"My labour"

While my plan to have a water birth with by baby didn't quite go to plan or with my midwife Olivia, I still feel like I got to do it my way :)

On a Tuesday morning after a long walk, ocean dip and shower and feeling like bub was even lower, I headed to acupuncture for 10am and during the session knew I started experiencing early labour contractions. I got home and continued about as normal and to be safe finished packing my hospital bag and then ate lunch while bouncing on the fit ball. Around 1pm the contractions started to slowly amp up and move closer together as I moved into active labour. Soon after I put the TENS machine on and found the only comfortable position to contract was lying side on on the couch. I would close my eyes and breathe through them using the Hypnobirthing breathing technique. I just wanted silence in the room. Everything felt manageable.

This continued on into the evening where I still managed to snack but the contraction times were sporadic - 1 minute, then 4 minutes, then 2 minutes apart. At around 8pm my partner called the FBC and midwife Grace advised to stay home longer if I can until the contractions were consistently 2 minutes apart. I continued to labour like this through the night, moving from the couch to the bed and managing tiny moments of sleep between contractions. They were very intense at times but I just kept breathing and squeezing my partner's hand when I needed to. At about 4am Wednesday, my partner called Grace again and even though the contractions were still sporadic, we decided to go in and see how far I'd dilated. Grace was wonderful and confirmed my cervix was completely ripe but I was just 3cm dilated.

We decided to go home with some Panadeine Forte and Temazepam to help ease the contraction discomfort and for me to try get some sleep. We got home 5am and it worked! I woke up 6.30am to my water breaking, cleaned up, and then went back to sleep. At around 9am I showered and the contractions had completely eased off. The sleep helped me reset and after a small breakfast, we let Grace know the time my water broke and I was ready to get things moving again! At around 11am we went for a slow walk around the block to get the contractions going again. I had my 41 week appoint at the hospital 2.30pm but we'd made a plan to go to FBC at 1.30pm first for another dilation check with midwife Carol. I was still at 3cm. I made the decision to keep labouring at home and we'd return at 12am for antibiotics if nothing had progressed as by then it would be 18 hours since my waters broke.

Once home again, I went between moving on my feet, bouncing on the fit ball and lying down on the couch again to contract as they started to come back and build again. The TENS machine went back on and the contractions stayed intense but sporadic like the day before. At about 7pm, while having something to eat I started to get my head around the fact I'd need to divert my plan and go up to the hospital. I was tired and the contractions still weren't consistently close enough. Just before 10pm I asked my partner to run me a bath. I stayed in there for an hour with my eyes closed, my partner with me the whole time and the most comfortable I'd been. If I wasn't going to get a water birth, I had least got to experience a beautiful hour of labour in the water. We got ready and headed back to the FBC for 12am going into Thursday. Still just 3cm dilated, I had my antibiotics and made the call to head up to hospital with midwife Carol.

Once up there and admitted to my room, the next step was to start on Syntocin to try and bring the contractions closer and encourage further dilation. Bub was doing well and I still wanted to try for a vaginal birth if possible. The Syntocin only needed to be around the starting dose for me to feel it's effects and not long after feeling completely exhausted, I broke for the first time and requested an epidural. That happened around 4am. My anesthetist was fantastic and the immediate relief allowed for the Syntocin to ramp up again and for me to get some sleep.

I woke about 8am as midwife Katie started taking over. 11am I was still 3cm. After discussions with the doctor we decided 2pm was the cut off before going in for a C-section. Come 2pm and no change, they began prep for theatre. I asked to be swabbed to smear on my baby in recovery.

I was completely at peace with this decision because I know I had done everything I could before getting to this point and it completely felt like the right choice and one I had been empowered to get to since the beginning of labour. The anesthetist, doctors and midwife Katie and Jess from KEMH were fantastic! After 2 days of labouring, we finally all welcomed my daughter on Thursday at 4.19pm with a big 'Happy Birthday'.

I had a delayed cord cut and once my partner cut it and by daughter was checked and bundled, she was in my arms in no time and remained for skin to skin. In recovery, she received contents from my swab, was finger fed some of my pre-packed colostrum and made her way down to my breast to latch. My partner and I both feel content with our experience and felt calm and empowered throughout it. Grateful to the team at FBC and KEMH for giving me such a supportive experience!