Holly
& Raynier's Birth Story Auckland,
New Zealand 
 Monday
morning (11th) I went to see our Osteopath and
got my last treatment before the baby came (well,
I probably would've gotten another if Raynier
would've been overdue). I never did have much
pain or discomfort other than from sitting in
one position too long or in the wrong kind of
chair or something like that. We discussed her
coming to the birth again, and she was just as
eager... well actually more so since they are
now expecting a wee one!
That afternoon the kids and I
went out to the airport to pick Bryan up, he dropped
us off home and then left for work. I had been
having contractions while we were in the car,
so after we got home I put a movie on for the
kids, had a small glass of wine and sat with my
feet up and read a book for a while. The contractions
were not hard or long, but they were coming every
2-5 minutes. This lasted for five hours, so Bryan
checked around and they found someone to cover
the end of his shift for him, and also checked
to see if someone could take care of Tuesday in
case something did happen. Once I got the kids
to bed, the contractions were less frequent, but
began to increase in intensity. I tried sleeping,
and did doze some, but either my mind would keep
me awake or a contraction would wake me up. They
ended up petering out around 3:00 am, and I was
able to sleep until about 7:00.
Tuesday morning (12th) I took
a nap, thinking that if something was going to
happen, I'd need to have a bit of extra sleep
behind me after the night before. After the kids'
naps, their grandparents came and took them and
Bryan and I went on a 1- 1 1/2 hour walk. We just
stuck to our street, walking up and down. The
contractions were stronger going downhill and
more frequent coming up. :) But they were getting
quite strong, towards the end there were some
that I nearly had to stop walking through. But
again, we came back to the house and they slowed
way down. My midwife came an hour or so later
to check me, and funnily enough, I was actually
relieved to find out that nothing was happening.
I had started to feel like there was something
I should be doing to keep things going, so finding
out that I wasn't dilated at all and that my cervix
was still long took all the pressure off me.
So Wednesday (13th), I completely
ignored the contractions, even though they were
definitely stronger than they had been pre-Tuesday.
I don't know that I ever had more than three in
an hour, so it was easy to do. I pretty much did
nothing that day, just took it easy, had a nap
when the kids did and so on. Bryan had been able
to rearrange the rest of his week so that Wednesday
was his last day for the week, I guess God knew
we'd need that time off ;)
He got home from work at around
midnight Thursday morning (14th), and having been
awakened, dozed on and off, registering that I
had two or three contractions in the next hour,
but not really thinking about it since they were
no harder then they had been the day before. Just
after 1:00 am I began to have another, and suddenly
had to crawl out of bed because it was too painful
in the position I was in. After it was over I
went to the toilet, had another there and then
back to our room and had another one, all of them
just as hard. It was about 1:20 by this point,
so I came out to the lounge to tell Bryan (who
was just getting ready to come to bed) that maybe
something was going to happen. Bryan started getting
things ready and I wandered through the house,
the contractions continuing strong and between
five and ten minutes apart. We called our midwife
at 2:45 as they began to get stronger and more
regular.
The midwife arrived at 3:20,
checked me and I was 2-3 cm at this point. I was
having a hard time finding a good balance between
hot and cold, and kept trembling uncontrollably.
This made the contractions more difficult for
me to handle since I couldn't relax as much through
them. After being checked, I was able to roll
over on my side, and had a little respite from
the contractions, although I was still shivering.
My midwife asked if I'd like her to go and come
back, but I asked her to stay since the contractions
had started out strong so suddenly, completely
different from the other two births. I must have
rested for half an hour or so, and then got up
to move around again to get things going.
Our Osteopath arrived at 4:30.
I wasn't even aware that she was here at first.
She stayed in the background or helped out with
anything that the midwife or Bryan needed.
At about 4:45 they started topping
up the pool, and I got in about 5:10 (midwife
notes help when writing a birth story ;). The
midwife checked me again at about 5:20, and I
was 5-6 cm dilated. I felt much more in control
this time, breathing wise. I'm not sure what the
reason was for this, but I only remember letting
the contractions overwhelm me once or twice and
having to be reminded to breathe slower. The back
pain was stronger this time as well, and for a
while Bryan was putting constant pressure there
for me, even between contractions. The pool of
course, felt wonderful. I had quite strong pressure
at the base of my belly throughout the whole thing,
and had been putting counter pressure there during
contractions. The pool helped ease this somewhat,
and the hot water they kept pouring on my back
was helpful as well.
Just after 6:00, the midwife
called her backup, and Bryan called his parents
to let them know that the baby was coming and
that the kids could be waking soon.
 At
about 6:05, Symeon (3 years) woke up. We hadn't
really talked about having the kids in the room
or not, and I really didn't know if it would bother
me. But it didn't. Symeon came in to say good
morning, saw me in the pool and said, "Daddy,
why is Mama in the pool?" Bryan told him
that Mama was going to have a baby. Symeon looked
at the sides of the pool (inflatable and covered
with fish) for a minute, then back at me and said,
"A baby fish??" :) He was really great
in there, it didn't seem to bother him that I
was making noises. Bryan's folks got here and
got things ready and were going to just go home
and come back for Verity (21 months), when she
woke up about 6:20. She didn't come in before
the baby came. Symeon went back out to see what
his grandparents were doing.
And, at 6:36, Raynier Paul Dominic
arrived. Symeon and Verity were able to come in
immediately and see as they hadn't left yet, and
Bryan's mom also came in to see her new grandson.
They didn't end up leaving right away since the
baby arrived so that the kids could be a part
of the baby discovery.
You
might be interested in the Joyful Childbirth 3
hour Antenatal Class for Natural Pain Relief |
|
