My Birth Story

One word - FINALLY!

So we tried our absolute hardest to keep the little man cooking for as long as possible, but in the end - the pain became too much for me. He was lying in a transverse position, which basically means rather than being engaged and head down, he was lying across my abdomen. This was the reason for all of my rib pain, abdomen pain and muscle tearing. 

At our few last obstetrician appointments we had to make the call on definitely having a caesarian and booking a date in. We originally had the 14th of September booked in, but at our very last appointment I just couldn't take the pain any more, so we moved his birthday to the 10th! I am so glad I chose to have him through private health care, if I hadn't have, I definitely wouldn't have been given the option to make my own decision on when he would be born.

So!

NIGHT OF THE 9TH:

I was obviously anxious, maybe it was the look on my face or the fact that I was stuttering and fumbling around like a fool.. our ob suggested going out on a dinner date - which sounded really nice considering I hadn't been out of the house for a very long time. We booked a restaurant at Crown and headed out for our last meal as non-parents! Food was expensive and delish, but completely wasted on me. I of course could barely eat.. my stomach was full from butterflies. After dinner we headed to the casino and tables, I'm not much for gambling but this story is wayyyy too cute not to share. So here I am with husband at the roulette table. I always put my money on my lucky number 23 so as I place my bet, my husband says - I'm going to put $5 on number 10 (for the birth date obviously!) and BAM! The little white ball lands on number 10... a one in 30 something chance? WINNER! If that isn't a great omen, then I don't know what is!!! We had a little chuckle and a celebration, left and eventually we got home and you guessed it, I didn't sleep a wink. How could I? I was about to meet our son in just a few hours!!!

MORNING OF THE 10TH:

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! It's here!!! I looked like I had been hit by a truck but I was READY!

We were told to be at the hospital at 6am, and got there at 5.50am (thanks anxiety) - we were 'welcomed' at the day procedure desk by a lady who rudely told me that 'no one gets booked in this early come back in half an hour or take a seat'. I was so on edge already, I swear I looked like a cartoon character with steam coming out of my ears. My husband grabbed my waist to direct me to the chairs, I stopped and imagined myself jumping over the desk and strangling her to death, but instead, I politely smiled and took a seat.

At around 7.30am, the nurse came to get us and take us into an admission room. She sat us down and went through some questions and we got into our gowns/scrubs. I was nervously laughing and chatting, not really listening to anything anyone was saying and not really knowing what I was saying myself. For all I know she could have told me I was there for a boob job and I wouldn't have even known.

I was then taken into the very bright and cold theatre room to meet my crew and have the spinal done, this is something they do without your birth partner (which is stupid because it's definitely the most scary part!!!). My brain was in overdrive and I couldn't stop shaking. I had three or four people holding me down to try and keep me still, I was given an IV drip in my arm which distracted me from the huge steel rod I imagined was being inserted into my spine. It took a couple of minutes to kick in, and made me feel warm, like I had peed my pants. So awkward. 

Finally my husband arrived in the room and sat behind my head. He was so wonderful throughout the whole experience, he continued to caress my hair, speak gently into my ear and distract me, although I have no idea what he said.

I don't know why I was trying to look, but I couldn't see past the big blue sheet in front of my face, and I definitely couldn't feel any pain - but the most bizarre thing was being able to feel all the tugging and pulling. For example, just poke yourself in the leg - it doesn't hurt but you know you are being touched.

A couple of minutes passed and I vaguely recall my obstetrician saying 'you're a few minutes away fro meeting your baby!'. I was just so excited and overwhelmed. (I was also a little dazed by the drugs and adrenalin). I felt like it all happened so quickly, I could feel my eyes darting around, I was trying to wiggle my toes to make sure my spine wasn't permanently damaged (seriously wtf is wrong with me?)..

A couple of minutes later I heard a big, beautiful scream - and I began to cry. Actually, it was more like sobbing, that sort of cry that gets you really down low in your chest, like you can't breathe. I was a blubbering mess. I could hear my husband, but I don't remember what he was saying. We were both in awe. They held my son next to me and I fell in love the second I laid eyes on him. He was born with the most beautiful olive skin (thanks husband), a cute little button nose and a mohawk (I knew my son would always be a little punk like me). They quickly whisked him away to do some tests and give him his shots, I lay there trying to move and see him but obviously couldn't. The tugging continued while my obstetrician took out the placenta and stitched me up. He was then brought back to my chest and I lay there holding him, staring endlessly, while my husband held both of us. It was the single greatest moment of my life. The enormity of the situation hit me like a bulldozer. I had created a human life, I had created this little person with my perfect, handsome, loving, amazing husband and I had never, ever been so proud or in love.

