night and had two lots as baby and me were tolerating well. They brought on some tightenings by early morning and my hind waters went on their own then too!
Had examination and was 2cm and waters to the front were popped to allow labour to progress as I was pretty much in labour anyway. This got it all going by 9am after having a doctor help engage his head in the process, as it kept bobbing up and we didn’t want anything to come down other than his head.
Things were ticking along from there, no need for any other type of intervention. Surges picking up and getting longer and stronger. Tried a heap of different positions and breathing techniques to keep it consistent. And constantly listening to the hypnobirthing tracks! Had the bath all ready to go with my tea lights lights and everything set up , but after an examination with the midwife and side lying with a peanut ball for a while I actually went from 4cm to 7/8cm and in transition pretty quickly so the only place I could get to was onto all fours on a mattress that we had on the floor. At this point I was no longer able to have any type of conversation with anyone, just purely visualising the baby’s head crowning and getting through each wave vocalising and breathing (I am so proud that I never once asked for drugs, other than abit of gas in transition)
Jess (midwife) set up on the floor. After that, I wasn’t going anywhere ! I just felt that all fours was where I needed to be
I think I was then in transition for an hour or so, and then I had the almighty urge to push so begun the hardest work of my life. They said I pushed him out for about 1.5 hours, he was slightly posterior and looking to the side so it was the widest side of the head and he got abit stuck. A few docs came in to see what was going on as his heart started to dip in the surges so they did a very small episiotomy and out he came!
The single most exhausting, absolutely incredible birth and I’m so glad I went through it with the confidence my body could (thanks to my midwife’s , Fraser and hypno birthing! he’s a perfect little 3.8 kg of perfection.