Baby Alexander Frank Parker arrived Wednesday (April Fools Day) 1st April 2020, 3.6 kgs, 49cm long. I thought you would like a little run down of how it all happened in the end…..
When I went past 38 weeks I started to feel very over being pregnant. Every morning I’d wake up disappointed I hadn’t gone into labour that night. I had been having strong Braxton Hicks for a week which were getting a bit tiresome. We decided to take Phoebe out of day care also around this time due to the Coronavirus, which meant no down time for me during the day. I had been taking the tonic my naturopath had prepared for me and using clary sage oil religiously. Going on the Braxton Hicks I would say my uterus was certainly well toned! On Wednesday morning (39 weeks) we decided to send Phoebe to the babysitter as I really needed to get some rest. During the morning I was having some full-on Braxton hicks and some cramping. I was resting on the couch and when I got up at 3pm I felt a surge pick up in strength. I went and told Adam, who wanted to go into full call the hospital mode. Despite lots of conversations about him remaining calm, he didn’t really pull it off. He kept asking me what to do and asking where things were, but to his credit he did remind me to keep breathing, to try and relax between contractions and that he loved me. Originally at 3pm I told him not to ring the hospital as we will have hours, I said we need to wait for the 3-2-1.
I went to bring in some washing off the line at 3:30pm and all of a sudden felt I had a show with a much stronger surge. From then on things ramped up quickly. I used the Freya app to start timing my surges and they were coming every 3-2.5 mins! I was breathing through them, swaying the hips and tried to relax between but I was just like holly crap, this is happening fast. Where’s my slow ramp up?!? I was sweating so much as my body was working so hard! Adam put my TENS machine on and I felt like I had it on Boost function constantly. I managed to get my modi bodies on (thanks for the recommendation!) and into the clothes I had set out that I wanted birth in. Adam called the hospital at 4:30pm as I was telling him we have to go to the hospital because I need drugs if I have to do this for hours, I felt like I was in big trouble in terms of being able to manage my pain levels! Luckily Phoebe was at the babysitter that day as we certainly wouldn’t have had time to sort her out.
I struggled out the front door, was on all fours down the hallway at one stage as it was just so intense. By closing my eyes I somehow managed to get in the car. When I got in the car I felt the urge to push, I yelled at Adam that I was bearing down, I think that totally freaked him out. We got to the hospital at 5:00pm, I could hardly walk as the surges were so constant with no break in between. Adam called the ward and my midwife came running out with a wheelchair. Some random person in the car park that was carrying a Triple J Hottest 100 CD (the things you remember!) helped me into the wheelchair. Our midwife whisked us up to the delivery suite – no time to do the Coronavirus temperature checks at the front door!! When I got into the delivery suite I begged my obstetrician for drugs! The contractions were just so strong, I could hardly catch my breath even though I was trying to breathe more calmly. I got a bit more settled into a more comfortable position holding onto the top of the bed and tried to just let my body do its thing.
From the moment I was in the delivery suite I was bearing down with every contraction. The midwife wanted to do a vaginal exam and I yelled at her “don’t touch me!” Whoops! When I was pushing it felt like he would never come, but they were reassuring me that I was making progress. After a while I was able to settle a bit more (although still begged OB for drugs!). I tried the gas but the thing in my mouth felt too big and so gave up on that pretty quickly. They also wanted to take my TENS machine off but I said no. It must have been taken off at some stage but I don’t remember when. After awhile of pushing I felt like giving up but my OB suggested I lie down on my side and with the support of the midwives the change in position seemed to help. It must have been so unlady like, but I guess birth is that blurred line between the amazing strength of a women but also at the same time being very vulnerable. I’m so glad I had my all female team.
The change in position helped, I started to feel like I was making more progress and with lots of encouragement from my OB and midwives I felt the burn as he came through slowly and 50 mins later he arrived. Born 5.50pm.
So little Alex was in a hurry, all done and dusted in three hours! Was very, very intense, but in the end I got my natural, drug free VBAC. I wasn’t one of those amazing HypnoBirthing mummas in the you tube clips where they are all calm and serene and the baby just seems to pop out. There was definitely swearing, bearing down strongly and way too much tension in my upper body – Adam said I nearly broke his arm! I have to say though my OB was amazing. She really believed in me and I felt supported by her. I did have an episiotomy which wasn’t much fun the first 5 or so days in recovery but I’m feeling a lot better now and a much speedier recovery compared to my c-section. I also was Strep B positive, but my OB didn’t have time to give me antibiotics during the labour, which I know my gut is so much better off by avoiding that! We got lots of time with Alex in delivery suite for skin on skin. My experience at SJOG was a positive one, had a lovely midwife who was with me for the birth and most of the days afterwards. So nice to have a consistent carer.
Thank you so much for stepping Adam and I though our HypnoBirthing refresher. You gave us some great tips and it really helped me focus in on what I wanted from this birth. You gave me the confidence and courage to really stand up for myself when talking to my OB about what I want. It’s interesting to look back on some of those conversations with her now about my small pelvis and only a 50/50 chance of a successful VBAC. So glad we could talk through all that negativity with you and set ourselves on a much better path. I know not every women is as lucky as me so I feel very fortunate to have got what I wanted for my second (and last!) birth….spontaneous start to labour, stay at home for most of it, drug free, natural birth. All the little tips you gave me were just want I needed to get me in the right head space over what was a very emotional time.
- Anna