Fiona William’s Journey to a VBAC
On March 4 2010, I became a mum for the first time. I fell instantly in love but had my heartbroken in the very same moment. My beautiful son was born by emergency caesarean section after a failed induction of labor and no progression leading to my son becoming distressed and needing to be born. My heart ached for the natural birth I wished for all my life. Suffering from birth trauma has become a part of my life now but from this I started on a positive journey of empowerment, healing, rebuilding myself and gaining knowledge of a Vaginal Birth After Caesarean. I wanted to VBAC my future children…and I was going to!!
We found out we were expecting baby number 2 at Christmas time! We were ecstatic and ready to welcome our new addition.
My pregnancy went smoothly, a little raised BP( blood pressure ) nearing the end but nothing major.
Friday 6th September came around, I was 39 weeks exactly and I impatiently requested a stretch and sweep. I was stretched to 3cm, (very stretchy) and my waters were bulging. I started in false labor almost immediately and told I would go into labor properly that night. I had irregular tightenings and contractions for 12 hours then everything slowed down. I pre labored for a couple of days as well as losing what felt like ALL of my mucus plug. (there was so much!)
The weekend came and went, still no baby! I tried to keep my mind off it by taking my 3 year old, Riley out to the park, going for big walks and enjoying him while it was just the two of us. The walking brought on a lot of tightenings, which was great!
7am on Sept 10th - I woke up to a clunk in my tummy which I knew wasn’t wind or my baby kicking.. My partner Shaun and I laid and chatted to our baby for a while, letting bub know that he/she could come out to meet us whenever bub was ready!
I got up to go to the toilet and woosh! The first lot of my waters gushed out. I ran to the loo and it flowed out even more! It was clear so I was very happy. Then the pains started!! Immediately!! Irregular at first but by 8am quickly became time able and were every 2-3 minutes. My baby was coming and FAST. I knew my body had bypassed the whole first stage of labor and knew I needed to go to the hospital. My mum came over, I had a shower, we packed up the car and kissed our excited little man goodbye as Shauns mum had also come over, to pick him up.
We got to the hospital at around 9.20am. I’d had a lot of contractions in the car (and breakfast consisting of a whole pump bottle of water, a mini pack of Pringles, a mega size Chupa chup and a ktime bar! (I was starving and knew they’d want me not to eat when I got there because I was having a Vbac)
I had contractions all the way walking through the hospital but felt in control and very ‘with it’. We got into L&D, I was hooked up to a telemetry and monitored continuously (even though I’d not consented to it in my birth plan I was more than happy to for some reason haha!) And an IV bung in my arm wrapped up which both surprisingly didn’t bother me one bit for my whole labor! I was also examined , I was 3-4cm but completely thinned out. I was so proud!! I then got to know my midwife a lot more and found out she was a VBAC mum! Perfect! :)
I labored happily breathing, moving around, having Shaun and my mum massage my back, hanging over the back of the bed, bouncing on the ball and getting through the surges really well. Baby was really happy on the monitor too!
Around lunchtime I became really uncomfortable, I felt pushy with every contraction and really starting to moan and growl through them! I was upsetting myself because I felt I was losing the plot more and more and couldn’t relax my body any longer. They hooked up the gas and air for me and as much as I hated the dreamy echoey feeling it was helping a little for a while. I was examined again - 5cm with a bit of waters that was stopping baby’s head so I asked the midwife to break them hoping it would help me dilate a bit better.
3pm came, I was a raging beast by this time! The gas wasn’t helping. I felt like my insides were burning and I wasn’t getting a break between contractions. I’d lost all control of the the surges and I feared I would give up soon. I wanted to be examined again - STILL 5cm and my baby had turned posterior, this is why my labor was so hard! I cried and cried. I knew my body was way too stressed to keep progressing. I was so tense and I couldn’t release it. I did what I thought I’d never do in this labor and asked for an epidural. I knew I needed to calm down, and this would relax me and I would progress more. I trusted in my body to do that and I trusted my baby to turn for me to birth her properly.
By 4pm the walking epidural was in, I wanted to rest though so I could build up the energy to push, and as I lay on my left side, I could feel my baby turning!! And with every contraction I felt pressure and baby’s head descending!
My wonderful Obstetrician came in 2 hours later to see how I was going, I was asked to be examined by him this time because of the pressure.. and he smiled.. Id gone from 5cm to almost fully dilated with just a lip of cervix left! He told me I was doing this! I was going to deliver my baby vaginally!!
He came back in 20 minutes later, checked me again and the cervix was gone and I was ready! I couldn’t believe it! Immediately I became so nervous to push! But this was what Id waited for, this is what I always wanted to do! And so I pushed, with all every bit of energy I had!!
In 20 minutes, at 6.56pm I had breathed my baby’s head out.. on my own! No touching by anyone except myself for motivation! Not even my Ob! Then her daddy and I pulled the rest of her out of my body and we put her straight onto my chest. My perfect little GIRL! I had done it! We delayed cord clamping, then daddy cut the cord (a first as he didn’t get to cut our sons) and I also had a wonderful physiological 3rd stage (natural delivery of placenta). I breastfed and we cuddled for a good hour before Daddy cleaned her up, dressed her, weighed and measured her while I had a tiny tear stitched up.. then she was brought back to me for more snuggles.
I still can’t believe I did it. What I have dreamed of since the birth of my son came true.
My VBAC baby.
Ebony Gwenneth Rose Donegan. Born 656pm, September 10th, weighing 3.5kgs (7pd 14oz), 49cm long, HC 34cm.
We found out we were expecting baby number 2 at Christmas time! We were ecstatic and ready to welcome our new addition.
My pregnancy went smoothly, a little raised BP( blood pressure ) nearing the end but nothing major.
Friday 6th September came around, I was 39 weeks exactly and I impatiently requested a stretch and sweep. I was stretched to 3cm, (very stretchy) and my waters were bulging. I started in false labor almost immediately and told I would go into labor properly that night. I had irregular tightenings and contractions for 12 hours then everything slowed down. I pre labored for a couple of days as well as losing what felt like ALL of my mucus plug. (there was so much!)
The weekend came and went, still no baby! I tried to keep my mind off it by taking my 3 year old, Riley out to the park, going for big walks and enjoying him while it was just the two of us. The walking brought on a lot of tightenings, which was great!
7am on Sept 10th - I woke up to a clunk in my tummy which I knew wasn’t wind or my baby kicking.. My partner Shaun and I laid and chatted to our baby for a while, letting bub know that he/she could come out to meet us whenever bub was ready!
I got up to go to the toilet and woosh! The first lot of my waters gushed out. I ran to the loo and it flowed out even more! It was clear so I was very happy. Then the pains started!! Immediately!! Irregular at first but by 8am quickly became time able and were every 2-3 minutes. My baby was coming and FAST. I knew my body had bypassed the whole first stage of labor and knew I needed to go to the hospital. My mum came over, I had a shower, we packed up the car and kissed our excited little man goodbye as Shauns mum had also come over, to pick him up.
We got to the hospital at around 9.20am. I’d had a lot of contractions in the car (and breakfast consisting of a whole pump bottle of water, a mini pack of Pringles, a mega size Chupa chup and a ktime bar! (I was starving and knew they’d want me not to eat when I got there because I was having a Vbac)
I had contractions all the way walking through the hospital but felt in control and very ‘with it’. We got into L&D, I was hooked up to a telemetry and monitored continuously (even though I’d not consented to it in my birth plan I was more than happy to for some reason haha!) And an IV bung in my arm wrapped up which both surprisingly didn’t bother me one bit for my whole labor! I was also examined , I was 3-4cm but completely thinned out. I was so proud!! I then got to know my midwife a lot more and found out she was a VBAC mum! Perfect! :)
I labored happily breathing, moving around, having Shaun and my mum massage my back, hanging over the back of the bed, bouncing on the ball and getting through the surges really well. Baby was really happy on the monitor too!
Around lunchtime I became really uncomfortable, I felt pushy with every contraction and really starting to moan and growl through them! I was upsetting myself because I felt I was losing the plot more and more and couldn’t relax my body any longer. They hooked up the gas and air for me and as much as I hated the dreamy echoey feeling it was helping a little for a while. I was examined again - 5cm with a bit of waters that was stopping baby’s head so I asked the midwife to break them hoping it would help me dilate a bit better.
3pm came, I was a raging beast by this time! The gas wasn’t helping. I felt like my insides were burning and I wasn’t getting a break between contractions. I’d lost all control of the the surges and I feared I would give up soon. I wanted to be examined again - STILL 5cm and my baby had turned posterior, this is why my labor was so hard! I cried and cried. I knew my body was way too stressed to keep progressing. I was so tense and I couldn’t release it. I did what I thought I’d never do in this labor and asked for an epidural. I knew I needed to calm down, and this would relax me and I would progress more. I trusted in my body to do that and I trusted my baby to turn for me to birth her properly.
By 4pm the walking epidural was in, I wanted to rest though so I could build up the energy to push, and as I lay on my left side, I could feel my baby turning!! And with every contraction I felt pressure and baby’s head descending!
My wonderful Obstetrician came in 2 hours later to see how I was going, I was asked to be examined by him this time because of the pressure.. and he smiled.. Id gone from 5cm to almost fully dilated with just a lip of cervix left! He told me I was doing this! I was going to deliver my baby vaginally!!
He came back in 20 minutes later, checked me again and the cervix was gone and I was ready! I couldn’t believe it! Immediately I became so nervous to push! But this was what Id waited for, this is what I always wanted to do! And so I pushed, with all every bit of energy I had!!
In 20 minutes, at 6.56pm I had breathed my baby’s head out.. on my own! No touching by anyone except myself for motivation! Not even my Ob! Then her daddy and I pulled the rest of her out of my body and we put her straight onto my chest. My perfect little GIRL! I had done it! We delayed cord clamping, then daddy cut the cord (a first as he didn’t get to cut our sons) and I also had a wonderful physiological 3rd stage (natural delivery of placenta). I breastfed and we cuddled for a good hour before Daddy cleaned her up, dressed her, weighed and measured her while I had a tiny tear stitched up.. then she was brought back to me for more snuggles.
I still can’t believe I did it. What I have dreamed of since the birth of my son came true.
My VBAC baby.
Ebony Gwenneth Rose Donegan. Born 656pm, September 10th, weighing 3.5kgs (7pd 14oz), 49cm long, HC 34cm.
Anna’s Birth Story
I was 2 weeks overdue when Banjo Love Antony finally decided to come into the world. (on his own accord mind you). Just the thought of having to be induced when you want to birth naturally is enough to make you try anything and believe me I tried everything… It’s actually quite humorous now that I look back on it..i tried eggplant parmigiana (three times) somehow a few friends convinced me that if they made it instead of me I would go into labour, even our friend from the Italian restaurant had a crack. I tried acupuncture , acupressure, walking, sex, massage, golden seal tincture, evening primrose capsules, I tried a castor oil smoothie (a concoction from a midwife in canada, and in fact 4 hrs after I drank it my first contractions started. Although I’m still not convinced it had anything to do with it! So yeah I guess my labour did start after I drank the smoothie. The second one that is.
