Baby Update – The Birth Story

In the lead up to Noah’s birth I read hundreds of birth stories, and re-read Audrey’s birth story many times. It reminded me of what I was about to go through, what I didn’t want for this birth and that feeling of pure joy when your child is born. It helped me to prepare, especially leading up to 40 weeks pregnant when I felt like I was going to be pregnant forever! So, if birth stories are your jam, read on my friends.

Coming up to 40 weeks

I’ve never actually gone to full term with any of my pregnancies prior to this one (Hannah was born at 37 weeks [c-section due to being breech] and Audrey at 38+5 [VBAC]) so when I reached 39+5 weeks, then 39+6 weeks this time I was well and truly OVER IT. And I was so disappointed every morning when I woke up and hadn’t gone into labour overnight. It’s not a great feeling and I truly feel for everyone who has reached 40, 41, 42 weeks!

Because I had a previous c-section, the option for me to book in for a caesarean was always there, but as last time I had a successful VBAC with no complications, I wanted to go down that route again. For me the recovery was easier than the c-section and having two kids at home I wanted to be able to be up and on my feet as soon as possible. However, if it came to a c-section, I was mentally prepared for that, too.

39+5 weeks

Oh, this time I realised there’s another part of pregnancy that I had never reached before and that I hadn’t heard about yet. I call it the ‘Yep, I’m still pregnant’ phase. (Please feel free to add a ‘f*%king’ in there for emphasis or spice if needed.) It’s the phase when:

• You get zero sleep due to needing to pee every 2.5 minutes
• You get zero sleep due to the fact you think every pain is labour
• You get asked every five minutes ‘have you given birth yet?’ ‘are you in labour yet?’ or the ever-lovely comments in person ‘Ohhh, you’re still pregnant.’ Said with a look of pity in their eyes.

YEP, I’M STILL PREGNANT.

Did I mention that this summer was, I’m pretty sure, the longest summer ever, I mean I’m no meteorologist but I’m pretty sure this summer went for 1000 years. If I had to do it again there is no way I’d be pregnant in summer again. Nope.

For the two weeks leading up to Noah’s birth every day I thought I was going into labour. There was a lot of pre labour pain and frankly in hindsight most of it was wishful thinking. I was just over it. The Friday prior to his due date I asked my mum to come and stay as I was so suuuure I was having the baby that weekend. I was wrong. On Monday morning I had a feeling too, however as it was school holidays and hubby was already on annual leave in advance of the baby’s arrival we went out for breakfast and generally went about our day. That night I was so tired so went to bed early.

The night before

At 9.30pm I felt some sort of pain which was kind of like that feeling you get if you desperately need to pee but have to hold it in because you’re nowhere near a bathroom. That came every 20-30 minutes and I started to time it with one of those free apps. At 1am after no sleep I decided to have something to eat and a couple of pieces of toast later I thought it might be time to call someone to come and watch the girls while we went to the hospital. Hubby’s beautiful sister who had just celebrated her 21st birthday that weekend came over and at 2.30am we went to the hospital. I was still so unsure that it was labour pain I even said to her as we left thank you so much, and I’m so sorry if this is a false alarm.

A note on this: I had all of my births with a private obstetrician and through a private hospital. I am very pro-science and I have always felt less anxious when I’m around modern medicine. This has worked well for me in my situation and I cannot fault the service I have received. I would gladly sacrifice everything else (and have sacrificed much!) to be able to afford private health cover and for me this is a non-negotiable. I know this is not for everyone and please ensure I am not saying this is the only way or the best way – as this is the only way I have experienced birth, this is what has worked for me and is best for my mental health. If you would like any of the specific details on this or my obstetrician please let me know. 

I read a lot of bad press for hospital births and more intervention however in my personal experience the practitioners I have used have always provided alternatives as options and intervention is the last scenario. This is in MY experience though and I urge you to seek professional advice when choosing how and when to have your baby. I know I am very lucky to have positive experiences, and although with my first I didn’t want to know much about childbirth, I believe it is important to have at least a rough idea of what sort of birth you would like. 

The Mater Mothers hospital has a pregnancy assessment centre which is a great thing to know (you don’t need to be booked into the hospital to visit the centre). You can simply present there and be assessed by a midwife. So we rocked up and after my assessment they found I was 2cm dilated and as this was my third and my previous birth was quick I was taken to a room to wait out the labour.

On arrival in the room hubby ordered breakfast (as you do, LOL), I had an apple juice and just waited until the contractions were closer together. At about 8.30am they were ramping up (in pain levels and closer together) so on assessment I was sent to the birthing suite. At this point I was so excited, I knew I was about to meet my baby boy.

At the birthing suite I had a shower and got changed into a hospital gown (for me nothing is as comfortable as a hospital gown, and plus I don’t want to ruin my own clothes!) – it looks amazing I know. Hah.

I had been using a ball to sit on for comfort in the hospital room so I once again resumed my position and found it best to be next to the bed so I could grab onto it FOR DEAR LIFE. I was offered gas and air again but didn’t really find it helped this time, breathing through and sitting on the gym ball was helping much more. I was also offered an epidural but I was adamant not to have one this time. Why?! You might ask. Last time with Audrey I had an epidural and found that because I couldn’t feel much I had no idea what I was doing when it came to pushing. It was only after and hour and a half pushing and my obstetrician mentioning the possibility of forceps that I somehow worked out what the heck I was doing.

After about two hours in the birthing suite the pain went from about 10 to a solid 75 and I was like OH HELL NO. Think of the worst pain you have felt in your stomach (maybe a dose of food poisoning) and times it by about 100 and that is the pain that I was feeling. WHAT IS THIS. I had a lot of regrets, mostly the declining of pain relief. Haha. I had an assessment and yes, I was fully dilated and it was time to push, it was time to have this baby.

My fear at this point apart from not letting the baby go into distress was tearing (yikeeees) so I my obstetrician applied a warm cloth and to cut a long story short, it worked. And although pushing was literally the most difficult thing I’ve ever done I found thinking of other women who have done this before me (at one point I even thought of June from Handmaids Tale, haha!), visualising the baby being born – like the finish line –  really helped. Trust me I’m the least woo person you’ll find and that does sound super new age but it really worked. I have to say hubby was also amazing and I could never do it without him. He is my sense of calm and my voice of reason.

After 20 minutes of this nightmare (but what felt like 45 years) Noah was born. At 11.15 am on his due date, 3.4kg. Both hubby and I liked the name Noah and his middle name is Herman after hubby (after he was born I decided on this as he looked SO MUCH like his dad!). His squishy little face. I can’t! He was so alert and barely cried. He was absolutely perfect. Hubby cut the cord and we donated the cord blood. We then spent a little while in the birthing suite before going up to our room.

That face! (Not mine, don’t look at mine. Haha.)

The girls were staying with hubby’s parents so the following day they came to meet him, and oh my heart. They took to him immediately and Hannah wants to hold him 24/7. We are so very happy. Life is super busy and I can’t believe I have three kids, but we absolutely love it.

Thank you to all of the lovely messages and comments I received both when I was struggling in the last weeks of pregnancy and after the birth of Noah. It really means so much to me and us.