Maddy’s birth story
Date: 21/6/2021
location: wollongong hospital
care provider: midwife at wollongong hospital and alyssa booth doula
My pregnancy seemed to last forever after finding out I was pregnant at only 2 weeks just by a fluke pregnancy test at home. My partner and I were “trying” but “not trying” haha
Fast forward to 34 weeks, when I had my birthing class with Illawarra birth classes and met Alyssa, a local Doula and an all-round amazing person.
I never even knew a doula was a thing until then haha.
The next night I emailed her and almost begged for her to be a part of this special time, I felt like my partner and I were going in blind and that type of support just felt like such a good idea.
That class and her first visits really put in perspective that I wanted a natural physiological birth with no interventions at all if I could avoid it. After all, my body was made to do this.
Fast forward again to 38 weeks on a Friday morning going for a long walk around Wollongong harbour followed by a nice brunch, to that night getting pains that were annoying enough to keep me awake, I had a visit with Alyssa the next day and mentioned it to her, she neither confirmed nor denied this was the start of labour… I tend to get fixated on things so that was wise haha.
That night was even more annoying with the pains being a bit stronger, I started writing every time I had one, it ranged from every 3 minutes to every 12 minutes. I had gotten no sleep. I also had lost some of my mucus plug throughout the afternoon and night.
The next morning on Sunday the pains had eased and we went about our day, come to lunch time and they were back in full force (yeah right!)
Keeping Alyssa in the loop she urged me to get some rest after two nights of no sleep and a very insomniac pregnancy as it was.
At around 5pm the pains were getting worse and I didn’t really know how to handle it, we messaged Alyssa and she came over within the hour.
She watched me for a while to see where I was at in my labour, and I was still only in early labour, and able to hold conversations in between contractions.
The contractions now are very hard to describe but the back pain was next level.
We tried counter pressure for my back, which ended up hurting more because my tailbone had protruded. I was unable to sit or lay down throughout my labour because that pain was worse than the contractions.
I laboured at home for 5 hours with the help of my partner who held onto me with every surge and Alyssa’s encouraging words in the background telling me that each one was almost over and to breathe out the pain, oh and the lovely hot water of my shower!
At around 10pm I had had enough, I was vomiting up bile with every second contraction and the pain had become very intense, I was convinced I needed pain relief now to get through it.
After 3 contractions in the car… wow.
And 3 on the way up to the birthing unit.
Alyssa also made me climb the stairs which I practically ran up because I didn’t want to have a contraction in the stairwell!
We got to the birth unit and met our midwife for the night and she wanted to examine me, I had to lay down for that and it was horrific, she then proceeded to tell me baby was posterior, my heart sank, I immediately thought this was to end in a c-section.
Alyssa stopped that doubt in its tracks and said “we are going to turn this baby”!
Off to the room we went! I wanted a water birth and the lovely big bath seemed very inviting however I never actually stepped foot in it.
Once in the room my Midwife offered me the gas which I said yes please too!
Had two big breaths of it and hated it, I felt like it didn’t work and it was just something else I had to try and focus on, I just wanted my partner to hang on too.
My doula got me on all fours and proceeded to do some spinning babies techniques on me, then she told me she wanted me to squat as much as possible!
Taking advantage of the double headed shower, I squatted in that corner for what felt like a lifetime always having my partner within arm’s reach and Alyssa’s encouraging words in the background, which helped me more than she will ever know.
My midwife urged me to get the probe on my babies head because she was having a hard time telling whose heart rate she was looking at as my resting heart rate is quite high as it is.
I had told her that the first time she had asked and my doula who was a massive advocate for me, also told her multiple times as well.
Eventually I said yes because she was getting worried about the baby.
That meant I needed to be examined, have my waters broken and the probe inserted into his head.
I had to lay down for that which was horrible, but the breaking of my waters was a lovely relief.
Once it was over, she told me I was 10cm dilated.
The rest of the timeframe and events is a bit of a blur to me.
I had a-lot of pressure but I felt like I just needed to poo and it wasn’t happening at all, I had also lost the ability to void my bladder.
At some point Alyssa said do you want to get into the bath or on the bed, I opted for bed.
On my knees hanging over the bed is where I started to push “push to poo” someone said,
And my mind instantly went oh yes, I can do that!.
I want to say I was pushing that way for about 20 minutes or so holding on to my partners hand before my midwife said you need to flip over to your back and push this baby out. (I found out later that his heart rate was dropping and the cord was around his neck).
If I was in my right mind, I probably would have put up a fight because of the pain in my back and because I wanted to use gravity to push him out, but I went willingly!
Over I go and up my legs went and 3 painful pushes accompanied with absolute banshee screams and my partner in a headlock… sorry…. later and my baby boy was born and 3.34am.
Minor complications to myself and baby after birth meant he went to the NICU so I didn’t get to have my golden hour I wanted but he was safe and being cared for and that’s all that mattered.
I can’t begin to explain how crazy the whole experience is to think about now.
From thinking I was never going to have children to my baby boy in my arms, life seems complete in a way now.
