I had been imagining how my babies birth would go for months before my 'due date'. I always pictured a long labour being my first, and had 'labour projects' in mind for my gradual first stage which I thought would last at least a day! I had been preparing our 'birth room' for weeks, hanging mandalas and making comfy soft spaces for me to get into different positions. We also had a birth pool, and on my due date, Geoff had pumped it up to check it and we left it up ready to go. I also imagined going quite far over my due date, as almost all first babies I knew of friends had come quite a few days after their date. Let me just say; none of what I ever thought or imagined beforehand actually came true! However, I do believe that all the preparation I did before my labour started helped lead to the incredibly smooth and fast birth that happened in the early hours of the 27th February 2013. The day after my due date had passes and Geoff and I had been watching a film that evening. I'd had no pre-labour signs that day at all. I'd been shopping in town, swimming at the pool and felt really good into the evening. I wen to bed with no feelings that our baby was soon to be on its way that night. I somehow remember being in a very deep sleep though just before waking up, and Geoff said I had sleep talked in the early hours. All I remember is waking suddenly at 1.15 with warm water trickling between my legs. 'Oh my god' I said, and went straight to the loo to find dark yellowy brown liquid slowly coming of me.I called Geoff, and said I thought this was it. I felt a bit scared all of a sudden and the colour of the waters was worrying me. I knew it was maconium, but was much more than I thought to be normal. Eventually the trickling slowed down and I put on a sanitary pad and went back to bed. We decided to take our doulas advice and 'always assume its not labour', even though I knew my waters breaking was a pretty good sign that things were well under way! Geoff said we should try and get some sleep but as soon as I lay back down my contractions started. They came as waves of period-like pains and were 4-5 minutes from the start. Again, I felt confused as I always thought they would start off much slower and less regular. They were coming stronger with every surge, so I got up and started 'nesting'; tidying up and arranging the birth room how I wanted it. I lit candles and put in my hypnobirthing cd, and made a mound of cushions which I leant forwards on and managed to sort of doze in between contractions. I was all alone and it felt right. Geoff was asleep and I wanted to call our doula, but as it was the middle of the night, I decided to hang on until I felt it was necessary. I circled my hips during each surge which eased the sensation and tried to do the long, slow breathing I had practiced. By 4am, I felt I needed to call our doula as things were progressing quickly. She said I sounded like I was coping ok, and that she would try and get some more sleep and to call straight back if I felt I wanted her to come. She obviously though that our baby was a way off coming, as did I as I! I continued to labour through the early hours on my own. Time had completely warped as the hours passed without me being aware, and by 5.45 I was unable to stay still any more and had to walk around and lean on a windowsill with each surge waving through me. I moved my hips in big circles until the feeling floated away and I was able to do things as normal in between. I made a pot of ginger tea and cut up some pineapple to eat, but as soon as I ate some, I felt immediately sick and threw up in the sink. Then I had a big bowel movement, which blocked the toilet! By 6.30 I needed to call our doula as each surge was getting more and more intense and I knew things were moving fast. I could still talk fine in between surges, so she said she would take a shower and head over, so would be an hour or so. I then woke Geoff and told him he needed to unblock the loo! He gradualy got up and started emptying the toilet with buckets into the garden, while I moved around the birth room groaning and feeling the intense pressure building up in my pelvis. This carried on until 8.30 when our doula turned up. By this time I was on my knees and forearms raising my pelvis up in the air, making deep noises as each surge built. I was mid- contraction when I sensed her standing by the door, and as it faded away, she said in her calm voice; ''well this all looks really good and positive. Certainly looks like labour to me!'' She asked if I wanted to call a midwife and I said I thought so; 'I feel like the baby's coming!' I said! Geoff called medicom and was told that a midwife would call back in the next 15 minutes. I had another ig surge. It felt like a wave of intense sensation flooding my body from my pelvic floor, with a huge weight bearing down on it. It was starting to burn, and I threw up in the bowl again. Geoff tried rubbing my back but I threw his hand off me. Our doula then suggested that I might want to try moving, and sit on the loo. She and Geoff helped me up and I sat on the toilet, when another big surge came, which made me feel really open. I cant describe the noises that were coming out of me.. they were so deep and like nothing I could ever repeat, right from my core. I then put my hand down to feel between my legs. 