NZMama
05-05-2006, 04:16 PM
Hi there, I am new to the bub hub and relatively new to Australia as well so thought that this would be a good way to introduce myself and my family.
My eldest daughter who was born 18/07/00, 14 days overdue, was extremely fast as well as extremely late. I delivered Jordyn in NZ at a hospital which is completely run by midwives. Your midwife becomes a member of your family as did mine. While overdue she had tried all sorts of natural approaches to bring on labor, however none of them worked. So I was booked in 2 weeks after my duedate to have my waters broken, as I had been 3cm dialated for a week. It was not the spontaneous birth you so often heard about and I had the good part of the day working myself into a tizz over what to expect and how painful it was going to be. See by agreeing to have my baby at this particular private hospital I had also agreed to no Epidural. I had an appointment at 4pm that afternoon and my entire family were spread across NZ waiting for THAT phonecall. I had told my partner not to rush home from work (Usually finished between 5.30-6.30) as most labors I had heard lasted quite a number of hours, especially for first babys. However he ignored me and we drove in to my appointment together. They broke my waters at 5.15pm after an internal and monitoring of the heartbeat. Clare then asked me whether I wanted to stay or go home, I asked her how quickly this would move and she told me around 1cm per hour. I decided to go home where it was more comfortable. I squelched my way out to the car. We lived a 5 minute drive from the hospital and by the time I got home the contractions were becoming hard to ignore. My partner got me a mattress to lie on in the lounge but in the 5 mins that it took for him to do that he returned to find me panting and grunting through a contraction on all fours. :eek: He started to panic and asked me if he should ring clare. I told him not to as I was sure that I was being a wimp and Clare said it would take around 7hours. He saw me go through another contraction and called Clare. We went back into the hospital where she had a warm spa waiting for me. In I went and after 10mins in there I told her I couldnt handle it anymore, she got me out in order to do an internal. As soon as I climbed onto the bed I told her I needed to push and she could feel the babys head right there. My daughter then made her dramatic entrance into the world arriving at 6.10pm....less than an hour after my waters breaking. So much for the 7 hour labor. She weighed 8lb 3 1/2oz's and was named Jordyn Renee Heather. :p
Needless to say the dramatic and rushed entrance to the world, with no drugs at all, left me with horrendous stitches and unable to walk for a while after. Not to mention scared to go through the pain again. So she alone was the centre of our world until one day almost 5 years later, I felt a little ill. This soon turned into severe cramps and a drive the the Emergency room. After a blood test followed by a scan I was told I was 11 weeks pregnant. :eek: We had recently moved to Australia and didnt know where to start as the maternity services here are quite a bit different to what I had experienced in NZ. But we found a good obstetrician and booked into a hospital after a word of mouth recommendation. I was in the later stages of pregnancy and pondering labor again. I wasnt a big fan of Epidurals the needle and horror stories scare me. Again I found myself overdue, I guess either the Dr's estimate incorrectly or my children need encouragement to enter the world. Atiana had a due date of 14/12/05 but one week later she still hadnt arrived. I had a conversation along the lines of, Im not running in here xmas day lol. My obstetrician agreed with me and I was booked in for induction. There we were 7am, once again no spontaneous birth story here. They placed the monitor on me to establish baby's heartrate prior to the induction. My partner asked what the different lines on the graph meant. When she mentioned contractions he asked so what is a proper contraction? She said anything over 100, at that time it was registering 20 every now and again, nothing regular about that reading so thought nothing of it. I lay on the bed watching the monitor all of a sudden the machine started to read contractions of 120 but I couldnt feel a thing, 20 minutes later the nurse came in and she looked at me asking me if I could feel the contractions because I was having them regularly and they were strong. I told her that I saw the readings but couldnt feel a thing. Needless to say the induction was no longer needed. The day passed slowley.......until 4.30 that afternoon when I started to actually feel the contractions. I was absolutely starving by then my partner refusing to get me anything to eat in case he missed something (can you blame him after the birth of our first daughter?) he eventually gave in and brought me a roll to eat. So there I was leaning against the beanbag on the bed (I chose to give birth standing up this time) breathing through my contractions then as soon as I was done waddling as fast as I could to my roll biting and chewing quickly before waddling at the speed of light back to the bed to breathe through the next contraction. Finally I told the nurse that I needed to use the bathroom, I got as far as the door before I realised it wasnt the toilet I needed. I told the nurse that I needed to push and she told me to follow my bodys urges. After one push she helped me climb onto the bed so she could do an internal, 7cm?? I wasnt even 10cm! I wanted to cry (Whimp I know) She broke my waters and I instantly dialated 3cm. The contractions were coming hard and fast now, to the point that I couldnt stand up between them. But the nurse was great reminding me of my birthplan and the desire to give birth upright. With a little help I was upright and well on my way to pushing my daughter out. a few short pushes and I heard a cry, the nurses were yelling 'look down! you can see your baby!' It was great! I didnt see Jordyn until she was held up by Clare but here I was still in labor looking down at my new baby girl. She had an instant apgar of 9....thanks to her screaming on entry. Once she was delivered my eyes shot to the clock, 5 minutes after the time of day her older sister was born. She was laid on the bed in front of me so I got to be right there when my partner cut the cord. My second baby girl weighed 8lb 4oz and was born at 6.15pm on 21/12/05 and named Atiana Christina Rivierre.
Both of my babies were delivered without the use of any pain medication and no complications. I checked out of hospital with Atiana after just 2 days, with Jordyn I had my own room/bathroom/TV/Fridge/Coffee making facilities/Phone for the entire stay so I didnt take well to a shared room (Stuck up huh?) and thought home would be more relaxing (my 5year old was in NZ holidaying with family).
