{Birth Story} : Where I was Born Serie Project | Leslie
Today it is Leslie that will tell her birth story of her second daughter Coco ( you can see her newborn picture here ). She like a lot of us as a traumatic birth for her first one and decided that she wanted to birth her second daughter on her own term .
I think a lot of people who chose to homebirth have had a traumatic hospital birth that pushes them to choose a different path.
My first labour everything was going well, my water broke at 5am and it had meconium in it (I was a week overdue) I rang the hospital midwife and they told me to come in.
Everything was going well. I had a bit of gas and got to 10cm and was told to push. I don't feel like my body was pushing for me, like it was this time. My body obviously knew that my baby wasn't quite in the right position. After about an hour? They got worried about her heartrate and decided to do an emergency c-section.
When I came out of surgery my stomach was still very big. The dr came and asked if I had farted or pooped yet. Nope. They sent me for x-ray etc. I had an ileus (my bowel fell asleep) and the bowel spasms were by far the most painful thing ever. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything, not even water, until I pooped or farted. I had a hose put into my nose down into my stomach to let the gas and bile out and a bag on the end. I wasn't allowed any good pain killers because morphine makes U constipated. I had to take Panadol, thyroid meds, blood pressure meds without water.
All while trying to breastfeed a newborn on my very sore tummy. My baby also turned blue 1 day because she had a heart murmur so she was in special care unit until her oxygen levels rose. My poor husband was so worried about both of us. Hence his hesitation on having a homebirth this time.
Eventually my bowels opened up on day 5 I think. Thank god. It was so horrible.
Looking back now I know that if I had been given more time, my baby might have moved into a better position. Or something else could have been done to move the baby (I think her head wasn't in the right position?). I understand they were worried due to the meconium but I decided then and there that I really never ever wanted another c-section.
So this labour started very much like my last one.
2 days overdue: My water broke early in the morning, 4am, so we started blowing up the pool and got my speakers etc ready. I couldn't really go back to sleep once the pool was up, so I just sat on the exercise ball waiting for my contractions to start and rested as much as I could. I told my husband to go back to bed because I had no idea how long this labour would be but he couldn't go back to sleep either. My last labour was 12 hours from when my water broke to the time of birth (c-section).
I texted the midwife to let her know my water broke and it was clear.
At around 6am my 4 year old woke up and wanted to know what was going on. I thought I wanted her there for the birth, but I decided I needed to concentrate on the labour and she went to her aunties house.
My mother in law came over a few hours later maybe 10am? I honestly don't know a time line, I was not watching the clock on purpose.
My contractions slowly got more intense, and I was putting off getting into the pool until they were closer together, as I had heard a few ppl say "you don't want to get in too early".
I got in once my contractions were getting stronger and 2min apart. My midwives arrived at about 2.30 I just felt I needed them.
i laboured as long as I could in the pool, squeezed my birth comb and listened to my music. After an hour or 2 (not sure) I could feel the urge to 'bear down' (I'd been listening to a lot of podcasts and felt much more prepared for this labour).
I wanted to be examined to see if I was fully dialated but I also didn't want to know, in case I wasn't and then I'd feel discouraged as I was getting really tired.
In order to have the vaginal exam I had to get out of the pool, which I didn't feel I could do. But I think i knew deep down that if I got out, gravity would help bub come.
Finding the energy in between contractions to climb out of the pool and walk to my bathroom was hard. Eventually we decided to go sit on the toilet - so got the energy in between contractions and waddled to the bathroom.
Once sitting on the loo I could feel my body stretching, I was fully dialated. I could feel it was close.
My mother in law had a peak to see if bub was crowning and she was surprised to see thick black hair (my last baby was blonde) she ran out to tell the midwives that I was crowning and they ran in to see.
It was time to birth my baby. They asked me if I wanted to birth in the pool but there was no way I was walking all the way down the hallway back to the pool. I'm having this baby on the bathroom floor.
They scrambled to get a thick foam rug and all the towels and I got on all fours and pushed. I heard someone say the heads out and I was surprised. I had no idea how far along I was. Then an arm popped out, like a little super hero. The midwife asked my husband if he wanted to come and catch the baby. My baby came out pretty quickly after that arm, thank god! My husband caught her and we were excited it's another girl ❤️ born at 5.55pm.
I laid on the bathroom floor with my new baby on my chest and felt so relieved and seen. I was not forced to do anything I didn't want, I was not rushed and I was heard.
Photo taken by her midwife : “ My midwife sent me some photos from my birth. Wasn't the birth place I expected, but also I wasn't expecting a 4.25kg baby 😆
I wouldn't change it anyways 🩷”
I can finally heal from the previous labour and I hope I can convince other mums to listen to their body.
If you would like to be part of my serie “ Where I was Born” like Leslie did, please click here or if you would like me to document your birth, you can find all the information here note that I have special offer for 5 future mum to get your birth photograph all on film