Bonnie our Labour of love

We’d love to introduce you to Bonnie Love Brookes, our little girl born on Tuesday 19th December at 3.58pm (exactly 41 weeks). It was a long labour of love to birth Bonnie, but we are so grateful for the tools learnt in Calmbirth that helped us stay calm, focused, and positive. I can honestly say that I enjoyed birth, and that it was a positive experience, so thank you!

Early labour started naturally on Sunday night and continued to Monday evening. We went out for lunch on Monday, washed the car, danced, watched movies, ate, and rested. Contractions increased in frequency and intensity on Monday night. I encouraged Tom to get some sleep and we’d decided that I’d wake him when I needed him.

I woke Tom at 10pm, he supported me with massage, changing positions, shower, heat, and holding up my affirmation cards for me to read out loud. I started using the comb at this point which became my best friend through the rest of labour. I was surprised at how much I loved squeezing it through contractions! We continued to labour at home, I took some Panadol and started the tens machine.

We drove to Hospital at 3.30am Tuesday morning. Contractions continued to intensify, and I moved around a lot from the bath, shower, toilet, standing and rocking on all fours.

Tom was an amazing support breathing through each contraction with me and reminding me to “get out of my head” if I started losing focus on my breath. He read out loud my affirmations when I could no longer speak, he kept me hydrated, he held me, kissed me, and praised me through it all.

By roughly 12pm Tuesday I was completely exhausted, and cervix was measuring at a tight 8. The midwife agreed it would be best for me to get some rest. I struggled to lay down, so I requested gas to help me breathe through contractions while resting on the bed. Tom said I rested for 40 minutes – 1 hr (it felt like 10 minutes). My waters had not yet broken so I agreed for my midwife to break my waters. 2 hours later I was checked again and confirmed I was 10 cm dilated! I was so excited to finally push this baby out. I pushed her out in all-four position on the bed, 30 minutes later she was here!

I’m so grateful for Tom and his consistent support and coaching from when I woke him up to when I birthed our baby (18 hours). Tom and I both started showing Covid symptoms a few hours after her birth. This made the first few days of newborn life really challenging. I focused on feeding her as much as possible to keep her healthy and well. The colostrum did its job, and she is thriving. We both have a new appreciation for the female body and all mothers. It was the most empowering experience of my life. During pregnancy I visualised birth to be a dance of intensity and ecstasy. It was exactly that. I discovered beauty in the juxtaposition of great pain and immeasurable joy.