Hannah & Tom
The Corona Virus had only just begun to creep into everyday life when I gave birth to Lorelei. There was some fear that I would not be able to have my Doula Mary-Anne in the delivery room. I was still attending my usual midwife appointments and life was still plodding on as normal. We were washing our hands more frequently and the virus was on the news but it was not as prevalent as it became in the days following her birth. I heard a few days after the birth that I was one of the last women to be able to give birth with her doula present at the hospital. I was extremely lucky to be able to have had the birth experience that I had with both Tom (my partner) and Mary-Anne present.
My due date and been and gone. I had been certain that I would give birth early as my last baby, Esme, had been induced at 37 weeks and weighed 8lb 2. I was now slightly scared at the prospect of having a gigantic baby. However I continued with my hypnobirthing relaxations and positive affirmations, these managed to keep my mind off the impending, potentially massive arrival.
I had tried all of the usual things to induce labor… except midwives brew. It sounded horrible and I was reticent to try castor oil as my first daughter had distressed which had a negative impact on my first labor. Apparently castor oil can have this effect on babies (and mums) so I thought it would be best avoided! Despite my best efforts at 40+2 there was very little sign of baby. I decided to have a rest/pamper day. I would fake tan, do a face mask, mani/pedi and then go to my mums for a lovely Sunday roast, generally take my mind off going into labor. Just so happens this is probably the most effective induction method. My surges started after the Mani Pedi (the fake tan never took place). At first they were mild tightening. I began to time them in my head counting to 10 or 20 each time. I was convinced they were staying at 10-20 seconds for around 2 hours. By this time Tom had told my mum to keep Esme (my toddler) as he was pretty sure the baby was coming. Eventually Tom decided to time my surges and we realized they were around a minute and a half long. I had just been counting to 10 or 20 as a form of pain relief, the surges making me unaware of how long a second was supposed to be!
We phoned the hospital and they wanted us to head straight in, this being my third baby apparently things can happen very fast. We called Mary-Anne and arranged to meet her outside the maternity unit.
The drive to the hospital was pretty relaxed. I kept a scarf over my head that was doused in clary sage oil. This was helping to make my surges stronger, I didn’t want to arrive at the hospital and it all be a false alarm. Not only would this be inconvenient for everyone involved, I was also pretty desperate to be able lay on my front again! I was listening to my hypnobirthing relaxation mp3s all the way to the hospital and the scarf was keeping everything nice and dark in an attempt to keep my oxytocin high and my adrenaline low (think like a Rhino!).
We met Mary Anne at the maternity entrance as planned and headed upstairs to be triaged. The lady at reception got me a birthing ball to bounce on and kicked out a man who was waiting there so I could have some peace (she was pretty scary but definitely awesome). After only a short wait we were shown into an amazing birthing room with a pool. This was good as I had been slightly anxious that I would not get a pool as the birthing center only has 3. I allowed the midwife to do an initial internal exam, I was 3cm dilated which was fine. Mary Anne was then allowed into the room and it was time for things to get started.
Mary Anne did an amazing job of setting up beautiful lights, putting my TENS machine on properly and showing me how to use it (I had been using it for PGP throughout my third trimester incorrectly…awkward) I continued to have mild to moderate surges for a few hours. We managed to keep the atmosphere in the room light and calm which was ideal. We played music and chatted between surges. Mary Anne gave me a foot rub and everything was going well.
However things started to take a bit of a turn when the midwives decided we had been taking far too long to progress. They needed that room for another person and didn’t think I was going to give birth anytime soon. They wanted to do another internal exam to see if I had made any progress. I allowed this to happen and low and behold I had not made any progress. We were asked to leave the room as I would need to be re triaged and would either have to go to an antenatal ward or go home. This was stressful and disheartening. Mary Anne would have to leave me as she was not allowed to be there when I was being triaged. I was so upset that we had to take down all the pretty lights and basically dismantle my birthing nest.