I didn't want it to end.

The staff at Epworth Freemasons were absolutely incredible, and made it the most warm and magical experience. 

Thus, Elijah Alexander Richardson was born, and our lives instantly changed forever.

Birth Stories From Fellow Mumma Bears

When I first fell pregnant, I was so excited but so nervous at the same time. I got in contact with people who I knew had recently had children and was dying to hear all about their pregnancies and their labours. Needless to say, every story made my cry with happiness for each of them and their families.

Here are a few birth stories from my fellow Mumma bears, and how their experiences where.

My birth story - by Kathleen

On Wednesday 14th of May 2014 I was out for lunch with my best friend and started to get low dull back pain, we joked that it was early labour, at that point in my pregnancy my body always hurt so didn't take to much notice of it.

At 7:40pm that night I lost what I thought was my mucus plug. I was so happy as it means that labour is close by, straight away I got on Google and searched "mucus plug" images and "how long after you lose your mucus plug do you go into labour", let's just say I was keen to get this baby out.

From 9pm that night my back pain felt worse and would come along with my uterus contracting at the same time and slight pelvic pain. I was in bed at the time with my partner who was also super keen to meet our baby. He had work the next day in the city and kept asking me "should I go to work?", I told him to go to work and that I'd call him if/when I go to hospital as early labour can last ages and I wanted to stay at home as long as possible.

My partner left for work at 6am that morning and within 1 hour things got much worse. I knew something was up, so I called the hospital to advise them I would be coming in once the pain is unbearable and the contractions are regular. 30 minutes later they became unbearable and I lost a lot of blood when I went to the toilet, I freaked out and called them back due to losing blood and they told me to come in straight away. I was living with my parents at that time so my Mum and I went to the hospital together and we called my partner and his Mum to meet us there (they were the 3 I wanted in the room when I give birth).

When I got to the hospital I advised the midwife of 2 things... 1. That I have epilepsy and my doctor has organised I have an epidural and 2. That my Mum had really short labours for ALL of her children (within 2 hours). The midwife finally gave me an internal examination quoting "now it's still early so I doubt you will be dilated" well guess what! 5cm in 3 hours. By that point I was a mess and started to shake uncontrollably (we think from pain and anxiety) so they gave me the epidural straight away. Not long after they checked to see how dilated I was and I was now 9.5cm.

They broke my waters for me but wanted me to wait 1 hour before I started pushing. After pushing for 3 hours they realised not all had been broken! I was so angry as it felt like the last 3 hours of pushing was for nothing. They then realised that bubs had turned his head to the ceiling and I was not progressing so I would be going to theatre in 30 minutes to see if they could turn him, if not I would have a c section.

30 minutes passed and they told me there was now a delay in getting me into theatre. By that point bubs heart rate was high so they needed to try turn him then and there. With one quick twist I was told "You will have a baby in your arms within the next 3 contractions! Congratulations in advance", from that point it was game on, I pushed as hard as my body would allow me. Due to his high heart rate I needed to have a small cut made as well as forceps, but he was out within a matter of minutes crying in my arms!!!! :):):).

Oh, and he was born on his due date! 15/05/14 at 7:37pm and 7.7 pounds (was told by 2 separate ultrasounds he would be 9 pounds).

My birth story - by Mylee

On the morning of Friday 22nd August 2015 my partner and I made our way to the hospital to be induced with our first baby. Exactly one week before the due date as my blood pressure was alarmingly high despite being textbook perfect all the way through pregnancy.  

At approximately 8.30am I was induced. Then came the waiting game. 6 hours went by and I felt no progress. The midwife checked me and established that the first application of the gel had no affect and hadn't softened my cervix so another application was under-way. 
A drip was inserted to bring on the contractions which started pretty quickly. Once they started, I said to my partner that they feel almost like your normal period pain. I thought to myself, "Okay, I can do this!". 
Slowly they got stronger, more uncomfortable but not too painful later that afternoon. Again thinking to myself "Yep. This is okay, I can get through this"... boy was I wrong! By around 8pm that evening they were quite strong. The midwife checked me again and I had only dilated 1cm. One lousy cm!!! I still had 9cm to go and I'd been doing this for 12 hours already? We were in for a long night! 

