WELCOME Harper Mae Mathew
Born March 20th 2022, 3.332kg – 50cm long.
“When we caught up with J the next day we discussed the birth and she was very complimentary of the Calm Birth program she said that without knowing you could pick 99% of couples who do the classes based on their birth experience. We spoke with her at length about the classes and what they involve and highly recommended them.”
Hi Cherie, I just wanted to message you and say a big THANK YOU firstly to you and the education and experience you provide with the Calmbirth class and fill you in on our birth experience. The Calmbirth classes definitely gave us the knowledge and confidence to have the birth we wanted. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
Harper arrived on Sunday the 20th of March. 9 days after her due date. I had an appointment on the Saturday with our midwife at the LGH to check her and have a stretch and sweep. Everything was still tracking perfectly however despite this they wanted to book me an induction on Monday which I refused and said I would be happy to come for an appointment/assessment on Monday but would not be having an induction unless medically necessary.
The midwife completed the stretch and sweep but she said she couldn’t really do a proper one but my cervix had began to soften. I was having pre labour contractions for a few days prior to this however very inconsistent. Within 2hrs of that appointment my waters then broke. Back to hospital to be checked roughly 6.30pm. They were in agreeance my waters had definitely broken and that if I didn’t go into Labour naturally to come back at 10am the next morning.
Went home had dinner and tried to sleep but was already quite uncomfortable so stayed up and bounced on the fitball and tried to distract myself. 12pm contractions were beginning to intensify, we started using breathing strategies, listening to music, clary sage in the diffuser, massage and acupressure techniques.
We were trying to stay home as long as possible but went off the tiny hearts education guide of 45-60sec contractions 3min apart and lasting like that for an hr. We starting timing contractions at 1.30am and ended up heading into LGH at 3am. We were taken straight into the birth suite. I had back pain throughout the entire labour and then contractions in the front. I remained active throughout the labour walking around the room and on the fitball. The shower was the best relief for my back pain I also had Saline injections which gave me some relief for about half an hr. We continued to use breathing techniques, music, massage and tens machine. At 11.30am I had my first vaginal assessment confirmed and our midwife confirmed I was fully dilated and we could start controlled pushing. We did most of this on the birth stool and had hot compress from when she was crowning to delivery. This lasted 1.5hrs and then Harper was born – I then naturally delivered the placenta about 20minutes later by expressing colostrum and 2 controlled pushes. We had a beautiful experience in that first hour after birth with skin to skin, her first attempt at breast feeding, Sam cutting the cord and minimal staff in the room.
Sam was an incredible support throughout the whole experience and put all of the tools he knew into practice.
The 2 midwifes we had at our birth were amazing also, one of those our consistent MGP midwife J and the other I hadn’t met before. I couldn’t fault their support and respecting our wishes.
When we caught up with J the next day we discussed the birth and she was very complimentary of the Calm Birth program she said that without knowing you could pick 99% of couples who do the classes based on their birth experience. We spoke with her at length about the classes and what they involve and highly recommended them.
Sorry for the long winded email I haven’t spared you any details hahaha. I look forward to hopefully attending the morning tea at the end of April.
Some baby Harper spam attached ? We are very much in love.
Kind regards
Kahlia xx