In honour of my DD 1st birthday I figured I would finally write up her birth story. I gave birth in a birth centre and the preference was for a med free water birth but the plan was water the baby needed. I thought some people considering a birth centre/water birth might like to read my story.

I was 41+1 and completely over it. It was Monday and I was just wasting time until my Thursday apt so I could book my induction. I woke that morning and for some reason I just thought that it might be the day. I lounged around all day, watched some tv, and started feeling a bit off late afternoon. DH worked late and didn’t get home till 6 and I suggested we go for a walk, like we had been doing every night, to see if we could get something going. Halfway through our walk I knew I was having proper, timeable contractions. They were 5 mins apart and 45 secs long. At 7:30 we gave the midwife the heads up and I was to call her back at 5, 1, 1. We went home and DH went to get us some dinner while I cleaned the house up. After we ate I went to lie down for a bit. Around 10pm I started to need to breath through the contractions. I sat in the bath and when that stopped working I got in the shower. I went backwards and forwards continuously for the next 2 hours. By 12, not only was I feeling contractions in my belly I was also feeling them in my back and upper thighs. My contractions were coming every 2 to 3 minutes but were still only 45 seconds long. I called the midwife to see what I should do and she said I sounded ok and to stay home for a bit longer and to call her again in an hour. Every time I spoke to her she kept asking if my water had broke, I had any discharge/show and I kept having to say no.

When that hour was up I knew things had changed and when she said do you need to come in I said YES. After sorting things out at home we left there about 2am. The drive really wasn’t as bad as I was expected. I kneeled in the back and we had very little traffic. I told DH before we left that if I was less than a 5 I was having an epidural. When she checked me just after 3am I was a 5. Before labour I was so concerned with being naked and packed clothes to wear in the birthing tub but I got in that room and just stripped off. I did not care. I headed straight for the shower with the amazing double head, one for the front and one for the back.

This bit is a blur. I was in that shower for 2 hours and it feels like 2 mins in my memory. I think I spent the entire 2 hours sobbing and telling my husband I couldn’t do it. Ah… transition. The midwife came in and told me the tub was ready if I wanted to get in. I remember looking at the clock on the way and it was 5:30. I got in the tub, into what I called the frogger position, arms above my head holding on the DH and my legs pulled up. This was the only position I could be in without feeling like I was dying. DH says it was because my spine was completely flat. I remember the midwife asking if the water was hot enough and I said no and she said it’s as hot as it is allowed. Time is a blur in the tub and it felt like I was in there forever but when I look at the timeline it must have been pretty quickly that I heard a pop. My water had broken and I was a 10. It was go time. I screamed so much pushing that I had a hoarse voice for a few days, so much for keeping my voice low. The only thing that stopped me from asking for the epidural was I knew I would have to get out of the tub, walk down the hall and wait for the anaesthetist and I didn’t have any of that in me.

DD kept coming down and then moving back up. We were so close so often but she was sideways and I just couldn’t get her all the way down. She then told me I had to get out of the tub to birth her since her heart rate was slowing. They helped me out and I knelt on all fours over a bean bag (the position she was born in). I pushed maybe two more times and she wasn’t budging. My midwife then said she needed to do an episiotomy and that she hadn’t done one in years but it was needed in this case. I trusted her and was do whatever you have to. I didn’t even feel it. She told me I had one push to get her out or we would have to go to the ward. So I gave it everything and there she was. The relief!! DD cord was extremely short so she couldn’t be placed on my chest and might have been some of the reason she kept going back up. The good thing about a short cord was it stops pulsing very quickly. DH cut the cord and then my baby girl was placed on my chest for skin to skin.

After some skin to skin the midwife took me to the examination room to stitch me up and I knew when she looked at me it was bad. It was so bad she needed a surgical consult. We had to wait ages for it because of an emergency c section and I was starving and starting to feel some pain. Finally someone was available and it was decided it was just short of being a 3rd degree tear so while no surgery I did need to be stitched up by a surgery resident. I did not want to ask how many stitches but it took a loooooong time. They took me to the birth suite to do it and gave me gas; I needed the drugs by then!! I laugh about the fact I had a med free birth and then ended up off my face on gas.

After we went back to the birthing room and our parents came to visit. I showered and had a last check up around 3pm and after that we went home. Going home that day is one of our favourite parts of the experience. We had an easy night with DD (the next two not so much) and we did it in our own bed. It was wonderful.

It’s amazing how time dulls the memory. I remember the pain was horrific but I don’t remember how it feels anymore. I even plan to go back to the birth centre for baby #2 when. I know I wouldn’t have been able to go med free if not for the tub. Next time I will do whatever it takes to make sure that baby is in the right position because back labour is a b*tch!