- I was convinced that Mackenzie would arrive early. I had read articles that suggested that early births are hereditary in the female line. My sister and I were born early, as was my mum, and my husband was born 4 weeks early also. Nevertheless, when I discovered my show one morning and two weeks before my due date, I was in shock. My instant reaction was to burst into tears, but I think I was also the tiniest bit excited as I knew within 24-48 hours she would be here. The Oxytocin Hormone had obviously kicked in as I literally did not even consider what was about to happen to my body. I text Troy straight away followed by my doula and then got on with my day.
I awoke at around 2:30am feeling like I had wet myself but in actual fact my waters had broken. Very, very slight contractions had started but we laid back down to try and get some sleep which we managed for a couple of hours. As they became more intense I went downstairs to the bath tub and soaked there for a couple of hours. Our good friend was in the bedroom next door and I silently breathed through the contractions whilst he was completely oblivious to what was occurring. We called the doula and she arrived at hour house at around 7am, she called the hospital once she had examined me and we arrived at the hospital around 8am. The car ride there was absolutely hideous and I think I screamed for the entire 10 minute journey – poor Troy thought I was going to deliver her on the side of the road but I was in actual fact nowhere near delivering.
When they hospital midwife finally came back to check on me I had progressed to 7cms. I asked for an epidural at that stage and was told that there had been 2 emergency cesareans and I knew at that point that there was not enough time and it was not going to happen – I was going to have to do it all on my own. I was given gas and air, but to be honest it made very little difference for me. I walked through to the labor ward during my contractions and bumped into the friend who I had been visiting the previous day – she was a little shocked to see me given it was 2 weeks before my due date. We arrived into my birthing suite (this makes it sounds very glamorous, when in fact it reminded me of a Pilbara donga) and the pool was being filled up. There was absolutely no way that I wanted to give birth in the pool – I had seen it on an episode of the Kardashian’s and the thought absolutely disgusted me. However, it was the only thing that I could see that was going to provide me with some relief. The TENS machine came off and into the pool I went, and at that point I knew I was not getting back out until the baby arrived.
Because they took so long to admit me to the ward, I was technically only in the third stage of labor for just over an hour, and to be honest it didn’t feel like long at all. I thought I would be this quiet, calm person during birth but I was roaring like a raging bull. There is a very distinct noise that a woman in active labor will make and having gone through it myself it is something that you just cannot help. The pain is so intense and worse than I ever imagined possible. I by all means had a text book labor – I had my show, my waters broke, my contractions progressed naturally and at a good pace and it lasted for approximately 13 hours, but yet I never want to experience that ever again. I remember the midwife saying ‘oh, she has a lot of hair’ and I was wondering how much longer it would possibly last – my notes tell me it was 7 minutes. It wasn’t like the movies where they were telling me ‘just one more push’ but I do remember moments later that I was within seconds of passing out from the pain. Mackenzie was delivered just before 3:30pm in the afternoon – it took a few anxious seconds for her to take her first breathe and then she was in my arms. The babies are a very strange blue and purple color when the first arrive, and then the color slowly starts to come into their bodies.
I love nothing more than hearing about others stories and how similar or different they were to mine – leave a comment below or send me an email at hello@wanderandluxe.com.au. Thanks for reading this truly personal blog post, Shelley x
5 Responses
Since becoming a mum I’m obsessed with birth stories. LOVE THEM!! Thanks so much for sharing Shelley xx
My second was born in the bath tub at the Family birth Centre. Like you I didn’t set out to have a water birth, but my midwife had filled the bath for me when my TENS machine started to play up, and I felt it was such a waste of water if I didn’t at least get in for a bit ? Once I was in I also wasn’t getting out! The pain the second time around was better I think, but I was induced with syntocinon for my first and can say now that contractions progressing naturally is definitely a bit easier on the body! Not that I didn’t yell the place down again though!!
It is amazing what the female body can do when there are no complications. x
Thanks for your feedback and sharing your story too! It truly is incredible what the female body does and I never realized it until falling pregnant. And the fact that you can purely breastfeed a baby for 6 months and make them grow and develop into a tiny human – its incredible.