I asked him not to go into work and so we just lay in bed for a while. At about 11 am the regular tightening was more noticeable and so I called our midwife to let her know. I lay on the couch and used calm breathing to ride out each contraction, breathing slowly in for 6 counts and out for a count of 8. The calm birthing course taught dad to make sure that I was warm…
As I learnt the theory behind calmbirth I gained a deep confidence in myself and my ability to have the birthing experience I wanted. Everything Tracey taught me made so much sense! I learnt that my body was capable of performing in such a way that would create a joyful birthing memory, and I was looking toward the day that my baby would arrive with excitement….
Our little bundle of joy, Chloe Faith joined the world on Thursday 15th Jan at approx 1:36am. She weighed in at 3.53 kg and was 50.5 cm’s long.
Things started happening about 6:30pm on Wednesday evening and by 11:30pm surges started to intensify, confined only to the buttock area. The midwives at TCH told us to take a panadol and go to bed as this was only early labour and it could be days yet before anything would happen. Well…
The midwives at the hospital couldn’t believe she didn’t take any drugs. And we couldn’t believe how rare a natural birth is these days. It is ridiculous. The caesarian rate in Australia is pushing 30% and in some hospitals 90% of women have an epidural. According to a wonderful course we did it can largely be avoided.
I know this is an organic blog, but this entry is very fitting because it is about a natural organic birth, a process that humans have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years and which every other animal on the planet does all the time….
We were fortunate enough to have attended a Calm Birth Course early in my pregnancy. This course enabled me to view our baby’s birth as something to look forward to, not to dread. It gave me confidence and a firm belief that my body is perfectly designed to birth our baby. My husband, Lachie and I dedicated time to practising ‘Calm Birth’ techniques such as relaxation, visualisation and reciting affirmations throughout my pregnancy. I held on tightly to the knowledge I had gained about the Fear- Tension- Pain theory and worked hard to acknowledge my fears and then let them go.
At 28 weeks I found out I had gestational diabetes, at 29 weeks was put on insulin and was told the most likely outcomes were induction and c section. The very opposite to what we had been aiming for.
I kept up the good eating and exercise where I could around not feeling well. I practiced the birth positions I learnt in my yoga class and calm birth. I tried to stay positive about our birth plan.
I had an amazing, pain free birth experience without medical intervention. I had a very healthy and easy going pregnancy. However, in the last few weeks my usually low blood pressure had gone way up. At 39 weeks + 4 days I had to go to the obstetrician. On a Thursday afternoon I went to see the obstetrician and because of my age (40 years) she strongly advised an induction due to the health risks involved when going past my due date.
I was very disappointed; because I really wanted a natural birth and an induction increases the chance of medical intervention and use of pain relief.
It has been great reading everyone’s stories and seeing all the beautiful bubs being born.
OK…..an exciting adventure happened with the birth of ‘big’ Patrick (which is better told in person….cause it has actions…but I’ll try and write a brief summary for you all).
Sarah was due to deliver on the 21st December (but Sare was certain it would arrive a week early), but Christmas came and went, and there was no action the days following, but last Sunday we had to go to the Birth Centre to check on the little bub etc etc. To our surprise,