The Fast and Furious birth of Calmbirth baby Arthur!

We went to bed early on Sunday evening having just returned from the Hunter Valley with some friends celebrating a birthday. I had no signs or ‘feeling’ like the time was soon. I was 36 +3 & was feeling full of energy still – I had just booked in for the gym in the morning. All of a sudden around 1:30am my waters broke while I was sleeping (and there was no mistaking it!). Because I was less than 37 weeks, I rang the hospital, and they told me to come in. I didn’t want any cervical checks since my waters had broken (and there was a heightened risk of infection) so they checked his heart rate and booked me in for an ultrasound first thing.

The ultrasound showed that he was in a good position and a decent weight, so they let me go home and wait for labour to start on its own. So we went home, my partner David set up the bassinet and put the car seat in the car… nothing like waiting until last minute! I didn’t do anything to try and ‘kickstart’ labour,

I knew from the Calmbirth course that rest and fuel were pivotal!

Around 12:45am that night/early next morning I had my first contraction. By 7:30 they were regular and very intense. When my body started to tense up & fight it; David kept reminding me to breathe through it & was breathing along with me. My doula arrived to our apartment at 10:45 (with the TENS machine ) and by 11:15 it was hospital time…the drive to the hospital was really challenging, my contractions were really close together at that point.

When I arrived, I still didn’t want any cervical checks so I didn’t know how dilated I was but they could tell that it wasn’t going to be long. I was glad David knew my wishes from talking it over in depth early on; because at that stage I couldn’t answer any questions, and was 100% in the zone. I closed my eyes and swayed with each contraction, still focusing on my breath. My eyes were closed 100% of the time, at that point I didn’t even know what the midwives or the room even looked like! It wasn’t long before my contractions turned into ‘bearing down’ contractions and by 2pm or so it was time to push.

I moved to the birthing stool which I found to be the most productive position. At first, I found myself still breathing through the contractions still (rather than using the contractions & breath to push) but once I shifted my breath to focus on downward pushing, Arthur was born fast & furious at 2:40pm. They put him on my chest & delayed cord cutting for 10 min but then unfortunately Arthur needed a short visit to the NICU for monitoring.

During this time, I moved to the toilet & birthed my placenta there (a physiological 3rd stage). I had a small second degree tear so needed a few stitches by the doc in the room and by the time that was done, Arthur was back in my arms. He latched straight away and did skin to skin. I then got up, showered, and went to the ward where I got to snuggle all night with my new little baby!

I felt high on hormones and physically really good (considering what I had gone through). I had minimal pain, even in the days following. I never would have had the understanding or confidence to go home, labour at home & birth without intervention, if it weren’t for the Calmbirth course. The midwives at RHW were phenomenal, as was my doula Lauren and of course, my partner David. Thank you Karen!