At 11pm the anaesthesiologist poked his head in and asked if I had intended to have the epidural which that was my initial plan but at that moment, hell yes I wanted that epidural! Even though I hadn't dilated the required cm's for an epidural he gave it to me anyway as he was finishing his shift and if I needed in the middle of the night there'd be no one to do it. It absolutely terrified me to have that gigantic needle jabbed into my spine but you know what? I never felt it! I was so unbelievably focused on not moving whilst having a contraction that I never felt the needle. How peaceful I felt afterwards though. Wow! No pain! So my partner curled up on the couch to get some sleep which was something I was not able to do since every hour they were checking my blood pressure and in between that, the IV machine would start beeping for the midwife to reset the epidural dosage so every half hour someone was doing something around me. I think I slept in 10 minute groups. 

At 1am I felt my waters break. I thought to myself "Awesome! That means its all happening now right?".... wrong! The midwife checked again, only 2cm dilated! So I rested as much as possible. 

The next morning, still no real progress. I think I had only dilated to 3cm by that stage. I had antibiotics jabbed into me to stop any infections as my waters broke so long ago. The epidural medicine started to really kick in. I remember all of a sudden, I had the urge to vomit, only I had nothing to vomit in!!! Off races my partner to get a nurse, in the meantime I couldn't wait. Projectile vomit everywhere! From that point on, any food or liquid would not stay down. I ended up having to have an anti nausea injection to stop the vomiting!  

By around 2pm, I started feeling the contractions again! "What the hell is going on! This ain't right!". Upon inspection, the epidural tube popped out of its place so it was re-positioned and the dosage increased which made me more sick. Another anti nausea jab later and it has no effect! Wonderful! The re-positioned epidural had no affect. I could feel everything! I was in full contraction mode by that stage with 30sec rest between each contraction as the dosage was up so high. So out comes the old epidural and a new one was inserted. By this stage it was around 6pm. The new epidural only numbed half of me. Numb down either side of my body. Nothing in between so I felt everything! I was in full active labour! "Holy crap! How on earth am I going to be able to do this!". The nurses checked me again and established that my cervix wasn't opening and I'd only dilated 4cm! On top of that, bub flipped around so her spine was on mine. Never had I experienced such horrific pain in my life! It literally felt like my hips, pelvis and back was being smashed to pieces. I had no pain killers. Just the gas, which by the way really does nothing to take the edge off.  
By approximately 9pm I had full excruciating contractions as well as vomiting. I also had the urge to push even though I hadn't dilated anywhere near 10cm. I was checked again and luckily I had jumped up a few cm to 7cm. "Ok, getting there!". Just before 10pm I was checked again upon being in an incredible amount of pain and it was discovered that bubs head is in fact stuck as well as my cervix not opening fast enough. They gave me two options. 
Midwife: "you can keep going for the next 4 to 5 hours, or you can opt for a...." she didn't even finish the sentence! I remember cutting her off screaming at her "C-SECTION!!!!! JUST CUT HER OUT NOW!!!!!!".... Off to surgery we go with me trying to sit statue like for the spinal-tap whilst contacting, pushing and vomiting all at the same time. Once the spinal-tap was done, it was an instant wave of peace like I've never experienced! It was heavenly! So they went to work on getting her out.

Boy was she well and truly stuck! It took the surgeons an hour to get her out. Even using forceps. But finally she was out. Her poor little head was slightly flat in the front and her neck was slightly jarred being stuck in the one spot for so long but over the coming weeks it straightened itself out. The next few days was a painful recovery process but the pain was nothing compared to what I had just been through. I was up and hobbling around the next day. Anyone who says the recovery process is worse than giving natural birth is correct but it does not stop you from doing what you need to do. You are running on adrenaline by that stage so you just get through it. Panadol and ibeprofin become your best friend for the next 7 days but it's all manageable. After being through both active labour and C-section and recovery, I can honestly say I will be going for C-Section for my next baby. Less stress and exhaustion on me, less stress and exhaustion on the baby.

Above all, no matter which way you go, the prize of your baby arriving safely is the ultimate gift anyone can ever imagine. You don't know what love is until you meet your baby for the first time. Its a feeling nothing can ever compete with.

