Hannah tells her birth story in her own words…

My pregnancy was a relatively smooth one. I was still going to HIIT Republic up until about my 3rd trimester and I even climbed Mount Kosciuszko at 26 weeks pregnant. I had no real complications, besides a bicornuate uterus (which is pretty much a love heart shaped uterus), but it wasn’t really a concern. Just meant I had to get few extra scans to check the baby’s growth. I never really had a birth plan or had any expectations, which in the end was a blessing in disguise. I did want to try as natural as possible but at the end of the day as long as I had my partner by my side and our child arrived safe and healthy, nothing else mattered.

Around 36 weeks, I went for my check up with my OB/GP and my heart rate kept coming up as borderline high. So I was sent to the Queanbeyan Hospital to get bloods work, urine, some blood pressure tablets and my first (but certainly not last) fetal monitoring.

Baby’s movements and heartbeat were measuring fine but they wanted me to come back and do repeat tests and monitoring in a couple of days. I was on maternity leave so that gave me something to do. A couple of days later I attend the appointment at the hospital and they were feeling around to see where baby was so they could place the monitor but they couldn’t figure out which way he was. Out comes the ultrasound and turns out he was breech. It was definitely a surprise because a couple of weeks earlier at a scan he was head down.

To be honest, I was a little shattered because I was really hoping to deliver vaginally. But I stayed positive and put my trust in the doctors, nurses and my body.

We spoke about a couple of options and initially I said let’s do an ECV but decided against it as I just had a feeling he would turn again. Between 37-40 weeks, I tried everything to get him to spin and to stay head down but also to try and get him to engage. I attend an appointment every 5 days and each appointment he was in a different position! At around 38 weeks, my OB/GP decided we should plan ahead to hopefully avoid an emergency C-Section.

The plan was to come in for a review on Sunday 3/04/22 and if baby was breech, we would come back the next day for the C-Section. But if he was head down, they would induce me. Sunday comes and he is head down so we grab our stuff and settle into our room.

The first induction didn’t work, which left me quite deflated because we had already been in the hospital for around 24hrs. They said that we could try two rounds of the gel and sure enough, 7:30pm on Monday the 4th of April 2022 I officially went into labour. I tried to distract myself from the pain by watching MAFS but it wasn’t really helping. I did manage to get through the season finale though haha. My waters broke around 11:00pm and I had dilated to about 1-2cm. Not as much progress I had hoped for but I got the morphine shot and tried my hardest to get some rest.

I laboured all night, trying to get some sleep in-between contractions but by Tuesday morning (by this point I have no idea what the time was) as I was walking to the birthing suite I just crumbled and told my partner I needed the epidural. He encouraged me to try the bath to see if that would help. I wanted the bath to work so bad but I was getting no breaks in-between my contractions and it was really hard for me to focus on my breathing and just let my body do its thing. I wanted to try the gas as well but I didn’t know when to puff and I was already vomiting so bad that I was scared it would make me even more nauseous.

Finally, I said I had enough and needed the epidural now. I don’t even know how dilated I was at this point but I don’t think I had progressed much. I was lucky enough to get the epidural with 20mins and oh my god was it amazing. Unfortunately, within a couple of minutes, my contractarians had almost stopped and baby was getting distressed. So, I ended up needing that c-section and even though it was classified as an emergency the nurses and doctors made it feel calm and safe.

Fletcher was born at 12:30pm on Tuesday the 5th of April 2022. But my worst nightmare, he came out not crying, which I knew meant he wasn’t breathing… it was the worst (what felt like) 10 minutes of my life. He had to be put on oxygen until his body figured out what was going on and even though the nurses kept reassuring me everything was okay, I was still petrified. My partner did get to be by his side and hold his hand which made me feel a lot better. After about 15-20mins I finally got to hold my baby boy and it was a moment I will never forget.

I had no C-Section complications and my recovery was pretty quick. I am still dealing with some post pregnancy pelvic pain and I did end up getting post birth preeclampsia which means I will likely get it during any future pregnancies (something that will be treated early on) but overall, I am really happy with how my birth went and so proud of myself. Special shout out to the Queanbeyan Hospital midwives – you guys are so amazing and your support during pregnancy, labour/birth and post baby is something I will always remember!!!

What do you wish you knew before birth?
That you can vomit, like A LOT. I knew vomiting was a thing but I just didn’t realise how much and how often. Also, once your waters break, doesn’t mean that’s it. Liquid just kept coming out of me haha felt like I was constantly peeing my pants. And sometimes vomiting and waters breaking happen simultaneously… :’)

If you could, would you do anything differently?

I would have liked to use the birthing ball more especially in the early stages. I used it heaps before I went into labour but in the moment, I just forgot everything. Also, this is for postpartum, but seen a pelvic floor physiotherapist sooner. I am 9months PP and still dealing with pelvic pain.

What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?

It’s simple but he never left my side. Even when i was labouring overnight, he held my hand and never let me feel like I was alone. He kept reassuring me that I was doing great and through every contraction he helped me focus on my breathing. He also held the vomit bag which doesn't sound that helpfully but I know its massive for him because he hates vomit haha. At one point I was vomiting in the toilet, he was holding my hair and a nurse patted him on the back cause he was dry reaching hahahahhaah :’).

What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?

That you are amazing no matter how you give birth and the way you give birth doesn’t define you as a mother. Also, I think it is great to have a birth plan and/or expectations on what you think your birth will look like but you also need to go in with an open mind. It will help you cope better when things aren’t going the way you intended.