The Birth of Bruce

My last birth was pretty great. 

Although it was my third, it had a lot of firsts..

It was the first one I actually had captured on film (I had planned to with all three, however they say third times a charm). My amazing, generous, and extremely talented friend, Beth (instagram handle @_wildatheartphotography ) captured Bruce's birth, and I am eternally grateful to have these everlasting moments, and I thought I would put some words down as well.

* For context, our first pregnancy was in 2020 with our daughter. We had a planned homebirth and everything was perfect until it wasn't. Tragically, our daughter died during labour, shortly before she was born due to an infection. Our second daughter was born in hospital the following year, perfectly healthy. When I fell pregnant with our third and final baby, I knew in my soul a physiological birth and a homebirth was essential. 

A lazy November Sunday began with my parents picking Madeline up for a swim that morning. Around Midday as I was laying on the couch watching Gilmore Girls, I stood up and my waters released, shocked as that was the first sign of the impending labour and the first time any of my births began with a SROM. I called out to my husband, Chris, who called our beautiful Midwife, Alex, to let her know. Did I mention she was interstate on a business trip? 

Despite my anxious nature and sordid history with birth, I was relatively calm at this point, so I showered and laid back down with my [Gilmore] Girls. About an hour later, I had another big release of waters and still no pain. I called my sister, who I had planned to come for support, and she arrived around 3 pm. It was all so beautifully uneventful for a long time. 

My husband and sister chatted, and we watched Gilmore Girls while I alternated between lying in bed or sitting on the exercise ball. I called my parents to see if our daughter, Madeline, wanted to come home- no surprise...she wanted a sleep over with Nanny and Poppy so I needed to be okay with the idea of not having her there for the birth. 

My surges slowly built, and it was calm and peaceful, just how I had hoped for. Keeping in regular contact with our midwife, she suggested the Miles Circuit to support the process along.. if you don't know what that is, google it. I said, 'Sure.. I'll give that a go' knowing 100% I did NOT want to bring labour on faster (small fear response there, I won't lie). However, I was enjoying the slow build and trying to be as present in the experience as I could. 

As the sun went down, my surges built, and I spent the early evening and night in bed. My husband and sister would check on me but, for the most part, left me in my space to do my thing. They had taken over the communication with our midwife (who was organising flights and transport to us) and photographer, which was great as I had my sole focus on labour. 

By this time, the surges were uncomfortable and building. I had a TENS machine I rented from Jess at Mother Moon on my legs to help the pain, and I was using my voice, which is called vocal toning. This birth, I released all inhibitions about the noise, and using focused, low tones really is incredible pain relief. 

My photographer arrived at some point and around 9:30 pm, while moaning like a cow in bed, I looked up and realised my midwife was just sitting on the end of my bed... looking like a freaking fertility goddess. Now I was safe, my birth team was complete. 

It took a while to coax me out of my dark nest in bed and into the birthing pool (which was my wish). I left my beloved TENS machine and comfortable bed and slid into the water. Water is another incredible pain relief in labour, and I enjoyed its warm embrace and weightlessness. During the surges, I used a birth comb, which was also from Jess at Mother Moon Hypnobirthing, and in between surges, I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep. 

I laboured loudly through the final stages of birth, feeling the pressure build and the baby make their way down. It was uncomfortable, and I knew I needed to move my body and lean into that discomfort. 

This is the mental side of birth; our bodies are incredible and will do incredible things... when our minds allow. I needed my mind to allow this, to trust the process, trust my body, and trust my baby. 

At 11:57pm, that night, Bruce entered the world, and I brought him up straight into my arms.. he was quiet for what felt like an eternity. My midwife was smiling and simply said, 'Water babies tend to take a little longer, just keep talking to them'.

She was calm, so I was calm.. I trusted her to know it would all be okay. When he cried, I felt a rush of emotion, and I cried too. He was here Earthside, safety.

Shortly after, a bit of pushing and my placenta was born, and labour was complete. We sat in the pool for a while, soaking the experience in before moving to the bed. Bruce came in a healthy 4840kg (just shy of 10lb 11oz) and perfect. 

Despite being my biggest baby, I had no tears and felt physically the best of all my births. 

Our midwives cleaned up the birth space while Chris and I became acquainted with our son. Around 3am, we settled into bed, getting some rest before Madeline came home to meet her brother.