Emily tells her birth story in her own words…

After a pretty cruisey pregnancy, Rhett had been measuring big the whole time - 98 & 99th percentile. There had already been a lot of conversations about c-sections. After lots and lots of discussions with my OBm in the end we were just going to go with the flow and see what happened.

We were going to try for a natural birth but in the back of my mind a c-section was always on the table. After going in on the 4th November at 39 weeks. Dr O’Rouke did a check to see if anything was happening. Unfortunetly my pelvic floor and vagina were so tight he couldn’t find my cervix! He said lets wait a week and see what happens. At this point I was pretty sore but still in really good spirits as I knew we only had a MAX 3 weeks till Rhett was going to arrive.

A week went by and back we went to the office for another check. I remember posting an instagram story saying “hopefully our last appointment” but same as last week, pelvic floor and vagina were super tight and he still couldn’t find my cervix to see if I was dilated. At this point it was 10th November I was 39 & 5 and we started to discuss our options. After a lot of talking we decided to book in a c-section for Monday the 14th November at 7:30am. We would give it the weekend and go from there. I went home and settled in for the weekend. We were going to finish off changing the carpet in the bedroom ready for the new baby on Monday.

However my body had other plans. 3:30am on the 11th of November, not even 15 hours after my drs appointment my waters broke in spectacular fashion. Exactly like they do in the movies. I launched up out of bed and thought I was pissing myself and ran to the toilet. I went to the toilet and stopped peeing and realised that there was still ALOT of liquid coming out. At this point I knew my waters had broken.

Remember that carpet we were supposed to be replacing on the weekend well we hadn’t got there yet and luckily because it would have been ruined! My waters were everywhere….and I mean everywhere.

I remember Trav rolling over and in his sleeping daze questioning what was happening and I was like I think my waters broke. The first thing he asked was if I couldn’t have waited a little longer. Sorry mate, at least it wasn’t midnight.

We called the hospital and they told me to have a shower get my stuff ready and head on in to see what’s happening. After chucking a load of washing on from everything that was wet, off we headed. We arrived at John James @4:30am and was taken straight in. At this point I was starting to have contractions as I hadn’t had anything up until this point. They weren’t painful just like bad period cramps.

The midwife put us on the monitor and checked out Rhett and he was doing great. She called David and in he came. By 6 am Dr O’Rouke was there and we were discussing our options. A spot at 7 am for a c-section had opened up and it was mine if I wanted it. He asked if I wanted to try and push him out and to be honest at this point I had mentally prepared myself for the c-section that was going to happen on Monday that I said no. I was happy for the c-section to go ahead.

From this point we started to get ready and we were moved into the room where we would spend the next week. 6:30am came and off we went to theatre. As Trav doesn’t do well with needles they left him out at a random desk while they took me in to get the spinal block put in. We did one last check to see how dilated I was and the Dr still couldn’t find my cervix so at this point I was glad we opted with the c-section as I reckon I could’ve been in labour for hours and ended up with a super hectic emergency section.

Once I was numb Trav was brought back in, 7 am and it was show time! At this point we were already crying because we were so close to meeting out little dude.  I asked one of the surgical assistants if she could take some photos  and she did. But what I found later was she had filmed Rhett being born and it is my favourite video ever. I get to relive his first cry over and over.

At 7.16am on the 11/11/22 Rhett Andrew Shields was born. I just remember being in shock when they dropped the curtain and lifted him up. All I remember thinking was there was so much poop on his balls and they were so big ahahah.

They wheeled him away and Trav went with him to get all his checks, the surgical assitant also filmed Travis cutting his cord and putting on his first nappy (I never had to change the tar poops. That was all Trav).

Nothing quite prepares you for when they bring over your baby and you get to kiss them for the first time. That is one of my favourite moments. After being stitched up we were wheeled into recovery where we all got well deserved Lemonade ice blocks.  I was so grateful that I went through with the c-section as we had a super calm birth and everything went well.

What do you wish you knew before birth?

That not all c-sections are scary and hectic and definitely not like what you see on tv - especially that one on Emergency NYC IYKYK

If you could, would you do anything differently?

I would’ve loved to have pushed Rhett out if my body had allowed it. But honestly I wouldn’t have done anything different. I had such a great experience.

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

He made me laugh so much all the time. He was just as excited/scared/nervous as I was.

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

You can have a birth plan and what you would like. But I found this would’ve lead me to be so disappointed in my birth if it wasn’t exactly how I had planned it out. I also think that going in with zero expectations was the way to go. If you don’t set the bar high you are are surely to exceed it.