birth story
It's important to write these things down as soon as possible because the memory does get fuzzy very quickly.
On the Monday night, Matt and I agreed that I'd probably be having the baby at the weekend. I had no hint at all that anything was about to start. But I woke up at 4am with contractions 10 minutes apart. Didn't sleep much after that as I was thinking about how things went last time and trying to stay focussed on having a good birth experience. Matt and River had swapped beds as usual by this point, so I didn't disturb him until after 8 in the morning when I called him through to let him know it was happening.
Had breakfast and timed contractions -- sometimes 7 minutes apart, sometimes more, sometimes less. Phoned mum to let her know we might need her to look after River. Let midwife know that we'd probably need her later. Matt started filling up the pool.* Mum arrived at 2pm and took River back to her house. River was very excited to be going off in Granny's car without us. We both felt sad and guilty, thinking it was the last time we'd see her as our only child.**
Midwife J arrived at 3.15pm, by which time contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and I was 4cm dilated. Still very manageable -- walking around, chatting, playing piano, etc. Midwife L arrived at 4.15pm. Contractions more intense but I was still happily walking around and chatting, just had to focus on breathing slowly towards the middle of each surge.
After some discussion we all agreed that things were progressing slowly and steadily so it made sense for the midwives to nip out and get something to eat while they had the chance. They left at 5pm, and I got into the pool. It was lovely, and probably would've given me pain relief earlier on in labour, but after a few minutes of being in the water my contractions suddenly got VERY intense -- huge amount of downwards pressure (still wouldn't describe it as pain, though). Matt put on the hypnobirthing CD to help me relax between contractions. By 5.30pm I was starting to feel the urge to push! Matt phoned the midwives, who came dashing back within a few minutes.***
J asked me how I was and I said, "Like I don't want to have this baby." Everyone got very excited as this clearly meant I was in transition! J and L both knew I was anxious about tearing as I'd had a 3rd degree tear with River. I'd already told them that I wouldn't be getting out of the pool for pelvic exams during labour, and that I was going to push when I wanted to (I'm convinced that the 3rd degree tear last time happened because midwife told me to resist pushing after she examined me, and said I wasn't ready. After a very uncomfortable series of contractions, River came charging out in one big surge). Waters broke with the first push, which really relieved the sense of pressure. J suggested I put my hand down and feel the baby's head so I'd be better able to slowly guide it out. I was a bit surprised to learn that the baby was already that far down! After 30 minutes of, frankly, very satisfying pushing, baby Willow was born and started exercising her lungs straightaway. It wasn't quite 6.20pm
It took an hour for the placenta to come out. And we discovered I had a second degree tear along the scar-line from last time, which L stitched up beautifully for me with a local anaesthetic. Minimal loss of blood. Snuggled up with Matt and Willow on sofa and had tea and toast while we waited for mum to bring River back (fast asleep, so she met her baby sister next morning). All very civilised!
I would recommend a home-birth to any expectant mother with an uncomplicated pregnancy. It was a wonderful -- and, for me, very healing -- experience.
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* We borrowed the birth pool for free from a nice woman on facebook -- part of a breastfeeding support group that I joined a while back.
** She was blithely unaware of our sadness and apparently didn't mention us for the rest of the day until she got tired at the very end and asked to go home.
*** They were literally only round the corner -- having chips at the local pub. :D