We had just accomplished our goal of a calm and positive birth!
I had been feeling some preterm labour signs for the week prior to my due date. I had a dull ache in my lower back accompanied by the feeling that I was getting my periods. On the 29th of July I remember feeling agitated with being pregnant, even though my estimated date was the 1st of August. I decided that I was going to brew and drink my raspberry leaf labour day bomb tea.
Since I was 18 weeks pregnant I had been drinking 1 - 2 cups of raspberry leaf tea per day. The tea is commonly thought of as a uterine tonic that is known to help strengthen and tone the pelvic floor and uterus for labour, making surges strong and effective when the big day arrived.
The theory was that within approximately 48 hours of drinking the tea labour would commence - and so it did.
At 11:36pm on the 31st of July I woke up thinking I needed to go to the bathroom. I got out of bed, only to stand up and hear a loud pop, followed by a flooding gush of fluid. My partner, Blake woke up straight away, finally, I could say, ‘my waters have broken’. A wave of emotions come flooding over as Blake was hugging me, I remember in that very moment choosing to remain calm and mentally strong, I didn’t want to let any fearful emotions in to ensure I was in a calm state of mind for the task at hand. I hopped into the shower and I instantly had quite intense period like cramps. By 12:15am these feelings had increased, and I was having surges 10mins apart. I messaged our midwife - Tanya (from Midwives First) she shared her excitement and advised to get some rest.
My body had other plans, there wasn’t a chance I could lay down to rest let alone sleep. At 12:48pm I lost my mucus plug and by 1:30am I could no longer record my own surges as things had really intensified and my surges were 5 mins apart. Blake had set our bedroom up with Hypnobirthing affirmations playing, we were diffusing essential oils, performing light touch massage and stimulating acupressure points. I worked through the surges with Blake’s support rotating from leaning over the bed, the birth ball and to the shower.
At 2:18am Blake phoned Tanya to let her know that things were progressing and again at 3:24am where I decided I wanted Tanya to come and check on me. Tanya arrived at 4am, she observed me in labour and decided against doing a vaginal exam as she didn’t want to put any pressure on me with time restraints. Blake and Tanya decided that we would stay home and continue to work through the surges and she would come back in the morning or when my surges were 3mins apart and lasting for a minute.
We kept the bedroom dark, continued using the various hypnobirthing techniques that we had learnt, I never looked at time (Blake was keeping track of everything). Blake kept me focused on working through one surge at a time. As labour progressed I found using the tens machine was a good distraction. By 8:30am I was having surges every 2-3 mins that were lasting for approximately 45 seconds not long after that I had the uncontrollable urge to bear down and start pushing. I felt an instant relief from all the discomfort.
Blake phoned Tanya and we decided that we would meet at the birth centre. I thought I was going to have our baby in the car! We arrived at the GCUH birth centre. To my relief and to Tanya’s surprise when she did a VE I was 10cm and my baby’s head was in the birth canal - we were going to meet our baby very soon. I got into the birth pool, my surges had eased once we arrived, I really had to refocus my mind and work hard to bear down with my surges but they were further apart and not as intense. Tanya suggested that we change positions to bring back the intensity, I got out of the birth pool at 11am and walked to the bathroom and at 11:09am I had my baby standing right there. It all happened so quick, we welcomed Poppy into the world all naturally on her estimated date.
Despite having just been through an 11 hour labour I felt amazing, I didn’t feel exhausted, I felt empowered, we had just accomplished our goal of a calm and positive birth. The whole labour really felt like it progressed very quickly, I couldn’t believe it was over with. Tanya complimented me on a rockstar birth and made a special mention to Blake for being an amazing, educated and supportive birth partner, it really was a team effort. The best part - we were home with our baby girl 5 hours after giving birth.
We are deeply thankful to have had Shari teach us the Hypnobirthing course, she provided us with powerful techniques and wonderful support that truly helped us to achieve the calm positive birth that we wanted.
Brooke & Blake
Gold Coast
To book into a Hypnobirthing Class on the Gold Coast CLICK HERE
