In 2008, I gave birth to our first, she was delivered via c-section and as much as I wanted to bring her in calmly and peacefully the natural way, it was not to be. Nevertheless she was here and we were so excited to be a family at long last. Then when I was pregnant with our second, I visualised this going differently, as I wanted more control and I knew my body knew what to do, just had to trust it and use my Calm Birth techniques again, so we did a refresher course and I felt more empowered to trust my instincts and to get the body ready. I also did some pre-natal yoga to keep me flexible and nurtured, plus had massages and kept eating a healthy diet.
On 30th Jan in the early morning my contractions began, I rode them like waves coming and in my mind I didn’t just want to just get to the hospital, I wanted to be ready and as dilated as much as I could before heading to the birth suite, as I know that many labours slow down once in the clinical environment.
I asked my husband to take our daughter to the Sunday market so I could continue to do my thing and make sure I had everything packed. 6 hours later we headed to the hospital and I was already 6cm dilated, which was great as by this stage I was in a trance and was just standing and swaying my hips. Later I found being on my all fours more comfortable, and getting Thomas to rub my lower back and administer my homeopathic remedies as required. I also made myself a ‘labour-aid drink to keep me hydrated and refreshed. Made of 3L filtered water,1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/3 cup honey, 1 calcium tablet crushed and ½ tsp salt.
5 hours later I was ready for stage 2, and I had to ask the midwife about the pushing as I hadn’t done that before, by this stage my knees where so tired and so went on my back and got in position, I imagined the baby coming closer to us and the waves getting bigger and me riding them comfortably, I was somewhere else, I didn’t need to scream or get anxious as I was calm throughout and listened to instructions from the midwife. Just before 5pm on that magical Sunday our son was born, waving his little arm on his exit. I had second degree tearing but I didn’t feel a thing, I was on such a high having delivered him naturally. I needed stitches, local anaesthetic and my arnica for healing. I even managed to shower that night and marvelled at this little person who had joined our little family.
In hindsight, my doctor and midwives as I did shared care all thought that I would just have another c-section, it was easy and I am aware that some doctors are not keen on you having a virginal birth once you have the scar and it’s been less than 2 years between births, in case the scar opens up. My gap was 25 months. I just worked on the positives and what I could do, if there were any complications or if Oskar’s health was compromised in any way, I would have gladly welcomed the reopening of my scar. After all it wasn’t just about me, it was about both baby and mum.
~ Paola
