When BREAnNA met ZARA
About 11pm, 5 January, I heard our son, Hudson wake up and call out for us. When I woke, I realised I was having a contraction. Tom went to go sleep with Hudson in his bed and I didn’t mention that I had a contraction as I didn’t think anything of it. I tried to go back to sleep then I had another contraction about 10 minutes later and was too aware of them to go back to sleep. I decided to start timing incase it was the real thing. Since then, they were consistently coming between 8-10 minutes apart just lasting a short period of time. They were getting a little stronger and I couldn’t lay down through them anymore so was in and out of the shower.
Around 2am they were getting closer. I told Tom to come back into our bed to get some rest as I was sure we were in for a long day of labour. Around 4am I woke Tom up and told him to start getting things ready as I felt things starting to progress. At 6am I called my midwife to let her know I’d been labouring all morning. She was already at the hospital finishing up another labour and asked if I wanted to come in. I wasn’t sure as I was comparing things to my first labour and thought I’d have a long way to go and wanted to labour at home as long as possible. She said see how things are in 30 minutes then call her back with my decision. By then, contractions were quite close, around 2 minutes apart and lasting for at least 1 minute. They were strong but I felt I was doing ok through them which is what made me think I had a long way to go.
Tom’s parents came by 6:30am to look after Hudson and I decided to go into hospital. I remember how painful contractions were in the car and I wanted to avoid that stage if I could so decided to go in. Tom’s mum asked how close my contractions were and when I told her she rushed us out the door ha!
About 5 minutes into the drive, it was all smooth sailing thinking this was great and then suddenly I had one super painful contraction. Everything felt like it had just dropped and I hated being seated and not moving around during the contraction. After that I was sure by the next contraction I was going to have the baby in the car and told Tom to hurry us up, lucky we live close to the hospital.
Thankfully, we made it to the hospital at 7am and once I got out of the car I felt much better. We got up to the birth centre and our midwife was running down the corridors as she was just in theatre. As she had been at the hospital all night, she handed us over to another midwife. We got into the room and she asked if I wanted to get into the bath. I had no plan and just knew I wanted hot water on my back. I said sure I’d try the bath out, again thinking I’d have hours to go and was happy to try anything. The bath took forever to fill up and Tom had to go move the car so he decided to go do that quickly - the midwife told him to hurry and I was so naive thinking what’s the rush I’ve got forever of this lol. Once he got back, the midwives were outside of the room doing a handover and I really wanted to hop in the bath, at this point I needed some type of relief. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to go in just yet as I hadn’t been checked or anything but I decided to just hop in.
The midwife came back in and I asked her if it was ok that I got in - she said it was fine, she was going to check me but will check me in about an hour/hour half if nothing has progressed. She also said I looked too happy to have a baby just yet. Despite the painful contractions, I felt I was doing ok through them and thought she is probably right.
We put our labour playlist on, I was going through the waves in the bath, everything was so calm. It was just us two and the midwife. Contractions were constant at this point, about 1 minute to 30 seconds apart and I felt like I was getting no break. Not long after, I had an intense contraction and instantly knew something was progressing. I started crying as it was so painful, didn’t think I could take hours of contractions of that level and thought it would be too late to receive any pain relief. That’s when I said I can’t do this anymore and my calmness shifted instantly. I saw the midwife smile like she knew it was coming and she gave me so much moral support as did Tom.
Next contraction I felt the urge to push. I could feel my body bearing and breathing down like it just knew naturally what to do. Next contraction the head was out and oh did I feel the ring of fire that a lot of people have told me about. Next contraction the rest of the body followed and our baby girl was out into the water. I was in so much shock that that just happened that I didn’t know what to do and was reminded I could grab my baby out of the water now. 6 minutes of pushing at 8am, 6 January, our baby girl was born via water birth.
I sat on the seat in the bath with her on my chest just looking at Tom thinking what the heck just happened. From getting to the hospital an hour before, to being told I looked too happy to be having my baby just yet to giving birth within a matter of minutes after that felt so surreal. Eventually we hoped out of the bath onto the bed. I was checked for any tearing whilst waiting to birth the placenta. Thankfully I had no tearing so didn’t require stitches. After everything was all good, I got up and had a shower. We were discharged the same day.
This birth was so healing and calm compared to my first and I’m so glad I got to experience it knowing that it would be my last birth. I didn’t even have a terrible experience with my first there was just a lot more to it. With my first, Hudson was posterior and I had an excruciating back labour. I pushed for hours, he was stuck, had so many internal checks, got the epidural, doctors tried to turn him so many times with no luck, eventually went to theatre, was forceps assisted and I had an episiotomy. The recovery from the episiotomy was the worst.
With my birth with Zara I had no internal checks (as I didn’t have time) no interventions and no tearing. I was on my feet not long after, showered and layed on the bed with our new baby in disbelief of how good I felt and how simple everything was. It was so empowering and primal. The recovery was so much smoother this time. I couldn’t walk or sit without discomfort for weeks the first time round due to the episiotomy and prolonged pushing. This recovery has been great.
What do you wish you knew before birth?
To trust my body and learn more about the whole process of and each stages of birth.
If you could, would you do anything differently?
Nope. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthing experience! Maybe not be so in denial and head to the hospital earlier, not whilst having contractions 2 minutes apart still second guessing if we should head in haha. I knew from my first labour that contractions in the car were soooo painful and I wanted to avoid heading to the hospital being at that point but nope. I had a super painful contraction where I felt babies head drop and was sure we were going to have the baby in the car!
What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?
I actually wasn’t the biggest hands on labourer. I didnt really like being touched and mainly wanted to be in the shower with the hottest water possible on my back. Nonetheless, Tom was so supportive throughout both my labours. He advocated for what I wanted, was with me through every moment and gave me encouragement, moral support and praise when I thought I couldn’t do it anymore.
What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?
You just have to go through it and trust your instincts. It is not easy, contractions are tough and it is well and truly a mental game but your body is amazing and will surprise you. All in all, whatever happens happens as long as your baby is safe and healthy however they are delivered. I also wish I had some photos/videos of the labour to look back on, have your birth partner/midwife take some if you can.