On my 11th day of being over due .. I had 2 days left until my booked induction .. And although I was booked in and banjo wasn’t coming out I still probably would have waited a little longer. Anyways that morning I woke up and went to the beach at 6 am Solo , it was such a beautiful day … I walked from the north to south end about 5 times , I remember having alot of energy. then I swam , meditated , made a quick stop at the health emporium to pick up the lemon verbena tea ( an ingredient in the smoothie) to be home by 9 am to drink it up. Dion was asleep and I had my mum staying at our place as she was visiting from canada.. I drank the smoothie had a shower and got back into bed.. At about 1 pm I started having contractions until about 5 pm but although they were fairly mild. I was convinced the baby was coming soon.. So we just hung out around home I went for a few short walks and then got into the bath to try and relax I knew I wasn’t ready to go to the hospital yet.. Dion stayed awake and laid with me stroking my hair trying to get me to go to sleep and get some rest but the contractions were really starting to heat up ( how wild is it that I can’t even remember what they felt like now?) I would sleep every 5 minutes then have a contraction , then fall back asleep .. This went on until 5 am .. And then they just stopped . I couldn’t believe it I had been in labour all night long and half a day and they just stopped? So in the morning we were off to the hospital to monitor the baby’s heart rate and have a stretch and sweep (where the midwife sweeps the membrane with a finger to try to get things moving.. My waters still hadn’t broke. At about 1 pm the next day the contractions started again .. So I hooked up a 10s machine and we started walking all over Bellevue hill ..Dion with the remote connected to the wires in one hand and his phone timing my contractions in the other it was absolutely hilarious .. And I can only imagine what people thought as they drove past us . I ended up labouring at home on the ball , pacing , hanging from the door ways, in and out of the shower, in every room of our house.. Until 11pm when my mucus plug finally came out. I remember telling my doula I was ready to go to the hospital and then bam it just came right out . So we packed up and headed to the hospital.. I will never forget sitting at the red lights which seemed to go on for hrs , I reckon we hit every red light on the drive there. it took so long to get there ( hah probably only took 10 minutes if you ask Dion )
Once we arrived at Royal Randwick women’s we checked into the birthing centre , my mum , my doula ,Dion and myself set up the room with all the stuff we wanted .. It looked like we planned to be there for a week . our amazing midwife Naomi got us settled.. Checked my dilation and I was 6 cm , I thought (how good ) only another 4 to go.. Yeah right! By the time we were comfortable my contractions had slowed right down again.. I think the move from home had something to do with that. When they started back up so I got into the bath .. At this point I had been in labour for about 30 hrs .. The contractions were really strong when I was in the tub .. and so close together , I was exhausted . I looked around the room. my mum was asleep on the bed my doula was crashed out on the floor my midwife was nodding off but not Dion .. He was right by my side , holding my head up on the edge of the bath while I worked so hard to try to help guide banjo down.. He was such a champion I could have never done it without him.. He stayed with me throughout the whole labour , didn’t sleep a wink in 2 days. after 3 hrs of being in the bath I all of a sudden had a crazy urge to bear down … Which had my midwife believing the bub was getting ready to come out and I must be almost 9 cm dilated .. I started to breathe down with the contractions.. This went on for another 2 hrs until it was about 5 am . And still no baby , so I got out of the bath.. Naomi checked my dilation . 7 cms. Are you fucking kidding me …. No way. The midwife asked me if she could break my waters to try to get things moving .. After that was done we realised banjo had done a poo (meconium) in the womb so I then had to be moved to the delivery suite, where everything changed. … Goodbye comfort hello clinical!
He became high risk , I was hooked up to a heart monitor , which while having contractions was so uncomfortable , I had now been in labour for 36 hrs and I was exhausted. I knew that he didn’t want to come out unless I had the energy for it , so I decided it was time to get an epidural , get some sleep and start trying again when I woke up… For someone that wanted to birth naturally so badly , everything changed instantly for me. I most definitely did not want to have a c section and I knew that would be a possibility now that he was being monitored and things weren’t moving quickly so I made the decision and 6 hrs later after 3 hrs of sleep, 4 different doctors , my midwife from the birthing centre Phil who saw me throughout my whole pregnancy came back on his shift. (It was almost like banjo was waiting for him). My mum , and Dion helped me to push banjo out . It was completely different than the bearing down I had been doing in the bath, pushing with your legs up on a bed , I didn’t even really know how to do it. I hadn’t learned any of this in the shebirths course I did, it was all so different . I knew how to breathe him down but I didn’t know how to push like that. I had my feet on stirrups an epidural in my spine and banjo was being suctioned out? No way .. I just did 36 hrs naturally for this? But I was so happy so happy to know that I would be meeting my healthy baby soon
So after about an hr of “pushing” and some suction banjo was born. It was a boy they said… 8.5 lbs . 62 centimeters, 10 fingers and 10 toes.. He looked exactly like his father. He was absolutely gorgeous and completely perfect. It was the best moment of my entire life when they placed him on my chest.. And everyday since then have only gotten better. Banjo love Antony you are our prince. Thank you to the midwives at royal randwick and so much love to my mum, It was so amazing to have you there to watch me give birth… It felt like everything went full circle.. And I know you and banjo will always have such a special bond because of this.. I am forever greatful for all your grace, guidance and support
On my 11th day of being over due .. I had 2 days left until my booked induction .. And although I was booked in and banjo wasn’t coming out I still probably would have waited a little longer. Anyways that morning I woke up and went to the beach at 6 am Solo , it was such a beautiful day … I walked from the north to south end about 5 times , I remember having alot of energy. then I swam , meditated , made a quick stop at the health emporium to pick up the lemon verbena tea ( an ingredient in the smoothie) to be home by 9 am to drink it up. Dion was asleep and I had my mum staying at our place as she was visiting from canada.. I drank the smoothie had a shower and got back into bed.. At about 1 pm I started having contractions until about 5 pm but although they were fairly mild. I was convinced the baby was coming soon.. So we just hung out around home I went for a few short walks and then got into the bath to try and relax I knew I wasn’t ready to go to the hospital yet.. Dion stayed awake and laid with me stroking my hair trying to get me to go to sleep and get some rest but the contractions were really starting to heat up ( how wild is it that I can’t even remember what they felt like now?) I would sleep every 5 minutes then have a contraction , then fall back asleep .. This went on until 5 am .. And then they just stopped . I couldn’t believe it I had been in labour all night long and half a day and they just stopped? So in the morning we were off to the hospital to monitor the baby’s heart rate and have a stretch and sweep (where the midwife sweeps the membrane with a finger to try to get things moving.. My waters still hadn’t broke. At about 1 pm the next day the contractions started again .. So I hooked up a 10s machine and we started walking all over Bellevue hill ..Dion with the remote connected to the wires in one hand and his phone timing my contractions in the other it was absolutely hilarious .. And I can only imagine what people thought as they drove past us . I ended up labouring at home on the ball , pacing , hanging from the door ways, in and out of the shower, in every room of our house.. Until 11pm when my mucus plug finally came out. I remember telling my doula I was ready to go to the hospital and then bam it just came right out . So we packed up and headed to the hospital.. I will never forget sitting at the red lights which seemed to go on for hrs , I reckon we hit every red light on the drive there. it took so long to get there ( hah probably only took 10 minutes if you ask Dion )
Once we arrived at Royal Randwick women’s we checked into the birthing centre , my mum , my doula ,Dion and myself set up the room with all the stuff we wanted .. It looked like we planned to be there for a week . our amazing midwife Naomi got us settled.. Checked my dilation and I was 6 cm , I thought (how good ) only another 4 to go.. Yeah right! By the time we were comfortable my contractions had slowed right down again.. I think the move from home had something to do with that. When they started back up so I got into the bath .. At this point I had been in labour for about 30 hrs .. The contractions were really strong when I was in the tub .. and so close together , I was exhausted . I looked around the room. my mum was asleep on the bed my doula was crashed out on the floor my midwife was nodding off but not Dion .. He was right by my side , holding my head up on the edge of the bath while I worked so hard to try to help guide banjo down.. He was such a champion I could have never done it without him.. He stayed with me throughout the whole labour , didn’t sleep a wink in 2 days. after 3 hrs of being in the bath I all of a sudden had a crazy urge to bear down … Which had my midwife believing the bub was getting ready to come out and I must be almost 9 cm dilated .. I started to breathe down with the contractions.. This went on for another 2 hrs until it was about 5 am . And still no baby , so I got out of the bath.. Naomi checked my dilation . 7 cms. Are you fucking kidding me …. No way. The midwife asked me if she could break my waters to try to get things moving .. After that was done we realised banjo had done a poo (meconium) in the womb so I then had to be moved to the delivery suite, where everything changed. … Goodbye comfort hello clinical!
He became high risk , I was hooked up to a heart monitor , which while having contractions was so uncomfortable , I had now been in labour for 36 hrs and I was exhausted. I knew that he didn’t want to come out unless I had the energy for it , so I decided it was time to get an epidural , get some sleep and start trying again when I woke up… For someone that wanted to birth naturally so badly , everything changed instantly for me. I most definitely did not want to have a c section and I knew that would be a possibility now that he was being monitored and things weren’t moving quickly so I made the decision and 6 hrs later after 3 hrs of sleep, 4 different doctors , my midwife from the birthing centre Phil who saw me throughout my whole pregnancy came back on his shift. (It was almost like banjo was waiting for him). My mum , and Dion helped me to push banjo out . It was completely different than the bearing down I had been doing in the bath, pushing with your legs up on a bed , I didn’t even really know how to do it. I hadn’t learned any of this in the shebirths course I did, it was all so different . I knew how to breathe him down but I didn’t know how to push like that. I had my feet on stirrups an epidural in my spine and banjo was being suctioned out? No way .. I just did 36 hrs naturally for this? But I was so happy so happy to know that I would be meeting my healthy baby soon
So after about an hr of “pushing” and some suction banjo was born. It was a boy they said… 8.5 lbs . 62 centimeters, 10 fingers and 10 toes.. He looked exactly like his father. He was absolutely gorgeous and completely perfect. It was the best moment of my entire life when they placed him on my chest.. And everyday since then have only gotten better. Banjo love Antony you are our prince. Thank you to the midwives at royal randwick and so much love to my mum, It was so amazing to have you there to watch me give birth… It felt like everything went full circle.. And I know you and banjo will always have such a special bond because of this.. I am forever greatful for all your grace, guidance and support
Mias Birth Story
I was born at home, and so when I fell pregnant I never considered ever doing anything other than a home birth for my own child. A few people expressed their concerns about homebirths and some were horrified at the idea of a home birth in Bali, but we were sure it was the right thing to do. Giving birth only happens a few times in your life so I wanted to make sure it was the best it could be for me and my baby. I wanted to create a belly-sanctuary for my baby and with the help of Jas, my very own personal Ayurvedic guru, I ate wholesome, body-goodness foods to help create a beautiful, healthy child.
Living in Bali is a pregnancy paradise. I was able to regularly treat myself physically and mentally- I practiced daily yoga and meditation, plenty of beach walks, regular massages, facials & manipedis. I visited my acupuncturist almost every 2-3wks to keep my body balanced, my energy high and my baby happy. I also had regular checkups with an Ayurvedic doctor who helped keep me super healthy and strong. Basically I spent 9 months living and eating well, preparing my body and soul for what was to come.
Towards the end of my pregnancy, my acupuncturist told me she thought I was a model of perfect pregnancy health! Gold star for me! So when my delivery day was near I felt totally prepared both physically and mentally. Ziggy must have been ready too, because he came a day early!
On Sunday 10th November 2013, a day before I was due, I woke early in the morning to a big red moon sitting low in the sky. Jas was awake too with Jimi Hendrix’ Voodoo Child’ rolling through his mind - ‘well the night I was born, lord I swear the moon turned a fiery red’.
A while later, about 8am, I was sitting in meditation when I felt my first contraction- just like a burst of energy rushing through me. Without ever having experienced it before I wasn’t 100% sure this was ‘it’, until they kept coming. We thought we would meet our little human by that evening, but we were in for a surprise!
Jas made me some delish scrambled eggs and called the midwives, Erin & Lianne to let them know it was happening and also asked Marta, my cranio therapist/doula for assistance. We put on some music and I spiralled my way around the room from couch to fit ball and back again working through the increasingly frequent contractions. By the time Marta arrived, I had found myself a good spot under the shower in the outdoor bathroom. My contractions were getting really strong and the hot water on my back helped to relieve some of the pressure.
