First Born Birth Story

Jun 5, 2021
5 min read

Updated: Sep 17, 2021

It’s funny how as soon as you have had you’re own baby & been through the process, other women with children look completely different, well for me they did. I had a whole new respect for mother’s & the female body, & my own body! I feel like I just want to hug every mother I meet & tell them how amazing they are. What makes them even more incredible is how different & versatile every individuals birth story unfolds... So, if you’re interested, here is mine!

For those that know me personally, you know I was getting pretty impatient towards the end, the suspense of meeting our baby girl was killing me! She ended up being 12 days past due date, truely the longest 12 days of my life (I’m not being dramatic). On top of this I had my Dad staying with us from Victoria, & due to being so far overdue he had extended his trip & changed his flights twice. I ended up booking in for an induction so he didn’t have to change flights a third time 😅.

I really wanted a natural birth, I was trying everything to try to make this happen..

eating spicy food & dates
Squats
Bouncing/rolling circles on my exercise ball
Constantly sipping on raspberry leaf tea
Sex
Nipple stimulation
x2 stretch & sweeps
Going on walks
Running up hills
Setting a mood with lighting, essential oils & snuggles for my nighttime routine to help get endorphins flowing
Acupuncture (which was life changing - but nothing)

& more but you get the idea...

On the night of the 19th of May after my 2nd stretch & sweep that day, contractions started & excitement was an understatement! It was happening naturally the night before induction!

They started about 10pm & remained consistent mostly 4mins apart... for 10 hours, then fizzled out the next morning 😑 no matter how hard I tried to keep them coming I couldn’t maintain. That 10 hours took me from 0cm dilation to 2cm.

Sick 😒👍🏽

Looks like I’m getting induced 🙄

So in I went to start the process, the first step being the insertion of the balloon. As I was already 2cm I only had 1 balloon inserted at 50ml of water rather than 2 balloons both at 80ml. I was then sent home with the balloon inside me, one of the first in-fact that was able to do so. Stoked! No hospital bed for me!

We left the hospital, not super comfortable but excited for the journey to begin. About 10:30 I had some intense contractions start about 15mins apart. In my mind this was just the balloon doing it’s thing, not actual contractions. What a fool! 🤦🏽‍♀️

They continued to get closer together & more intense as the night went on. I had them laying in bed, man handling the bassinet, in the shower & bent over various surfaces... still thought it was the balloon 🙄. The pain had turned my brain to mush, so I didn’t know what was going on. I just remember thinking “if this hurts, how am I going to deal with labour!?” 😂 hindsight is a beautiful thing.

My balloon had fallen out about 5:30ish am & gave me a small bloody show, that’s when I realised shit was getting real!

Note that the balloon isn’t meant for bringing on labor, it’s just the first step to help with dilation, but I guess being that I had contractions all the night before, my body was just very ready to go, so it didn’t take much.

Almost immediately after the balloon came out my body started wanting to push 😳

At this stage I was still at home & I asked Joel to call the midwife to let her know. Our midwife lived about an hour away so she had called another midwife that lived around the corner from us that was going to meet us at the hospital at 7am anyway to continue the induction process, & asked her to do a home visit first to see where I was at. She had arrived to discover I was 8cm dilated 😅 immediately after observation my waters broke all over our bed 🤦🏽‍♀️ & we were instructed to go straight to the hospital.

Our original midwife had just left her home to also meet us at the hospital & had also rang ahead to fill the bath for us as I was wanting a water birth.

The trip to the hospital that I’d been dreading & didn’t think I’d make it through, had begun, we encountered too many roundabouts & people that were out for a Sunday drive on the way while I was screaming in Joel’s ear with my legs crossed & butt clenched like never before so that I didn’t give birth in the car 😬 Joel was trying to focus on the road, stay calm, comforting me & trying to put soothing music on for me on the way (what a guy 🥰) we arrived to the car park at about 7am where I kept stopping & screaming with contractions in the same dress my waters broke in 😬. Nurses had heard me before seeing me & flew around the corner with a wheelchair 😅thankfully because I was only getting like 2m between contractions, I would not have made it in time. Joel had my bags with my birthing affirmations, salt lamp, diffuser, speaker & fairy lights to create my birthing vibe (what a waste of time 🙈).

We arrived at the birthing suit some time after 7am. I walked in, doors all wide open, stripped butt naked & straight into the bath before my next contraction hit.

I was having this baby in the water!!!

& I did 🥰

I had about 5 contractions total in the water,

On the 2nd, I felt the sensation of her head crowning & freaked out & said to Joel “I can’t do this!” He told me I could ♥️, so on the 3rd contraction the head was not visible & on the 4th contraction her entire head had come out in just one push, the 5th contraction was fast approaching & before I hit the peak & barely a push she was out (7:33am) 🥺🥰

I picked her up & brought to my chest.

I was in shock & Joel was in tears ♥️

The photo listed for this blog has captured all of our emotions the moment I sat back in the water with her for the very first time. We were speechless & immediately in love.

So grateful for the midwife that lived around the corner from us, as she was there to support us the entire time & unfortunately Mila didn’t want to wait for our original midwife to arrive.

But honestly, as hectic as this all sounds, I wouldn’t change a single thing about this process. I was able to spend my labor in my own home, have my water birth, deliver/catch my own baby, remain drug free & be home by lunch time the same day 🧡

It was perfect ✨