When sinaed met athena
Sinaed shares her pregnancy and first birth in the peak of COVID-19, her transfer of care at 28 weeks and her long three day ordeal of induction before she was whisked into an emergency c section to bring little Athena into the world.
Sinaed tells her birth story in her own words…
Every birth story is different but I feel my birth story will perhaps resonate with other new mums. I found out I was pregnant at the height of the pandemic and was stood down from my employment for my safety as per the recommendations of WHO (I worked in a local GP’s office which saw COVID infected patients so at the time I was considered a high risk).
My pregnancy was by far not smooth - I dealt with SPD (Pubis Dysfunction, BMI, so called ‘high risk’ issues and so on).
I started my journey in the Canberra Hospital but at 28 weeks I was appalled with the subpar, confusing care and so I transferred to Calvary. A lot of information was thrown at me and I went down the rabbit hole of ‘too much research’ and sort of gave myself anxiety.
When I moved to Calvary I was closely monitored for less foetal movements (my daughter had a habit of disappearing for times which was quite scary). At 32 weeks, an ultrasound showed that my daughter had shot up from the 55% to the 85% and was approximately 2 weeks bigger than her gestation. At that point I was even closer monitored every 2 weeks until I hit 35 weeks and then it became weekly. At 38 weeks she was measuring 41 weeks and an induction was scheduled. At this point I was so uncomfortable I did not care however, I also did not think clearly about the risks involved.
On Tuesday 22nd of October, I was brought in and started my induction process. I was 2cm, cervadil placed and left for 24 hours however it did nothing. During the observation process one of the OBGYN on call advised that based on my daughter position she thought it was highly likely I would end in a C Section as the balloon would push my daughter back up my birth canal rather than down. She recommend I seriously think about whether I wanted to go ahead. I definitely didn’t want a C Section but I also knew that my husband had limited time off and also my in laws would be down soon, so the quicker she came the better. I remember discussing with my beautiful midwife the pros and cons, and ultimately the decision was up to me. On the Wednesday, I had the balloon placed and overnight it did work but not to the best effect.
Come Thursday morning at 8am the balloon was removed, I had accelerated to 3cm which was enough to get my waters broken. My waters was broken, Pitocin started and my birth playlist (courtesy of my bestie) was played. By 9am I was having some strong contractions and across a 12 hour period me and the gas and I became besties. I was having active contractions as well - 4 contractions lasting a minute in a 10 minute period.
My husband was the best and my mother was allowed to join intermittently and I was glad. Because of COVID rules I was only allowed 2 support people but my mother was only allowed during the day. From 9am to 9pm I waddled, bounced, breathed, danced and utilised the infinite amount of hot water to get through the contractions. My partner feed me, made me tea (by this time I was exhausted) and made me laugh when I was inhaling the gas.
I was so determined to do this naturally but unfortunately I did not progress past 4cm by 9:30pm. I remember breaking down when the doctor told me that a c section was best, I kept saying ‘I’ve failed, my body has failed, I am not strong enough’. I was crying and for a while I refused to sign the consent form.
I remember one of the midwives who had been with me in antenatal care come up to me and she gave me the biggest hug, and she said ‘You haven’t failed, your body hasn’t failed. You are just doing this another way and that’s okay. You’ve done amazing and you will continue to do amazingly.”
She was my mum in that moment and she was what I needed to hear to do that c section. I do not think without this care I would have agreed and my husband more than likely would have had to step end.
So after a long three day ordeal of induction I was whisked into an emergency c section and my cheeky red head was born at 10:34PM weighing 7lb 9oz and 55cm long.
Apparently during my c section the nurses and paediatrician were joking she was going to be a 10lb baby because of how far in gestation she was but I believe she was just long (given that her father is 6 foot and as is most of his family) it seemed plausible she was just long.
By this time, I had been in the hospital 3 nights almost 4 days and because of the c section they wanted me to stay longer. I grew up with a RN for a mother who dealt with a lot of surgery so after I got out she sent my husband a message to encourage me to get out of bed as soon as I was ready and move to start the healing process. I had to beg the nurses to let me up and come 1pm the following day (Friday) my beautiful midwife Gai (I believe was her name) came in and got me up. She joked that she knew I’d want to get up and so she came to check on me first. She sent dad with baby to have her hearing test, helped me to the shower, changed my linen and taught me how to swaddle and breastfeed. She was a true blessing. By the end of the day I was up and walking around the ward.
I did end up getting my medical record so that I can learn from my birth and I found out that my daughter was having heart decelerations hence the concern when I did not progress far enough.
Knowing all that I do now and looking back at my birth, it wasn’t traumatising but it is also didn’t go to plan and I did not know enough to speak up for my body.
I am now 22 months postpartum (at the time of writing) and looking into wellness care to get my body to the right spot for a VBAC.
What do you wish you knew before birth?
That everything isn’t black and white, you can advocate for yourself without insulting your medical team and sometimes rushing isn’t the best thing.
If you could, would you do anything differently?
I would have pushed back the induction until after at least 40 weeks and 5 days unless medically necessary ie heart issues, malformations, preeclampsia etc, I would have trusted my body and taken ultrasounds with a grain of salt.
What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?
Be present, feed and encourage liquid, make me laugh and make sure I was comfortable.
What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?
Simply put, know the risks, understand the pressures you may put on your body untoward, acknowledge the medical care but also trust your gut.