I remember after a particularly strong contraction, I reached out to Kali, Ganesh, Shiva, Buddha and the Mother Goddess to give me strength. After asking for divine intervention I remember looking at the sun through closed eyes and felt a colourful wave of orange, red and yellow energy wash over me. While the contractions didn’t ease, I felt empowered and confident and allowed me to completely surrender and let my body do what it was made to do. While Marta was in the bathroom working on me, Jas was busy filling the birth tub and feeding me frozen chunks of watermelon ( delicious like cold, sweet hydrating candy! I highly recommend!) and plenty of coconut water.
A few hours had passed and by this time, my contractions were really strong and felt like there was almost no break in between. I felt like i was ready to get into the tub so Jas called the midwives and gave a progress report. They were just down the road ordering a coffee and were surprised to hear its happening so fast.
I had just got into the tub when they arrived, and i was ready to start pushing. i had no concept of time or what was going on around me - i had gone completely inside myself, focusing on my breath and moving the energy down and out. Jas stayed with me holding my hands, massaging my back and feeding me coconut water silently preparing himself to catch the baby when it was time. After a couple more intense contractions, and only 4 hours after it all started, our little boy was born into this world. He was a “Caul Birth” which means he was still in the embryonic sack when he came out. This is apparently super rare and considered lucky in many cultures. He also had a heart shaped placenta for extra specialness :)
Jas caught him in the pool, and was overwhelmed with emotion- afterwards he said it was the most surreal experience to hold a new little soul in his hands and see him look up from under the water still breathing through the umbilical cord completely unfazed by what had just happened.
Jas and the midwives held him in front of me for a few moments while I took it all in, before placing him in my arms. What a perfect little human. I told him I loved him, the sun was shining and there was a big, beautiful world out there waiting for him. The midwives left the room almost immediately and the 3 of us just basked in the beautiful moment. He was super alert and completely silent apart from the gasping sound when he took his first breath. After about 10 minutes Jas whispered a vedic baby mantra into his ear to let him know he had arrived at the right place.
Eyes bright, completely calm and perfectly wonderful in every way, Ziggy Ru Shankar had come into our lives like a shooting star straight from the heavens and we couldn’t be happier.
In hindsight, I’ve come to realise how important the 9months prior to the birth are. Its such an amazing time to prepare your mind and body for the intensity of birth and with the right amount of preparation I think you could avoid a lot of complications and have a safe, completely natural birth. After all, it is said that childbirth is equivalent to 7 years mediation and that if every woman gave birth naturally we could change the planet for the better in one generation!
Living in Bali is a pregnancy paradise. I was able to regularly treat myself physically and mentally- I practiced daily yoga and meditation, plenty of beach walks, regular massages, facials & manipedis. I visited my acupuncturist almost every 2-3wks to keep my body balanced, my energy high and my baby happy. I also had regular checkups with an Ayurvedic doctor who helped keep me super healthy and strong. Basically I spent 9 months living and eating well, preparing my body and soul for what was to come.
Towards the end of my pregnancy, my acupuncturist told me she thought I was a model of perfect pregnancy health! Gold star for me! So when my delivery day was near I felt totally prepared both physically and mentally. Ziggy must have been ready too, because he came a day early!
On Sunday 10th November 2013, a day before I was due, I woke early in the morning to a big red moon sitting low in the sky. Jas was awake too with Jimi Hendrix’ Voodoo Child’ rolling through his mind - ‘well the night I was born, lord I swear the moon turned a fiery red’.
A while later, about 8am, I was sitting in meditation when I felt my first contraction- just like a burst of energy rushing through me. Without ever having experienced it before I wasn’t 100% sure this was ‘it’, until they kept coming. We thought we would meet our little human by that evening, but we were in for a surprise!
Jas made me some delish scrambled eggs and called the midwives, Erin & Lianne to let them know it was happening and also asked Marta, my cranio therapist/doula for assistance. We put on some music and I spiralled my way around the room from couch to fit ball and back again working through the increasingly frequent contractions. By the time Marta arrived, I had found myself a good spot under the shower in the outdoor bathroom. My contractions were getting really strong and the hot water on my back helped to relieve some of the pressure.
I remember after a particularly strong contraction, I reached out to Kali, Ganesh, Shiva, Buddha and the Mother Goddess to give me strength. After asking for divine intervention I remember looking at the sun through closed eyes and felt a colourful wave of orange, red and yellow energy wash over me. While the contractions didn’t ease, I felt empowered and confident and allowed me to completely surrender and let my body do what it was made to do. While Marta was in the bathroom working on me, Jas was busy filling the birth tub and feeding me frozen chunks of watermelon ( delicious like cold, sweet hydrating candy! I highly recommend!) and plenty of coconut water.
A few hours had passed and by this time, my contractions were really strong and felt like there was almost no break in between. I felt like i was ready to get into the tub so Jas called the midwives and gave a progress report. They were just down the road ordering a coffee and were surprised to hear its happening so fast.
I had just got into the tub when they arrived, and i was ready to start pushing. i had no concept of time or what was going on around me - i had gone completely inside myself, focusing on my breath and moving the energy down and out. Jas stayed with me holding my hands, massaging my back and feeding me coconut water silently preparing himself to catch the baby when it was time. After a couple more intense contractions, and only 4 hours after it all started, our little boy was born into this world. He was a “Caul Birth” which means he was still in the embryonic sack when he came out. This is apparently super rare and considered lucky in many cultures. He also had a heart shaped placenta for extra specialness :)
Jas caught him in the pool, and was overwhelmed with emotion- afterwards he said it was the most surreal experience to hold a new little soul in his hands and see him look up from under the water still breathing through the umbilical cord completely unfazed by what had just happened.
Jas and the midwives held him in front of me for a few moments while I took it all in, before placing him in my arms. What a perfect little human. I told him I loved him, the sun was shining and there was a big, beautiful world out there waiting for him. The midwives left the room almost immediately and the 3 of us just basked in the beautiful moment. He was super alert and completely silent apart from the gasping sound when he took his first breath. After about 10 minutes Jas whispered a vedic baby mantra into his ear to let him know he had arrived at the right place.
Eyes bright, completely calm and perfectly wonderful in every way, Ziggy Ru Shankar had come into our lives like a shooting star straight from the heavens and we couldn’t be happier.
In hindsight, I’ve come to realise how important the 9months prior to the birth are. Its such an amazing time to prepare your mind and body for the intensity of birth and with the right amount of preparation I think you could avoid a lot of complications and have a safe, completely natural birth. After all, it is said that childbirth is equivalent to 7 years mediation and that if every woman gave birth naturally we could change the planet for the better in one generation!
Madison’s Birth Story
In my birth plan I wanted a water birth, no drugs, just gas and to just have my partner and my mum in the room.
I was due on the 3rd of September, I was so excited for my due date to finally roll around that I didn’t even think about how I would feel if I went over.. After a week of waiting you could imagine I was quite frustrated, I tried all of the old wives tales (raspberry leaf tea, hot curry, beach walking, sex, star jumps…all of them) but I honestly believe she just came when she was good and ready!
Mild contractions started at about 8pm on Monday night the 8th of September according to my mum who was timing them about 20 mins apart while she was cooking dinner, I didn’t really think much of them as they weren’t that painful so just went the bed that night and hoped for the best, mum didn’t want to leave as she wanted to be there every step of the way but I really just wanted it to be my partner and I through the first part of the labour, at home and relaxed, I love my mum to bits but she has the tendency to stress out and panic which in turn would make me do the same, so I sent her home with the promise I will call when I’m ready for her to come over :) that morning about 2am I woke up with stronger pains, not too strong but enough to wake me up, again I didn’t think much of them and went back to bed.. at 6am both my partner and I woke up and I told him about the pains, they were getting stronger now and we started to time them on his contraction app about 1minute long and 9/10 minutes apart.
Over the next few hours the pains got stronger and stronger, I couldn’t have gotten thru them so well without the help from my partner massaging me thru every one and my housemates amazing heat pack! With every contraction I turned around either on all fours or leant against my drawers and breathed thru them, I was determined to
Have an active labour and keep moving (I’d read somewhere that this can make everything go a lot smoother and less painful) When the pains started to get closer together we decided to call mum and get her over, she was already waiting out the front haha
When the contractions got to about 5 minutes apart and I had a show I decided to call the hospital and they told me to come in, it was about 2pm on Tuesday arvo when we got the the hospital.
They put me into a birthing centre straight away and introduced us to a lovely student nurse, I forget her name now, she did an examination and I was only 3cm dilated!! I was devastated, but she gave me the choice to go home or stay there, so I stayed. Then the midwife came in and told the nurse to perform a stretch and sweep, after that the midwife did an internal and realised I was actually 4/5cm dilated. The pains were getting a lot more intense after a short while and I asked for the gas , it was a godsend!!! I was laughing and could finally get comfortable! That’s when they decided to move us into the birthing suite.. I was having lots of showers throughout the labour which helped a lot and bought me back to reality when I was getting a bit light headed from all the gas.
When I was 7cm we decided I’d get in the spa… As soon as I layed in the water I relaxed immediately! The gravity helped so much and in between the contractions I was almost falling asleep! I stayed in the spa for a few hours and then got the urge to push… The pain was excruciating!! But I couldn’t help it! The midwife told me this was going to happen soon and I was about to become a mum, I was so happy and just kept going, at one stage tho I did almost give up, saying I couldn’t do it anymore and asking for more pain relief, thank god for my amazing midwife to stick to my plan of just gas. After a few hours tho I wasn’t progressing, my midwife made the call to get me out and back on the bed, by this stage I didn’t care I just wanted her out and safe.
They got me on the bed and I was still having the urge to push but she was a few cm’s in the wrong position so just wasn’t going anywhere, all of a sudden I remember there being about 10 doctors and nurses in the room and had someone telling me they needed to put me in stirrups, the next couple of hours were a real blur but basically what happened was they put me on a drip and gave me some drugs to help the contractions come harder and faster as I was getting so tired they had started to die off, I remember pushing and pushing but getting nowhere so they decided to use a suction device, but then after talking amongst themselves went against that and used the forceps instead, I remember seeing them and thinking they were huge and looked so scary but again I didn’t care and just wanted her out. They had to perform an episiotomy to make sure I didn’t tear and after a few pushes, pulls and at the end a few coughs, my baby was out!
They put her straight on my chest and the feeling I got was indescribable. I was still quite shaken up and disorientated but the relief and happiness I was feeling was amazing!
My partner dropped the floor almost on his knees and had tears in his eyes, the love I felt for him seeing him in love with our daughter was beautiful, I’ll never forget that moment.
(After the placenta was delivered they started to clean me up and began stitching, my legs in stirrups still, after about half an hour the doctor stitching me informed me she had accidently made a mistake and stitch to far down and went into my bum so in turn had to unstitch and start again! I was mildly pissed off as u could imagine but said it’s fine and she got on with it , another 20 minutes or so of poking and prodding, but I had my girl in my arms so I didn’t mind.)
I was a little disappointed I couldn’t have my natural water birth but I asked the midwife if I could have done anything different and she said no, there was nothing I could have done, she was just simply in the wrong position and had apparently spun around twice during the whole ordeal! I’m really proud that i went thru the 30+ hour labour with no drugs thou and in the end had a beautiful perfectly healthy 8lb 3oz baby girl!
I want to thank my amazing supportive partner Shaun for being there and helping me the way he did and my beautiful mum whom I couldn’t have done it without. Baby Tigerlily Johnson is the best thing that happened to me.
I was due on the 3rd of September, I was so excited for my due date to finally roll around that I didn’t even think about how I would feel if I went over.. After a week of waiting you could imagine I was quite frustrated, I tried all of the old wives tales (raspberry leaf tea, hot curry, beach walking, sex, star jumps…all of them) but I honestly believe she just came when she was good and ready!
