When anyone meets a new mum, people (especially other mums) often ask about her birth story. So I figured what a great way to start this blog, is to tell you a story about how my world grew in a day. Well my labour lasted longer than a day… so a couple of days – you’ll see! It is one of the most proudest stories you will ever tell as a Mother, it’s got everything – physical struggles, moments where you think “I CAN’T DO THIS!” and then somehow you do and of course a tearful happy ending. Our beautiful bundle of joy Olivia arrived in this world at 10.21am on Friday the 21st of August 2020 and here is our story:
On Wednesday 19th of August around 7pm at night I started feeling some cramps in my lower tummy. Now during pregnancy I felt all sort of weird feelings all the time from small cramps to gas to baby kicks so I didn’t think anything of it. Then I noticed they were occurring quite often, every 20 mins or so. Then it hit men: OMG I think I’m having a baby!!
Wednesday 19th of August 10pm (3 hours from start of contractions)
I called the Birth Centre at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital to give them a heads up and ask for their advice. They told me I’m going through pre-labour and I shouldn’t come to the hospital until the contractions are 5 mins apart for approximately an hour (this is important to remember). I told them the contractions are all over the place sometimes 10-20 mins apart, but will keep an eye on it. Their advice was to go to bed and try and get some rest while I can. I went to bed with my husband and tried to ignore the contractions which constantly woke me up throughout the night.
Wednesday 19th of August 10am (15 hours from start of contractions)
After a night of discomfort and frustration from not getting a nights sleep. I called the hospital around 10am in the morning and told them I had contractions all night however they are starting to slow down. She told me it is likely they may slow down during the day then start again at night time, her advice was to get as much rest as possible. I spent the whole day in bed attempting to get to sleep, which was quite unsuccessful I was just full of so many emotions nervousness, anxiety, excitement, happy, scared… It was hard to clear my mind knowing what was ahead of me.
Thursday 20th of August 12am
I was in bed and the contractions started again, this time they were much stronger, enough for me to get out of the bed, kneel on the floor and rest my elbows on the bed and moan with pain.
My husband woke up with me and he heated up a wheat bag and placed it on my lower back which helped a lot with the pain. He helped me set up a “contraction zone” upstairs near the bedroom so I had everything I needed around me. Which included moving the microwave upstairs so I could heat up my wheat bag, a tens machine, fit ball, snacks, coconut water and towels on the floor and couch incase my waters broke. I put on “How I Met Your Mother” and I said to my husband go to sleep and I’ll wake you up if I need you.
Thursday 20th of August 11am (11 hours into labour)11 hours later.. yes I did this for 11 hours! 11 hours of having a painful contraction every 10 minutes. They did not get any closer to the 5 min goal all night. I was exhausted I called the Birth Centre and told them “I’ve been doing this for 11 hours, what can I do to speed this along?!”. They said I can come to the birth centre and they can check how far along I am and potentially prescribe some drugs. I told them I’ll be there soon! When I got to the birth centre, they performed a vaginal check and could see I was 3cm dilated and you need to be at 10cm before you can start pushing (second important fact to know). However the baby was in the posterior position and this is why the contractions are not getting closer together and labour is taking a while. They suggested we try the Robozo technique to turn the baby and to head home as I still have a long way to go. The midwife also gave me a sleeping tablet so I could try relax and get some sleep.
Unfortunately I only got around 45 mins sleep before the contractions keep waking me up. The rest of the day I just felt very groggy from the sleeping tablet and I spent the day in bed trying to get 10 minute power naps in between contractions.
Thursday 20th of August 7.30pm (19.5 hours into labour)
Yep… I did ANOTHER 8.5 hours of this! The contractions were still very inconsistent but started getting closer together, sometimes it would be 4 mins apart, then 12 mins, then 8 minutes apart. I said to my husband
“ITS TIME TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, I don’t care what they say, I’m not leaving the hospital unless we have a baby with us! “
We arrived at the hospital after what felt like an awfully long car ride. I walked into the Birth Centre in my pyjamas, sweaty and barely being able to walk from fatigue. The midwifes took one look at me and could see I was in pain and walked me straight into a birthing suite. As soon as we walked into the suite, I sat on the bed and burst into tears and put my arms around my husband. I don’t know exactly why I was crying, I think it was mostly from relief we finally got there.