'I can feel a head but my skin is still covering it! I've not opened at all.. There's not even a hole!' I wailed to. I could feel a round head shape covered in tight wet skin, which I funnily thought was my own. Our doula said, ' Are you sure they're not the baby's membranes covering its head?' ''Aaaaaggggghhhhh!!'' I had no idea what was happening anymore and was in a complete state of giving myself over to my body. I could do no more other rthan accept each surge knowing my baby knew what to do. It hurt alot but I felt strong, and safe with Geoff holding onto me. Just as another surge and my bellowing sounds faded off, Geoff said he needed to pop outside for a wee. Our doula said 'good idea, the man needs to take care of himself too!' so he left and I was resting, head in hands on the toilet.Our doula grabbed a bath towel off the rail and told me to gently lift myself up so she could put the towel over the toilet bowl under my bottom. I suddenly came back to, and started suggesting other towels that might be more suitable! Why was she doing this? I wondered. Surely I'm not giving birth here, on the loo. I put my hand down again and felt this huge bulge, still covered in smooth tight skin. My skin I said again. I'm not even open! How I could not be open at all and have this much sensation I couldn't understand, but I really thought that my skin was completely over this baby's head. As the towel was cradling underneath me over the toilet bowl, I started to bellow from this deep strong place as a burning feeling came to my vagina and then, pop! I heard a little cry! ''Oh my gosh!'' I think I screamed out. Geoff was still outside and our doula leaped up and ran to the back door shouting ''Geoff, Geoff!'' I was all alone with my baby's head coming out of me. It all happened so fast then. Rachel ran back in and held my hand as another surge came and out came a body, sliding out of me just as Geoff ran into the bathroom. He got straight down and scooped up our baby from the soft dry towel which had caught our baby, and scooped her staright up to me. ''Its a girl!'' He said. I couldn't believe what had just happened, and we had a girl! I had been thinking I was carrying a boy the whole time! I was ecstatic elated, in shock and holding out new born baby girl in my arms against my bare chest. Our doula simply said, ''She's the most beautiful baby ever!'' and went to find a duvet which she draped over the three of us to make us a little dark den. The three of us stared at each other and we welcomed our baby girl into our world. She was so fresh and scrummy. I couldn't stop smelling her! We kissed and snuggled and were left completely alone to bond in our first minutes together. I didn't even think about a midwife not being here the whole time until Geoffs phone rang and he had to get it as it was a midwife calling us back. It also happened to be the midwife I had seen the whole way through my pregnancy. I was so happy that she was coming, as she knew me and was very calm and quiet. She asked how I was doing. ''Very well'' Geoff said smiling. ''She's just had a little girl!'' Obviously, the midwife was rather shocked, and said she would come straight away. So we carried on bonding under our duvet sat on the loo. About 20 minutes later, the midwife arrived, and seeing that all was well, started on her paperwork. She had began nuzzling my breast by this point, and was feeding keenly. Our doula had thought to check the time about 5 minutes after the birth.. 