Birth Story - James arrives earthside
James was born at 41 weeks, at home, at 7.25pm on the 23rd of April, weighing 3.44kg.
I had decided prior to falling pregnant that I would like to have a homebirth if I had a normal low risk pregnancy. Being my first pregnancy, I was keen to have the continuity of care provided by a private midwife. Shortly after falling pregnant, I contacted Juliana and had a meet up to see if we connected and get a feel for one another. As soon as my husband and I met Juliana we knew that she had to be a part of our birth team! I was 5 weeks at the time and left that initial meeting so excited for my pregnancy and couldn’t wait to give birth.
My pregnancy was mostly uncomplicated, however my 20-week scan revealed my placenta was low lying. I was so disheartened when they discovered this during my scan however after discussing it with Juliana, she reassured me that most of the time as the uterus grows the placenta moves upwards and away from the cervix. We made a plan to rescan at 34 weeks to ensure that this had happened. Thankfully at my 34-week scan my placenta was well clear of my cervix and my plans for a homebirth were full steam ahead.
During my pregnancy we also attended Juliana’s Calmbirth retreat in the beautiful Yarra Valley. We both found it so helpful in preparing us for birth. My husband in particular learnt so much about the labour and birth process, and what his role at the birth would be. I found the breathing techniques so grounding and they played a pivotal role in both my pregnancy and labour.
Throughout my pregnancy I convinced myself that I would not go into labour before I was 42 weeks pregnant. On Monday the 20th of April I was 40+4 and Juliana and I discussed plans for what we would do if baby hadn’t arrived by the following week. That night my membranes ruptured at 3.30am on Tuesday the 21st of April. I only had mild irregular tightenings, the liquor was clear and baby was moving around as per normal, so I contacted Juliana at a more reasonable hour to fill her in on the latest news. I was then up against the clock to give birth before 72 hours was up or face hospital transfer for induction. Juliana encouraged me to just go about my day as normal and she would check in on me later that evening. I baked ANZAC biscuits, relaxed and went for a long walk but baby was quite happy where they were. My checkup that afternoon was uneventful and we made plans for follow up the next day.
On Wednesday the 22nd, Juliana recommended that I have some monitoring in the morning, at my back up hospital, to check on baby’s wellbeing. She then sent me off to her acupuncture specialist (who I've fondly nicknamed the Oracle as she can tell from your pulses how close you are to establishing labour) for a rather aggressive treatment. The acupuncturist sent me home with ear-seeds in certain points around my body to continue to stimulate contractions and advised me to use the TENS machine as well to further stimulate those points. She encouraged me to rest for a while and then get ready to labour. The acupuncture and ongoing use of the TENS machine helped me to establish 10 minutely contractions which hung around all night until the morning of Thursday the 23rd. I managed to get 5 hours of broken sleep, waking up with each contraction but dozing in between.
Thursday morning, my contractions increased in intensity and frequency but only to around 5-7 minutely. I was feeling disheartened because I felt I had so far to go and the contractions had already begun to challenge me. Juliana touched base that morning and I expressed what was happening and how I was feeling. She suggested doing some side lying releases and rebozo sifting and planned to visit later that morning to check in. She arrived at around 11.30am, in her beautiful calm manner and quietly observed me through several contractions. She had a listen to baby and a feel of baby’s position. She confirmed that even though my contractions were irregular and spaced out they were strong and I had moved baby down significantly. I felt so reassured.
We decided a change of scenery would do me a world of good, so my husband, Juliana and I went for a 40-minute walk around the block, up and down some hills and she challenged me to keep walking through the contractions. During the walk my contractions became 3 minutely and more intense. When we arrived back home, we agreed it would be best for Juliana to leave to allow me to have some food, a shower and try to rest with the hopes my labour would establish at sundown. My contractions continued to intensify and I felt the need to vocalise more and more. When I rested I was able to doze between contractions, even though they were so close. About 2 hours after she left, I told my husband Juliana needed to come back as I was experiencing a lot of bowel pressure with most contractions.
Juliana headed back over, instructed my husband to fill up the pool and to call my beautiful student midwife, and she called my second midwife. After observing me and noting that I was bearing down a little at the height of some of my contractions we discussed the option of a vaginal exam to check my progress, as we both felt I was holding back. She confirmed I was 9cm with the smallest lip of cervix which was going away with contractions. So in to the birth pool I hopped! Oh, the sweet relief! I started involuntary pushing shortly after. I went through a few position changes in the pool but progress was slow so we moved to the toilet. After 20 minutes of pushing on the toilet, I had moved bub down well so went back to the pool. However, back in the pool I was struggling to make more progress and baby was getting tired, so we moved in to the living room. After failing to get myself on to my side on the couch we opted for on my back on a mat on the floor. 2 pushes later and I finally birthed my beautiful surprise gender son at 7.25pm surrounded by the most supportive birth crew. I felt so powerful and strong. I brought my beautiful baby up on to my chest and there he stayed as I delivered my placenta naturally and we left him attached until the cord had completely stopped pulsating. I did have a postpartum haemorrhage, but it was managed calmly and efficiently. Soon we were all enjoying a hot cup of tea and eating the ANZAC biscuits I had made in early labour. After completing all her tasks, Juliana tucked us up in bed prior to leaving, with the promise of a visit in the morning.
