Michelle's joy as Pepper is born.
EB member Michelle shares the birth story of her daughter Pepper, born at home.
Pregnancy
As I neared the end of my 4th pregnancy I was feeling so well within myself, probably more than I had even felt when I was not pregnant. The last nine weeks I had worked hard on my health seeing an acupuncturist and chiro, taking supplements and doing the emotional work I needed to in preparation for a good birth. My main aim was to prevent another large PPH [Primary postpartum haemorrhage] after experiencing two in a row in my 2nd and 3rd births, which caused me to feel very unwell after the births.
The midwife I chose for this birth turned out to be just what I needed and supported me physically, emotionally and even spiritually. Our ante natal care consisted of a lot of talking and an emotional depth that I had not experienced for any of my past pregnancies. We did have the usual blood pressure tests, blood tests and listening to the baby's heartbeat with a pinard, but other than that and the one ultrasound I opted for at 17 weeks just to check that it was not a multiple pregnancy, was all we needed on the 'medical' side of things. This time around I felt so much more trust in my body so declined every other test offered to me.
Labour Begins
On May 20th I started to feel a little ‘over it’, not because I felt unwell but just because I was so keen to meet the next member of our family. My mum came over in the afternoon and took my 13 yr old and my 2 yr old whilst my 11 yr old was still at school. I decided to spend the time doing something nice so had a bath and enjoyed some time relaxing in a quiet house. That evening my husband and I decided to get take away with the kids and I chose a medium curry whilst laughing with my husband that maybe the curry might get bubs moving. After I finished my curry I started getting very mild cramps that by the second cramp I started to time them. They were coming every 20 minutes apart but were so mild I still didn’t know if it was the start of labour. Around 10pm I started to panic as all the kids were still up and the cramps had continued, still only around 15-20 minutes apart and for 30 seconds at a time, but they were consistent. My husband found a homeopathic remedy for anxiety around birth and started giving it to me whilst rounding up the kids and getting them into bed. I read some books to my toddler and fed her to sleep and by 10:30pm the house was quiet and I started to focus on calming my anxiety.
By 11pm I finally ‘knew’ I was in labour and that we would have a baby by the morning. I messaged my friend who was sending out texts for a prayer chain for me asking them to start praying. I then sent a text to my midwife before she went to bed just to let her know that tonight was the night and also to my student midwife who would also be at the birth. I laboured on my own in my bedroom with the room candlelit and playing worship music I had chosen a few weeks earlier. I soon felt in control and focused to now enter into the birthing process. The next hour and a half was so peaceful, labouring on my own with contractions around 10 minutes apart. It wasn’t too painful at this stage and was managed easily with rocking from side to side standing up over the side of the birth pool.
At 12:30pm my husband called my midwife said it was time to make her way over (she lives over an hour away). Knowing she would take a while I decided to go for a walk around the block as it was a mild Autumn night and it was getting hot and stuffy in my room. My walk around the block quickly took my contractions, which were still around 10 minutes apart down to 2 minutes apart. Half way around the block my midwife called and spoke to my husband about a hold up she was having and that she had only just left her home. By this time it was already 1:30am and I knew that by staying active I could move the labour on and birth fairly quickly. I had a slight anxiety attack but quickly bought myself together with the help of my husband and decided I just needed to get on with the business of birthing. I had desired from the start of this pregnancy that my birth be as unhindered as possible and that I did not have interruptions with checks or anyone questioning what I was doing. I also thought about the idea of free birth but felt strongly that with my PPH history I needed the support of a trusted midwife to support me during pregnancy and after the birth.
After going back inside for a few contractions and seeing them slow down again, I decided to go outside and pace out the front. I had a few contractions on our front fence, which were very painful and I soon felt I couldn’t stay on my feet for much longer. I asked my husband to get a rug and the exercise ball and put them on the front lawn to labour on. I also said a quick prayer asking God to allow my waters to break as I felt I was transitioning and I just felt a strong need for waters to break before I got into the birth pool. I then had three strong contractions around two minutes apart on the mat leaning over the ball and on the third one my waters broke fully over the front lawn, which felt amazing.
By 2:35am my midwife and student midwife had still not arrived and I got in to the birth pool. I was actually relieved that I was still mainly on my own. It was lovely just having husband and my 13 yr old daughter who my husband had woken after my waters broke. He knew we might need extra support sensing I close to birthing this baby and she was a fantastic support in my last birth whispering positive encouragement to me continually.
After I entered the pool, I knew I could feel the baby move down and felt more ‘pushy’ with the contractions and they no longer felt overwhelming which was another sign for me that I had moved past transition. I checked with my fingers and could not feel the head but felt very dilated. The next 15 minutes I spent roaring with every contraction and then whispering, “Come down and meet us bubby”. I continued to check for the head and soon enough I felt that it was coming down as I continued to labour. During a break between contractions I did question whether I was being too loud and whether I would wake our toddler who was sleeping in the room opposite us, thankfully she didn’t wake.
My midwife walked in just before 2:50am and quickly tried to check the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler but with no success given I was already pushing. So she just sat back and watched and added to the praise my daughter and husband were already giving about how well I was doing. My student midwife walked in just before 3am and at 3:04am I pushed out our baby in one contraction. I reached down and picked her up and felt amazing for what I had done entirely on my own.
My 13 yr old quickly went and got our toddler so she could meet her new sibling and our 11 yr old son who was pacing in the hallway came into the room as well. We didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl for a few minutes as every time I would try and peek, she would scream and hold her legs shut. I soon got a chance and confirmed that we had our 3rd daughter.
Within 30 minutes I was giving our little girl her first breastfeed and then feeling more and more uncomfortable my midwife asked if I wanted to get out of the pool to birth the placenta. I knew I needed to stay in the pool so just squatted a little and at 3:42am I birthed the placenta. My midwife had given me some Motherwort tincture after the birth and then 20 minutes after the placenta was birthed I had a small gush of blood in the pool so she gave me a dose of Shepherds Purse. I then got out of the pool and got comfortable on my side on the bed. An hour later I had another small gush on the bed and took another dose of Shepherds Purse. I gave Pepper another breastfeed and my toddler, Milly, decided to jump on the other side to for our first attempt at tandem feeding.
As it was now over two hours after the birth and I only had the two small gushes we decided it was time to get some sleep, so my toddler, my husband and our new baby tucked up in bed together feeling pretty amazing but in need of a good sleep. We all woke at 9am ready for some toast and to share our news with our family and friends. Before our midwife left she weighed our baby girl and found that she was 9lbs 6 ozs. We continued on with the birth with the placenta and cord still attached until Pepper was lotus born at 5:09am on 25/5/2011.
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