March 22, 2022 I found out I was pregnant with my first baby after just recently celebrating my 19th birthday. We didn’t plan the pregnancy, but were both extremely happy and lit up with smiles and excitement the moment we found out. With both our families support, we started preparing for babies arrival immediately.

At 12 weeks, we found out we were having a boy. My partner told me he already had a name picked out, but I wasn’t too sure of it. We ended up going on a little coast trip and as a joke, I dared him to jump into the cold pool & if he did, he could pick the name. Without hesitation, he jumped into the pool and that’s how our son got his name, Santiago. 

At 20 weeks, I ended up in hospital due to a possible membrane rupture, I was losing amniotic fluid. After doctors convinced me it was infact not amniotic fluid, weeks later I would again end up in hospital at 4am in the morning with reduced movement and loss of amniotic fluid. After multiple scans, they found that my amniotic fluid levels were low, and baby was quite small. They sent me on my way as there was ‘nothing they could do’ which left me in a constant state of stress. Thankfully by that point I only had 4 weeks left until my due date. 

A few days before my due date, our family dog Arnold, started acting strange. He spent days laying at my bedroom door, coming in multiple times a day to check on me, laying at my feet, which wasn’t his normal behaviour. Turns out, I would go into labour just a couple days later, he knew! 

On my due date, November 23rd, I woke up at 3am with mild contractions 10 minutes apart from each other. After about 2 hours I decided to wake my partner up. He immediately got the bags together, got himself dressed and shoes on thinking it was time to head to the hospital. Little did we know, it would be a long time before we would be there. 

I was in early labour for 20 hours. After 10 hours, my midwife came to check how things were going, turns out baby had moved into a diagonal position which was causing my labour to progress much slower. Another 10 hours later I had had enough. Myself, my partner Kevin and my mum headed to the hospital. They immediately checked my dilation and after 20 hours i was still only at 3cm. They advised that I head home until things progressed, so we did, but not before we stopped by McDonald’s so my mum and partner could get some food…lol. 

As soon as we arrived home, I felt a change. It became difficult to breathe through contractions, I felt nauseous, sick, so we immediately headed back to the hospital. I was now in active labour. I spent hours walking back and forth, showering, controlling my breathing. It was now 5am and I was standing in the hospital shower, when I started feeling a very strong pressure in my body, after wondering what it was for 5 minutes, I realised my body had started pushing on its own. I quickly called out to my partner to get Charlie the midwife, and to keep some humour in the room, we have a friendly ghost at home called Charlie aswell. My partner was fully convinced I wanted him to get Charlie the ghost. It took him about 5 minutes to realise I wanted Charlie the midwife. It was hilarious. 

After he finally got the midwife and not the friendly home ghost, I jumped into the bath and began pushing. I was absolutely terrified, but with my mums assistance holding my legs back, I started pushing. After 30 minutes and a couple complications, my son Santiago was born at 5:34am weighing 3.3kg and extremely healthy. 

I was in labour for 26 hours in total, and did it completely natural. Epidural free, gas free, I did it with nothing but mind power. After my mum had 5 babies with no epidurals, 1 being an induced labour, I realised that if she could do that 5 times, i can do it once, and so I did. 

What do you wish you knew before birth?

How amazing the experience is, even though it’s hard. All anyone tells you is how painful and scary it is, but when it was over, and still now, I want to do it all again. 

If you could, would you do anything differently?

Absolutely not. Everything happened as it was supposed to, he came when he was ready to, born healthy and happy, so I am happy! 

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

He didn’t leave my side once for the entire 26 hours, he didn’t even sleep. He continuously gave me back massages to help me focus on something else which helped a lot

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

Don’t give up! Remind yourself everyday during your pregnancy that your body is built for this, so you can do it! I told myself that every single day and I pushed through 26 hours of labour!