Mild contractions started at about 8pm on Monday night the 8th of September according to my mum who was timing them about 20 mins apart while she was cooking dinner, I didn’t really think much of them as they weren’t that painful so just went the bed that night and hoped for the best, mum didn’t want to leave as she wanted to be there every step of the way but I really just wanted it to be my partner and I through the first part of the labour, at home and relaxed, I love my mum to bits but she has the tendency to stress out and panic which in turn would make me do the same, so I sent her home with the promise I will call when I’m ready for her to come over :) that morning about 2am I woke up with stronger pains, not too strong but enough to wake me up, again I didn’t think much of them and went back to bed.. at 6am both my partner and I woke up and I told him about the pains, they were getting stronger now and we started to time them on his contraction app about 1minute long and 9/10 minutes apart.
Over the next few hours the pains got stronger and stronger, I couldn’t have gotten thru them so well without the help from my partner massaging me thru every one and my housemates amazing heat pack! With every contraction I turned around either on all fours or leant against my drawers and breathed thru them, I was determined to
Have an active labour and keep moving (I’d read somewhere that this can make everything go a lot smoother and less painful) When the pains started to get closer together we decided to call mum and get her over, she was already waiting out the front haha
When the contractions got to about 5 minutes apart and I had a show I decided to call the hospital and they told me to come in, it was about 2pm on Tuesday arvo when we got the the hospital.
They put me into a birthing centre straight away and introduced us to a lovely student nurse, I forget her name now, she did an examination and I was only 3cm dilated!! I was devastated, but she gave me the choice to go home or stay there, so I stayed. Then the midwife came in and told the nurse to perform a stretch and sweep, after that the midwife did an internal and realised I was actually 4/5cm dilated. The pains were getting a lot more intense after a short while and I asked for the gas , it was a godsend!!! I was laughing and could finally get comfortable! That’s when they decided to move us into the birthing suite.. I was having lots of showers throughout the labour which helped a lot and bought me back to reality when I was getting a bit light headed from all the gas.
When I was 7cm we decided I’d get in the spa… As soon as I layed in the water I relaxed immediately! The gravity helped so much and in between the contractions I was almost falling asleep! I stayed in the spa for a few hours and then got the urge to push… The pain was excruciating!! But I couldn’t help it! The midwife told me this was going to happen soon and I was about to become a mum, I was so happy and just kept going, at one stage tho I did almost give up, saying I couldn’t do it anymore and asking for more pain relief, thank god for my amazing midwife to stick to my plan of just gas. After a few hours tho I wasn’t progressing, my midwife made the call to get me out and back on the bed, by this stage I didn’t care I just wanted her out and safe.
They got me on the bed and I was still having the urge to push but she was a few cm’s in the wrong position so just wasn’t going anywhere, all of a sudden I remember there being about 10 doctors and nurses in the room and had someone telling me they needed to put me in stirrups, the next couple of hours were a real blur but basically what happened was they put me on a drip and gave me some drugs to help the contractions come harder and faster as I was getting so tired they had started to die off, I remember pushing and pushing but getting nowhere so they decided to use a suction device, but then after talking amongst themselves went against that and used the forceps instead, I remember seeing them and thinking they were huge and looked so scary but again I didn’t care and just wanted her out. They had to perform an episiotomy to make sure I didn’t tear and after a few pushes, pulls and at the end a few coughs, my baby was out!
They put her straight on my chest and the feeling I got was indescribable. I was still quite shaken up and disorientated but the relief and happiness I was feeling was amazing!
My partner dropped the floor almost on his knees and had tears in his eyes, the love I felt for him seeing him in love with our daughter was beautiful, I’ll never forget that moment.
(After the placenta was delivered they started to clean me up and began stitching, my legs in stirrups still, after about half an hour the doctor stitching me informed me she had accidently made a mistake and stitch to far down and went into my bum so in turn had to unstitch and start again! I was mildly pissed off as u could imagine but said it’s fine and she got on with it , another 20 minutes or so of poking and prodding, but I had my girl in my arms so I didn’t mind.)
I was a little disappointed I couldn’t have my natural water birth but I asked the midwife if I could have done anything different and she said no, there was nothing I could have done, she was just simply in the wrong position and had apparently spun around twice during the whole ordeal! I’m really proud that i went thru the 30+ hour labour with no drugs thou and in the end had a beautiful perfectly healthy 8lb 3oz baby girl!
I want to thank my amazing supportive partner Shaun for being there and helping me the way he did and my beautiful mum whom I couldn’t have done it without. Baby Tigerlily Johnson is the best thing that happened to me.
Jamie’s Birth Story
I planned to have a natural birth (pushing him out) with no drugs. I wanted my sister who was my beautiful doula , my partner and mum in the room.
I was ‘due’ to have him on the 13th of August, I was hoping that he would come a bit early because me and dyl were to excited to see him.. A day before my due date came and I was hoping that something.. anything! would happen but of course nothing did which didn’t surprise me because it not common to have your baby on it’s due date.
So the due date passed and me and my sister started trying everything.. we did intense dancing in my mums living room to aerobics, we also went driving over speed bumps and bouncing so hard on our chairs… we went brushing walking up and down hills with the family, hoping something would happen and to get baby nice and low. I told my sister to get the caster oil out, but she explained that it will happen in good time, as she was 2 weeks over.
Sunday night came (5 days over now) and me and dyl went to bed, I got up at around 2:00-2:30am to pee, and start feeling little tiny pains.. I didn’t think much of it as I thought to my self it’s probably nothing, but worry head me thought in hope that this could be the start of labour. I thought I would message my sister, so I did and too my luck she was up with her daughter and told me to monitor them, but try get sleep because if it is something it will be early still . But I was wide awake so I thought to put on a movie, I thought of waking dyl up but my sister said there was no point as it was still very early.. as this would only get Dylan excited and anxious for when his baby will be coming. She then said that she will be over at 7.00am and to just relax..
At 7:00am me and dyl were up and I explained was what going on. He didn’t understand why I didn’t wake him up I told him that there was no point because it was early days.. My sister got to ours and I got out the ball, dyl went off to work and we put on a movie and tried to rest.. the pain got a little bit more intense and then my mum rocked up.. We were all just chilling around the house and bouncing on the ball with the heat pack, 10:00am came and they started to get more heavy so mum called Dylan to come home while she was doing that I hoped in the shower, once I got over the shower I hoped out and they started getting more heavy.. Dylan helped me through the contractions and held me and telling me to ‘blow the pain away’.. a couple hours went by and I lost my breathing control and I started to cry.. Dylan and my sister where encouraging me that everything is fine and to keep going.. the pain got really bad and I wanted to go to the hospital..
Off we went and the midwife examined me, I was only 1-2cm.. it was a slap in the face but we went home to continue what we were doing.. I hopped back into the shower where the pain started to get bad.. I was starting to loose it again but had to stay focused. A couple hours past and I lost control once again, dyl kept telling me to blow the pain away but it hurt and I screamed at them that I’m trying.. I struggled so bad, mum got stressed and said we are going back to hospital, her and dylan jumped in the car and got it started.. but I didn’t think I wanted to go, because I knew that I wanted to labour more at home and my sister went out side and explained that I didn’t wanna go just yet, so mum turned off the car and came back in.. 30mins later I couldn’t handle it any more. I felt a lot of pressure in my vagina and wanted to go to hospital, I think they were surprised to see us again but did another examination.. and I was only 3-4cm. I was devastated, they decided to keep me in as they seen I was in pain, so we got moved to a room and they did all the checks and asked if I wanted anything..
I just wanted to hop in the shower, so me and dyl jumped in the shower and stayed in there for a bit, till Dylans hands got so wrinkly and his new tattoo started to peel oops. Once we hopped out I thought I would try the gas.. I thought it was shit… it made me really sick.. my contractions got worse and they asked if I wanted pain relief but I didn’t want it and I was certain that I didn’t! 30 mins later and it was only getting worse so they asked me again! my mum was also asking me if I wanted it I started to cry and said no. My dad walked into the room and I was pleased to see him the midwife explained that it was gonna be a long time and that I should consider it, so my doula said if I’m in that much pain to have it but lets try walking first..after a long 17hours I lost control and couldn’t handle it anymore so I decided to get it, i was so tired and once they got it already I was second guessing the epidural . I wish the midwifes where more supportive towards me especially in my most venerable time. It took the Dr about 10 mins the get the needle into my back, Dylan was holding me but then his back started to hurt so my sister took over„, once it was in my back the pain went away and it was time to rest everyone left the room so I could ‘sleep’ I had the best midwife and she was so nice, she told me that I should get some rest so I tried. and tried… and tired.. I kept speaking to the midwife and couldn’t sleep, Dylan, my sis, dad and mum came back in and they started to laugh to know that I was still awake. I had a cathida and I wasn’t aloud the get up and walk.
It was now the 19th of August and had been in labour for 28 hours now, my waters had been leaking also which they only realised now! They tried to break the waters but there was nothing there so think they where concerned of infection because after 24 hours hospital policy of the waters being gone they like to deliver baby. My doctor came in and explained that it had been awhile and I was only 9cm dilated and had been for 3 hours now. So he said that I have to go for a c section… I balled my eyes out and my sister wasn’t happy we both said can you please give us more time because the baby wasn’t stressed and I was doing fine, he said that I basically have a hour to push this baby out because that’s how long it look to set up the theatre . That hour came by pretty fast, and my dr walked back through those doors I balled my eyes out again. Dylan went in and got into his little out fit on and they took me to go the theatre, I could hardly keep my eyes open I was very very tired, each time I opened my eyes there would be a new person in my face.
Once we got in there everyone was so nice and I was glad to see Dylan, everything went underway and everyone got there serious faces on . I couldn’t feel any pain but I did feel tugging and pulling on my belly, it took them longer to get him out then what it did to staple me back up, once they got bub out I heard him cry for the first time and it didn’t seem real. He was so beautiful already and I couldn’t help but cry of excitement, I looked and Dylan and he had tears in his eyes, Dyl went and cut the cord and then he got put on my chest, I couldn’t grab him because of the needles in my arm but I was happy to have him on me, I was kissing and telling him how much I love him and that everything is going to be okay, he got taken away and I got moved to a different bed we went into the recovery room and I put him onto my boob and he latched on straight away the little piggy, my Dr came back in not by himself but found my mum so she got a quick visit before going to my room!
Baby Ryder Michael 9.1 pounds was here and I thanked my Dr so much for everything that he had done! I was upset that I didn’t get the birth I wanted but happy me and Ryder were safe and sound. I got taken back to my room where I spent the next three-four days and had lots of wonderful visitors. i wouldn’t be more proud of our little man and very thankful for Dylan to be by my side thought out it all!
I was ‘due’ to have him on the 13th of August, I was hoping that he would come a bit early because me and dyl were to excited to see him.. A day before my due date came and I was hoping that something.. anything! would happen but of course nothing did which didn’t surprise me because it not common to have your baby on it’s due date.
So the due date passed and me and my sister started trying everything.. we did intense dancing in my mums living room to aerobics, we also went driving over speed bumps and bouncing so hard on our chairs… we went brushing walking up and down hills with the family, hoping something would happen and to get baby nice and low. I told my sister to get the caster oil out, but she explained that it will happen in good time, as she was 2 weeks over.
Sunday night came (5 days over now) and me and dyl went to bed, I got up at around 2:00-2:30am to pee, and start feeling little tiny pains.. I didn’t think much of it as I thought to my self it’s probably nothing, but worry head me thought in hope that this could be the start of labour. I thought I would message my sister, so I did and too my luck she was up with her daughter and told me to monitor them, but try get sleep because if it is something it will be early still . But I was wide awake so I thought to put on a movie, I thought of waking dyl up but my sister said there was no point as it was still very early.. as this would only get Dylan excited and anxious for when his baby will be coming. She then said that she will be over at 7.00am and to just relax..
