My first two birthing experiences were far from ideal.
My first son was born in 2004 by emergency c-section after I was
induced with mild pre-eclampsia and a long slow labour of 31
hours resulting in only getting to 6 cm dilated & a distressed
baby. He was a good sized baby at 9pd2. I was reassured that
next time though there would be no reason why I couldn’t have a
vaginal birth.
Son #2 was born in 2006. This time I went into hospital with
mild contractions & after 9 hours I was again sent for a
c-section for lack of progress at 5cm dilated. Another good
sized baby at 9pd4. This time I was told that any future babies
would be c-sections & that I should have my tubes tied after my
third c-section.
When I first found out I was pregnant with baby #3 I was
terrified! It was completely unplanned as I had been using an
IUD for contraception and my partner & I had been quite happily
planning our wedding only a few months away. After the initial
shock though, I started making my plans. Having had 2 emergency
c-sections already everyone presumed that I would be having yet
another c-section, this time elective… So you can imagine the
bombshell that fell when I announced that NO I would be
attempting another vaginal birth & even worse I wanted it at
home! I wanted things to be as far different as they possibly
could be from my first two births.
I had contacted a local midwife via the Homebirth website &
while she initially agreed to see me, she ended up calling back
& putting me onto another midwife who she thought would be
better suited to helping me. This is when I met Ruth. Well what
can I say, Ruth was wonderful! She seemed completely unfazed by
my plans & had many helpful suggestions including the idea for a
home waterbirth plus lots of references for me to read through.
I also met the local OB who amazingly was quite happy for me to
attempt a vba2cs although I did not tell him my plans for a home
waterbirth then. Fast forward to the week before my due date….
I met with the local OB on the Thursday before my due date &
discussed birthing plans. My baby was very stubbornly posterior
which was worrying as it was a contributing factor to the
c-sections I had previously. He suggested a stretch & sweep to
try hurry things along as he did not want me going overdue too
far. I met with my midwife Ruth just afterward my OB appointment
where she attempted a sweep & then did an acupuncture session to
see if that helped things along. Then she made an appointment to
see me at home on Monday to try another sweep & more
acupuncture.
Monday morning around 5.20am I awoke to a contraction. Thinking
nothing much of it I got up & went to the toilet where I had
another contraction. I headed back to bed & gave my husband a
little nudge & commented that maybe today was the day… He just
cuddled up & sleepily nodded before going back to sleep. After
yet another couple of contractions, I gave Hubby another nudge &
told him to wake up so he could time the contractions. He got up
& obediently started timing: roughly 2 &1/2 minutes apart and
about a minute long! Okay time to call my midwife Ruth! So
around 5.50am I was told to see how things went & to call Ruth
back when I felt I needed her. Then I had Hubby call my Mum (my
other support person) as I headed to the toilet again, my Mum
had to drive from the other side of Auckland through peak hour
traffic so I felt it would be important to get her over as soon
as possible. From the toilet I started telling Hubby what I
needed, main things being to tidy up & get me a hot water bottle
because the contractions hurt! Less than two minutes after
getting the hot water bottle though, I was ordering him to run
me a bath because the contractions felt so intense & painful. I
knew that it was likely that things would slow down with getting
into the water so soon but I didn’t care, anything to lessen the
pain! At first it did seem like things were slowing down but
then it became intense again. I’m not sure what time it was but
I asked Hubby to call Ruth because I couldn’t do it anymore. So
she let Hubby know she was on her way. I think it was about 8am
when my Mum arrived with my little sister. Mum came straight in
to see me & took over. By now my two boys (3 year old & nearly 2
year old) were awake & demanding breakfast so my sister & Hubby
sorted them out. I was crying & telling my Mum that I couldn’t
do this & that the pain was too much for me to bear! 8.10am and
Ruth had arrived. She did an internal with me still in the bath
and announced that I was not going anywhere as I was about 6
maybe 7 cm dilated! I couldn’t believe it as I had honestly
thought I was still in early labour. It gave me a second wind &
with Mum reminding me to breathe through my contractions I
carried on.
Hubby had been given the job of setting up & filling the
birthing pool which seemed to be keeping him happy & occupied.
The second midwife was called & was asked to bring some gas with
her. I was looking forward to using that gas!! 15 minutes later
though I felt a bit of pressure & pushed out membranes so Ruth
was quickly on the phone again saying “forget the gas just head
straight here”. We live rural so it was a bit of a drive. There
was a little bit of meconium in my waters but nothing major &
fetal monitoring showed that Bubs was happy still. Also Ruth
reassured me that Bubs had most definitely moved from a
posterior position to anterior. I think it was around 9am that I
moved from the bath to the birthing pool which was set up in the
dining room. Also my Grandma arrived which was a wonderful,
lovely surprise. I was feeling the need to push but was worried
that I was not dilated enough so resisted the urge. I think the
backup midwife Meredith arrived around 9.30am. Ruth checked me &
found I had a small anterior lip on my cervix but was able to
push it back so at 9.40am I started pushing! I felt like an
animal with deep grunts that I couldn’t stop coming out of me as
I pushed. I only stopped to ask if the head was moving at all. I
think everyone was laughing at me a little bit as I was so
anxious to make sure Bubs was coming out in between pushes! I
kept putting my hand down to feel the head & it was reassuring
to feel the head coming out more & more. Hubby was sitting
behind me (he didn’t want to see anything if he could help it!)
while my Mum, Grandma & the two midwives stood watching in the
front. Even my sister came to see how everything was going
before retreating back to my bedroom with my boys to continue
watching videos.
At 9.58am I welcomed my beautiful little girl, Erika, into the
world. She was brought out of the water & into my arms. She
weighed in at 8 pound 15 (4.04kg), head circumference of 38cm &
length of 52.3cm. She took to the breast at 10.05 am & as I got
out of the birthing pool a few minutes later, out came the
placenta. No tears, grazes or anything! I had done it, my VBA2Cs
home waterbirth! It was perfect!