Tom and Mary Anne conversed and took charge of the situation. They told me I was going to go for a quick walk then go to triage and we would take it from there. They packed everything up and we went for a walk on the stairs. Mary Anne and I crab walked up and down the upper staircase of the maternity unit squatting at the top and bottom of the staircase each time. It was definitely worth it. Before long I was having intense surges at both the top and the bottom of the stair case and things were certainly ramping up.
When I got to triage I was having extremely strong surges. I managed to make it to the bed at the far end of the ward as I had my next surge, my waters popped everywhere. A midwife came rushing in saying she heard them go from the corridor. I was taken back to my lovely room and in no time Mary Anne had put all the lights back up and my birthing nest was back and we were ready to have a baby.
Now that my waters had broken my surges were really strong Mary Anne and tom were able to provide some relief through counter pressure and I continued to use my TENS machine. To keep up the speed of the labor Mary Anne suggested doing some dancing. I was more than happy to oblige (any excuse) there is definitely footage of me dancing to Christine Aguilera with my gas and air in hand! This helped a lot and my labor continued to progress. I asked if I was able to get into the pool, the midwives topped the pool up with hot water to get it to the optimum temperature, which is pleasantly warm. Once I got in the relief was instant and glorious. I continued to use the gas and air and breathing techniques but obviously the TENS had to come off. Most of the time spent in the pool is now a bit hazy, things seemed to ramp up once I got in, before long I was in transition and making deep primal animal screams that I never knew I could make! I started saying to tom that I wanted to go home and I didn’t want to do it anymore, I then asked for an epidural (that’s when the midwife said she knew that the baby was well and truly coming).
She was right, I didn’t have any further internal examinations, the midwife just told me to do what my body was telling me to do. I could feel the baby descending further into my pelvis, it was making my legs involuntarily shake under the water with the pressure. All I wanted to do was push. The midwife kept an eye on things with a mirror that looked a bit like a super shiny kitchen spatula. She told me at one point to stop pushing, it turns out that the baby was coming out with her hand next to her face so I needed to slow it down a little. All in all my second stage of labor lasted 4 minutes. Lorelei was born in the water, I FINALLY got my water birth and I was so happy. I held her skin to skin in the water with a towel wrapped around her until her cord stopped pulsating. Tom cut the cord and had his first little cuddle whilst I was left to get out of the pool. This was probably the most unglamorous situation I have experienced. I was yet to deliver the placenta and the cord was still dangling out tied off with a clamp … so awkward.
I had an examination to check for tears, and low and behold I had managed another birth completely intact. I was in a lot of pain still and was desperate to deliver my placenta I asked to have the injection that speeds up the final stage. I went to sit on the toilet and almost instantly the placenta was out. It was pretty grim, I had never seen one up close before, it’s the kind of thing that is fascinating but gross all at the same time.
I finally got a chance to snuggle my baby and get her to latch on. She did this instantly and I had this overwhelming feeling of completeness.
Mary Anne asked if we needed her to stay, we told her we were fine now, we had decided to stay overnight as it was now 4am and we needed to get some sleep.
We were taken down to the post-natal ward, ironically we were put into the same room that I had been in when I had Esme two years previously. Eventually after being checked in and being bombarded with questions I was allowed to sleep. I managed to get a few hours before I was woken by adrenaline and a desperate need to be with my baby. Tom slept…. For ages in a chair they gave him, I decided to let him as I wanted him in a fit state to drive us home!
Although not everything in Lorelei’s birth went completely to plan it was still the most positive experience for both tom and I. We were not initially planning on having a doula but as tom works away we could not be certain he would be able to attend the birth so I hired Mary Anne. It was the best decision. Luckily Tom was able to be there but Mary Anne proved to be just as much of a support for him as she was to me which made the experience stress free and smooth. We are not planning on another baby anytime soon but if we ever do a doula will be at the top of our baby list!
