We are so grateful for your support this year and completing the hypnobirthing course with you made the arrival of our baby girl, Rose, so magical. It gave us the skills and knowledge to surrender and trust the process.
Rose gave us some clues that she was ready to join us when my waters broke but it was only just a trickle, the trickle was so minimal I wasn’t even sure that my waters had gone. Trusting in my body I just carried on for a few days waiting to see how things would go. Friday came and the tightenings were increasing as was the trickle and I just knew it was time to visit the midwife to confirm if it was actually my waters. Friday evening it was confirmed that my waters had broken and I was in early labour. We returned home excited that hopefully we would meet our baby really soon. The Saturday was our due date and Andrew and I spent the day enjoy a walk in the bush and picnic lunch by the river, all whilst experiencing surges. In the afternoon we met our midwife at the clinic to check on baby. During this visit we spoke about our plan of action.
It was such an honest conversation where we felt empowered to ask every question possible and explore all the what if’s. The recommendation from the OB was for a cesarean given the waters had been broken for five days, but not once did we feel pressured. We came to the conclusion that we felt comfortable with a cesarean given the risk of infection was increasing and I knew my body was trying hard to bring her earthside but it felt like there was something in the way. We planned for the cesarean the following morning with the view of giving my body every chance to get into active labour over night.
As the evening progressed, the surges intensified. We set up our room at home as we had planned and just surrendered to the what would be. I was feeling so successful in the simple fact that my body had gone into labour, I had experienced a contraction and I knew in my heart that our baby was ready to join us. There was very little sleep that night as the surges continued and I used the meditations and visualisations we had learnt in class. Then 4:00am arrived and the sun came up, the surges continued but we still didn’t have a consistent pattern. It was at this point I had a big cry and looked forward to heading to the hospital with excitement as I knew it was the day to meet our baby.
We were met at the hospital admissions desk by our amazing midwife Charmaine and she was with us the whole time. As we waited for our time in theatre I was hooked up to the CTG monitor and could see just how hard my body was working to bring the baby to us, which was comforting. As our time approached the fear of going back to theatre after the experience of our last cesarean started to creep back in, but we talked through our worries with the midwife and Dr Milford and they knew our wishes as we had put together our preferences for a cesarean birth.
I never thought I would say this but our cesarean was a magical and calm experience where both Andrew and I felt like active participants in the birth. We had our own music playing, we knew who was in the room, I took myself to my bubble as they prepped me for surgery, and Rose was delivered straight from belly to chest where we learnt we had a daughter. The first time I held her she was covered in vernix and blood and it felt so raw and real. All checks were done with her on my chest. After five minutes she needed some help to pink up so she was taken over to the little table but I was given a baby monitor and I could see her the whole time. It was these simple little things that provided so much comfort. Andrew stayed with me the whole time in theatre and recovery and we returned to the ward together. Recovery was special as well as Charmaine showed us the placenta and it was just incredible to see. We were so blessed that we were the only ones in recovery so it was a quite and calm space to just stare at our baby and soak up the fact that we had a daughter.
At the start of this pregnancy we set out hoping for a VBAC and I never thought I would say this but in my heart, I know the fact that it ended in a cesarean is the true healing experience we both needed. I got to experience labour as well as knowing that cesarean birth can be beautiful too. I owe this perspective and experience a lot to the tools we learnt from you and for that we are truly grateful.