Birth Story by Kyra, Hypnobirthing Mum
“It was such an intense and unexpected experience, and was the best we could possibly have asked for. I can just see Brett sitting Madeline down on the family’s sacred birth rug every 31st December and telling her the story of how she came to be.”
Our baby girl arrived on New Years Eve in a very rapid fashion. Get yourself a cup of tea…
I’d had acupuncture Wednesday morning and there was a definite shift in bub’s position and the general vibe on Thursday. We both decided we needed to finish a few things, like the hospital bag, that day. An ob appointment in the morning showed everything was fine.
My waters released as we walked home from the tram at 4pm, but there were no other signs of labour. We got home, I packed the bag. The first surge kicked in at 5pm and then they continued at five minutes apart and 45-55 seconds in length and were really intense from the beginning. With each surge, I’d drop to all fours and just breathe through it. Being our first bub, I was expecting them to ease off and thought it was just a bit of a false alarm and that we were in for the long haul.
At 6:30pm, surge hadn’t changed and I asked Brett to wait until 7pm to call the hospital. It turns out that number is just a message service telling you to call 13HEALTH. They advised Brett to get me into the shower and at some point in the next four hours make our way to hospital. By this stage, I’m just on all fours in our bedroom breathing through each wave. He went to get me up to take me to the shower and I told him that I couldn’t move. Throughout this, he’s wiping my back down with a cold cloth and just being generally amazing and calm.
On realising we weren’t going anywhere, he called 000. The operator also assured him we had plenty of time, the nearest ambulance was 25 minutes away but it was coming, and that he would stay on the line with Brett until they arrived. This is about the time Brett tells me my breathing shifted and then it was on.
I got lost in the whole experience at some point and just remember snippets of what was happening outside of myself, the neocortex space indeed. My focus was just on breathing through each wave and then the feeling of opening and pushing as bub moved downwards. My body took over and at 8:15pm, with the ambos still five minutes away, Brett and I delivered our baby together at home.
The paramedics had a work experience kid with them who got to run through all the post birth stuff. They automatically waited until the cord had stopped pulsing before Brett cut it and were really lovely.
My cervix closed before the placenta was discharged and I was being prepped for theatre at the hospital before it came out complete with some assistance. I ended up with just a few grazes.
It was such an intense and unexpected experience, and was the best we could possibly have asked for. I can just see Brett sitting Madeline down on the family’s sacred birth rug every 31st December and telling her the story of how she came to be.
The telling takes almost as long as the labour.
Thanks again for your support and wisdom.
Kyra & Brett
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