Tyler - 2/29/04 (Leap day baby)
Tyler was a surprise baby, and one we got excited about really quickly, and I had a wonderful pregnancy, loved every minute of it.
As all of my family, and all of dh's are in NZ, my father and Ians mother flew over to be with us for the birth - my mother has a phobia of flying, so she couldn't make it.
My 40 week mark was reached on the Wednesday, so the next few days seemed quite endless with waiting, and we tried to fill them with sightseeing with the rellies, and then I awoke on the Saturday morning at 4:30am and realised I was leaking, and thought Wow! here we go!
I started to have some light contractions, and decided to just wander around the house for a while by myself, as everyone else was still asleep.
Ian woke up a couple of hours later, and I told him "I think we are going to have a baby this weekend!" He was just so excited, and a huge grin came over his face.
A few hours later I met my father in the hallway, and told him things were happening, and he looked petrified!
I rang my midwife about 8am to let her know, and she turned up about 10am to see how things were going, and to check my 'leakage' as I was a little concerned about the amount of blood, but she assured me it was fine.
She went home again, to let me labour in peace, and told me to let her know when things started getting quite intense.
She arrived back at about 1:30pm, and by about 4:30pm I was pretty much fully dilated, but my midwife was worried I still had a lip of cervix still present, so she told me to resist the urge to push, until it became completely uncontrollable.
I had been present at my sisters labour years back, and she had pushed on an unripe cervix, and swelled up a lot, and had a very, very long labour, so I think in the back of my mind that fear was quite strong, and made me determined to control this urge until I was given the OK.
The only problem with this, was that I pretty much controlled the urge out of existance, and it never really came back
I had to push with contractions with no urge, and that was pretty exhausting, and progress was very slow.
This continued and my midwives tried all sorts of things, we changed positions umpteen times, i went for walks, Ian and i had some 'snuggle time' we tried herbs and homoeopathics, all to no avail.
So, at about 12:30am, Sunday morning, we made the decision to transfer to hospital, and it was just so disheartening, as Tylers head was visible with each contraction, and it had been that way for so long, but no progress.
My midwife explained to me that they would probably want to use the ventouse on him, and a part of me was heartbroken at the thought, but another part of me was just completely wrung out, and I wanted this baby out by any means.
I really gave up on the whole labour at this point, and refused to push with any contractions, I was completely exhausted, mind body and spirit.
The trip to the hospital only took about 15 minutes, but it was a nightmare ride, as I could not sit properly, and was kind of leaning over towards my midwife, hanging on for dear life.
Ian had not taken any toll money with him, and was going to race up behind my midwife as she paid, and get her to pay for both, but she sailed through the e-toll, so Ian had to do the ''My wife is in that car, and she's having a baby! Let me through!" Luckily they did, or he was set to drive straight through the barrier.
So we arrived at the hospital, and I was admitted into emergency, where a doctor watched me through a contraction, and he told me that I could keep going if I wanted, or he could "help the baby out"
I shuddered when I heard that, and told him, "No, I want to keep going"
They wanted to hook me up to the fetal monitor, but I refused, as I wanted to retain my freedom of movement, so they monitored Tyler with a doppler instead.
I was extremely dehydrated from the hours of pushing - despite drinking in between every contraction - so i was put onto a saline drip, and the effect was amazing and immediate.
I felt a huge surge of energy, and felt ready for anything, and just knew I could push this baby out.
They added some syntocin to the drip, and my contractions picked right up again.
Tyler was born not too long after this, and I was able to watch his birth in a mirror on the floor, as I was standing, leaning over the bed.
I remember the intense feeling of his head emerging, and the burning and stretching, and the wonderful sense of relief as his head slipped out.
He was just looking at my midwife, very calm, and then with the next push, out he came.
I knew i had torn, as there was a sudden spurt of bright blood, but no pain.
Tyler was handed to me, and immediately pooed all over my hands, a sticky black mess. His cord was alittle short, so we put him as close to my breast as we could until his cord stopped pulsing and turned white, then it was cut, and he went to my breast, and had a little suck and a nuzzle.
After such an exhausting experience, i simply did not want to know about pushing the placenta out, I was actually afraid of pushing by this stage, and ended up coughing my placenta out.
I was stitched up, i had a shower, and then we packed up and off home we went, after having to sign self discharge forms, and all collapsed into bed at home for a well earned sleep.
EDITED TO ADD - I have since had a successful HB, with a 4 hour labour, and intend to freebirth my next baby, as I believe that the well meaning intervention of my midwife (who I love dearly) actually disturbed my natural birthing process to such a degree that I ended up transferring to hospital...I did not know any better at the time, now I do, and I will take back my power, and listen to my body.
