My pregnancy was really a dream run, aside from a bit of pelvic pain and uncomfortable reflux towards the end. A spot of physio massage and the discovery of Zantac (I was late to the party on that one!) really settled things down. Most people commented on how very big I was towards the end – as if I hadn’t noticed myself!
38.5 weeks
My obstetrician, Dr D, saw me at 39 weeks and thought baby’s head was nicely down and that it wouldn’t be long until we welcomed her into the world. He did a bit of a “stretch” of my cervix at that point (very “ouchy” and not something you would want to happen every day) and said that labour may begin in the next few days, IF and only if baby had decided that she was ready to arrive (i.e. it would push things along if everything else was ready but wouldn’t have an effect if bubs wasn’t ready to be evicted).
Excitedly, I thought “yes, she’s ready” and tried to will on an arrival. Alas, one day, two days, three days passed with no action… I soon realised that Sweet Pea was very much working to her own schedule and was not wanting to leave until past 40 weeks.
At my 40 week appointment we discussed induction and Dr D said that if we didn’t have spontaneous labour by 40w6d, I would be admitted to hospital for induction. If there was one thing I feared more than anything else – it was an induction. This fear was not irrational however. It was borne out of many a story from my friends who had been unlucky enough for various reasons to be induced, and rarely was the outcome “optimum” (emergency c-sections, bad tearing etc come to mind).
So began my campaign to beat the ticking clock and bring on labour naturally. On the Monday (21.11.11) and with my hospital admission looming (Tuesday 22.11.11 at 3.30pm), I got down to some serious business. Monday looked a little like this:
- acupuncture with my lovely TCM Kirsten;
- lunch with mum at Mt Martha;
- a massage which targeted every pressure point that is usually avoided in pregnancy (so relaxing);
- a long walk along our dirt road;
- a relaxing bath in my new bathroom whilst enjoying the burning of the Jasmine & Sweet Pea Ecoya candle that Rachel had given me at the baby shower; and
- finally, a peaceful night’s sleep in my own bed after 5 weeks of staying at my MIL’s house due to the bathroom/laundry renovation.
I truly believe that all of these elements worked in their own little way, to gently nudge Sweet Pea in the right direction. At around 3.30am on Tuesday 22 November, I awoke to a feeling akin to tweaky period pain. I lay in bed and felt it disappear and then start up again. I lay there for half an hour before deciding that yes, I think this may in fact be the very beginnings of labour. I rolled over and gave Mr S a little stir and said “I think this is finally happening”. We lay in bed together for another half an hour loosely timing the contractions (more me just saying “ooh, I feel some pain again”) until Mr S decided it was time to go across to the other house and wake my mum (who was staying at the farm) to let her know that it was finally happening!
I decided because our place was still a renovation zone, that it would be easier to labour across at the big house. So, at around 4.30am, I trudged across the driveway with my labour bag (full of things like a rolling pin for massage, stress balls, barley sugars a heat pack etc) and met up with mum. We told Mr S to go back to bed for a few hours, as it was unlikely that anything dramatic would be happening any time soon.
Having been a midwife for 30 years (even though she hasn’t practiced for over 5 years) means that mum was extremely relaxed about everything and just knew what to do with me from the get-go. The hours between 4.30am – 8am are a bit of a blur, but I do remember that I would have a contraction and then resume the conversation with mum. I was in high spirits at that point and feeling quite excited that it seemed that the big day had finally arrived. I also had a shower, washed and dried my hair, as I remember saying to mum that I wanted “clean hair”!!
I was starting to get quite intense back pain in that period, so mum pulled out a little acupuncture bandaid with a tiny sharp pin at the end that Kirsten had given her, should bubs be in a posterior position. Following the instructions, she stuck the band-aid on the side of my little toe on my right foot. Within a few minutes, the extreme pain had alleviated, as Kirsten had said it would… apparently that pressure point encourages bubs to move.
Counter-pressure on my back and heat packs on my abdomen seemed to work effectively for that period, as well as leaning over the fit ball (I found that rocking on it was not really helping).
At 8am we called the hospital and I spoke to the midwife on duty, who was no doubt thinking “oh yeah, another first timer who isn’t even in active labour”. My contractions were still a bit sporadic and spaced apart, so she suggested I call back at 10am to talk some more.
By 9am my contractions were becoming more regular at about 5 minutes apart, and some were doubles (they seemed to run into each other and lasted longer than a minute). I was doing a lot of stamping, marching and pacing at that point as well as leaning against the wall and stomping – all techniques which might sound basic, but which were encouraged in the Birth Skills book by Juju Sundin, which I found invaluable.
I don’t have a recollection of when Mr S actively joined us, but I do know that he popped in and out a few times in the morning but had to keep disappearing to do emergency jobs around the farm before we could leave. I would have been rather p*ssed off at that stage, if it wasn’t for the fact that mum was there being my chief support person!
At 10am the contractions were strong and steady and mum called the hospital again. The nurse wanted to speak to me but I remember being in the middle of a contraction and not being able to get the words out. I think at that point the middie decided that it would probably be safe for me to make my way into the hospital without it being too premature (especially given we had a 40 minute car trip ahead of us). So I was given the green light to come into the hospital from thereon.
For some reason (she’s not sure why, herself!) mum decided maybe it was just a smidge too early and asked if I wanted to try the bath for a little while. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I really wanted to avoid going to hospital too early. Mr S ran me a bath and held my hand through several contractions. I remember him presenting me with a frozen ice block (the type in the plastic tubes) and really enjoying that! I must have been in there for about 40 minutes before mum came in and said that she thought we really should get going! (Unbeknownst to me, she’d been standing outside of the bathroom timing my contractions and writing them down – purely from the sounds I was making!)