The first thing they did was check how dilated I was.. STILL ONLY 3CM dilated! Not any closer to that 10cm! I asked them what are the pain relief options? They offered me morphine which I happily took. Morphine helped a bit, it made me feel extremely tired but unfortunately I still felt a lot of pain during the contractions.
Friday 21st of August 12am (24 hours into labour)
The midwife checked and I was STILL ONLY 3CM DILATED!!! After 24 hours!
She suggested she break my waters to speed things up. I said DO IT! We need to move this along!
In between contractions she used what looked like a knitting needle with a small hook and put that up there to break my waters, it didn’t hurt, but all of a sudden it felt like someone poured a warm jug of water all over the bed, I couldn’t believe how much water came out!
She calmly looked at the water and said, unfortunately the water is brown which is called merconium, which basically means the baby had a poo in the womb, this can be a sign of distress and she said we are going to have to move you to the delivery ward (out of the birth centre, aka the au natural centre and into the delivery ward which is in the main part of the hospital).
The contractions stepped up to a level that I could not handle, they were coming every 3-4 mins and I was shaking and screaming in pain.
She took out an instrument to look for the babies heartbeat, she couldn’t find the heartbeat, she tried two more machines and still couldn’t find it. She said it could be the machines, but we need to get you to the delivery ward ASAP. They put me in a wheel chair and whisked me straight to the delivery ward where I was suddenly surrounded by half a dozen Doctors and Nurses.
The Doctor calmly said to me, we need to find the baby’s heartbeat, if we cannot find the baby’s heart beat we may need to complete an emergency caesarean do you agree to this? I nodded while I was having a painful contraction and just said do whatever you need to do.
Luckliy they found the baby’s heart beat and everything calmed down. Oh yes except for the stupidly painful contractions. My darling midwife gave me gas to suck on which eased the pain slightly and distracted me during each contraction.
Friday 21st of August 1am (25 hours into labour)
A doctor came in to check my progress to see that I was ALMOST 4CM DILATED!!! Almost 4? Are you kidding me? I’ve gain less than a 1cm in 14 hours??? WTF?!
I had a few more awful contractions and I calmly said to the midwife – can I please have an epidural? She agreed, she could tell I was getting to my limit. She was able to get an anesthesiologist quick smart and they started setting me up for the procedure.
Friday 21st of August 1.30am (25.5 hours into labour)
After the anaesthesia was injected, it took about 20 mins or so to work, then all of a sudden my massive contractions went away and after 25.5 hours I felt a sense of peace and the room was quiet. I was so appreciative to the anesthesiologist I remember telling her I loved her and I was considering naming my daughter after her lol. My husband opened up the fold out couch in the room and had a sleep, it has been a long time for him as well helping me through the contractions. Unfortunately I couldn’t sleep, as I could still feel the pressure of the contractions. But I could still close my eyes and rest.
They also injected me with oxytocin to help speed along the process and get me to 10cm dilated.
Friday 21st of August 8.00am (32.5 hours into labour)
I made it, I could see the finish line I was FINALLY 10cm dilated!
The midwives told me they would need to take me off the epidural so I can feel what I was doing down there and know how to push. I was not enthusiastic about this idea, but trusted their advice and we waited for the anaesthesia to wear off and then I started pushing.
After an hour and a half of pushing it seems she wasn’t coming out. The nurses came in and said the E word I didn’t want to hear – we’re going to have to give you an EPISIOTOMY. I begrudgingly said “OK, do what you have to do”.
As the nurse was setting up to make the incision, I felt one more contraction coming on. So I said “let me push just one last time?”. I then gave it everything I had and managed to get her head out in one push, then body out in another. She was out, she was crying and she was beautiful.
They lay her on my chest, it all happened so fast. I was in shock. What is this squiggly, slimy, crying being they put on me. It was our daughter! I was so happy, relieved, stunned I couldn’t believe she was finally here. My husband looked at us tearfully and I could tell this turned from one of the worst days of my life to by far the best day of our lives.
