The one who made us two a three – a five year old birth story:
Our Christmas-due-date baby birth announcement & the never-before-shared accidental home birth story in all its glorious & gory details (from my December 17, 2022, Instagram post on @MyRnR.space)
“Crazy amazing” is how I described her birth and still do 🌟
If you know me, you know I love labour and birth, am a total birth nerd and a passionate advocate for home birth. I have been asked before why I haven’t shared my firstborn’s fascinating story on social media and sadly my answer was that I didn’t want others to feel saddened by my happy birth day because so many women I know had had negative and even traumatic experiences so I didn’t feel right putting my positive one in their face. I have come to embrace that all stories have a place in this space and all feelings are ok. This little account is my safe space for full expression of my whole self so I finally feel comfortable sharing the whole story. I am so proud of creating this container and community for myself to be able to do this.
P.S. It’s 2:47am and I can’t sleep because my youngest won’t so I have tapped out, swapped with my husband, and come to make myself a @thegoldenmonth Shen Mama hot chocolate to calm the fuck down and try to sleep again before the most fun but most hectic day and following week of the year begins 🎉🎁🎂🚘🎄🎅
#five 🖐
Our Christmas-due-date baby birth announcement & the never-before-shared accidental home birth story in all its glorious & gory details:
The announcement:
Our early Christmas wish was granted! 💝🌲🎅🏻
Introducing…🌸 Born Sunday 17/12/17, 7:37pm, 3.3kg (7.3 pounds), 48cm long. Midwife: Daddy. Location: Our bathtub. 😳😂 We’re all doing well (apart from the shell shock & sleep deprivation).
The story:
(This is what I wrote in my phone and emailed to myself and her daddy, then later printed for her record book, so I would never forget the most amazing day of my life.)
Crazy, intense day starting with pre/ early labour pains at 8am, routine appointment with Julie (my midwife) at home at 12:30pm, her internal examination (during which she mentioned my cervix felt like I’d had babies already! Lol something it’s not telling me??), my cervix was 2-3cm dilated & almost fully effaced, she gave me a stretch and sweep and said to call if/ when waters break, I have a bloody show, am in active labour etc. but explained though it was exciting, it could be many hours or even days but then it could also happen very quickly, we never know.
We went shopping as planned to buy a mattress and a vacuum cleaner. I walked out the contractions in Harvey Norman, inhaled into E’s back in Toys R Us and ate some frozen yoghurt in the food court 😂Came home, we tidied up, I bounced on the fitball and sorted my baby shower prediction cards by date to see who the winner would be. Then I had a bath and practised my hypnobirthing rainbow relaxation for what would be the last time as E vacuumed with our exciting new Dyson 👌.
Maybe around 5:30pmish E helped me through bigger contractions in the lounge room with acupressure, light touch massage, affirmations, deep breathing and kicking my feet into the floor while kneeling over the lounge. Had some almonds and struggled through E feeding me slices of apple as the contractions ramped up. The pain became really intense and close together around 6:30pmish but duration still not long enough according to “active labour” guidelines and still no waters or show so waited til 7 to start recording timings again for 15 minutes then E called hospital who casually said to come on down meanwhile I suddenly transitioned while on the toilet (waiting for what I realised was not actually coming), no longer able to respond to E’s questions verbally, I could only hold up a finger and felt like I was starting to crown so suddenly felt the need to be on all fours in the bath, I staggered down the hall into the bathroom, climbed in and ran the cold tap (I was super hot and sweaty), E came into say “We’ve gotta go now” and I said “I can’t. I need to push”. He called my midwife directly to tell her I wasn’t moving and she called the ambulance then I said I needed to push again, E: “What do I do?”, me: “I don’t know”, then Daddy caught her!! 😱🤩😜 “It’s a girl!” (I forgot to even ask or think about this as we didn’t know the sex but I was in so much shock).
She cried then just started breathing normally and we fumbled as I moved up the other end of the bath to sit down without a plug up my butt 😆passing her under a leg – with a short umbilical cord this was very awkward! Holy shit so that just happened.
*Turned out ambulance was on speaker so that’s how we know she came out at 7:37pm (by checking my phone records) *WRONG! 😅 TURNED OUT SHE WAS BORN BEFORE THAT CALL SO APPROX. 7:30PM? WE ONLY REALISED THIS AFTER WE LISTENED BACK TO THE SA AMBULANCE PHONE CALL AUDIO MONTHS LATER THAT I HAD TO APPLY & PAY FOR. Shortly after, Julie, Louise (her student) and the two paramedics arrived, checked us both, Julie spread towels on our bed so she could help me deliver the placenta then assessed that I needed stitches so we were all taken to hospital by ambulance, 🌸 on my chest having her first suckle.
Once there and after being met with so many excited ER staff (plus Christmas decorations – it was a really festive vibe!) praising us and saying we made their night, my adrenaline induced shaking and shivering finally stopped and the worst part of the whole experience begin – the stitches 😩 I needed three doses of the local anaesthetic as I kept feeling the needle. I would choose contractions and pushing her out again over this sewing up and the following recovery of both tear and repair.
We stayed the night and next morning for monitoring and paediatrician checks and were discharged about 1pm.
EDITED TO ADD: The birth position I ended up in, which was chosen entirely by instinct, was a deep squat inside the almost-empty bath holding onto the side – a position I later understood to be one of the worst for tearing 😵💫 But it felt best for me in that unaccompanied moment!
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