Tyler was a surprise baby, and one we got excited about really quickly, and I had a wonderful pregnancy, loved every minute of it.
As all of my family, and all of dh's are in NZ, my father and Ians mother flew over to be with us for the birth - my mother has a phobia of flying, so she couldn't make it.
My 40 week mark was reached on the Wednesday, so the next few days seemed quite endless with waiting, and we tried to fill them with sightseeing with the rellies, and then I awoke on the Saturday morning at 4:30am and realised I was leaking, and thought Wow! here we go!
I started to have some light contractions, and decided to just wander around the house for a while by myself, as everyone else was still asleep.
Ian woke up a couple of hours later, and I told him "I think we are going to have a baby this weekend!" He was just so excited, and a huge grin came over his face.
A few hours later I met my father in the hallway, and told him things were happening, and he looked petrified!
I rang my midwife about 8am to let her know, and she turned up about 10am to see how things were going, and to check my 'leakage' as I was a little concerned about the amount of blood, but she assured me it was fine.
She went home again, to let me labour in peace, and told me to let her know when things started getting quite intense.
She arrived back at about 1:30pm, and by about 4:30pm I was pretty much fully dilated, but my midwife was worried I still had a lip of cervix still present, so she told me to resist the urge to push, until it became completely uncontrollable.
I had been present at my sisters labour years back, and she had pushed on an unripe cervix, and swelled up a lot, and had a very, very long labour, so I think in the back of my mind that fear was quite strong, and made me determined to control this urge until I was given the OK.
The only problem with this, was that I pretty much controlled the urge out of existance, and it never really came back
I had to push with contractions with no urge, and that was pretty exhausting, and progress was very slow.
This continued and my midwives tried all sorts of things, we changed positions umpteen times, i went for walks, Ian and i had some 'snuggle time' we tried herbs and homoeopathics, all to no avail.
So, at about 12:30am, Sunday morning, we made the decision to transfer to hospital, and it was just so disheartening, as Tylers head was visible with each contraction, and it had been that way for so long, but no progress.
My midwife explained to me that they would probably want to use the ventouse on him, and a part of me was heartbroken at the thought, but another part of me was just completely wrung out, and I wanted this baby out by any means.
I really gave up on the whole labour at this point, and refused to push with any contractions, I was completely exhausted, mind body and spirit.
The trip to the hospital only took about 15 minutes, but it was a nightmare ride, as I could not sit properly, and was kind of leaning over towards my midwife, hanging on for dear life.
Ian had not taken any toll money with him, and was going to race up behind my midwife as she paid, and get her to pay for both, but she sailed through the e-toll, so Ian had to do the ''My wife is in that car, and she's having a baby! Let me through!" Luckily they did, or he was set to drive straight through the barrier.
So we arrived at the hospital, and I was admitted into emergency, where a doctor watched me through a contraction, and he told me that I could keep going if I wanted, or he could "help the baby out"
I shuddered when I heard that, and told him, "No, I want to keep going"
They wanted to hook me up to the fetal monitor, but I refused, as I wanted to retain my freedom of movement, so they monitored Tyler with a doppler instead.
I was extremely dehydrated from the hours of pushing - despite drinking in between every contraction - so i was put onto a saline drip, and the effect was amazing and immediate.
I felt a huge surge of energy, and felt ready for anything, and just knew I could push this baby out.
They added some syntocin to the drip, and my contractions picked right up again.
Tyler was born not too long after this, and I was able to watch his birth in a mirror on the floor, as I was standing, leaning over the bed.
I remember the intense feeling of his head emerging, and the burning and stretching, and the wonderful sense of relief as his head slipped out.
He was just looking at my midwife, very calm, and then with the next push, out he came.
I knew i had torn, as there was a sudden spurt of bright blood, but no pain.
Tyler was handed to me, and immediately pooed all over my hands, a sticky black mess. His cord was alittle short, so we put him as close to my breast as we could until his cord stopped pulsing and turned white, then it was cut, and he went to my breast, and had a little suck and a nuzzle.
After such an exhausting experience, i simply did not want to know about pushing the placenta out, I was actually afraid of pushing by this stage, and ended up coughing my placenta out.
I was stitched up, i had a shower, and then we packed up and off home we went, after having to sign self discharge forms, and all collapsed into bed at home for a well earned sleep.
EDITED TO ADD - I have since had a successful HB, with a 4 hour labour, and intend to freebirth my next baby, as I believe that the well meaning intervention of my midwife (who I love dearly) actually disturbed my natural birthing process to such a degree that I ended up transferring to hospital...I did not know any better at the time, now I do, and I will take back my power, and listen to my body.
