“Hiss, Roar and a Bang”

It was 8pm on the 15th May 2018. I was sitting on the couch watching T.V. when I felt a ‘pop’! There was no instant gush of water or anything, I said to Kere “oh something weird just happened, Ive never felt that before?!” I got up and walked to the toilet (still not a drop of fluid came out), when I sat down on the toilet some fluid came out then, but still not a lot! I just sat there thinking “shit have my waters broken?!” You are made to believe that when your waters break it’s this massive gush of fluid! I know that is the case for some people, but it certainly wasn’t the case for me! I messaged I midwife and she was pretty sure my waters had gone! So now we just had to sit tight and see if contractions started to develop! My waters never broke with paisley until I was about to start pushing, so I thought to myself “this my happen quickly” the usual rule of thumb is when your water breaks things start to really get going! This, however, wasn’t the case for me!

My contractions definitely started, I knew at this point that I was in labour! And all of a sudden I just got this moment of “oh shit”. The memories of the pain of contractions started rushing back to me and I got quite scared! I almost didn’t want to get into positions they say are good for helping your labour progress, like using the Swiss ball, which I used in my labour with paisley! I felt like I wasn’t ready, I didn’t want to go through all this again!!

We rang my parents and they came out to our house. We had planned for my dad to stay with paisley when we go to hospital and my mum would come with us to the hospital.

Around 11pm we all went to bed, my contractions were there, but they weren’t very strong and very irregular. I got a couple hours rest before my contractions started getting too intense for me to sleep through them. I came into the lounge and just chilled out. I put a movie on and just dealt with each contraction as they came. My mum came and sat with me. I would get a really strong contraction then a very weak one. So I knew we were a while away from going to hospital. I decided I just wanted to get things going now, so I sat on the Swiss ball and just rocked.

About 6am my midwife messaged asking how things were going. I basically told her my contractions were still quite far apart and not overly strong. She then informed me that I would need to come into the hospital at 8am regardless of where my contractions were at because once your waters have broken you are at risk on contracting an infection which can be dangerous for baby. So about 7.30am myself, Kere and my mum headed into the hospital. We met my midwife and went to the room that I would be having my baby in! My midwife checked me and I was only 2cm dilated! I was devastated! 12 hours of labour and only 2cm it was beginning to be a total repeat of paisleys 2 day labour!

It was then my midwife told us she would need to consult with the doctor about how to proceed. They wanted to get the baby out sooner rather than later to avoid the risk of infection. So the decision was made to put a drip in and start me on oxytocin. This is the drug the use to induce labour. I was really upset with this, I always want to do what is best for my baby in labour, but I always hated the idea of intervention. I just wanted my body to do what it needed to on it’s own, but I wasn’t willing to risk the health of myself or my baby, so I agreed!

About 1 hr later the hospital midwife came in to put the drip in my hand and start the oxytocin. In this time my contractions had started to get a lot more intense. I was sucking away on the gas pretty good by now, although I was still able to talk or make a joke between contractions. They proceeded to attempt to put the drip in my hand, but my contractions were coming so close together and my veins weren’t very good, that by the time she had found a good vein I was having another contraction so she had to wait! My mind was going crazy, part of me was thinking “what the heck I have to be more than 2cm by now” and then the other part of me was saying “don’t be silly it’s only been 1hr and the oxytocin hasn’t even started yet”

They finally got the drip in and I was allowed to hop off the bed and stand next to it with my hands and head resting on it! It must have been about 9.30am by now, and my contractions were so hard and so close together, I think I even remember my mum saying “gosh her contractions seems to be getting hard now.” I was so furiously sucking on the gas, and I definitely wasn’t making any jokes or talking, I was completely in the zone just trying to get through each contraction, but it was becoming so difficult!

Suddenly things started to change! With paisley it was like it went from full on contractions to I need to push right now! Where as this feeling was like a mix of a contraction and the need to push! I wasn’t quite sure what it meant! In my mind I was still telling myself “no you can’t be needing to push yet, they only just put the oxytocin in”. I just kind of went with the feeling, then it hit me! I literally yelled “ITS COMING”. I had no idea where my midwife was (she was sitting at a desk behind me) and I didn’t realize she was at my feet until she started pulling my undies down! And sure enough, baby was right there and ready to come!

My midwife quickly starting grabbing everything she needed whilst coaching me through pushes! After having a water birth with paisley (which I wasn’t able to have this time because of the drip) I figured standing would be a great way to birth a baby, you know with gravity’s help! Will I can tell you now it was most certainly not the case. As soon as I started pushing the feeling was so bizarre, like the baby was going up not down! I yelled “I WANT TO GET BACK ON THE BED” but it was too late now, I wasn’t going anywhere! So with the help of my midwife and the encouragement of Kere and my mum I continued to push! Now I don’t know if the water birth with paisley took away some of the sensation or the fact I was so high on the codine and sleeping pills my midwife had given me numbed some of the feeling, but I do not remember feeling her coming out the way I did with this baby! I remember feeling it all, the burning ring of fire, yup I felt it all! I might sound like a total crazy person, but it was the most amazing feeling ever! I could feel my baby being born, I was pushing it out, all on my own! I felt the head come out, and then my midwife just told me to do a little push, and bam baby was here! My midwife passed the baby up between my legs to my stomach! It was at this moment I saw we had a little BOY! 7lbs 2oz of totally boyish perfection (albeit a bit covered in vernix, with a slightly misshapen head from being suck in those first 12 hours) but he was amazing! I was over come with so much emotion, I just burst into tears! The umbilical was still attached to the placenta, so very carefully I climbed up onto the bed and got to have my little boy lay on me, skin to skin, it was such a surreal moment! We just lay like that (him on my Chest) for a good hour! It was so peaceful, we left the placenta attached until it has emptied all its nutrients into my baby boy, and then I birthed the placenta! I had no tearing or anything, it was all just perfect! He started looking for a feed straight away, he latched right away and had a great little feed!

I think all of us in the room couldn’t believe what had just happened! He was born at exactly 9.53am! Not even two hours after arriving at the hospital and being told I was two centimeters! Even though in the end it all happened so fast, it was just such an amazing birth experience, I felt so empowered! A little boy, we were just smitten! My mum asked “what’s his name?” Kere and I just looked at each other “it’s Heath”

And boy did Heath come with a hiss, roar and a bang!

Stay tuned for my postpartum story with Heath! I faced many challenges including a very tough emotional one!