At 7:00am me and dyl were up and I explained was what going on. He didn’t understand why I didn’t wake him up I told him that there was no point because it was early days.. My sister got to ours and I got out the ball, dyl went off to work and we put on a movie and tried to rest.. the pain got a little bit more intense and then my mum rocked up.. We were all just chilling around the house and bouncing on the ball with the heat pack, 10:00am came and they started to get more heavy so mum called Dylan to come home while she was doing that I hoped in the shower, once I got over the shower I hoped out and they started getting more heavy.. Dylan helped me through the contractions and held me and telling me to ‘blow the pain away’.. a couple hours went by and I lost my breathing control and I started to cry.. Dylan and my sister where encouraging me that everything is fine and to keep going.. the pain got really bad and I wanted to go to the hospital..
Off we went and the midwife examined me, I was only 1-2cm.. it was a slap in the face but we went home to continue what we were doing.. I hopped back into the shower where the pain started to get bad.. I was starting to loose it again but had to stay focused. A couple hours past and I lost control once again, dyl kept telling me to blow the pain away but it hurt and I screamed at them that I’m trying.. I struggled so bad, mum got stressed and said we are going back to hospital, her and dylan jumped in the car and got it started.. but I didn’t think I wanted to go, because I knew that I wanted to labour more at home and my sister went out side and explained that I didn’t wanna go just yet, so mum turned off the car and came back in.. 30mins later I couldn’t handle it any more. I felt a lot of pressure in my vagina and wanted to go to hospital, I think they were surprised to see us again but did another examination.. and I was only 3-4cm. I was devastated, they decided to keep me in as they seen I was in pain, so we got moved to a room and they did all the checks and asked if I wanted anything..
I just wanted to hop in the shower, so me and dyl jumped in the shower and stayed in there for a bit, till Dylans hands got so wrinkly and his new tattoo started to peel oops. Once we hopped out I thought I would try the gas.. I thought it was shit… it made me really sick.. my contractions got worse and they asked if I wanted pain relief but I didn’t want it and I was certain that I didn’t! 30 mins later and it was only getting worse so they asked me again! my mum was also asking me if I wanted it I started to cry and said no. My dad walked into the room and I was pleased to see him the midwife explained that it was gonna be a long time and that I should consider it, so my doula said if I’m in that much pain to have it but lets try walking first..after a long 17hours I lost control and couldn’t handle it anymore so I decided to get it, i was so tired and once they got it already I was second guessing the epidural . I wish the midwifes where more supportive towards me especially in my most venerable time. It took the Dr about 10 mins the get the needle into my back, Dylan was holding me but then his back started to hurt so my sister took over„, once it was in my back the pain went away and it was time to rest everyone left the room so I could ‘sleep’ I had the best midwife and she was so nice, she told me that I should get some rest so I tried. and tried… and tired.. I kept speaking to the midwife and couldn’t sleep, Dylan, my sis, dad and mum came back in and they started to laugh to know that I was still awake. I had a cathida and I wasn’t aloud the get up and walk.
It was now the 19th of August and had been in labour for 28 hours now, my waters had been leaking also which they only realised now! They tried to break the waters but there was nothing there so think they where concerned of infection because after 24 hours hospital policy of the waters being gone they like to deliver baby. My doctor came in and explained that it had been awhile and I was only 9cm dilated and had been for 3 hours now. So he said that I have to go for a c section… I balled my eyes out and my sister wasn’t happy we both said can you please give us more time because the baby wasn’t stressed and I was doing fine, he said that I basically have a hour to push this baby out because that’s how long it look to set up the theatre . That hour came by pretty fast, and my dr walked back through those doors I balled my eyes out again. Dylan went in and got into his little out fit on and they took me to go the theatre, I could hardly keep my eyes open I was very very tired, each time I opened my eyes there would be a new person in my face.
Once we got in there everyone was so nice and I was glad to see Dylan, everything went underway and everyone got there serious faces on . I couldn’t feel any pain but I did feel tugging and pulling on my belly, it took them longer to get him out then what it did to staple me back up, once they got bub out I heard him cry for the first time and it didn’t seem real. He was so beautiful already and I couldn’t help but cry of excitement, I looked and Dylan and he had tears in his eyes, Dyl went and cut the cord and then he got put on my chest, I couldn’t grab him because of the needles in my arm but I was happy to have him on me, I was kissing and telling him how much I love him and that everything is going to be okay, he got taken away and I got moved to a different bed we went into the recovery room and I put him onto my boob and he latched on straight away the little piggy, my Dr came back in not by himself but found my mum so she got a quick visit before going to my room!
Baby Ryder Michael 9.1 pounds was here and I thanked my Dr so much for everything that he had done! I was upset that I didn’t get the birth I wanted but happy me and Ryder were safe and sound. I got taken back to my room where I spent the next three-four days and had lots of wonderful visitors. i wouldn’t be more proud of our little man and very thankful for Dylan to be by my side thought out it all!
First Daddy Story by Shaun!
These are my thoughts and feelings on the day my beautiful baby girl Tigerlily blessed us with her presence.
She was due on the 3rd of September and for a long time part of me thought that because we had such a Cruisey, dare I say it, perfect pregnancy that she would be true to her form and come on that same day, so when she didn’t I just said I was certain that this was natures way of preparing me for times ahead. By which I mean that with any baby, there are no certainties and no such thing as routine, now I’m seeing this in action for sure.
After the due date passed, Madi and I tried all the ‘tips’ we had been given by every man and his dog along the way.. Beach walks, spicy food, sex (a couple of times just for good measure) , raspberry leaf tea and so on. Then realised that nature is nature and she’d come when she was ready, I even drew an eviction notice on her belly and a few stern talks to try move her along.
I went to work on the Monday and couldn’t stop thinking about my girls and needed to be close to them so I left after a few hours, that night our parents were over and whilst cooking us dinner Madi’s mum noticed she was having pains, not intense pain but definite regular pains and her mum started panicking which did irritate me a bit as she was insisting on staying the night which I didn’t think was necessary as I wanted to enjoy this time with just myself and Madi, so we sent them home for the night.
I woke up at 6am and Madi was awake and told me she had been getting regular pains since 2am, from then on I went into almost a trance state of calmness and solely focused on timing and making her comfortable during contractions, this was a very strange feeling as all I cared about was the timing and not fucking that up. After weeks of persisting to let me go buy her a heat pack she finally asked me to get her one, which turns out our housemate tori had one all along, I knew this would help and as soon as I heated it up and placed it on her lower back she said ‘OH MY GOD WHY DIDNT YOU GET ME THIS WEEKS AGO’ we laughed at this quite a lot.
The next few hours went really fast and after she’d had a show we called the hospital and made the drive with both our parents.
The staff at the hospital were all amazing, we had kylie a student nurse that was with us for the first few hours, it was about 4 o’clock she done her first internal exam and stated she was only 2-3cm dilated and I was heartbroken for Madi, seeing the woman you love in pain is hard no matter what the situation and i am in complete awe of her as a human. We got into our rhythm again as our mums sat quietly and let us do our thing which was great knowing we had them there. My mum left us to it around 8oclock when they performed the next internal, which happened after a stretch and sweep, a shower and a lot more contractions. It was around this time that the almighty heat pack that had been our saviour caught fire in the microwave and stunk out the whole birth suite and labour ward like popcorn, even my mum in the waiting room at the other end of the hospital could smell it!
At 8 o’clock our midwife Laura arrived and performed another internal and at first said she was only 3-4cm at first then said it actually felt more like 5. It was then that I asked what next and they said try again at 12 o’clock… Judge me all you like but at this time I went home to re-group and knowing Madi had her mum with her I was fine, we live 5 minutes from the hospital, so I drove home and smoked a joint, it helped me relax a lot then I got the message that Madi had discovered the gas and that the edge was taken right off the pain, this relaxed me even more.
When I got back she was in the shower and I got in with her, naked as well - something I found out was frowned upon when the midwife walked in, whoops! So I promptly dressed and then Madi got in the bath & seeing her almost asleep during contractions was great as it gave me time to prepare for the really hard part, not that I knew it at the time, but I know the self talk in my head that happened during this time done me wonders.
After a few hours in the bath Lara felt for the baby’s head and she said she was close, that’s when Madi nearly yanked me Into the bath grabbing my hand and I felt my baby’s head, it was amazing. I asked if we could see what colour hair she had as it was a well debated issue the precious 9 months (10 months technically) I was quickly told, no we couldn’t)
Not long after 1oclock Lara decided to change tactics and get her on the bed, even tho we wanted a water birth there was no hesitation in doing so. It was when she was on all fours on the bed that with only a finger they broke her waters, I saw my baby’s heart rate drop and my heart sank for all of 5 seconds then it went back to normal and they were sweet again.
At this stage I was massaging her stomach thru the contractions and could feel her whole body pushing this baby out, it was the most incredible feeling and knowing when they were stopping was also a relief for me as Madi wasn’t in pain.
The number of nurses and doctors suddenly skyrocketed and they told me they were getting forceps to which I replied ‘yay!, so they are getting her out?’ I was worried they might make her have a caesarean. Then I saw the forceps , they looked like two cold medieval daggers/spoon things. Madi had her legs in the stirrups and the nurse told me we could see her head so I looked and saw her black hair, which I relayed to Madi, she didnt notice, I don’t blame her!
The next few minutes were a blur as I had Madi holding me and pushing so hard on my right and then a nurse, well two nurses pulling on the forceps on my right, literally with her foot on the bed and another nurse pulling her as well, her head came out and I asked if she was ok, they said yes , just a few more contractions and that was it. It was only one more and a couple of coughs , after they cut Madi with the scissors mind you, that my baby girl was out, I dropped to my knees and cried. Relief doesn’t describe the feeling but when I rose I cut the cord and then looked at my amazing family. I was a changed man and feel like the luckiest man Alive for having such an amazing strong woman as the mother of my child. Tigerlily was on madi’s chest facing away from me and I was talking, she honestly turned and looked me dead in the eye for what seemed like eternity, that very second I became a feminist.!!!!
After a few minutes staring at both my girls I held her and told her I was her dad and I was amazed how alert she was and the fact she recognised my voice, all that talking and singing paid off. The love I felt for Madi intensified every day since as well as the love and amazement I have everytime I look at my beautiful girl Tigerlily Johnson.
She was due on the 3rd of September and for a long time part of me thought that because we had such a Cruisey, dare I say it, perfect pregnancy that she would be true to her form and come on that same day, so when she didn’t I just said I was certain that this was natures way of preparing me for times ahead. By which I mean that with any baby, there are no certainties and no such thing as routine, now I’m seeing this in action for sure.
After the due date passed, Madi and I tried all the ‘tips’ we had been given by every man and his dog along the way.. Beach walks, spicy food, sex (a couple of times just for good measure) , raspberry leaf tea and so on. Then realised that nature is nature and she’d come when she was ready, I even drew an eviction notice on her belly and a few stern talks to try move her along.
I went to work on the Monday and couldn’t stop thinking about my girls and needed to be close to them so I left after a few hours, that night our parents were over and whilst cooking us dinner Madi’s mum noticed she was having pains, not intense pain but definite regular pains and her mum started panicking which did irritate me a bit as she was insisting on staying the night which I didn’t think was necessary as I wanted to enjoy this time with just myself and Madi, so we sent them home for the night.
I woke up at 6am and Madi was awake and told me she had been getting regular pains since 2am, from then on I went into almost a trance state of calmness and solely focused on timing and making her comfortable during contractions, this was a very strange feeling as all I cared about was the timing and not fucking that up. After weeks of persisting to let me go buy her a heat pack she finally asked me to get her one, which turns out our housemate tori had one all along, I knew this would help and as soon as I heated it up and placed it on her lower back she said ‘OH MY GOD WHY DIDNT YOU GET ME THIS WEEKS AGO’ we laughed at this quite a lot.
The next few hours went really fast and after she’d had a show we called the hospital and made the drive with both our parents.
