Abi's birth story

[Abi'smum]

The Birth Of Abigail Rose

I will start by saying that I could not have asked for a better birth. For all those people out there that are dreading the delivery, there are positive stories out there and I for one, have been telling everyone that tells me a bad story they have heard or been through about mine. It seemed the moment I announced that I was pregnant; I was given every reason to doubt I could go through a natural birth. My mother did not produce any oxytocin in the birth of either of her children, so I was conscious of the possibility of having to be induced. The other thing I have been telling all the pregnant people I meet is, use a Doula. Shelley was so fantastic from the moment we met her, and she helped my husband and I so much during the birth.

I had decided early on that I wanted the birth to be as natural as possible, so I researched the ways to go about it. When I was about 3 months pregnant, my husband and I went to the “beer and bubs” night at the Greengate Hotel. This is where I discovered the concept of a Doula. My husband and I decided that we would check out a Doula, as we both wanted a natural birth. My husband was also dead keen to have someone to support and guide him through the birth rather than trying to go it alone. He was worried he was going to tell me some thing wrong when I was in labour.

Anyway, back to the story of my labour and delivery. I was booked in at the Birthing Unit of Blacktown Hospital. As soon as I was able to, I started going to see the midwives at the Birthing Unit for my Antenatal checks so I could meet all the midwives there. It was such a change from the Midwives and Doctors Clinic, so calm and reassuring. I had organised to have my visits on a weekend for two reasons. So my husband could come along, and so we could meet all the midwives in the Unit. They were all lovely, but I think the only midwife we didn’t meet happened to be the one that delivered Abi.

I had been having prelabour contractions for three weeks prior to my due date. At this point I started taking raspberry leaf tea capsules (I tried the tea but couldn’t stomach more than 1 cup a day) to try and soften my cervix. I had been given heaps of advice from Shelley, my doula, which was fantastic.

The first two times I had a series of prelabour contractions, I was convinced it was the real thing. After packing up and organising everything, including keeping my husband home from work and calling Shelley, only to be disappointed when my contractions would inevitably disappear after six or seven hours of mild contractions. I learned to wait and see what would happen. I think this happened four or five times before I actually went into labour, but on a positive note I think this helped me when I was actually in labour.

As the due date came and went, I tried every old wives tale and suggestion I had been given to try and bring on labour. At one week overdue, I had to go and see the Doctor, and surprise surprise; he said I would have to be induced if she hadn’t made an appearance by ten days over due. I had to book in for an induction for ten days in case the need arose. I was really disappointed by this, as it meant that I would have to go to the labour ward for the birth, and not to mention I was terrified about the pain of an induction. Shelley had given me a heap of questions to ask the Doctor when I went to see him, but he really wasn’t keen to sit and chat. He didn’t even want to examine me to see if I was dilated at all (which I had been told at the birthing classes would happen). I asked to have an examination and “stretch and sweep” to help (hopefully) bring on labour. I was one centimetre dilated before the procedure, and two after it. Not the most comfortable procedure and I’m not sure it actually helped.

As the days wore on I became more and more anxious about being induced. About seven days over due, Ben (my husband) rang Shelley to come and see me because I was climbing the walls with anxiety. She was fantastic, she calmed me right down, and taught me to focus on what was happening now, not what might happen in the future. I don’t know what I would have done without her.

The days rolled on, by Saturday (day eight) I had resigned myself to needing an induction. Shelley had given me a pile of information on pain management strategies for use during the induction, so I read and re-read all the info to be as prepared as I could.
Ben and I stayed up really late on Saturday night watching a movie and enjoying each other’s company, as it would be the last night to really relax before Monday and before we had a baby to care for. We finally crashed out at about midnight…

I woke at 3:30 AM with mild nausea and some very vague contractions. I thought to myself, yeah here we go again, more prelabour contractions. I lay in bed dosing on and off for about two hours, I got up to go to the loo at about 5:30, the contractions were still there, which really surprised me. They were about a 4/10 on a pain scale, not much more than the previous prelabour contractions. As I went to leave the bathroom, my waters broke (which turned out the forewaters). I couldn’t decide whether I was happy or sad about this. Happy that I had finally gone into labour and sad that my waters had broken at home. This meant that I would have to go into hospital straight away. I had wanted to labour at home for as long as possible, I had been told by more than a few people that their labours had all but stopped when they got into the non familiar surroundings of hospital.

