Krissa tells her birth story in her own words…

I was so ready/excited to give birth second time round, I felt so unprepared with my sons birth it was just a whirlwind and I did not feel in control at all. I made sure this time round I knew what I wanted and told my husband what he could do to help me because the first time he felt so helpless.

I was 6 days overdue with my son and I thought, second time round my body is ready I won’t go over again.. then my due date came and went, I got an assessment at 40 + 6 I waited 3 hours to be seen just for the midwife to tell me that basically my cervix had not thinned at all and I probably wouldn’t go into labour naturally. I cried the whole drive home and couldn’t stop once I was with my husband and son. I felt like a failure, why don’t my babies want to be with me, why is this happening to me again when everyone around me was having their babies early. What is wrong with my body?! As much as I wanted to go into labour naturally I just wanted to meet my sweet baby so I decided to get induced. It was nice to finally have a plan and know i would meet my baby soon.

So the day came around I was 9 days overdue at this point, I went out for lunch with my husband and my son and when it was time to leave saying goodbye to my first baby was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, I cried so much leaving him for so many reasons, I couldn’t believe I was about to give him a sibling, I was sad because it wasn’t just going to be us anymore but I was so excited for him to be a big brother. Also I had only ever spent a handful of nights away from him in his life so I didn’t want to be away from him in hospital. My amazing mother in law stayed with him while we were in hospital which I’m so grateful to know he was being showered with love and having fun with her. 

I arrived at the hospital and the midwives told me what was going to happen and shortly after the inserted the Cervadril tape which helped to thin out my cervix, I started having contractions pretty soon after they inserted it so they told me to try and get some rest because in the morning I would be having my baby! I slept from about 11pm-4am which then I got up to use the toilet and when I finished I saw that the tape had fallen out so I called the midwives. When they came in they told me that there was no one down at the birth suite so we may as well go down there and see what happens.

When we got there I was 5cm dilated and they decided to break my waters and see what would happen but first they had to insert a cannula because I was at risk of a haemorrhage but they couldn’t find my vein and tried so many different spots and multiple midwives had a go. I had so many holes in my arm and one of the midwives put the needle in wrong which caused my hand to swell up to the size of a lime but I didn’t really care, I don’t mind needles and I was just SO excited to meet my baby. They finally got the canula in and they broke my waters at about 6:20am.

They had to do some monitoring so I had to stay in the bed but I said I wanted to get up and get in the hot shower because that really helped me last time. Once I finally stood up my labour got so intense out of no where I didn’t even make it to the bathroom. All I could do was kneel down beside the bed and try to make it through my contractions. I was adamant I wanted to try without drugs this time but I was in so much pain I asked it was too early to ask for an epidural to which I was told ‘no but it might be too late’ I was so confused since my labour had just begun. In the meantime I was sucking on the gas and trying to make it through each contraction with my husbands help but they were so intense and so close together.

I then started to feel so much pressure and I remember that feeling from my sons birth and I thought OMG that’s the baby, shit it’s nearly here. They wanted me to get back on the bed because the monitor that was on the baby had fallen off and they could no longer see the heart rate. Once they found the heart rate again the pressure was getting more intense and they told me that the heart rate had dropped significantly and so I knew I had to get the baby out, we later found out that the cord was wrapped around its neck. I didn’t want to give birth on my back so I got up onto my left side and started pushing, within 3 pushes the baby was out and I could not believe how quickly it had happened.

I didn’t even have time to change out of my clothes and I gave birth in one of my favourite gym tops, they put her straight on my chest and I remember crying so much and being absolutely drenched in sweat I couldn’t believe I was finally holding my baby. We decided not to find out the gender while I was pregnant and I was in such shock that I didn’t even know what we had for about 5 minutes until one of the midwives asked ‘did you know what you were having’ and I said omg no what did we have? And they lifted my sweet baby girl up and I was in total shock that I had a girl! I was so sure I was having another boy but there was the most perfect baby girl with the thickest head of hair I’d ever seen.

I gave birth to her 10 days past her due date at 7:34am, 1 hour and 14 minutes after they broke my waters. It happened so fast, to this day it still shocks me how quick she came once my labour FINALLY started. She was born 4.01kg and 51cm long and was definitely worth the wait.

It was such a special moment meeting our sweet Ava and I just couldn’t stop crying thinking about Sebby meeting her. I often think back to that day and I’m so proud of myself and my body, us women are truly amazing. 

What do you wish you knew before birth?

To trust my body, i kept saying I couldn’t do it when the pain got too much but I did it and I’m so proud of myself. 

If you could, would you do anything differently?

Not stress about being overdue, it doesn’t matter now. Everything happened how to was meant to

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

Kept reassuring me that I was doing a great job and that I could do it when i said I couldn’t, he did not leave my side, he was patting me with a cold washer, squeezing my hips and massaging my back. And just the way he was looking at me gave me so much strength to get through it. He was truly the most incredible support person. I remember when I was finally holding her he had tears in his eyes and kept saying how amazing I was. 

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

Amazing advice I got when I was pregnant with my son was don’t stress about labour, your body was made to do this. it’s not as bad and scary as people make it out to be. Of course it’s painful but the pain you go through is nothing in comparison to the moment you hold your baby for the first time, you cannot describe that feeling.