Birth Story by Kate, Hypnobirthing Mum
“I moved to a standing position with the bed raised so that I could flop and let go between each surge. I had no control over the pushing, my body was doing all of the work instinctively and I just needed to go with it.“
Being a first time Mum, everyone kept telling me that chances were I would be super over due before giving birth. So I really did not expect to go into labour at 39 weeks and 3 days! The day prior I went on a super long walk with some new Mum friends and I think this really got bub down in the pelvis and ready to go.
It was my husband Ryan’s first day of paternity leave and he had a long list of things to get done before bub arrived. We thought we would have at least a few days up our sleeve! But of course, that was not the case. I woke up at 6.30am with some pretty intense period like cramping, I had had similar over the past few days but not as intense, so I thought perhaps my body was just starting to get ready – I didn’t think it would be the real deal! Over the next hour the cramping intensified while I was still resting in bed and eventually the cramping started travelling around from my front to my lower back in bursts. That is when I knew these were actually surges.
Ryan set up the living area by blocking out the sun and making it as dark as possible, lighting candles and beginning the hypnosis tracks on the speakers. I laboured at home for the next few hours, between surges Ryan finished off packing his clothes into the hospital bag, loading everything into the car and cutting up the food and snacks I had prepared. When I went through the surges my breathing made such a difference, I focused on deep breaths and was always swaying through my pelvis while on the exercise ball, or was sitting on the couch leaning onto the ball. Flopping and light touch really helped to relax my body and encourage it to let go.
We were timing the contractions and once they got to three within ten minutes and lasting for at least a minute long, we decided to head into the hospital. I was also mentally ready to go to the hospital at that point as I felt everything intensifying quickly. So after labouring at home for 4 and a half hours we got in the car. I started to throw up during the car trip which wasn’t pleasant while going through contractions at the same time, but I knew this was normal.
We arrived at the hospital and made our way (slowly, contractions every 2-3 minutes are not helpful when trying to get somewhere quickly!) to MAC at GCUH. When I had a surge I would get out of the wheelchair that Ryan was pushing me in, lean onto the wall and sway and breathe through the surge until we could keep going. We were taken through and I did consent to a cervical exam which confirmed I was 5cm. I was moved into a holding suite as they wanted me to be 6cm before going into the birthing suite. I did not let it affect me and we set up in the room like we were going to birth in there, making it dark and setting up the tracks. I swayed and breathed through the contractions for a while and then got in the shower. I was on my knees leaning up onto the chair in the shower with the hot water going down my back. I found this really helpful with managing the pain, the combination of water, breathing and swaying through the surges.
After 3 hours I was moved up to the birthing suite and went straight back into the shower, Ryan let the midwife know that I really wanted to get into the pool once the shower wasn’t working to manage the surges anymore. Unfortunately now being in the birth suite meant I had a change in midwives, and it wasn’t a positive experience with her. The midwife kept periodically monitoring me in the shower and asked me whether everything was intensifying or remaining at the same
level, I said 100% it was getting more challenging. She said she disagreed as she couldn’t feel the contractions when touching my stomach. In hindsight I am not sure why I engaged with her or got caught in the conversation. After another hour or so the shower was no longer helping and I started to become too aware of the situation, I was still throwing up and begun to tell Ryan I couldn’t do this anymore and wanted some gas or someone to help me. I had a thought that perhaps I was in transition at this point but the midwife proceeded to tell me that because I was a first time Mum I was going to be here for a while. I then said to her I need the pool so she begun filling it up.
While waiting for the birthing pool to fill the midwife was monitoring bub with the doppler and started to comment on how she thought the baby was breech. Bub had been breech but way back at my 30 week appointment and it had been confirmed at my 36 week appointment and a few hours ago in the MAC assessment that she was head down. I was so frustrated as the midwife started mentioning the need for a C section and this really bought me out of my focused state. I then started engaging with the midwife and told her the baby was not breech but she really insisted on an examination to confirm. I told her she had 1 chance in between surges, so I quickly lay down and she confirmed I was at 9cm and could feel the hair on bubs head, told you so!
I then was on my knees hanging over the top of the bed while the bath was filling up, I vomited again and felt a small trickle fluid going down my legs. I honestly thought I had just wet myself because it was so small but the midwife said it was my waters and that there was traces of meconium in it. Unfortunately that now meant I wasn’t allowed in the pool and was hooked up with the cordless monitoring around my stomach to keep track of bub’s heartbeat. I was really devastated to not get in the bath, but I continued to use my breathing techniques to stay calm and continue to move through the contractions and stay active. The last vomit was unfortunately quite a big one, and immediately after my body started involuntarily pushing during each surge.
I moved to a standing position with the bed raised so that I could flop and let go between each surge. I had no control over the pushing, my body was doing all of the work instinctively and I just needed to go with it. During each surge I would push 2-3 times, I bore down into a squat each time really moving bub further and further down. Ryan supported my body each time, holding my weight as I went down and pushing me back up. Between each surge I would rock and sway back and forth, encouraging her to keep moving even when not pushing.
I remember the mirror being between my legs on the ground, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it however Ryan was able to see it all even though he was upright with me! During the final stages of pushing I really felt like I was losing control a bit and thought that maybe I was screaming, after chatting to Ryan and the midwives after I was instead using deep noises but not screaming. Which goes to show in my mind I thought I was falling apart however my body had taken control and was remaining calm while doing what it needed to do. The paperwork says that I pushed for 27 minutes, towards the end apparently a team of doctors came in to ensure bub was ok after birth due to the meconium in the waters. I honestly had no idea and did not notice them at all. Bub was born at 6.42pm, 12 hours after my first niggling cramp that morning.
We did not know the gender of the baby and I was really clear that we didn’t want anyone to tell us, Ryan and I wanted to find out for ourselves. So as she came into the world, the midwife fed her up between my legs and placed her on the bed in front of us and we got to see together that we had a beautiful daughter. The bed was then lowered and I could lie down with her on me immediately. We gave the placenta 50 minutes and unfortunately it wasn’t coming naturally, so I had the shot to encourage it out and that seemed to work. I then had to have some stitches for a second-degree pressure tear towards the front, I managed this also by using the breathing techniques to remain calm.
I was and am so proud of myself for bringing our daughter, Sadie Grace, into the world. I wanted to try to avoid intervention and pain relief as much as possible and I succeeded without an ounce of pain relief. I really credit the combination of doing pregnancy yoga and pilates classes and the Hypnobirthing Australia™ course throughout my pregnancy to give me the tools, strength and stamina to have the empowered birth I wanted. Although I had some hiccups like not being in the pool and having to deal with a frustrating and negative midwife, I still feel satisfied with the birth and know that my mind and body absolutely worked together to remain calm and to release and let go. After debriefing with Ryan, I initially thought I had failed the hypnobirthing principals as my immediate recollection was of the short periods where I really struggled and said I couldn’t do it anymore, or thought I was screaming. Ryan said that was really only 5 minutes of the whole experience and for the other 8 or 9 hours I was quiet, calm and actively moving through and breathing out my surges.
I am so glad we did the 2 day course, it has given us both the confidence to go into child birth calm and focussed. Kate was a fantastic facilitator and very knowledgeable, I really valued the addition one on one check in at 39 weeks before labour to re focus and touch base. It has gotten my head back in the game.
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