My birth story - by Hayley

On Thursday, my dog got sick first then my contractions started (so, watch your dogs as they will know when something is up!)

My dog started to throw up around once an hour and then I started to have contractions - this happened for 12 hours then my contractions slowed down and completely stopped. My contractions were steady and weren't getting big enough for active labour, it was borderline. That was on Friday, then Saturday I baked a cake, then Sunday I scrapped booked our wedding pictures and cards! 

Hubby came home from work on a dinner break around 6.30pm and I was crappy, but that was normal. Then I started to feel like I had to use the bathroom, but hardly anything came out. I started to feel crappy again because on Friday I wasn't sure if it was real labour, and I wanted to be sure before I called the doctor, so when Mum was trying to time the contractions, at one stage I was holding onto the door frame in pain - I thought this has definitely has to be it.

We drove 15 minutes to the hospital, and let me tell you, during a contraction you want to be up and moving, not sitting in a car - so that totally sucked.

We walked into the hospital to the baby admission desk. They were expecting me, as my doctor was already there waiting as she had told me to come in and that they would check me. At this stage there was no checking was required, it was clear to them all that I was in labour.

As soon as I saw a nurse I told her I wanted an epidural.

I then begin walking up and down the walkway with Casey (husband), who was chasing me with a plastic cup with a straw while I'm repeatedly saying, "I can't do this... What were we thinking... I'm never doing this again" - those three phrases on repeat. Every time I saw the nurse I kept on saying ''give me an epidural!'' Then, somehow, I stayed still enough for them to check me and take blood. They then moved me into a labour and delivery room. I tried a hot shower but the water wasn't even warm... Then I found the best thing ever - THE YOGA BALL - yes! During a contraction bounce around on that thing, it really helps. 

I really wasn't a good patient at this stage, the doctor came in to do the epidural and he had to explain all the risks that can happen if he happens to hit the wrong spot - might I add, during him talking to me I'm having contractions every three minutes - so he'd say to me "I'll let you work through that one", and would turn his back, then once it was over, he would go back to what he was saying. So when it came time for them to do the epidural, they bring the bedside table over for me to hunch my back over. I tell my hubby to hold me down no matter what I do, and of course they had to time putting the needle in between contractions.

So, I had the epidural, which had a button that I could press to top it up every ten minutes. I called it my happy button because once it kicked in I would get all happy and we would start to joke with my nurse Lisa. Keep in mind the nurses can't leave you once you have had an epidural so we then started to try and guess the gender of the baby and when the baby will finally come.

To put a timeline on things, it all started around 7.30pm, got to hospital at 9pm and got the epidural at 11pm. I didn't need the particular drug that helps you keep in labour (an epidural may slow down your labour) but I was fine - generally as a rule they say 1cm dilation an hour.

At this stage my husband began getting tired, there was no coffee at the hospital so he did a run to the local 24hr coffee shop to get a coffee and some donuts for him and the nurses. After that, it was the waiting game. While having an epidural, you can still feel the muscle contracting but not the pain that goes with it.

So 4am rolls in and the doctors tell me it's time to push!

They say generally most people push for an hour, well I was looking at the clock and everyone's estimated time for delivery had passed. I'm an hour in and still pushing… another 54 mins later and then my doctor says "Hayley, here's your baby!” though later, my husband informed me I bent forwards and pulled the rest of baby out of me! She was placed straight onto my chest for a minute, but she didn't do a 'big cry’, which is what the doctors and nurses like to hear once a baby is born.

The hospital have a team for the baby and a team for the mom, so the baby team took baby to the side and was checking her over to make sure everything was okay. I would have to say, that was the most terrifying 2 minutes of my life. My doctor is saying "the baby is fine, it's breathing", and baby nurse is saying "she should of done a big cry" etc.. So I'm telling hubby to get over there and check everything and but he came back saying there were too many people around to see and check. At this point I still didn't know the gender, neither of us did!

So they brought baby back to me, I held baby and baby is getting looked at and still no one had told me the sex, so I can hear myself saying "can someone tell me what it is please!!!".. And then finally they tell me "it's a girl!" ..they gave her back to me and she snuggled on my chest for the next forever.

Can I just say ladies - each of these stories made me cry with happiness for all of you. I just cannot wait to experience this - and VERY soon I will. Thank you again for sharing your beautiful stories with me, and every one else who reads my blog. xo