Not exactly romatic stories but they will remained etched in my mind forever as they are the apples of both my and my partners eyes. :D
My eldest daughter who was born 18/07/00, 14 days overdue, was extremely fast as well as extremely late. I delivered Jordyn in NZ at a hospital which is completely run by midwives. Your midwife becomes a member of your family as did mine. While overdue she had tried all sorts of natural approaches to bring on labor, however none of them worked. So I was booked in 2 weeks after my duedate to have my waters broken, as I had been 3cm dialated for a week. It was not the spontaneous birth you so often heard about and I had the good part of the day working myself into a tizz over what to expect and how painful it was going to be. See by agreeing to have my baby at this particular private hospital I had also agreed to no Epidural. I had an appointment at 4pm that afternoon and my entire family were spread across NZ waiting for THAT phonecall. I had told my partner not to rush home from work (Usually finished between 5.30-6.30) as most labors I had heard lasted quite a number of hours, especially for first babys. However he ignored me and we drove in to my appointment together. They broke my waters at 5.15pm after an internal and monitoring of the heartbeat. Clare then asked me whether I wanted to stay or go home, I asked her how quickly this would move and she told me around 1cm per hour. I decided to go home where it was more comfortable. I squelched my way out to the car. We lived a 5 minute drive from the hospital and by the time I got home the contractions were becoming hard to ignore. My partner got me a mattress to lie on in the lounge but in the 5 mins that it took for him to do that he returned to find me panting and grunting through a contraction on all fours. :eek: He started to panic and asked me if he should ring clare. I told him not to as I was sure that I was being a wimp and Clare said it would take around 7hours. He saw me go through another contraction and called Clare. We went back into the hospital where she had a warm spa waiting for me. In I went and after 10mins in there I told her I couldnt handle it anymore, she got me out in order to do an internal. As soon as I climbed onto the bed I told her I needed to push and she could feel the babys head right there. My daughter then made her dramatic entrance into the world arriving at 6.10pm....less than an hour after my waters breaking. So much for the 7 hour labor. She weighed 8lb 3 1/2oz's and was named Jordyn Renee Heather. :p
Needless to say the dramatic and rushed entrance to the world, with no drugs at all, left me with horrendous stitches and unable to walk for a while after. Not to mention scared to go through the pain again. So she alone was the centre of our world until one day almost 5 years later, I felt a little ill. This soon turned into severe cramps and a drive the the Emergency room. After a blood test followed by a scan I was told I was 11 weeks pregnant. :eek: We had recently moved to Australia and didnt know where to start as the maternity services here are quite a bit different to what I had experienced in NZ. But we found a good obstetrician and booked into a hospital after a word of mouth recommendation. I was in the later stages of pregnancy and pondering labor again. I wasnt a big fan of Epidurals the needle and horror stories scare me. Again I found myself overdue, I guess either the Dr's estimate incorrectly or my children need encouragement to enter the world. Atiana had a due date of 14/12/05 but one week later she still hadnt arrived. I had a conversation along the lines of, Im not running in here xmas day lol. My obstetrician agreed with me and I was booked in for induction. There we were 7am, once again no spontaneous birth story here. They placed the monitor on me to establish baby's heartrate prior to the induction. My partner asked what the different lines on the graph meant. When she mentioned contractions he asked so what is a proper contraction? She said anything over 100, at that time it was registering 20 every now and again, nothing regular about that reading so thought nothing of it. I lay on the bed watching the monitor all of a sudden the machine started to read contractions of 120 but I couldnt feel a thing, 20 minutes later the nurse came in and she looked at me asking me if I could feel the contractions because I was having them regularly and they were strong. I told her that I saw the readings but couldnt feel a thing. Needless to say the induction was no longer needed. The day passed slowley.......until 4.30 that afternoon when I started to actually feel the contractions. I was absolutely starving by then my partner refusing to get me anything to eat in case he missed something (can you blame him after the birth of our first daughter?) he eventually gave in and brought me a roll to eat. So there I was leaning against the beanbag on the bed (I chose to give birth standing up this time) breathing through my contractions then as soon as I was done waddling as fast as I could to my roll biting and chewing quickly before waddling at the speed of light back to the bed to breathe through the next contraction. Finally I told the nurse that I needed to use the bathroom, I got as far as the door before I realised it wasnt the toilet I needed. I told the nurse that I needed to push and she told me to follow my bodys urges. After one push she helped me climb onto the bed so she could do an internal, 7cm?? I wasnt even 10cm! I wanted to cry (Whimp I know) She broke my waters and I instantly dialated 3cm. The contractions were coming hard and fast now, to the point that I couldnt stand up between them. But the nurse was great reminding me of my birthplan and the desire to give birth upright. With a little help I was upright and well on my way to pushing my daughter out. a few short pushes and I heard a cry, the nurses were yelling 'look down! you can see your baby!' It was great! I didnt see Jordyn until she was held up by Clare but here I was still in labor looking down at my new baby girl. She had an instant apgar of 9....thanks to her screaming on entry. Once she was delivered my eyes shot to the clock, 5 minutes after the time of day her older sister was born. She was laid on the bed in front of me so I got to be right there when my partner cut the cord. My second baby girl weighed 8lb 4oz and was born at 6.15pm on 21/12/05 and named Atiana Christina Rivierre.
Both of my babies were delivered without the use of any pain medication and no complications. I checked out of hospital with Atiana after just 2 days, with Jordyn I had my own room/bathroom/TV/Fridge/Coffee making facilities/Phone for the entire stay so I didnt take well to a shared room (Stuck up huh?) and thought home would be more relaxing (my 5year old was in NZ holidaying with family).
Not exactly romatic stories but they will remained etched in my mind forever as they are the apples of both my and my partners eyes. :D