Birth Story by Kim, Hypnobirthing Mum
“Then I heard news that I was crowning. Surges slowed down and I had time to slowly push my baby out in around four surges without any tearing of my perineum.”
I was approximately 10 days overdue and there was pressure coming from my OB to do an induction, however this was something I strongly was against and knew that our little man was happy and healthy and was coming when he was ready.
I was practising my Hypnobirthing techniques, doing the epino perineum training and eating dates every day! Towards the end I had a few intense sessions with Acupuncture and acupressure.
Ultimately it was when I was moving around on my feet that I would get the pressure of things beginning to happen. So after resting all of Saturday, I decided Sunday I was not going to sit down. I kept moving and was exhausted by dinner time, but had a lovely family dinner and was putting my son to bed around 8pm when I needed to do a wee… That’s when my waters broke in the toilet and I saw quite a bit of blood. I thought I should ring my doula and the midwives at Gold Coast private hospital. They both agreed I should come in to get checked. I was hesitant, but thought ok & was going to drive myself (not realising I was going into labour), however Laura my doula said to get my dad up to watch Liam my son just in case and to take my bag with me.
I returned to Liam to say good night and I started having my first surge. I was nice and calm, not wanting to alarm him, and did my usual bedtime routine and he went to sleep. Baz my partner had organised for Dad to come over once Liam was asleep and stay with him. I went to the bedroom to get my suitcases and experienced the next wave. I thought how strange – that only feels a couple minutes apart. So I downloaded any app I could find on my iPhone to time my surges. Another one came & that made it three in 10 minutes, so I said to Baz, “yeah probably we should go now” ; )
I went straight into hypnobirthing mode and was floppy, and kept my eyes closed and straight away used my headphones and started listening to my hypnobirthing tracks, which I continued listening to until I was in transition. I was calm and relaxed in the car and everything seemed to slow down, so I texted Laura saying maybe it’s happening maybe it’s not. Closer to the hospital things ramped up and so I text her again and said maybe she should come!
We got to the hospital just before 9pm and I surged while walking in as well as in the elevator. Kate’s reminder to just stop and lean against a wall was the best thing ever to get through them. There was hardly a soul around and as we got to maternity. They said maybe go straight into the labour ward. We were greeted by a beautiful midwife, Alison, who spoke to Barry about everything we needed for the room. I could see there was no bath so they moved me to the room where there was a round large bath. Baz put all the candles here, set the music up and I got the ball onto the mat – by this stage they already felt back-to-back. Nothing was intrusive… they just said at some point I need to put a cannula in my hand for if there was any issues with blood loss due to the low lying placenta, so they could easily give me a transfusion.
When Laura arrived I was a lot more verbal. I said I wasn’t getting a break and it was hard to drop into my hypnobirthing techniques. She was very supportive, but all I needed was quiet and to “go within” to get me through. I had an urge to go to the bathroom, but it turns out I was having the urge to want to push my baby out. It was feeling very intense, so I asked to lie on the bed and have some gas. They put me on my side which was great, but I felt like it was slowing things down. I just remember saying I think I need to push and they ripped my swimmer bottoms off and I flipped onto my knees with my hands on the bed and raised on all fours. Connected to the gas made me not only get through the intense surges, but also regulate my breathing, because I didn’t think it was all going to happen so quickly and I wasn’t having any vaginal exams.
I wasn’t sure if it was going to be like this for a lot of hours to come, so I said “what is happening”? Someone told me that I was opening beautifully. I think that was Laura my doula. Then I heard news that I was crowning. Surges slowed down and I had time to slowly push my baby out in around four surges without any tearing of my perineum. This is the moment I met my little boy and he was placed on my chest. I was euphoric and so in love instantly!
I did lose quite a bit of blood and the obstetrician was waiting patiently for me to deliver the placenta, however after half an hour she started to ask if she was able to intervene. Laura kept telling me that this was not my plan and that I should try for longer, but the pain was getting unbearable lying on my back with Drew on my chest, So they placed him with Barry for skin-to-skin and I delivered the placenta the same way I delivered our baby – on all fours on the bed. Again, quite a bit of blood loss, but I was so glad I didn’t have the syntocinon shot.
Drew was not really feeding and although I wanted the moment to be very quiet in my birth plan – I couldn’t help but talk to the people in the room about what had just happened! Then they told me he was born at 11:11pm on the first of the 11th. We all thought that was pretty cool.
In total my labour and birth was around 3 hours and an extra hour for the placenta. It was around 1am when Barry was ready to go home and Laura said she would stay with me until I showered and got back to the maternity ward. Although, when I went to get up I was so dizzy and felt so sick I had to lay back down quickly. My blood pressure was so low I had to have IV fluids – so lucky I had the cannula in! It didn’t take long till they had done their job and I felt good enough to get up and shower. Drew was wrapped up and put in his little crib and we all went back to the room where we settled in together for the night.
I can’t remember when we tried feeding, but latching was not happening 🙁 I was quite disappointed and of midwives were constantly trying to help me, but after days of trying we decided to use nipple shields and a breast pump to help things along. Drew became more and more unsettled at the breast as days went on, so I enlisted the help of a lactation consultant who diagnosed lip and tongue tie. In the meantime due to my poor milk supply we used donor milk and were grateful for both donation milk and the milk bank to supplement him. He was back to his birth weight before we left the hospital. Then it was the fear of coming home that was slightly scary, as I was dreading every feed time.
After the lip and tongue revision procedure, he seemed to latch much better and I was exclusively breastfeeding, but he was taking so long and I was told to only breastfeed him for a short amount of time then top him up with formula as he wasn’t gaining weight. He was probably using more energy feeding than gaining! Unfortunately when we started to use formula he stopped wanting to breastfeed. I’m now having to pump milk and feed him with a bottle. I’m not going to lie, it’s really hard and I can see why women give up on breastfeeding, but I am going to keep trying and try using a feed line to get him back on the breast.
Sleep deprivation is also hard to deal with when I’m caring for him on my own. I know it’s not forever though and he makes it so rewarding just being his mum.
Looking back I think the Hypnobirthing Australia™ education was not only about the birth, but creating a mindset, which is positive no matter what choices you have to make for your baby. It’s given me confidence and I’ve definitely used that in the medical realm when we were faced with opposing suggestions during pregnancy, labour and postpartum.
Thank you Kate for your support and all the tools you have taught me. x
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