We hopped into the car and that’s when the stress balls made an appearance. Being unable to move around, I had to channel my energy into the balls. I remember sitting in the front seat (mum was driving and Mr S was in the back with all of my stuff) and becoming extremely vocal, almost like a siren. I was bashing the stress balls against each other and the dashboard and mum was saying to me “imagine they are Mr S’s balls”. I think I bashed/smashed them extra hard at that point!
By the time we arrived at the hospital I was desperate to stretch my legs, but the idea of getting myself out of the car became impossible. Mr S had to come around and literally pull me out of the seat. We arrived at reception and thankfully they saw how far down the track I was and sent us straight to the maternity ward. At the mat ward they ushered me into the room that would be mine for the next 5 days, before being quickly moved into a birthing suite. I don’t recall how long I had to wait, but the next thing I knew, Dr D was in the room. Her performed an internal and said that I was already 6-7cm dilated!
We were all elated and even though I knew there was still a long way to go, I felt a sense of achievement that all of those hours of activity were not in vain. Dr D asked me if my waters had broken at all, and I said I was pretty sure they hadn’t (I’d definitely lost my mucus plug after I’d got out of the bath, but my bag of waters had not broken). He said he couldn’t feel them and so assumed they must have already broken. As he was leaving the birth suite, there was a big gush… I think mum called out that they’d just broken but I don’t think he heard her. Mum suspects that the head was actually so far down and well engaged at that point that the bag was “trapped” above bub’s head and it wasn’t until I had the VE that things were stirred up enough to break. Anyway, there was a slight amount of meconium in the waters, which sends medicos into a bit of a spin, so unfortunately from thereon, Sweet Pea and I had to be continuously monitored (Dr D wasn’t convinced that my waters had just broken so to err on the side of caution had to assume that it may have happened earlier and that I’d just missed the leaking/signs etc). They attached some sort of nodule thing to bub’s head but it just never really worked properly and caused more issues than anything. I had a belt strapped around my waist, which drove me insane as the monitor beeped constantly.
Judy the midwife offered me the gas & air, which I opted for and continued to use for nearly all of the labour. Sometimes I wasn’t actually sucking on the mouth piece, but rather, just using it as a way of focusing on my breathing. I think it must have taken the edge off the contractions, but I could still very much feel them. Dr D did order me a pethidine injection, “just in case”, but I don’t think I really needed it and to be honest, both mum, Mr S and I forgot about it…
After labouring for a little while more, Judy, (who was completely strapped and was running between 2 other women – I can’t tell you how relieved she was to have mum in the room with us!) asked if I’d like to try the bath. I was in there for about 30 minutes but never really found my groove – I actually didn’t like the floating sensation as I couldn’t get any proper purchase/grip to work through the contractions. It was only tolerable once they’d emptied half the bath and I was able to sit and grip on to the bottom and sides of the bath.
Again, it has become a bit of a blur, but I think I sat on the toilet in the birthing suite on and off for quite a while as it felt quite comfortable. There was a shift change and I was then told that Sue the midwife would be with me exclusively and until the baby was delivered. Around that point I think I went into transition. I started vomiting and Mr S says that the noises I was making changed – less like a siren and more like a growl. He said he noticed Mum and Sue both looking at each other with a knowing smile, as if to say “ah, yep, she’s transitioning”.
I started to feel an urge to push and started to do so. At that point, Dr D arrived back in the rooms and did an internal, only to tell me that I was not quite at 10cm and that there was still a tiny lip on the cervix. If I kept pushing at that point, the lip would swell and I would never make it to 10cm! I was so focused at that point, that I don’t recall any sense of disappointment or frustration. He said that he would be back in 45 minutes to see how I’d progressed.
Those 45 minutes (actually, I think he was running late, so it was more like an hour or even more) were the LONGEST of the entire labour. Rather than being able to push through each contraction, I had to pant instead. Mum and Mr S took it in turns to hold my hand, lock eyes with me, and pant through each contraction. The urge to push was immense as was the pressure of the head descending. I didn’t know how on earth I was going to get through each contraction. Towards the end of that time, I remember screaming out that I couldn’t do it anymore and I had to push – I had no choice. Both Sue and mum were pretty confident that I would be at full dilation at that point, so sneakily allowed me to start pushing. Sure enough, when Dr D returned, I was at full dilation and was given the go-ahead to push. Blessed relief!
After an hour of pushing with mum and Mr S each holding a leg !! (and with mum reminding me of the image of the coffee plunger in Juju’s book) her head began to crown. Dr D made the decision that I would need an episiotomy, otherwise I was likely to tear. I know some people advocate a natural tear over an epi, but at least this way it can be controlled. All I felt was a little sting of the needle for the anaesthetic, but after going through the sting/burning of crowning, it seemed like nothing!
About 2 contractions/pushes later (at 6.50pm), Dr D delivered our beautiful daughter, Alexandra Elizabeth and Mr S cut the cord. She weighed in at 7 pound 13 oz and was a long 52 cms tall.
The feeling of euphoria as this slippery, pink, pudgy bubba was placed on to my chest was unbelievable. Nearly 3 weeks later, it still amazes me that I cooked that precious little bundle for 10 months and now she’s actually here!
We are slowly settling into life as a family of 3 and she is peacefully sleeping as I recollect all of this. It feels like the labour and birth were an eternity ago, and yet, it hasn’t even been a month since her arrival into this world.
Funny how your life can change so dramatically in an instant, and yet now it’s hard to remember “life”, BA: Before Alexandra.
Hopefully I’ll be able to post a little more on here in the coming weeks and let you know of her progress as a newborn and our progress as parents.
Alexandra Elizabeth
Mum and Daughter
