New Zealand Birth story - Lizzie and baby Oscar

I had a very straightforward pregnancy and positive first birth after taking an intensive in-person hypnobirthing course here in NZ, following PBC online and using the Freya app. I literally woke up with what felt period like pains, not realising I was in labour as was only 38 weeks, 3 hours later went to the hospital for a “check up” to find I was 8cm dilated and 2 hours later my baby was born in the pool at the hospital, with no interventions or pain relief, just breathing. It was incredible!

This time around I had a very challenging pregnancy with hyperemesis until 24 weeks, several stays in hospital, placenta previa, several bleeds requiring more stays in hospital and monitoring, high risk of pre-term delivery, decreased movements and monitoring, low growth rate in last few weeks and nausea and extreme fatigue for entire pregnancy. It was a lot to manage (especially with a 2.5 yr old) and very anxiety inducing - it took a lot of mental energy to stay positive about the birth as I really wanted another unmedictaed and natural birth, like my first.

After being prepped for an early arrival, the last 6 weeks of pregnancy really dragged but we got to around 38 weeks and I had around 4 nights of practice contractions (I never had these with my first). Each night I thought “this is it”, only for the surges to fade away which was very frustrating!

Another night of what I thought were Braxton hicks came, but at midnight I went to the toilet and passed a clot the size of a golf ball. I didn’t think this was the mucus plug as it was red blood, rather than mucus like, so thought this was another ‘complication’. Called my midwife (note: In NZ we have the same midwife throughout pregnancy until 6 weeks postpartum, which is great as you really build a relationship and by the time of the birth you don’t have to have a stranger with you, which is really comforting)! She advised to put a pad on and monitor things and she would call back and check on me in 2 hrs. I went back to sleep for 1.5 hrs then at 1.30am I felt the surges come again. Didn’t want to wake my husband in case they were just more Braxton hicks, but I went to the lounge to sit on the swiss ball, ate a sandwich and started tracking them on the Freya app. Around 2am I noticed a regular pattern, they were coming every 3 mins and lasting 45-50 seconds. I still didn’t think this could be it so carried on for another half hour before waking up my husband. I eventually woke him up and he was like “this is it”, let’s get ready!

At this point I had to decide whether to have the water birth at home which we were all set up for, or go up to the hospital where there is a big pool 10 mins from my house. I had previously decided I would go with my gut instinct and see how I felt on the day and be open to both options, and in that moment, at 2.30am, I felt the hospital was where I would rather be. I called my midwife and told her I think we’re in business but I still wasn’t 100% sure as I wasn’t in any discomfort, but the app was telling me things were progressing. I was worried about wasting everyone’s time and it being a false alarm! At 3.10am we left home for the hospital - I still wasn’t sure I was in labour but my husband was convinced that this was it and the birth would be very fast like with my first. So I agreed and off we went to the hospital (my son and his Grandma were sleeping hard so we just crept out!)

We got to the hospital at 3.20am and my midwife Jac had already filled the pool and the birthing suite was filled with led candles. (Another note: in NZ you can show up to hospital anytime during labour, you don’t need to be certain cm dilated, and you are given a private suite as soon as you arrive no matter how far along you are, which is fantastic!).

I felt like I wasn’t ready to go in the pool and was still not sure things were really happening, so alternated between pacing around the corridors, and kneeling on the floor and leaning over the bed. My husband got the chilled music going, my lavender eye mask and had all my fave snacks and drinks ready. After an hour of this, at 4.30am I decided I wanted a check to see if I was actually dilated. To my surprise I was 6cm but still not in any discomfort, just breathing through the surges with 4/8 breathing. At that point, it finally clicked that THIS WAS IT and I had the sudden need to sit on the toilet. After an hour back and forth to the loo, around 5.30am the surges ramped up in intensity and I very quickly felt ready for the pool.

I got into the pool at 6am and using the up breathing, massage from my husband and midwife, the first 45 minutes were very manageable. Even though the surges were intense, they were not painful, and I got through them by thinking “I can do anything for 60 seconds”! At 7am ish I had a big wobble around what must have been the transition - a sudden wave of doubt that I couldn’t do this anymore (even though it had been relatively ok up until this point) and this signalled that I needed to change my breathing to down breathing.

The pressure I felt was SO intense and felt very different to my first birth. I needed support with my down breathing as I had mastered the 4/8 breathing for so long it was just on autopilot by now. My midwife encouraged me to breath down like a “coffee plunger” and instead of trying to be serene like I had been, really go for it with each surge rather than resisting it. She kept telling me baby was almost here but I didn’t believe her. After around 15 minutes of powerful surges and lots of loud, deep moans and roars (!!) I felt a subtle “pop” - which was my waters breaking, and with the next surge baby’s head came, and then with the next his body wriggled out and my midwife slowly floated him up to my chest. Oscar was born at 07.19am, 4 hours after arriving at the hospital. I didn’t feel the ‘ring of fire’, more like crazy pressure in my bum. I was actually in a sitting position with my legs out straight, the same as my first son’s birth. I found kneeling over the pool too uncomfortable. The baby was in his amniotic sac for the whole labour, which must have been why I felt such intense pressure for the last part.

Oscar came out so calmly, didn’t cry at all and had big bright eyes when he was placed on my chest. The whole labour his heart rate didn’t move at all and he was clearly quite relaxed!! We stayed in the pool for delayed cord clamping, then I delivered the placenta in the pool. My midwife gently tugged on it during a surge and it came out with no issues. It was fascinating to see the placenta! Instead of using a conventional cord clamp, my midwife used the Māori tradition of using a ‘muka’ (flax plant) fibre tie for the ‘pito’ (umbilical cord). My husband then cut the cord after 30 minutes and had skin to skin together whilst I got out of the pool.

We transferred back to the bed in the delivery suite and my midwife put in a few stitches for a small labial tear. I thoroughly enjoyed the gas and air during this - I had so much fun!

I had lots of skin to skin with Oscar for a few hours and he took to feeding straight away. With my first son I really struggled with breastfeeding for the first week but I collected colostrum from 36 weeks and I think this really helped prep the boobs this time round.

We transferred from the delivery suite to the post natal suite for the night as I wanted some time with my little guy before heading home to my toddler Max (aka “The Tornado”). Max and Grandma did come and visit us and it was great seeing him meet his baby brother ❤️

The next day we headed to the local birth centre 45 minute drive away, where you can go after delivery for extra support with breastfeeding and postnatal support. It’s like a ‘baby hotel’ where you have your own room with double bed and meals get delivered whilst you have 24 hr support from a midwife. I really valued this with my first son as I struggled with his latch and milk took a while to come in, but this time we mastered breastfeeding straight away so headed home after one night.

I am so happy to have had a second super positive experience, with no interventions or pain relief, especially after a really worrying pregnancy. Can’t advocate for hypnobirthing enough and all the info in the PBC course is so so valuable. Would recommend it to everyone! My little boy is now 1 week old and I’m so relieved he joined us so calmly and smoothly 🙂

Ngā manaakitanga (best wishes) from New Zealand, Lizzie