Lexi's birth was such a quick one that it seems to happen all in a blur but I guess we can start from when we had taken the boys to their swimming lessons earlier on the afternoon of the 5th of April.
I had been in pre-labour for days so had been used to getting the braxon hicks especially from mid afternoon to late evening and was feeling quite sore and sorry for myself. This had definitely changed on the afternoon of the 5th as the contractions had become more than just uncomfortable and they were ones that I had to breathe through although there was no regularly to them and were coming every hour to every 45 minutes.
The hadn't faded as they had the other times after a few hours and stuck with me through that evening and were showing no sign of stopping...got Tristan and Ethan into bed and feeling restless made a few laps of the house...contractions still not regular by 11pm but were quite painful but sometimes coming at 10 minutes apart and other times 30 minutes apart so decided to page my midwife and see what she though and like with Ethan it was my primary midwife's night off! so spoke to the midwife that was on duty who said to wait until the contractions were a bit more regular so while waiting for that to happen I spent a bit of time channel hopping (to say there is nothing on tv at that time of night is an understatement!)
So by about 2am (roughly sorry bit blurry on times lol) I rang the midwife as the contractions were 5-6 minutes apart who said to yes to coming in (finally!) and I was to meet my back up midwife ( who I had met several times through my care) at the hospital. We had arranged for a friend of ours to come and look after the boys (since he was only a few streets away) and I also rang my birth photographer (Karen) who planned to meet me at the hospital.
So with an uncomfortable ride in the car (thankfully the roads were silent on the drive into the city) we made our way to the Women's and Children's hospital where I met my Dianna (my back up midwife). She checked dilation and I was already 3-4 cms so was relieved that they weren't going to send me home (I don't think I was sent home with any of the pregnancies though as I had always been about 3cm dilated) so we moved up to the birthing suite where Karen would eventually meet me and I was also asked if I would be okay for another student midwife to come and attend the birth (which was fine as my other student midwife was busy with another birth so couldn't make it) so I got to meet the lovely Peter.
It was then decided that my waters would get broken as Lexi was still quite high up and we thought breaking my waters would make the process quicker with bringing her down (although we waited for Karen to arrive as I knew with the boys that once they did that that my births go pretty quick and I'm so glad I did as it got pretty intense after they did lol) so once Karen had arrived with her camera in tow Dianna broke my waters after seeing that I was now between 4 and 5cm dilated.
I had decided to try for a water birth so the huge spa was "slowly" and I mean slowly filling up (it felt like forever before it was filled to a nice level and a warm enough temperature for me to be able to hop in...
Now this is where things get a little full on after having my waters broken and it didn't take long for the contractions to build up with intensity ( as Karen told me later that she could definitely tell by the look on my face when the contractions rose a notch) by that stage I decided it was definitely time for the gas (gotta love that stuff although it does make you a fair bit out of it, on a few occasions I know the midwife asked me to remove it from my mouth lol) I do remember some conversation between the midwife and Karen something to do with Lavender ( as we decided to have some lavender oil burning in the background) and the relaxing affects it can give off.
I remember through one contraction that felt like it was going to last forever that thought I had already given birth and when the contraction was over that I hadn't actually and this wasn't the end yet...I think this is where I had hit the transition stage...lol I was so upset that I hadn't birthed her yet but in my heart knew the end was in sight...
At that stage I grew a bit more uncomfortable and was sure I wanted to get out of the bath but Dianna talked me into staying there and I'm so glad she did as within those next few contractions the unbearably push was there and in a blur of time within 2 pushes Alexia Rose was born at 4:27am, just an hour and a half after my waters had been broken! Weighing a petite 5lb 12oz and length of 46cm, my beautiful baby daughter made her entrance into the world.
I remember hazily Dianna telling me that was my baby girl and to get her (not sure of the exact words used) but thinking back I feel so proud that I was able to pull my own baby from the water in what I was told was the most peaceful water birth (although it didn't feel that way to me as my gosh the intensity of those contractions made my entire body felt like it was on fire) and I'm so very thankful that Karen was there to photograph it for me as it was so very quick that I really don't remember much until I was holding Lexi in my arms who was so relaxed that she barely made a sound and as intense as the birth was I would do it all again in a heartbeat...
Thanks for sharing your story
You'll have to excuse all the typo errors 