I found out I was pregnant on my
birthday, which was a wonderful birthday present. When I
called my sister in the U.K. the first thing she said
was “are you going to have a homebirth?” (My sister had
had 2 successful home births.) I replied that I didn’t
think so as it isn’t advised for first births (so I had
read) and besides we were renting a place which didn’t
really feel like home and who knows where we would be
living at the time of the birth.
A few months later after having read
more and more I decided that I really would like to have
a homebirth and went along to an evening run by the
Nelson homebirth group. After watching some inspiring
footage of strong women having natural water births my
heart was set on it. My midwife was keen, we borrowed
our birth pool, got our tarpaulin bought some second
hand sheets, had the babies first outfit and some towels
warming in our hot water cupboard and made sure that we
had plenty of food in the pantry. Now it was time to
wait for the arrival of our little boy.
My due date came and went and with
every passing day I got a little more stressed. First
babies are often late though so I wasn’t too concerned
except that my baby had not engaged and was presenting
in a posterior position. I clung to the fact that I had
2 due dates and maybe my Last Menstrual Period date was
wrong but the scan date of 5 days later was more
accurate. When I was 10 days overdue, or 5 past my
preferred due date, my midwife suggested a scan and a
non stress test. These showed that our little boy was
doing very well and there was nothing to be concerned
about which was a relief but despite this an induction
was discussed. I was told that since he was not engaged
and in a posterior position then the chances of my
having a caesarean were greatly increased. I could barely
control myself I went home and bawled my head off. I had
been having a hassle free pregnancy and was in no hurry
to end it. I had a firm belief that my little boy just
needed a bit more time. I searched the internet and
found stories of women who had gone to 43 weeks. Armed
with this information I set about negotiating with my
Obstetrician and my midwife. They agreed to give my a
little longer and I was booked in for my induction on
Sunday night. My midwife did one final stretch and sweep
to see if we could get things going naturally and she
said that I was nearly fully effaced and already about 2
centimetres dilated BUT since the baby was still not
even in my pelvis and STILL in the posterior position
then this didn’t necessarily count for much. My sister’s
babies were both at least 12 days overdue so I tried one
last bit of negotiating and managed to get my induction
postponed to Monday morning instead of Sunday night. (17
days past my original due date or 12 past my preferred
date)
That weekend I tried everything,
pineapple, swimming, walks, going on a swing and finally
a friend recommend acupuncture. I phoned around but no
one seemed to be answering their phones at the weekend.
I finally found David out in Richmond who agreed to see
me at such short notice and he was wonderful. He said to
ring him again on Sunday morning if nothing had happened
and he would give me a follow up treatment. Sunday
arrived and I realized that I would have to pack my bags
for the hospital as nothing was happening. I went to
town to buy some nighties, magazines and snacks for the
hospital and it was with a heavy heart that I put the
birthing pool and my other home birth bits and pieces
out of sight as they made me feel too sad. That
afternoon I had another acupuncture treatment and that
night my husband and I tried one final sperm treatment
of prostaglandins on my cervix!!
At 11 o clock that night I felt some
twinges but I had felt twinges the previous week for 2
hours which amounted to nothing so I didn’t get my hopes
up. I was restless and went to sleep in the other room.
For the next few hours I dozed on and off. The baby was
moving so much, I thought that maybe something was
wrong. At 4 o’clock I got up to go to the toilet for
what felt like the hundredth time that night and as I
went I heard a pop and there was a huge gush of water. I
still wasn’t sure that this was anything so I tried to
go back to bed but it kept gushing out. I told my
husband that I thought my waters had broken but made him
smell it to make sure, apparently it shouldn’t really
smell, where as urine does. We decided that this was not
urine and that maybe those twinges were labour, but I
had no pain sensations and I realized that first births
can take hours and hours so I was still not getting
excited. My husband Dave had a 4.30am shower as he knew
that the birthing pool would drain the hot water
cylinder. Then we both tried to carry on as normal
eating breakfast and watching breakfast TV. at 7 o’clock
I decided I had better let my midwife know what was
going on, so I got Dave to time the contractions, they
were coming about 3 minutes apart but the pain was
bearable so I still wasn’t sure how fast I was
progressing. My midwife said to call her back when I
needed her to come. Dave asked if he should fill the
birthing pool. I still wasn’t sure if I was far along
enough and knew that you weren’t meant to get in too
soon, so I said no; let’s just wait until the midwife
gets here. By 7.40 the contractions were less than 2
minutes apart and there seemed to be no break in
between. Not even long enough to squirt more rescue
remedy into the back of my throat, or long enough to
call the midwife without groaning down the phone. So I
got Dave to call the midwife and she said she was on her
way. When the midwife arrived I told her I had an
uncontrollable urge to push. She checked and said that I
was 9cms dilated and to try not to push yet. The next
hour or so of trying NOT to push was so hard. Dave tried
panting along with me and rubbing my sacrum until
finally I was given the go ahead to push if I wanted to.
I thought that not pushing was hard but the pushing part
truly was the “labour”, it was such hard work and I felt
like I was making very little progress. We tried heaps
of different positions but a supported squat seemed to
work best. Eventually with a little help from the
midwives scissors our little boy slid out screaming. It
was such a relief to hold him and so wonderful to go and
lie down in my own bed.
It wasn’t the serene water birth I
had hoped for (we didn’t have time to fill the pool) but
I am so glad that I had him at home. We were certainly
glad to have that tarpaulin and it was lucky that we had
bought second hand sheets as I am not sure they would
have gotten clean in the wash. My midwives were
fantastic. I got chocolates popped into my mouth as I
lay in bed with my baby and we got loads of photos taken
too. The follow up support was incredible, having the
midwife come each day to check up on baby and me was
very reassuring and the advice on breastfeeding was
invaluable.
I will never know what kick started
my labour, if it was the acupuncture, making love, going
for a walk, talking to baby or a prayer said by a
friend. But as the three of us lay in bed later my
husband and I agreed that this was the best Valentines
Day gift we had ever given each other.