The staff at the hospital were all amazing, we had kylie a student nurse that was with us for the first few hours, it was about 4 o’clock she done her first internal exam and stated she was only 2-3cm dilated and I was heartbroken for Madi, seeing the woman you love in pain is hard no matter what the situation and i am in complete awe of her as a human. We got into our rhythm again as our mums sat quietly and let us do our thing which was great knowing we had them there. My mum left us to it around 8oclock when they performed the next internal, which happened after a stretch and sweep, a shower and a lot more contractions. It was around this time that the almighty heat pack that had been our saviour caught fire in the microwave and stunk out the whole birth suite and labour ward like popcorn, even my mum in the waiting room at the other end of the hospital could smell it!
At 8 o’clock our midwife Laura arrived and performed another internal and at first said she was only 3-4cm at first then said it actually felt more like 5. It was then that I asked what next and they said try again at 12 o’clock… Judge me all you like but at this time I went home to re-group and knowing Madi had her mum with her I was fine, we live 5 minutes from the hospital, so I drove home and smoked a joint, it helped me relax a lot then I got the message that Madi had discovered the gas and that the edge was taken right off the pain, this relaxed me even more.
When I got back she was in the shower and I got in with her, naked as well - something I found out was frowned upon when the midwife walked in, whoops! So I promptly dressed and then Madi got in the bath & seeing her almost asleep during contractions was great as it gave me time to prepare for the really hard part, not that I knew it at the time, but I know the self talk in my head that happened during this time done me wonders.
After a few hours in the bath Lara felt for the baby’s head and she said she was close, that’s when Madi nearly yanked me Into the bath grabbing my hand and I felt my baby’s head, it was amazing. I asked if we could see what colour hair she had as it was a well debated issue the precious 9 months (10 months technically) I was quickly told, no we couldn’t)
Not long after 1oclock Lara decided to change tactics and get her on the bed, even tho we wanted a water birth there was no hesitation in doing so. It was when she was on all fours on the bed that with only a finger they broke her waters, I saw my baby’s heart rate drop and my heart sank for all of 5 seconds then it went back to normal and they were sweet again.
At this stage I was massaging her stomach thru the contractions and could feel her whole body pushing this baby out, it was the most incredible feeling and knowing when they were stopping was also a relief for me as Madi wasn’t in pain.
The number of nurses and doctors suddenly skyrocketed and they told me they were getting forceps to which I replied ‘yay!, so they are getting her out?’ I was worried they might make her have a caesarean. Then I saw the forceps , they looked like two cold medieval daggers/spoon things. Madi had her legs in the stirrups and the nurse told me we could see her head so I looked and saw her black hair, which I relayed to Madi, she didnt notice, I don’t blame her!
The next few minutes were a blur as I had Madi holding me and pushing so hard on my right and then a nurse, well two nurses pulling on the forceps on my right, literally with her foot on the bed and another nurse pulling her as well, her head came out and I asked if she was ok, they said yes , just a few more contractions and that was it. It was only one more and a couple of coughs , after they cut Madi with the scissors mind you, that my baby girl was out, I dropped to my knees and cried. Relief doesn’t describe the feeling but when I rose I cut the cord and then looked at my amazing family. I was a changed man and feel like the luckiest man Alive for having such an amazing strong woman as the mother of my child. Tigerlily was on madi’s chest facing away from me and I was talking, she honestly turned and looked me dead in the eye for what seemed like eternity, that very second I became a feminist.!!!!
After a few minutes staring at both my girls I held her and told her I was her dad and I was amazed how alert she was and the fact she recognised my voice, all that talking and singing paid off. The love I felt for Madi intensified every day since as well as the love and amazement I have everytime I look at my beautiful girl Tigerlily Johnson.
Michelle’s Birth Story
This is my first baby so wasn’t sure what to expect. I work in childcare and all my friends have babies so I was always interested in hearing their stories and their experiences. I became addicted to One born every minute too.
Living so far away from home it was just me and my hubby in the whole process. Im always sharing everything with my mum and sister via Facebook messenger.
My due date was the 8th November and on Wednesday 5th Nov I woke up to make a coffee, as I was waiting I began to leak. I went to the toilet and it was all clear. Unsure I didn’t do anything though and I waited to see if there is anymore. It continued and I began having little twingers across my lower stomach. I called the hospital (Kaleeya Hospital) and explained the leak they asked me to come in to check if it was amniotic fluid. I went straight down, they then put me on the monitor and I was having little contractions. The fluid was my back waters (hind waters) that was leaking. The said everything was fine and sent me home.
During the day on Wednesday my contractions became stronger but bearable. I went to the hospital on Thursday at 11am. I was checked and was only 2 cm dilated. They sent me home again. I spent the next day and night monitoring my contractions on my phone which were irregular. Coming and going every 4-8mins and lasting 1min each. The hospital had said I need to be having 3-4 contractions in every 10 mins. As the night went on I was struggling. I filled up the bath and sat in it several times. It helped ease the contractions and I was able to get back into bed and get some sleep. Friday morning at 4am I had a feeling I was around 5cm so we went to the hospital.
I was so disappointed to hear I was still only 2cm!!! They sent me home AGAIN.
By 8am on Saturday 8th my contractions had changed. Very strong and close together, they would take my breath away. I went to the hospital and was 5cm…yeah!
I was put into a room were I stayed all day. As the day went on I became tired and had a sleep. This slowed down my contractions by laying down. The midwife brought me in a ball and asked me to keep moving around to get baby nice and low.
As my baby was laying back to back this became uncomfortable to sit on the ball I was very comfy standing. So I stood through each contraction. I had several showers during the day mainly holding the shower head on my back. I asked for a heat pack too but this made my body temp go up and I hate being hot.
It was now 7pm and I began to think about pain relief. I stared on a low dose of gas and air. This took the edge off and made me focus on my breathing and not the contractions.
The midwife was concerned that I wasn’t progressing. I was put on a drip and had my membranes broken (waters) to try speed things up. This seemed to be working…. I felt the urge to push at about 8:30pm. This is a strange feeling as its all the pressure in your bottom and feeling you can’t stop or avoid it, It just happens. I was told to push only when I had a contraction. I placed one leg on the bed and the other on the floor. My husband rubbed my back at every contraction. I pushed for 3 hours. Changing positions on the bed to try get a better down force to help the baby come out. As they had broken my waters I was hooked to the monitor. The baby was very happy all the way through. During the labour thou the baby had done a poo so that was leaking with each contraction, which wasn’t pleasant. Due to this happening the baby had swallowed the meconium while I was in labour so the next 12 hours after birth our little one kept being sick and it was all brown and yucky.
After 3 hours I said to my hubby I can’t do this anymore. The midwifes could see the babies head but I needed to push and hold the contraction for longer to get the head to come round the corner. This wasn’t happening as I was losing my breath to keep going.
They called in the doctor to assist. By this point I was having 5 contractions every 10 mins and constantly needing to push. The doctor came in and said he was going to help get the baby out by using the vacum. He began to explain the effects. I pushed until 11pm and I had ran out of energy and was so exhausted.
The baby was coming down but not enough for the head to come out. Each push brought baby closer and they could see the tip of the head. All baby’s hair would be visible but then I would run out of contractions to be able to give it another push. I was giving up but knew I couldn’t as there was no other option but to push.
I was so scared thinking what’s going to happen am I going to have an emergency Caesarian! I defiantly couldn’t do that with the contractions.
He came in and said he was going to use the vacuum to help the baby come down. Several midwifes joined in. I felt like there was a problem with the baby. All i did was sit and listen to the doctor’s instructions while I was having contractions. I was then numbed with local anaesthetic down below. They quickly placed the vacuum in after a super quick extraction of the babies head. On my next contraction I pushed and the doctor pulled which then the head came out. Then it was push…don’t push..pant..little push…pant..big push.
The body came out.
We had a BOY. He was placed on me immediately and his cord was cut then he went over to the midwifes for a check. He was given back to me for the next few hours where we just laid and chilled.
I required stitches as I had a tear when the shoulders came out..2nd degree. The doctor explained the babies cord was wrapped around his neck so everytime I pushed down it tightened so he pulled himself back in. It was like I was fighting the whole 3 hours I was pushing.
During the pushing process my face became very swollen with the force of each contraction.
I was kept on a drip for the next 3 hours as I had some blood loss and they kept the drip in to make sure all my placenta had come away.
I would have another baby again. The ladies was fab who helped and everything was worth it.
We are happy to be blessed with a beautiful baby boy….Kai Bailey Cook 8 pound 10.
Living so far away from home it was just me and my hubby in the whole process. Im always sharing everything with my mum and sister via Facebook messenger.
My due date was the 8th November and on Wednesday 5th Nov I woke up to make a coffee, as I was waiting I began to leak. I went to the toilet and it was all clear. Unsure I didn’t do anything though and I waited to see if there is anymore. It continued and I began having little twingers across my lower stomach. I called the hospital (Kaleeya Hospital) and explained the leak they asked me to come in to check if it was amniotic fluid. I went straight down, they then put me on the monitor and I was having little contractions. The fluid was my back waters (hind waters) that was leaking. The said everything was fine and sent me home.
During the day on Wednesday my contractions became stronger but bearable. I went to the hospital on Thursday at 11am. I was checked and was only 2 cm dilated. They sent me home again. I spent the next day and night monitoring my contractions on my phone which were irregular. Coming and going every 4-8mins and lasting 1min each. The hospital had said I need to be having 3-4 contractions in every 10 mins. As the night went on I was struggling. I filled up the bath and sat in it several times. It helped ease the contractions and I was able to get back into bed and get some sleep. Friday morning at 4am I had a feeling I was around 5cm so we went to the hospital.
I was so disappointed to hear I was still only 2cm!!! They sent me home AGAIN.
By 8am on Saturday 8th my contractions had changed. Very strong and close together, they would take my breath away. I went to the hospital and was 5cm…yeah!
I was put into a room were I stayed all day. As the day went on I became tired and had a sleep. This slowed down my contractions by laying down. The midwife brought me in a ball and asked me to keep moving around to get baby nice and low.
As my baby was laying back to back this became uncomfortable to sit on the ball I was very comfy standing. So I stood through each contraction. I had several showers during the day mainly holding the shower head on my back. I asked for a heat pack too but this made my body temp go up and I hate being hot.
It was now 7pm and I began to think about pain relief. I stared on a low dose of gas and air. This took the edge off and made me focus on my breathing and not the contractions.
The midwife was concerned that I wasn’t progressing. I was put on a drip and had my membranes broken (waters) to try speed things up. This seemed to be working…. I felt the urge to push at about 8:30pm. This is a strange feeling as its all the pressure in your bottom and feeling you can’t stop or avoid it, It just happens. I was told to push only when I had a contraction. I placed one leg on the bed and the other on the floor. My husband rubbed my back at every contraction. I pushed for 3 hours. Changing positions on the bed to try get a better down force to help the baby come out. As they had broken my waters I was hooked to the monitor. The baby was very happy all the way through. During the labour thou the baby had done a poo so that was leaking with each contraction, which wasn’t pleasant. Due to this happening the baby had swallowed the meconium while I was in labour so the next 12 hours after birth our little one kept being sick and it was all brown and yucky.
After 3 hours I said to my hubby I can’t do this anymore. The midwifes could see the babies head but I needed to push and hold the contraction for longer to get the head to come round the corner. This wasn’t happening as I was losing my breath to keep going.
They called in the doctor to assist. By this point I was having 5 contractions every 10 mins and constantly needing to push. The doctor came in and said he was going to help get the baby out by using the vacum. He began to explain the effects. I pushed until 11pm and I had ran out of energy and was so exhausted.
The baby was coming down but not enough for the head to come out. Each push brought baby closer and they could see the tip of the head. All baby’s hair would be visible but then I would run out of contractions to be able to give it another push. I was giving up but knew I couldn’t as there was no other option but to push.
I was so scared thinking what’s going to happen am I going to have an emergency Caesarian! I defiantly couldn’t do that with the contractions.
