When corinne met willow
For her first baby, Corinne laboured 7 hours at home and another 12 hours at Queanbeyan Hospital before her baby girl Willow was welcomed into the world.
Willow was born with mucus in her lungs so she needed help with oxygen. At the same time, Corinne had started bleeding more than usual and the midwives were also working to control that. Thankfully both were OK after some help from the amazing midwives and OB’s.
Corinne tells her birth story in her own words…
Between 38-39 weeks pregnant I was continuously thinking and googling signs of labour. On Monday 4th July I went for a walk with two friends and their babies (we call ourselves the Karabar Mama's LOL) and on Tuesday 5th I was still experiencing some discomfort which I assumed was from our walk.
From Tuesday through to Saturday morning I was showing signs of early labour such as loose stool, discomfort in the pelvic area and lower back and I lost my mucus plug.
From approx 4:30-5:30am on Saturday 9th I noticed that my discomfort had started to show a pattern. At 5:30am both my husband and I realised that this was the start of contractions, they were very mild and approx 6-7 mins apart.
My mother lives in Tuross and we planned on having her in the birthing room, so I called her and let her know what I was experiencing. I asked her if she thought it was labour, she had no hesitation to get in the car and come straight up. I tried to tell her to wait, let me have a shower and call the Queanbeyan Hospital but she insisted she was on her way.
My husband and I were meant to be attending a first aid course at a friend's house on Saturday for babies, at this point we still had the intention of going, but let them know what was happening. Approx 1 hour later we decided I couldn't go to the course as my contractions were increasing.
I sat in our sunroom whilst my contractions increased, at this point they were varying between 4-5 mins apart and I was having to deep breathe through the pain.
My mum arrived at around 9/10am, she sat with me while we timed the contractions. Once they increased to a point I couldn't talk and were 2-3 minutes apart I told my mum and husband that I thought it was time to go to the hospital. This was just after lunchtime.
Once we arrived at the hospital, I had a long hot shower with the support of gas.
The midwife checked how far dilated I was and at this point I was only 3cm, I was absolutely shocked and knowing how long I had already been having contractions for at only 3cm dilated I knew I couldn't go much further and so I requested more pain relief.
I opted for an epidural, but given the Anaesthetists would be 30mins before he arrived and another 30 to set up, I requested morphine whilst we waited.
Once the Anaesthetists arrived and the epidural was inserted I had the chance to rest, I remember it being dark by this time and so the three of us would try to rest whilst the midwives monitored my contractions and dilation. In between all of this at some point I remember my waters broke and all I kept saying was "OMG, I'm wetting myself, I'm wetting myself", but to be honest this point of my labour is such a blur I know that I was attached to several different drips and that the Anaesthetists had to come back as my right side started to feel all of the pain again.
Unfortunately we didn't get any rest as bubs heart rate dropped, this then started talk about C-section and forceps which really scared me.
The midwife advised they would let me continue for another 30 mins and reassess. Thankfully when they reassessed I was fully dilated and needed to start pushing.
My night midwife was absolutely amazing, she had me pushing in all different positions whilst hubby what at the head end of the bed supporting me with each push. The final push was me laying on my left side with my right leg up on my midwives shoulder. I was pushing for approx 30 mins.
As bub was crowning my midwife showed me with a mirror, this was such a special moment for me I started crying instantly and it gave me so much drive to push even harder with the next contraction. With the next contraction bub arrived and to our surprise we had a little girl who joined us 12:41am July 10th.
My labour started with 7 hours at home and another 12 hours at the hospital.
Unfortunately bub had a lot of mucus in her lungs and wasn't crying, so the OB’s spent some time working on her, she kept reassuring me everything was OK.
However, at this point I had started to have bleed and the midwives were trying to control it. I could see the fear in my mum and husband's eyes for both myself and our little darling girl. It felt like a lifetime that we were both being worked on.
The nurses had to push the red button and advised me that a lot of people were about to enter the room, I instantly heard footsteps running towards my room.
Several nurses were working on myself and our little girl, all I can remember is asking if she was ok and looking at my husband and mum but not saying anything as our eyes sad it all. The bleed was controlled, and bub was ok. It wasn’t until our 6 week appointment that I found out our little one was briefly resuscitated.
I eventually walked myself to our private room to rest and be monitored. The time was now 2:45am Sunday 10th July.
The support that we received was incredible. My midwives were amazing, the OB’s and the Anaesthetists were amazing and although I didn't do anything I planned (dull lighting, music, just gas, keeping my boobies covered, water birth, etc) my overall experience was great, and I couldn't thank Queanbeyan Hospital enough.
What do you wish you knew before birth? More about the struggles of breast feeding.
If you could, would you do anything differently?
No, not at all. I am very happy with how everything took place; it was a wonderful experience.
What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?
My husband isn't great when it comes to blood, needles, etc so I wasn't really expecting him to be able to handle everything as well as he did. He even cut the umbilical cord!
Just having his hand to squeeze, him asking if I needed anything, feeding me, showing me and being by my side encouraging me that I could do it and to keep pushing was a great help.
Seeing the love his has for his daughter and his constant help after the birth is so magical. This journey has brought us even closer!
What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?
Although I was open with my birth plan, I strongly suggest not being set on a birth plan because when in the moment you cannot control the birth and how everything will pan out. Be easy on yourself and allow each moment to take its due course.
