Our Marathon of a birth... But We Did It!!
On Thursday July 12th our little earth side Angel Neve entered the world after a marathon labour of 40 hours this was the hardest yet happiest day of my life!!
I went into pre labour Tuesday night around 10pm. I had been getting some period like pain that day and thought that something may have been happening. About 10pm the surges started becoming more consistent and I know it was definitely game on. I tried to watch a movie downstairs but I just become too uncomfortable. Funnily the movie was "what to expect while expecting"..very in theme. I then went upstairs and woke up Levi and then it was all on. I thought I was actually in full labour my surges were coming every 3-5 minutes apart and were pretty intense. We got our hypnobirthing game on and got the fit ball, chairs , wheat pack , affirmations on rotation in our dark bedroom. We laboured all night. I basically would rotate from the bed, to chair to bath and shower. Levi was supporting me through each surge with breath coaching, massage , light touch he was so supportive and didnt sleep a wink. It took me a while to get my breath work correct and I noticed a huge difference from when I was tensing up through a contraction instead of flopping like a ragdoll. I remember thinking how do women get through this when they aren't breathing into it. I had a lot of pain in my lower back and only discovered when my midwife Steph came to check me in the morning that I was only 2cm dilated and was in fact in pre-labour and bub was not in position she was half posterior hence why I went into pre labour so early and I had the back pain. We had to ride it out at home until my surges became more frequent. I remember feeling a bit disappointed as I felt like it was a marathon just surviving the night. I felt exhausted not knowing how much longer I could labour at home for. We spent all of Wednesday in lock down in the dark bedroom, moving once again from bath to shower to bed to chair whatever I found most comfortable as the surges changed intensity quite a bit, but the most break I had was about 10 minutes apart. We listened to the affirmation and relaxation tracks on repeat and Levi was my rock. He had a few cat naps but was there for me through each surge to coach me through. My midwife Steph then came back about 2am Thursday morning to check me and I had progressed to 4cm..still not enough to head to hospital so we spent the rest of the early morning until about 6am where I couldn't take it anymore I needed to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So we headed into the birth centre at GC hospital. I was really worried about the car trip in thinking how would I survive when my lower back was hurting so much but we took the wheat pack and an eye mask (which I highly recommend) I could stay in the zone. Light was my enemy and I wanted to stay in darkness. We met Steph at the hospital and into our beautiful birth suite where I was happy we had our beautiful rainforest mural room. It was 7am but the room was so dark and the candles and fairy lights were on it felt so calm and peaceful. Steph checked me and I was in offical labour 6cm whoo hoo!! This was music to my ears.. after 30 hours we had some PROGRESS. Steph did some spinning babies manuevers on me to help get bub back into position we didn't know until she came out that they had worked!
At 12 noon my labour hadn't progressed much although I was still feeling like I was working hard. I was only 7cm so Steph asked if I wanted to have my waters broken. I said Yes! I needed some progress and although she said it may not speed things up we can give it a good go. As soon as she did I jumped into the shower and things started getting FULL on. The surges were coming in thick and fast and INTENSE. I felt this sciatic pain down my left hip and my left leg felt numb, which meant bub had moved into position. My back was aching through each surge. Nothing felt comfortable but Levi was in there with me coaching me through each breath and surge it was DAMN hard. I was in transition and didnt know it. I was struggling so much and didnt know when it was going to end. Steph started to fill the pool up and I remember thinking HOW LONG IS it taking I need to get in. The pool was the light at the end of the tunnel...my prize at the end. I hadnt requested drugs once and I was soo damn proud of myself although the temptation was there. I knew I wouldn't get the water birth I wanted if I had of. We had planned for a beautiful water birth and after 39 hours of labour I was damn getting it.
I entered the pool at 1:40pm. I couldn't believe how quick the time felt from pushing and breathing through each surge to when she was in my arms. I asked Steph if I should push and she said just do what feels natural. There were some seriously primal sounds coming from me but it felt good and liberating to push her down, I could feel the head moving down and then retracting back. Steph then said "I think I can see the head and this was MUSIC to my ears. I put my hand down and could feel the head, it was so awesome to feel how close we were. I could hear Steph running around getting things ready and I was thinking omg we are HERE. I did another primal push and the head was out wow!!! I was so happy Levi jumped in the pool quick smart as she was coming and he caught her in his arms and brought her to me. The most amazing feeling to have her in my arms after the huge marathon, the surges stopped immediate and I was in love land. I was completely in SHOCK to discover we had a girl as for the whole 9 months I was convinced we were having a boy and had mentally prepared for a boy, although it was a surprise. We just fell in love with her and couldn't believe she was in my arms already , she was perfect in every way. So calm and relaxed , such a water baby.
The next 5 hours flew in our little love bubble. I was also able to birth my placenta naturally which felt like a breeze after bub. I had torn slightly so Steph stitched me up and before we knew it we had a quick lesson in breastfeeding, swaddling and we were on our way home with our little bundle. We got home ordered our favourite Italian and celebrated with a bottle of wine, best day of my life!!
I cannot thank the following people for helping us achieve Neve's amazing birth. My incredible partner and baby daddy Levi who was my rock, supporting me for 40 hours through each surge, massaging me relentlessly , coaching me when it got tough and just being there for me. I felt so loved and supported and it just made me feel safe and secure the labour and to have this beautiful bonding experience together.
My Own Midwife GCSteph from who was my incredible private midwife. I cannot give her enough praise. She supported me through the journey from the start of our pregnancy and her level of experience and made every step of the journey feel calm , relaxed and she knew what she was doing. She was able to move her from being posterior which was AMAZING so we didn't have to use any intervention. Not only was she amazing in the birth she also did home visits for a week and was so helpful with my breastfeeding journey which took a while to get my head around.
Lastly I wanted to thank the beautiful Shari from Belly to Birth who joined us on our pregnancy journey with teaching us the skills from the Hypnobirthing course. We learned so much to prepare us mentally for the birth, remove fear blocks and learn so many helpful techniques which we used in labour and got us through 100% to achieve the birth we wanted. It was a lot of work preparing for the birth but It was all worth it in the end and we thank you so much for helping us through this amazing journey into parenthood.
Let me know if you need anything else
xx
Klara & Levi
Gold Coast
To book into a Hypnobirthing Course with me on the Gold Coast CLICK HERE
To purchase the Journey to birth Online Course CLICK HERE
