Bianca
“It was such an intense yet beautiful experience. Apart from the head game of a stop/start early labour, it was actually a blessing in disguise to have such a short active labour! A third beautiful home birth experience and finally the arrival of our baby girl!”
The birth of my third baby began with my waters breaking at 3am on a Wednesday morning when I was 39+3 weeks pregnant. There was so much fluid. I took a shower while my partner Cam prepared the lounge room. Together, we changed the sheets and decided we would try to get some sleep in case labour didn’t start immediately like it did with my last baby Braxton. We put the hypnobirthing tracks on and slept until my two boys, Braxton and Hendrix, woke us around 6.30am.
Cam brought the boys to daycare and we had a restful day with cramps coming and going throughout the day. That afternoon I managed a nap, and my midwife Marita came for a visit to check-in on baby, who was still happy. I couldn’t believe how much fluid was still coming out throughout the day. Marita said as soon as the contractions had a bit of bite to call her back and not hesitate. We organised for the boys to sleep at my sister Kritz’s house with my mum so that they were out of my space. We were convinced labour would start overnight. I was having some light cramping before bed and let Marita know. She decided she would sleep at her sister's house, just around the corner from us. I felt good knowing she was so close by.
We went to bed early and at 2am I woke with cramping. At 2.30am I got out of bed and walked around the house in the dark, watching our wedding video and videos of the kids to get the oxytocin going. The cramps were irregular and not intensifying, and at 4.30am I decided to try to get some more rest. When I laid down the cramps stopped completely, and I slept until around 6am.
Around 6.30am I messaged Marita letting her know nothing much had happened and that I was beginning to feel frustrated. As the boys were still with Kritz and mum who were going to take them to daycare, Cam and I went for a walk down the road so I could do some gutter walking. As soon as I did this, contractions began again and felt a little stronger. But around 7am things eased again. Around 7.30am we went for another gutter walk and again contractions began, feeling a little stronger again, but nothing regular or intense. Around 8am things stopped again, and I called Kritz for a cry feeling extremely frustrated and updating her on the last night and the morning. I then called Marita at 8.30am and she said she would come over shortly. She encouraged me to rest instead of trying to bring on more contractions. We hopped on the couch and contractions were coming and going irregularly but still very mild. My waters continued to leak.
Marita arrived at 9.30am and gave me my first ever VE (vaginal examination), saying I’d done well to be on my third birth and only now just receiving my first VE! I advised that I didn’t want to know my dilation. Marita did the VE and informed me the baby was in a good position and very low down, tight against the cervix. She had wondered if a pocket of amniotic sac and fluid might have been between the baby’s head and my cervix, but that wasn’t the case. At that point, I was already 5cm dilated, and with a few more contractions, things were likely to progress quickly. She did a gentle stretch and sweep, hoping it would help move things along. She also suggested that Kritz bring over the breast pump to help stimulate labour, so Cam contacted her and asked her to come over with it.
Within only 5 minutes of the VE, I had several contractions that were strong and close together. From here, each contraction felt more intense. I lost all sense of time, but I was welcoming each contraction and grateful that things were finally happening!
Things felt like they were escalating quickly, and each contraction was building a lot in intensity. At one stage, I remember thinking, “surely you’re putting it on a bit, surely things can’t be escalating this quickly!” But after about 15 minutes Marita told Cam to get the pool ready, and told Kritz to call mum.
Veronica, the second midwife, arrived and it really felt like things had progressed. I thought I was close to feeling the urge to push but doubted myself, as I knew it hadn’t been long since the internal exam. So, I felt inside myself and sure enough, I could feel my baby’s head. I told everyone I wanted to get in the pool, but the water wasn’t high enough. Marita asked if I was happy to get in but keep my hips down, but I couldn’t do that confidently, so I stayed out of the pool, clenching my bum and legs until the pool was ready a few minutes later. I got in and had one contraction while standing, then sat down and had another before announcing that with the next contraction, I would start pushing. Marita told me to go for it. With the next contraction, the baby’s head emerged, and I remember patting their soft head, feeling so much hair, and taking a breath! It was not long at all until the next contraction came, and my baby’s body was out! It was an absolute whirlwind, but my baby was in my arms!!! I caught my breath for a few minutes until I asked Cameron what it was… we had a girl!!! Baby Jagger Sofia Ball was born, and just like I knew I would, I absolutely lost it! What a dream come true. She was born at 10.31am, just under an hour after the internal exam. The after pains (contractions after birth) were intense, and about 10 minutes later my placenta was born while I was still in the pool.
We eventually hopped out and Jagger took the bottle right away. As soon as she latched, I knew I had made the right choice to bottle feed, which was such a relief. She weighed in at 3.51kg (just beating Hendrix in weight) and 51cm, the same as both boys!
It was such an intense yet beautiful experience. Apart from the head game of a stop/start early labour, it was actually a blessing in disguise to have such a short active labour! A third beautiful home birth experience and finally the arrival of our baby girl!
Birth story by Bianca.