After moving to the Sunshine Coast at 30 weeks pregnant, my partner and I decided to still give birth in Brisbane with our private obstetrician. Making the decision on when to leave the Sunshine Coast to get to Brisbane in time for the arrival of this baby became quite the task. We tried to think of every scenario and have a solution. A friend said to me I’m sure the decision will be made for you and that’s exactly what happened.
I woke up on Saturday (39+4) feeling quite irritable and feeling the need to leave the house. We decided to go out for lunch, I felt quite uncomfortable whilst out and for the rest of the day. During the night I felt a tad restless and couldn’t get comfortable. On Sunday I woke up feeling the same irritable, tired and uncomfortable. Throughout the morning I had some tightening type feelings in my stomach but I just kept thinking it was the baby moving around. I kept thinking to myself this isn’t what early labour felt like the first so it must not be it. I also didn’t want to make an early call that it was labour, drive to Brisbane and be told it was a false alarm.
We went for an afternoon stroll to the park with our toddler, still just feeling uncomfortable and thinking not much of it.
Once home I decided to have a lay down and started to feel cramps that started to feel like early surges. At this stage my partner and I decided to wait a little longer before making the call.
At about 9pm I felt the need to turn off all the lights and sit quietly watching tv. I started to get some stronger surges and thought I should start to time them. They were roughly about 10 mins apart and with each one I felt the need to move and breathe through it. We then decided it was time to head to Brisbane with an hour and half drive ahead of us. We put our toddler in the car luckily he stayed asleep and I made myself comfortable in the back seat. At this stage I was very thankful for my pregnancy pillow. I remember thinking to myself I can do this, I can hold on until we get there.
I buried my head into the pillow and hugged the passenger seat. With each surge I would breathe through it as I couldn’t really move. I would say to myself
I welcome the surge and I let it go
as I would breathe out. In between I would return to my bubble of comfort.
With 15 minutes to go, I asked my partner how long it would be as I could tell my surges were getting more and more intense. My partner was quietly timing them and they were now at 3 minutes apart. With 7 minutes to go I started to feel hot and felt the need to move and my breaths became more primal. At this stage I said to my partner we just need to get there before I need to push! I felt a small pop and knew that was my waters releasing, as the exact same had happened in my first labour.
We arrived at the hospital and my partner handed over our toddler to his parents. I began walking into the hospital having a number of surges along the way. I kept my head down and eyes mainly closed. I reached the foyer and felt my body take over with the urge to push. I yelled out "I need to push and I think I’m going to vomit!" All the midwives came running over and I was asked to get into the wheel chair to get into the birthing suite. At this stage I could not sit down and had to kneel. A midwife said to me you are safe now and I felt this weight lifted off my shoulders and my body relax even more.
In the birthing suite a midwife said to me "I don’t know if you can push because we haven’t checked you yet". I knew the baby was just there. I wasn’t pushing intentionally my body was doing it all, but I gave her permission to check. I had another whole body surge whilst standing leaning forward on the bed and I could feel the baby crowning, the ring of fire! I could hear the midwives were worried they wouldn’t be able to catch the baby and couldn’t find a soft mat, so I was asked to kneel up on the bed. Once up on the bed on all fours, my body did the rest of the work with one more surge and our little one was born!
We had a little BOY, Otis! It was so magical and a release of emotions. He was perfect and we made it on time however our obstetrician did not. My partner said it was 10 minutes from arriving at the hospital to him being born.
I planned for delayed cord clamping but as Otis was born quickly the midwife felt he needed some oxygen after a minute of cuddling him. I also opted for the injection to assist with giving birth to the placenta. I had a second degree tear, so our obstetrician did make it for that part.
For the next few hours my partner and I just kept looking at each in shock! Shock that it all happened so quickly and that we actually made it to the hospital in time. Our little man had his own plan all along! Our bodies are incredible.
I want to thank Jess from Mother Moon Hypnobirthing for teaching us all her knowledge as it allowed me to stay calm and in control whilst also letting go and trusting myself and my body. I did it!