I instinctively felt down to see if I could feel her head and said to Riley “I swear that is her head”
I started getting period style cramps at 10am, and unbeknown to me I started getting contractions around 11.30am.
My mucus plug came away at 3.30pm during a super intense contraction. I called Riley straight away and told him told him come home from work. I spoke to two of my midwife friends to confirm my mucus/blood show looked normal, then called my mum and my sister to let them know.
Once Riley was home I then called the hospital at 4.20pm to let them know that things were starting. At this point I hadn’t recorded the time between my surges because I assumed I was in early labour as they weren’t too intense. I got Riley to begin recording the surges in an app and before we knew it things sped up real quick.
Initially at 3.35pm they varied from 30 seconds to just over 1 minute long at 4-9 mins apart. By 5.15pm they were averaging 2 mins apart!
We left for the hospital at about 5.30pm because I was sitting on the toilet having a surge and vomited, broke into a sweat and felt the urge to poo/ bear down and push. I didn’t want to get off the toilet as I felt the urge to bear down and was comfortable there. I was clearly transitioning as I said to Riley, “We need to get to the hospital or call an ambulance I am scared, I can’t be at home any longer.”
Riley stayed so calm – he called the hospital, raced the bags down, pulled the car out and ready, and called my sister to look after the dog. I somehow I managed to get myself off the toilet and into the hall way wear I had another surge. We managed to get me into the car.
I felt the urge to poo/ bear down three times on the drive to the hospital. We got to the hospital and Riley got a wheelchair to wheel me in.
The midwives were unaware I was as far along as I was and I honestly didn’t think I was either so they sent us into the birth suite and went back outside for 5 mins as they were getting everything they needed.
I instinctively went straight on to the loo and had another urge to bear down. My water broke the second time I bared down. I instinctively felt down to see if I could feel her head and said to Riley “I swear that is her head”!
I breath/bared down twice more before the midwife came back. When the midwife came in she didn’t know that I had progressed so quickly and asked me to get on the bed to be checked but I said, “I can’t get off the toilet, I’m comfortable here.
She then came into the bathroom and realised that our baby’s head was almost out and she said, “I can see your baby’s head, have a feel.
She asked what position I would be comfortable in and I wanted to be on my knees. We quickly got me off the loo and onto my knees, leaning over Riley. I bared down another 5 times and then little Nina was born!! The midwives helped me turn around and placed her straight onto my chest. The midwives told me she started crying halfway out. She settled and stopped crying almost instantly once in my arms. We then moved me onto the bed. I had roughly 1.5-2 hours with her on my chest.
I took 47 minutes to naturally birthed my placenta, and Nina latched on during that time.
We chose to stay in hospital for a second night and that worked out amazingly as she cluster fed for 10 hours straight and the midwives helped me with my latch which was super helpful! Riley and I are so grateful for our experience with you and hypnobirthing. I truly believe that labour would not have progressed so quickly for me if I hadn’t done hypnobirthing. I was able to stay calm, use my Clary sage, know to shut the blinds, follow my instincts and most importantly know how to breathe and go into deep relaxation.
Thank you for the huge role you played in our birth, we are both forever grateful.
Kari & Riley, March 2021 Maroochydore