Natural birth, with the best support system!
I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy on October 8th, 2019. At 10:50pm. 1 day over his expected due date.
My first Baby was induced at 11 days over my due date, so I knew that I could possibly still have another week or more if he didn’t come in his own.
My pregnancy had been pretty rough for me already but going overdue broke me. I thought I could have him here before this.
We had a growth scan on October 1st to make sure he wasn’t too big, like my firstborn. He was...
They told me an induction would be necessary if he didn’t come before his due date. I begged for them to let me go a few days over just to see if he would come by himself. It came to October 8th and I saw the midwife and doctor, they offered me a membrane sweep to reduce the chance of induction, I said yes and we proceeded to do so at 10 am, I was 4cm dilated, baby H was fully engaged and I was ‘extremely favorable’. I was over the moon!
I went straight home. Cleaned my entire house. I played outside with my 3-year-old for 2 hours straight, running around like crazy trying to stay upright on my feet. Bounced on my birthing ball and did plenty of squats.
By 2:30 pm I thought I was just having some Braxton hicks contractions and ignored them.
They said this was common after a membrane sweep. By 4:30 pm they didn’t stop and just got more intense I called my partner home from work and he showered and got ready to go if we needed to. The excitement was through the roof. My Mum picked up my 3yo and took him to her place for the night. I called my sister who was also going to be there for the birth, as she was a 3-hour drive away.
We called our midwife at 6 pm and said we’ll be coming in very soon as my contractions were now 6-8 minutes apart. We got there by 7 pm and I realized that I had had 4 contractions in the car on the way there, it was a 12-minute drive… They were now 2-3 minutes apart. Our midwife took us straight to birth suite, did an examination and I was 5cm dilated!
7:30 pm came around and I said I need to get in the shower, I needed heat and water. I was there for 2 hours. Bouncing on the ball under the water, on my knees rolling my arms around on the ball. My partner held a showerhead on my belly as well as one on my back.
I had previously looked into Hypnobirthing but never studied it fully, I had just read about it ALOT. So I had the mindset of being able to calm myself down when I got too overwhelmed, speak to myself and talk to my body. My partner was also telling me ‘you need to breathe. Your stressing, just calm down, you can do it’.
Which made me start talking to myself and telling myself I can do it. I would hum and moan through contractions. I was lucky enough to be able to put myself into a mindset of knowing that this isn’t going to last forever, he’ll be here soon and you can do it!
I was getting very exhausted very quickly and in between contractions I felt like I was going to pass out.
The shower heat had gotten to my head so I knew I needed to get out.
I went to the bed and I knew I didn’t want to birth on the bed. It was something I was sure of (unless absolutely necessary).
I leaned on my partner and my sister rubbed my back with every surge I got. I got on the ball and circled my hips through every contraction. My midwife also suggested some “spinning babies” exercises to relieve the pressure off of my back, which we did and were great, definitely helped with pain and getting baby into the correct position to pass through the birthing canal easier.
My partner knew how badly I did not want any pain relief whatsoever. But he knew I was about to fold and had said to me “maybe it is time for the gas” and I agreed at 10:20 pm.
My midwife called my Doctor and said I think it’s time to come, she’s very close.
He got there at 10:30. He did another exam at 10:45 and said “you are 10cm! I’m breaking your waters now and within the next few contractions, you’ll feel like you need to start pushing, you need to tell me when you start to feel that feeling”. But, it all happened so quickly, I got the urge and I just pushed. I had no time to tell him. He didn’t even have his gloves fully on yet. I was panicked as I was still laying on the bed from my exam and waters being broken and I did NOT want to be on the bed. I tried to move so I was on all fours. But I couldn’t.
The baby was coming now! One contraction, one push, His head was out. The doctor said to me “stop pushing, stop pushing, you can do it in the next one”. I’m glad he said that I felt myself about to tear. They said to me, ‘look at your baby!’ I leant down and touched my baby’s head before the next contraction. And the next one came and I did it. I got him out within 2 pushes.
As he was coming out, the told me to lean forward and pull the rest of him out and pull him to my chest. Which my partner helped me do, he helped me sit forward.
At 10:50 pm, he was born, He was on my chest and he was perfect. Beyond perfect. That feeling, of love, relief, and pure joy.
They had to cut the cord as soon as they possibly could and get my placenta out. I had a previous severe postpartum hemorrhage with my first baby. And we couldn’t risk that again. I had a drip in with a bag of oxytocin ready to start as soon as the cord was cut so my uterus could contract my womb back to normal size.
Despite it not being exactly what I wanted, It was amazing having the support of my partner who knew exactly what I wanted but also what my body needed. His love was shown in a whole new way on that day, as it was when our first was born. My sister has 2 children herself but has never experienced a natural vaginal birth and wanted to see it happen, she loved it. She loved watching her nephew come into the world and I loved having her there. She helped me in ways that I couldn’t imagine.
Childbirth is the most amazing thing to me, I just love it. No matter what, how or when it happens, you embrace it and you do your absolute best.
Thank you so much, Aliza, for letting me share my story on the birth of my second baby boy, Huxley Fox.
Beautiful story and image from Mama @Kelseyfardell