08. Nov
After a little bit of a bumpy labour and birth, our daughter Bobby Banks Koops arrived healthy and well on Monday the 17th of October at 2:13am weighing 7lb13oz. We are super grateful for all the tools and information we learned from Cherie at Calmbirth which helped us cope and adapt along the way and gave us confidence in our choices and also in the midwives advice.
I started having regular contractions at 10:30pm on Saturday the 15th after having a few cramps throughout the day. I tried resting for a while but couldn’t sleep so got up in the early AM. A few hours later I started using the TENS machine while I laboured standing up as I much preferred to be upright! When the sun came up I tried to be proactive in changing positions and lunging, walking and stair walking to try to speed up the process. At 3pm we decided to go to the hospital, as I was having three strong contractions per 10 minutes. When we arrived at the hospital my contractions had slowed right down and I was worried I was going to be sent home, as the birth suite was full. After an assessment I was told I was 7cm dilated and could stay. When we got to our room (the Covid room was the only one left!)
I got in the bath and stayed there for a few hours as the contractions intensified, but ended up getting out as I wanted to stand and use the TENS again. At about 9pm I was really struggling and fatigued, and felt like it wasn’t progressing so I asked for an epidural, even though I I initially wanted to try without. I was at 9cm, but due to it being so busy it took nearly two hours for the anaesthetist to become available. I was also losing a bit of blood also, and was told I wasn’t able to have a physiological third stage as they were a bit concerned.
Thankfully Bobby stayed stable and fine the whole time. After the epidural my waters were broken, and I started pushing at midnight. I pushed for 2 hours and ended up with an episiotomy to help her out. The cord was wrapped around her neck so they quickly cut the cord when her head came out before I was allowed to push her body out, but we finally had our little girl!
I ended up losing a lot of blood and passing out a few times post birth, but received amazing care and a blood transfusion and iron infusion before being discharged on Tuesday.
Although we had to adapt from our original, intervention-free plan, we felt like we had the tools and confidence to make informed choices. Reuben was an incredible, invaluable support to me through it all, and we understood all the stages of labour and birth and all the possible complications and interventions. Thank you Cherie!