It was a Wednesday.
I was booked in to see the Midwife at the hospital for our first over-40 weeks visit. They checked us over and we were both happy, healthy and well. I decided to allow the nurse to perform a stretch and sweep to help encourage things to move along more naturally.
All day Wednesday I had strong (what I thought were) Braxton hicks. By Wednesday night, I woke up to tightening and a strong urge to use the toilet. I decided to go back to sleep, only to be woken up again an hour later. Again, I went back to sleep... to be woken up again an hour later (at 2am Thursday morning). I decided this time to run a bath and monitor these surges and tightness I was feeling. After an hour I established that these tightenings were 5-6 minutes apart over the hour I was recording.
I woke up me other half and continued with his support. After a few hours my husband decided to call the hospital to confirm what we should do. We headed into hospital for them to confirm we were indeed labouring. We decided to head home until surges were closer together.
The day goes on, and by midday the surges started to ease. This allowed me some time to rest and regain strength. I was so comfortable, I was able to go to sleep with my hubby. I was woken up at 2am with stronger surges so I run a bath again, and sat and observed.
5 minutes apart and lasting a minute each.
By 6am, I wanted to go to the hospital. I wanted space to mobilise and to settle into my birth space. We were blessed with a graduate midwife who had experienced a Hypnobirth in her student placement. She was supporting us with our preferences. By midday, my surges started to ease again. I didn't realise this was my body preparing for the next stage. The midwives checked my dilation and I was 8cm and we were both doing really well. Many of the Midwives appreciated our calm and relaxing environment.
Here comes 1pm... shift change. Meaning a change of Midwife.
Our new midwife was a wonderful midwife and I appreciate the help she gave us. However, she just didn't have the same vision as us for our birth. At this vulnerable stage we took advice we wish we thought through a little further. Which lead to her performing an ARM (artificially broken waters) to "speed things along".
My surges came on like hot cakes, and this was the first moment where I lost sight of my plan. Thankfully my amazing birth partner kept caring for me and reading scripts to help relax me again. An hour went by; I hit the turning point. Transition.
I said “I don't think I can do this, I think I need the epidural” ,reaching out for help. As our first time birthing we didn't realise in the moment that was the “Baby is coming” sign Jess talked about in class. The midwife obviously didn't see it either, because she went ahead preparing for the epidural. By the time the anaesthetist was ready to go, I was starting to push! I walked over to the shower to birth in there with dim lighting.
Unfortunately, my little man's heart rate wasn't coming back up as quickly as it was going down, so the assistance button was pushed and I ended up with a room full of help. An episiotomy was performed and 6 pushes later Thomas Liam Theodore Whalley was born.
At 10:53pm Friday the 29th of March in Ipswich Hospital. Weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 53.5 cm long.
He came out as calm as ever and cuddling his umbilical cord. A sample of his blood was taken after delayed cord clamping. He wasn’t effected by the experience at all - he had no idea he had frightened the midwife. He was very happy and healthy. We couldn’t be more blessed to have such a perfect boy. We overall loved our Hyponobirthing experience and can't wait to do it again next time with Jess! ❤️
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