He came in and said he was going to use the vacuum to help the baby come down. Several midwifes joined in. I felt like there was a problem with the baby. All i did was sit and listen to the doctor’s instructions while I was having contractions. I was then numbed with local anaesthetic down below. They quickly placed the vacuum in after a super quick extraction of the babies head. On my next contraction I pushed and the doctor pulled which then the head came out. Then it was push…don’t push..pant..little push…pant..big push.
The body came out.
We had a BOY. He was placed on me immediately and his cord was cut then he went over to the midwifes for a check. He was given back to me for the next few hours where we just laid and chilled.
I required stitches as I had a tear when the shoulders came out..2nd degree. The doctor explained the babies cord was wrapped around his neck so everytime I pushed down it tightened so he pulled himself back in. It was like I was fighting the whole 3 hours I was pushing.
During the pushing process my face became very swollen with the force of each contraction.
I was kept on a drip for the next 3 hours as I had some blood loss and they kept the drip in to make sure all my placenta had come away.
I would have another baby again. The ladies was fab who helped and everything was worth it.
We are happy to be blessed with a beautiful baby boy….Kai Bailey Cook 8 pound 10.
Cats Birth Story
I was 40 weeks +12 days when Leo was born. He was a stubborn little thing. I had obviously made a really nice home for him in there so he didn’t want to come out! I had tried every possible natural induction you could imagine in those last weeks. Walking, everywhere, with this giant belly, drowning my sorrows in raffaelo chocolates. Castor oil… TWICE – I would not recommend this! Clary sage oil rubbed on the belly, and burned in the oil burner simultaneously (If I ever have to smell Clary sage oil again I will definitely puke). Acupuncture. Acupressure. Spicy curries (at this stage I had unimaginable reflux and all the curry left me with was a burning oesophagus that forced me to sleep sitting up). Nipple stimulation. Raspberry leaf tea. Nothing seemed to be getting things going.
I was scheduled to have Leo at our local birth centre, but if you go to 42 weeks you have to be transferred to the hospital & induced. I really didn’t want this and the stress of an induction hanging over my head was probably stopping labour from commencing. I tried to relax but it was near impossible, I just kept saying my mantra ‘I will have the perfect baby, with the perfect birth, at the perfect time, with the perfect people’ this, eventually, did come true.
On my 12th day over, my partner Nick & I went to the birth centre to see one of my midwives. She gave me my third stretch & sweep for the week & told me my membranes were ‘bulging’ and to go home and walk up and down the stairs. My student midwife (Sam) who is also one of my oldest & dearest friends, told me to stimulate my nipples for 5 minutes in a 15-minute cycle (nipple stimulation stimulates uterine contractions). So, I went home -stopwatch in hand. I marched up and down the stairs for 5 minutes, bounced on the fitball whilst nipple tweeking for 5 minutes then rested for 5 minutes. Low and behold it worked! Within 40 minutes the contractions were coming on strong and fast, about 3 minutes apart. It was actually happening, we couldn’t believe it. I sat in the shower at home, put on some music and welcomed the pains! After a few hours we decided to head into the birth centre, as things seemed to be moving along quite fast.
Sam met us at the birth centre. I was 5cm dilated when we arrived, so well into active labour. I was pretty relaxed and just remembered all my relaxation techniques. I moved around a lot trying to find what positions were the most comfortable & my midwife started filling up the birth pool for me. It was absolutely heaven getting into the warm tub. As time ticked on the contractions intensified and I really just got into the zone and focussed on one at a time. It’s almost like you leave your body at this stage, you don’t really have any thoughts you just get through each contraction and then when you do, you have this little break where you go to a really beautiful calm place. I felt like I was nearly asleep just hanging like a rag doll on the edge of the pool. It’s hard to describe the contractions at this point, to be honest I can’t really remember, I’m filled in by those that were around me. Hard work was definitely involved (and guttural/primal screams!). These last moments are SO incredibly intense and you really need the support of the people with you. The mental preparation I did and the will power I had certainly paid off at this point. I knew when I was going through ‘transition’ because I suddenly thought I didn’t want to do it anymore and just wanted to go home (haha!), just as soon as that thought entered my head it was time to push the little sucker out. My body actually started pushing without me doing anything! I was so amazed! My midwife quickly examined and I was fully dilated. This was probably the least enjoyable part for me. Little did I know I had been carrying a 10pound baby!! The stretching….WOAH! He came flying out though. Only a few contractions (about 10 mins) and his big head popped out. And this moment I will never forget. The most incredible rush of euphoria, I had never felt so good. It was all worth it for this feeling- A natural high- better than any drug the anaesthetist could give you in the hospital. The Oxytocin was skyrocketing! Out he came with the next contraction. We were all so shocked at the size of this baby! He had the chubbiest cheeks ever! After 7 hours of labour Leo Jasper Terry was born at 11:59pm on the 15/12/12, the best day of my life :)
After giving birth I felt invincible! If I could get through that, I could get through anything!
In the weeks following the birth I was lucky enough to be doted on by Nick and our family members. It’s such an important time for you to recover, rest and spend hour upon hour staring at the amazing creation in front of you- cuddle in bed and do as little as possible. We didn’t really have many visitors in these early weeks, which I think is really important. I had a visiting midwifery service come to my house for the first 5 days. The midwives were all so kind and helpful. I was given a lot of help with breastfeeding, which was invaluable. I had such a wonderful birthing experience and look forward to doing it again one day!
I’ll finish up with a quote that I found recently describing the birth of the mother inside us.
“The most difficult part of birth is the first year afterwards. It is the year of travail - when the soul of a woman must birth the mother inside her. The emotional labor pains of becoming a mother are far greater than the physical pains of birth; these are the growing surges of your heart as it pushes out selfishness and fear and makes room for sacrifice and love. It is a private and silent birth of the soul, but it is no less holy then the event of childbirth, perhaps it is even more sacred.” Joy Kusek LCCE
I was scheduled to have Leo at our local birth centre, but if you go to 42 weeks you have to be transferred to the hospital & induced. I really didn’t want this and the stress of an induction hanging over my head was probably stopping labour from commencing. I tried to relax but it was near impossible, I just kept saying my mantra ‘I will have the perfect baby, with the perfect birth, at the perfect time, with the perfect people’ this, eventually, did come true.
On my 12th day over, my partner Nick & I went to the birth centre to see one of my midwives. She gave me my third stretch & sweep for the week & told me my membranes were ‘bulging’ and to go home and walk up and down the stairs. My student midwife (Sam) who is also one of my oldest & dearest friends, told me to stimulate my nipples for 5 minutes in a 15-minute cycle (nipple stimulation stimulates uterine contractions). So, I went home -stopwatch in hand. I marched up and down the stairs for 5 minutes, bounced on the fitball whilst nipple tweeking for 5 minutes then rested for 5 minutes. Low and behold it worked! Within 40 minutes the contractions were coming on strong and fast, about 3 minutes apart. It was actually happening, we couldn’t believe it. I sat in the shower at home, put on some music and welcomed the pains! After a few hours we decided to head into the birth centre, as things seemed to be moving along quite fast.
Sam met us at the birth centre. I was 5cm dilated when we arrived, so well into active labour. I was pretty relaxed and just remembered all my relaxation techniques. I moved around a lot trying to find what positions were the most comfortable & my midwife started filling up the birth pool for me. It was absolutely heaven getting into the warm tub. As time ticked on the contractions intensified and I really just got into the zone and focussed on one at a time. It’s almost like you leave your body at this stage, you don’t really have any thoughts you just get through each contraction and then when you do, you have this little break where you go to a really beautiful calm place. I felt like I was nearly asleep just hanging like a rag doll on the edge of the pool. It’s hard to describe the contractions at this point, to be honest I can’t really remember, I’m filled in by those that were around me. Hard work was definitely involved (and guttural/primal screams!). These last moments are SO incredibly intense and you really need the support of the people with you. The mental preparation I did and the will power I had certainly paid off at this point. I knew when I was going through ‘transition’ because I suddenly thought I didn’t want to do it anymore and just wanted to go home (haha!), just as soon as that thought entered my head it was time to push the little sucker out. My body actually started pushing without me doing anything! I was so amazed! My midwife quickly examined and I was fully dilated. This was probably the least enjoyable part for me. Little did I know I had been carrying a 10pound baby!! The stretching….WOAH! He came flying out though. Only a few contractions (about 10 mins) and his big head popped out. And this moment I will never forget. The most incredible rush of euphoria, I had never felt so good. It was all worth it for this feeling- A natural high- better than any drug the anaesthetist could give you in the hospital. The Oxytocin was skyrocketing! Out he came with the next contraction. We were all so shocked at the size of this baby! He had the chubbiest cheeks ever! After 7 hours of labour Leo Jasper Terry was born at 11:59pm on the 15/12/12, the best day of my life :)
After giving birth I felt invincible! If I could get through that, I could get through anything!
In the weeks following the birth I was lucky enough to be doted on by Nick and our family members. It’s such an important time for you to recover, rest and spend hour upon hour staring at the amazing creation in front of you- cuddle in bed and do as little as possible. We didn’t really have many visitors in these early weeks, which I think is really important. I had a visiting midwifery service come to my house for the first 5 days. The midwives were all so kind and helpful. I was given a lot of help with breastfeeding, which was invaluable. I had such a wonderful birthing experience and look forward to doing it again one day!
I’ll finish up with a quote that I found recently describing the birth of the mother inside us.
“The most difficult part of birth is the first year afterwards. It is the year of travail - when the soul of a woman must birth the mother inside her. The emotional labor pains of becoming a mother are far greater than the physical pains of birth; these are the growing surges of your heart as it pushes out selfishness and fear and makes room for sacrifice and love. It is a private and silent birth of the soul, but it is no less holy then the event of childbirth, perhaps it is even more sacred.” Joy Kusek LCCE
My Homebirth Story of Iyla Wilde
Our world meant a whole different thing until she came and changed it for the good.
It all began on the evening of October 8th 2012, born early morning at 1.18am , my baby’s due date was 27th of September so she was well overdue and fashionably late. My mum had arrived with my 5 year old sister all the way from Australia so there was a lot of pressure for the baby to come, which in the end i think had a effect on her late arrival. We had been walking non stop for the past week to get her out. Up around Central Park and i had only stopped working 2 weeks before i gave birth, i felt calm and ready for what was about to happen. My mum was starting to get impatient by around the 1 and half week mark over due and she said to me if i was at home i would have been induced with drugs already. But that wasn’t my choice i new she would come in her own time and a due date isn’t accurate anyways. It actually scares me that to think if i were to have a hospital birth my doctor or obgyn would of induced me when there was nothing wrong with the baby or me for that matter. After my due date my midwife monitored me at home every other day and the baby and me where doing fine, so there was no need to rush.