9.05 so we estimated the time of birth to be 9am. Half an hour after Rachel arrived, two hours after Geoff got up and just 7 and a half hours after my water broke. An hour must have passes of me sitting on the loo holding our baby, when the midwife started asking if I was feeling contractions for the placenta coming. I could, but nothing had happened yet. They suggested I move to the birth room and lay down to see if it would come. After about an hour and a half, no placenta had come so we decide to cut her cord incase i needed to have the injection, and so Geoff could hold her. Geoff cut her cord. and I had an injection in my thigh to help make my uterus contract an release the placenta. We left my body to do the work for about another hour, but still nothing, although I could feel contractions coming and going. The midwifewas on the phone to her supervisor at the hospital alot, an seemed to be getting pressure from her to get my placenta out! Beside me, our doula was calmly repeating, ''It will come. I can see it coming. It will come.'' I did lots of visualisation too, but the longer it went on an nothing happened, the more anxious I got. the midwife was able to pull on the cord now that I'd had the injection, but when she pulled, I was in agony. we realised that I had popped out some big piles whilst giving birth, and also torn an grazed my perineum so the combination of these things hurt alot when she pulled. She tried about 5 times, each time I gritted my teeth until I couldn't bear it any longer. Both the midwife and our doula suggested they leave the three of us alone while Our baby fed and Geoff did some nipple stimulation on me, so were left alone to bond and get some extra oxytocin flowing! It was a relief to be left alone for a while and let my anxieties slip away, although still, nothing happened. When the midwife came back, she told us that her supervisor was telling her that I should get transferred to hospital to have the placenta remove in theatre. Leaving the nest we had made and getting in an ambulance after everything going so perfectly so far made me really upset, and I expressed how much I really didn't want to go in. The midwife was very understanding and in her calm way, gave us more time to let my body do what it needed to do. I felt that it was the painful piles which were blocking the birth canal, restricting the placenta coming out. I was given some paracetamol to ease the pain, so see if she could pull a bit harder. Our doula then suggested I tried laying on my side and held the piles with a pad whilst the midwife pulled. Until then, I had been laying semi-recomberant on my back, with most of my weight on my backside.It was now nearly 5 hours after the birth and I was even starting to prepare myself for the fact I might have to go into hospital and be separated from my baby for the first time and go to theatre. I was deeply upset by this thought, so visualised strongly the placenta coming freely from me. I lay on my side while the midwife guarded my uterus with her hand. I held a pad over my bum tightly, and relaxed and breathe out fully. Geoff said he would try wheat he dd at the moment of birth, and go outside for a pee! Our baby fell asleep by my side. Geoff left the room, I held my backside tight, and moaned as I breathed out.... and out it came!! Ahhhhh! It was the biggest relief of my life. We all cheered and Geoff came back in to see the magic that had occurred! It was big and dark, 'like a cabbage' as Geoff described it. We asked to keep it as I wanted tp plant it under a baby tree for her. Our birth time was complete. We had come full circle and were ready to embark on our new journey together outside of the womb. I needed stitches inside and outside, which were uncomfortable but not painful, and Fern stayed awake with us whilst I got them done. Once all finished, the midwife began tidying everything up and our doula ran us a herbal bath which was the best bath I've ever had. Warm, healing, bathing my new, post-birth body with our newborn baby on my chest. Once bathed, Geoff swaddled her and our doula sent us all to bed. It was now about 5.30 and I'd not eaten much more than some pineapple chunks and drank loads of coconut water all day. I'd not felt at all hungry, but suddenly it hit me and I was ravenous! Geoff made us miso soup and heated up a veggie curry, then we all snuggled up in bed and re-fueled with our little girl by our side. What a day. I fell into a few hours of deep sleep next to our baby. I couldn't have dreamed of a more perfect first day for our girl, in our home, no interventions and just her daddy and our lovely doula by our side. I felt like the luckiest girl ever to have such an amazing experience I'll never know for sure if all the preparations during my pregnancy made it what it was, or if I was just lucky, but I am thankful for the knowledge and practices I received during our special 9 months. I would do all the yoga, massage, acupuncture and nutrition that I gave to myself and our baby in my belly again without doubt. And yes, I would do the whole thing over again for sure! But now, it's our special time. We love our Fern Aila beyond belief. Birth is amazing, what ever turn it takes!
Our first bath together in healing salts and herbs. Pure bliss!
Just given birth!
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