"Birthing journey"

My birthing journey was very tough as my baby had lots of fluids in his lungs and needed to get the oxygen mask to help him breathe. I had fever during my labour and I transferred it to my baby. That’s why he had to be monitored in the nursery care room for the first 24h receiving the antibiotic in his veins immediately and we got the skin to skin contact just for a few seconds. Poor bub! There was not enough time to embrace him, give him all my love through the oxytocin.

I was at 40 weeks plus 5 days when we got to the entrance of the maternity ward in Kalgoorlie. I hadn’t had any symptoms of labour at home so that my GP used the ‘stretch and sweep’ technique when I was at 39 weeks + 2 days and also 40 weeks + 2 days.

My GP broke my water in the morning and the midwifes inserted the oxytocin synthetic in my veins on that same day in mid May, and that time I started my journey until my baby was born late at night on the same date!

I used various tools that I learnt from the Hypnobirthing program until the lunch time such as; lights down, listening to the music from Kajabi app, anti-stress ball, lots of breathing techniques, massage, the light diffuser without aroma, positioning of labour by sitting, and moving the hips on the ball. Also, restricting the quantity of people in my labour room which was just my husband, my GP (when it was necessary her intervention) and 2 midwifes (for each shift according to the maternity roster) were there. I felt strong and supported. I believed that my body was ready and able to do whatever needed to be done to deliver my baby healthy!

About midday, I had much pelvic pain and tried to cope with it for around 2 hours. It looked like my baby was coming out but actually he was changing his position many times from anterior to posterior and vice versa. By this time, I had just 3cm of dilation and we didn’t notice any improvement. Then, the midwifes called to my GP to report what was happening and suggested I start thinking about the epidural injection. I decided to talk to my husband and told him that I agreed to receive the epidural if it was the best alternative to see my baby well-being and healthy.

Therefore, in the afternoon I had the epidural and the catheter inserted in my body. In the early evening the dilation was just 4-5cm. Then, my GP gave us 3 more hours to monitor any improvements, and the fetal movements and found out my baby was under stressing.

Later that night my GP did another examination and thanks God my dilation was right 10cm. My GP told me ‘your baby is coming soon!’ The new team of midwifes began setting up everything and a little while later everything started happening until baby was born late in the evening. In the meantime, I had to give my consent to have the episiotomy done because my baby opened his arms, his shoulders were large and my GP had to sort it out of how to bring him up.

The emergency team was called, my baby was sent in a rush to the monitoring spot, the oxygen mask was used and I didn’t hear him crying. It was a tough time! To be honest, I was not aware of what was happening as I was losing my energy and getting the procedures done such as the placenta coming out and the stitches done. My husband told me in detail what happened in the following hours when I was recovering myself.

By the end of this experience in the maternity ward where we spent for 6 days, my family felt blessed enough having a great team of doctors and midwifes who took care of us all the time, showing care and passion about looking after people and putting lots of efforts to see the people welfare and happiness.

Nowadays, we have been receiving support from a Child Health Nurse regarding the lactation due to the challenging time about breastfeeding. My baby is always hungry. He is impatient to suck the breast milk properly and needs to return to his birthing weight soon. We’re getting there and thinking in a positive way! I believe, calm, time and patience are the key right now to have the positive outcome!