Anyways I met up with my doula the amazing Domino and she suggested i get a massage so i went 3-4 days before birth. I found that woman have 2 pressure points on their ankle the uterus and pelvis, turns out my pelvis was tender and stiff, she massaged away and that evening when i went home my waters started leaking!!!! Yay finally she will be here i thought… nope ha. The hospital rules like baby to be born within 24 hours after waters leak or break with cervix dilation of course. But my midwife didn’t intervene and checked my blood pressure everyday after that and i couldn’t have baths or sex so we kept everything very clean down there. My midwife also didn’t check my cervix once because the risk of infection, when your water has broke. I then tried acupuncture at home which is a totally different experience to induce labour then it is for normal acupuncture session i could only tolerate it for 20 mins and was very fragile after in tears to my boyfriend, it wasn’t for me obviously. I was very emotional after that acupuncture session i felt so on top of the world before that . I think it bought out some emotional things i obviously had been holding onto. I got a good night sleep and felt myself the next morning. My midwife came for a visit that morning and she suggested castor oil, take the minum about to kick start labour , it was getting to 2-3 days that my waters had been leaking now. I took my dose that night and early that morning. Castor oil stimulates your bowels so it does something down there and helps bring on contractions. So that day nothing really happened i had one bowel movement but nothing to serious. I then met up with my doula that afternoon to get out of the house just me and her. We walked to her house and she gave me a homeopathy remedy to jump start labour, i then got to hers and hung out drank tea, bounced on a exercise ball. We then decide to double dose the castor oil to really get contractions started i agreed as i was beyond over getting this baby out i wanted to meet her so bad. i double dosed and bottoms up! 2 hours later i was on the toilet and thats when action was happening. No contractions still thou. I then walked back home around 5pm. Me and my boyfriend decided to watch a Harrison Ford movie in bed, i was booked in to get a scan the next day to see if the fluid and baby where ok in there, We got 10 mins into it and i got the worst tummy pain ever!! i didn’t no if it was a contraction or the castor oil . We waited for another one and sure enough it was contractions!! My midwife was due to come over at 6pm to check up so this was perfect timing to ask her if this is it or not. I had about 3-4 contractions in that amount of time whilst running to the toilet. This was awful by the way if i could choose again i wouldn’t take the double dose castor oil. She listened to a couple of contractions and listened to the baby on the monitor. Everything sounded good and sure enough i was in labour finally!! woohoo. I then started spotting which is a great sign that your cervix is dilating. My midwife went home and was calling every hour or so. They where pretty intense i think the castor oil wasn’t helping either. I dealt with them by breathing. Breathing is the key!! i sent my mum and little sister to a hotel as i wanted it to be really intimate and just me sam and my doula, until i was pushing then we would call them back! The rest is pretty much a blur , my doula was called and this was at 7pm she came and i was in the shower , thats where i spent most of my labour , it was a real life saver. We even had the bouncy ball in there. The running water on my back was heaven.. my doula also pushed my back in all the right spots, she held me tight with each contraction as well as my boyfriend, we where all in a trance. It was so nice having Domino there, as i kept bleeding like a period a bit and she is like yes this is amazing Shanay this mean your cervix is dilating. Was nice to have a girl view and no your not dying this is real , this is happening! Your alive and your body is amazing!! We hugged , we kissed and we had showers together it was so nice! I then vomited which i learnt from birth class this is a very very good sign that you are about to push so this happened, sure enough an hour or 2 later i began pushing. My doula then called my midwife and she was already at the front because she new i was having a fast labour. My midwife didn’t check how much i had dilated once as my waters had gone. This really helped not knowing where i was at in my labour, all that mattered was i was in control with my mind! If i was labouring for 4 hours or so and my midwife was to say i was 4 cm i would of cried!! Its best not knowing.
I honestly felt like i didn’t get one break it was very very intense and had no time to complain or re think what i have got myself into. I just handed birth over to my baby and my body was in control all i had to do was breathe and let my baby do the work. I was thinking about my birth hypnosis i have on my phone ‘i hand my birth over to my body and my baby’ your mind is in control’ this helped me so much!! The tub was finally ready for me to hop into. We set it up in the lounge room and it had to be re filled and filled again which i was not happy about , all i wanted was to be in the tub weightless. By the time i hoped in it was time to push. I didn’t even get time to relax in the tub. But it sure felt good getting in there. I didn’t talk to anyone for about 8 hours thats how long the whole labour lasted, very lucky! Mum and my little sister came back just in time, She was born within 18mins of pushing thanks to her little head, 6.8 pounds at 1.18am. It was the hardest thing iv ever done but most rewarding thing. Seeing her for the first time and to say i did that, i feel like i can do anything now! Thats why i think birth is such an important time in a woman’s life and to trust her body, your body can grow a baby itself and birth itself. All we need to work on is our minds being free and aware of every aspects of birth and to educate yourself about birth so you dont freak out, also to have the right support and care from a midwife.
I was very lucky to have help after baby, when you have a home birth and a doula they come back 1 day after the birth and then 3 days after. So i had a great start to breastfeeding because i had 3 women who knew what they were doing and if i needed help they were there to help me. I am also very passionate about birth and have a whole new respect for the woman’s body. My boyfriend was saying to his friends woman are amazing men are shit! ha ha. There is too many woman going into birth being scared and letting it get the better of them. Woman should talk about it to other woman more with passion and not try scare other woman. This is what i found with my friends and family , they would tell me there awful birth experience and that i must get the epidural!! i couldn’t think anything worse with needles strapped to me not being able to move around, (which saved my life during birth) I understand that some woman need intervention but hey lets leave the hospitals for sick people huh and high risk pregnancies and Emergency Sections and try fill those birth centres and homes with birth and midwives !! A woman needs to be hugged, touched and kissed during birth and be spoken to nicely, i find in the hospitals the lights are bright, nurses asking you are you ready for the epidural, when a woman asks for an epidural it means she needs help!! the people in the room rnt helping her, its their only option out in the hospital. Thats why a doula is a true guardian in birth.
Im happy and blessed to say that the birth went exactly how i expected it too. I in visioned it to be a quiet , intimate, home water birth and thats exactly what i got! I put the energy out there and received it back. Any woman can do this if they go in with the right mind frame.
It all began on the evening of October 8th 2012, born early morning at 1.18am , my baby’s due date was 27th of September so she was well overdue and fashionably late. My mum had arrived with my 5 year old sister all the way from Australia so there was a lot of pressure for the baby to come, which in the end i think had a effect on her late arrival. We had been walking non stop for the past week to get her out. Up around Central Park and i had only stopped working 2 weeks before i gave birth, i felt calm and ready for what was about to happen. My mum was starting to get impatient by around the 1 and half week mark over due and she said to me if i was at home i would have been induced with drugs already. But that wasn’t my choice i new she would come in her own time and a due date isn’t accurate anyways. It actually scares me that to think if i were to have a hospital birth my doctor or obgyn would of induced me when there was nothing wrong with the baby or me for that matter. After my due date my midwife monitored me at home every other day and the baby and me where doing fine, so there was no need to rush.
Anyways I met up with my doula the amazing Domino and she suggested i get a massage so i went 3-4 days before birth. I found that woman have 2 pressure points on their ankle the uterus and pelvis, turns out my pelvis was tender and stiff, she massaged away and that evening when i went home my waters started leaking!!!! Yay finally she will be here i thought… nope ha. The hospital rules like baby to be born within 24 hours after waters leak or break with cervix dilation of course. But my midwife didn’t intervene and checked my blood pressure everyday after that and i couldn’t have baths or sex so we kept everything very clean down there. My midwife also didn’t check my cervix once because the risk of infection, when your water has broke. I then tried acupuncture at home which is a totally different experience to induce labour then it is for normal acupuncture session i could only tolerate it for 20 mins and was very fragile after in tears to my boyfriend, it wasn’t for me obviously. I was very emotional after that acupuncture session i felt so on top of the world before that . I think it bought out some emotional things i obviously had been holding onto. I got a good night sleep and felt myself the next morning. My midwife came for a visit that morning and she suggested castor oil, take the minum about to kick start labour , it was getting to 2-3 days that my waters had been leaking now. I took my dose that night and early that morning. Castor oil stimulates your bowels so it does something down there and helps bring on contractions. So that day nothing really happened i had one bowel movement but nothing to serious. I then met up with my doula that afternoon to get out of the house just me and her. We walked to her house and she gave me a homeopathy remedy to jump start labour, i then got to hers and hung out drank tea, bounced on a exercise ball. We then decide to double dose the castor oil to really get contractions started i agreed as i was beyond over getting this baby out i wanted to meet her so bad. i double dosed and bottoms up! 2 hours later i was on the toilet and thats when action was happening. No contractions still thou. I then walked back home around 5pm. Me and my boyfriend decided to watch a Harrison Ford movie in bed, i was booked in to get a scan the next day to see if the fluid and baby where ok in there, We got 10 mins into it and i got the worst tummy pain ever!! i didn’t no if it was a contraction or the castor oil . We waited for another one and sure enough it was contractions!! My midwife was due to come over at 6pm to check up so this was perfect timing to ask her if this is it or not. I had about 3-4 contractions in that amount of time whilst running to the toilet. This was awful by the way if i could choose again i wouldn’t take the double dose castor oil. She listened to a couple of contractions and listened to the baby on the monitor. Everything sounded good and sure enough i was in labour finally!! woohoo. I then started spotting which is a great sign that your cervix is dilating. My midwife went home and was calling every hour or so. They where pretty intense i think the castor oil wasn’t helping either. I dealt with them by breathing. Breathing is the key!! i sent my mum and little sister to a hotel as i wanted it to be really intimate and just me sam and my doula, until i was pushing then we would call them back! The rest is pretty much a blur , my doula was called and this was at 7pm she came and i was in the shower , thats where i spent most of my labour , it was a real life saver. We even had the bouncy ball in there. The running water on my back was heaven.. my doula also pushed my back in all the right spots, she held me tight with each contraction as well as my boyfriend, we where all in a trance. It was so nice having Domino there, as i kept bleeding like a period a bit and she is like yes this is amazing Shanay this mean your cervix is dilating. Was nice to have a girl view and no your not dying this is real , this is happening! Your alive and your body is amazing!! We hugged , we kissed and we had showers together it was so nice! I then vomited which i learnt from birth class this is a very very good sign that you are about to push so this happened, sure enough an hour or 2 later i began pushing. My doula then called my midwife and she was already at the front because she new i was having a fast labour. My midwife didn’t check how much i had dilated once as my waters had gone. This really helped not knowing where i was at in my labour, all that mattered was i was in control with my mind! If i was labouring for 4 hours or so and my midwife was to say i was 4 cm i would of cried!! Its best not knowing.
I honestly felt like i didn’t get one break it was very very intense and had no time to complain or re think what i have got myself into. I just handed birth over to my baby and my body was in control all i had to do was breathe and let my baby do the work. I was thinking about my birth hypnosis i have on my phone ‘i hand my birth over to my body and my baby’ your mind is in control’ this helped me so much!! The tub was finally ready for me to hop into. We set it up in the lounge room and it had to be re filled and filled again which i was not happy about , all i wanted was to be in the tub weightless. By the time i hoped in it was time to push. I didn’t even get time to relax in the tub. But it sure felt good getting in there. I didn’t talk to anyone for about 8 hours thats how long the whole labour lasted, very lucky! Mum and my little sister came back just in time, She was born within 18mins of pushing thanks to her little head, 6.8 pounds at 1.18am. It was the hardest thing iv ever done but most rewarding thing. Seeing her for the first time and to say i did that, i feel like i can do anything now! Thats why i think birth is such an important time in a woman’s life and to trust her body, your body can grow a baby itself and birth itself. All we need to work on is our minds being free and aware of every aspects of birth and to educate yourself about birth so you dont freak out, also to have the right support and care from a midwife.
I was very lucky to have help after baby, when you have a home birth and a doula they come back 1 day after the birth and then 3 days after. So i had a great start to breastfeeding because i had 3 women who knew what they were doing and if i needed help they were there to help me. I am also very passionate about birth and have a whole new respect for the woman’s body. My boyfriend was saying to his friends woman are amazing men are shit! ha ha. There is too many woman going into birth being scared and letting it get the better of them. Woman should talk about it to other woman more with passion and not try scare other woman. This is what i found with my friends and family , they would tell me there awful birth experience and that i must get the epidural!! i couldn’t think anything worse with needles strapped to me not being able to move around, (which saved my life during birth) I understand that some woman need intervention but hey lets leave the hospitals for sick people huh and high risk pregnancies and Emergency Sections and try fill those birth centres and homes with birth and midwives !! A woman needs to be hugged, touched and kissed during birth and be spoken to nicely, i find in the hospitals the lights are bright, nurses asking you are you ready for the epidural, when a woman asks for an epidural it means she needs help!! the people in the room rnt helping her, its their only option out in the hospital. Thats why a doula is a true guardian in birth.
Im happy and blessed to say that the birth went exactly how i expected it too. I in visioned it to be a quiet , intimate, home water birth and thats exactly what i got! I put the energy out there and received it back. Any woman can do this if they go in with the right mind frame.