We just wanted to share the news of the safe arrival of our beautiful daughter Maggie Jane Reid Born 7/6/2022.
I had quite the interesting birth story..
After having covid at 39 weeks, possibly the worst timing, my OB had advised that she wanted to schedule an induction for when both Stew and I were out of isolation due to bub not growing much from 37 weeks and some breaking down of the placenta. I was fairly upset that this was the case, and concerned about the cascade of interventions and what my labour might look like as a consequence, however the safe and healthy arrival of our baby was more important at this point.
I was induced at 40+4 with the cervadil tape at 8pm on the 6th of June and my OB indicated that in only 10% of cases would labour spontaneously start after this process. She explained that I would likely need to have my waters broken and then have the syntocinon drip to progress the labour. It turns out, I was one of the lucky 10%, however I didn’t know it until very late in the piece.
I started getting “cramps” similar to period pain at about 2am, they were uncomfortable but tolerable and seemed to just pop up from time to time. I called the midwife to let her know and she mentioned that cramps were fairly normal and offered me some Panadol for the discomfort. By 4am the cramps were far more intense and I woke Stew to come and sit with me. the midwife came back in to monitor bub and noted that she could see the cramps on the CTG and that I wasn’t getting much of a break from them. She called my OB who advised intrauterine cramping was normal and meant the tape was doing its job and to keep persevering with it for as long as possible. The midwife assigned to us suggested having a shower and that sometimes this could help with cramps. I spent approximately an hour in the shower using the grounding and pressure each time a cramp came along. I would have happily stayed in the shower but I started to feel light headed so went back to lay on the bed to try and get some rest. The cramps got progressively more intense over time, and I didn’t think I could deal with it for much longer. I mentioned to Stew that if I couldn’t deal with these cramps that I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage the contractions when they started. Stew was a such a great support reminding me of the different Calmbirth strategies, particularly the calmbirth breathing, massage and providing me with words of support and encouragement.
By 6am I was really struggling with the pain and called the midwife again to ask for her to remove the tape, she did so and still I did not get any relief from these cramps. By 8am I was in immense pain not understanding what was going on and why these cramps were still there. I called the midwife again who said the only pain relief they could give me was morphine as I was not in active labour. I was very against this form of pain relief because of the effect it can have on the baby. The midwife we had was very rude about it and suggested that the only time it would have an impact on bub was if they were born in the next four hours and in her words “that was not happening”.
My OB arrived at 8:30 when I was nearly at the point of surrendering to the morphine. She completed a vaginal examination only to discover that I was 5.5cm dilated and these “cramps” that I was having were actually CONTRACTIONS! If only I had have known this from the start, I feel that I would have been able to stay much calmer knowing that this was normal and not something that was unusual or to be concerned about, I feel that my mindset could have been a lot different and am disappointed that our midwives did not pick up on what was happening. So, at this point my OB moved us quite quickly around to birth suite and offered the gas and air. This made me feel incredibly nauseous and ill and thinking that I couldn’t handle this pain anymore, I requested for an epidural, my OB said she would send for the anaesthetist, however I later found out that she never did as I was too far along for this to happen. At around 9:45am my waters broke and soon after I felt the need to start pushing. 10:15am our beautiful little surprise daughter was born. I was convinced throughout my pregnancy that I was having a boy and the surprise of our baby girl was one of the happiest moments of my life!
The birth wasn’t at all what I expected, there was no time to set up the room, dim the lights, get out our oils or explore our surroundings, however I am so grateful for all the strategies we learnt, even though I didn’t know I was “in labour” and was screaming for pain relief, I am so grateful that I was able to experience the whole birth and labour and was able to use the tools we learnt during Calmbirth to help us manage through Maggie’s safe arrival into the world.
Much love,
Bec and Stew
Beautiful photos by Bee Humble Photography