I woke Ben and told him the news, then went for a shower to get ready to go. Up until now the contractions had been about 5 minutes apart but quite mild. When I got in the shower, they jumped to 2 – 3 minutes apart and fluctuating between 6 and 8/10 in pain. I stayed in the shower till the hot water ran out (whoops, sorry Ben), using the heat to help with the contractions. Ben rang the midwives to inform them that my waters had broken, and that my contractions were quite close together. I was not in a big rush to get to hospital as we only live 5 minutes away. As it turned out, they told not to rush, and just make our way in soon.

Ben rang Shelley at about 6:30 AM, to tell her that I was in labour and ready for her to come and be our support person. Until she arrived I laboured kneeling into the couch, a very good position for back rubs and heat packs I might add. Ben was fantastic; alternating between heat packs, back rub and trying to pack the car. He was having a fun time of it as there was about a two-minute interval between contractions. I was coping quite well with the contractions; they were getting pretty intense by about 7:30, which is when we decided to go to hospital. Shelley had arrived at about 7 AM to help us. We had previously organised to meet at home rather than hospital so we could all go in together.

I think it was about 8:00 when we got to the birthing unit, where Sonia, our midwife who had just come on shift, greeted us. We got settled in the room and Sonia checked me out to see how far along I was, 7 centimetres dilated already, yippee. She did the usual admission things as I went on labouring. I was coping really well just sitting on the edge of the bed rocking with the contractions and holding on to Ben. I used the shower for a long while too, with Ben holding one shower hose on my tummy and Shelley holding the other on my back.



The first time I looked up at the clock was when I got out of the shower, 10:45 AM. Hang on, where had the last 3 hours gone. I hadn’t been aware of the time passing which was great, not at all what I expected.

When I started to get the urge to push, Shelley was fantastic in helping me to use my breath to help push the baby out. Rather than screeching (wasting energy), keeping my voice low to use energy and push, which was amazingly effective. Sonia was fantastic as well during this time, She could see that I was coping really well and I was in great hands, so every now and again she popped in to see how I was going. She was really discreet about offering pain relief, just asking if I needed anything. Not giving any preference to anything. I should add that apart from a few contractions when I was in the shower, I had not felt the need for any pain relief at all. When I did feel the need, it passed very quickly when the contraction was over.

The second stage of labour was very surreal. I had been gently pushing during contractions for about 15 minutes under Shelley’s guidance, when Sonia came in and checked me out. She said she would just get the delivery trolley “just in case”. She came back all gowned up and said my baby is about to be born. I started pushing for real, and Abi was born 16 minutes later. Sonia and Shelley (and of course Ben) were fantastic during this time. Sonia put the baby on my tummy straight away, which was so great and so surreal. When I asked what sex the baby was, Sonia said, “Why don’t I have a look?” This was so great as I got to find out myself rather than being told. I had suspected from about 2 months that I was having a girl. Ben got to cut the cord and she stayed on my tummy for ages, it was fantastic.

Abigail Rose was born at 11:36AM, 3.86KG and 51cm long. I had sustained one very small tear inside, but it didn’t require stitching. No pain relief required at all. After the birth, I immediately felt that I could go through it again, in no small part thanks to the fantastic support from Ben, Shelley and Sonia. I have already told Shelley that I will be asking her to be a support person for all my future babies (hopefully 2 more).

[moonblossom]

What a brilliant birth story, so positive. Thanks for sharing with us. I am thinking of using a Doula, but more for my partner's support LOL

[Abi'smum]

Definately a great idea, my DH said it was fantastic to have someone there that knew what to do all the time, not just the midwife who wasnt always in the room. DH just followed the doulas lead when he was unsure what to do. And she was there the whole time, to support both me and DH

[HoopDeeDoo]

What a great story! It's always nice to hear someone else whose had a great birthing experience

[onabreak]

Thanks for sharing your birth story. It makes me want to go through it all again.

[alissa-mareesmum]

What a beautiful birth story, thankyou for sharing it. I myself had a wonderful and empowering birth experience, so much so that i am now training to be a doula.

Welcome Abigail Rose.