Birth story - Vijoleta and baby Rosa

Hi wonderful mommas and mommas to be💕. I loved this community so much the past months and am happy to share my story today. It's long but hopefully useful.

AVOIDED INDUCTION:

At my 39 week checkup my doctor estimated baby girl at 2600gr only, meaning she hadn’t gained weight in a month. She also told me my amniotic fluid levels were very low (at 5.5cm) and that my placenta looked quite "old" suggesting I should go to the hospital immediately so they could induce me on the day itself or the day after!! I was like WTF?!🥺

I knew from reading about it that it is disputed that there is such a thing as an old placenta (read this i.e. https://sophiemessager.com/the-myth-of-the-ageing-placenta/  ) nor that 5.5 fluids are crazy low or indicative of much at 39 weeks. Baby's weight did worry me a bit but the Doppler showed good supply so I felt this was probably just an inaccurate measure. Also: my baby was going to come when she was ready! I left my doc unhappy but determined to not listen to her. The hospital I picked for the birth is known to focus on natural births with no interventions (their C-section rate is 1/3 of those of other hospitals in the city). I decided to make them check me again there and tadaaaa, suddenly my fluid was at 9.5, placenta was "age appropriate" according to this doctor and baby looked more like 3kg. 😎For me this shows what a difference a new scan/a different doctor can make and why we should not feel inclined to listen to the first opinion right away.

Fast forward...

THE DAYS before labor:

For 2 days before labor started I had Braxton Hicks ALL THE TIME. I’ve had them throughout pregnancy but they came almost every 2 minutes for 2 days now and were triggered by movement, touch and anything really.

The night before the labor night then I had rather strong period like cramps that did not feel like surges though. The next morning they were gone.

On a side note, for 7 days before labor I ate 6 dates a day and loads of pineapple too lol 🍍hoping it would soften my cervix.

LABOR NIGHT:

That next night then I woke at 3:45am feeling mild surges. Given they were apart I got quite excited realising they must be the real deal this time. I went to pee and saw my mucus plug when wiping (ohh the excitement!!).

I left my partner to sleep while sitting in the living room for 30min to time the surges via the FREYA app. I didn’t want him awake yet as I wanted to be sure first and take my own time to process what was happening and what was about to happen. I told myself this is it, the day I’ve been waiting for, the day I meet my baby girl!😍

Pretty much immediately the app showed I was in established labor which felt surreal!! There were a couple surges that didn’t seem to fit the pattern i.e. they were really long (90sec) or 2 right after one another. It confused me briefly but they went back to 'established labor' pretty quickly each time. I peed and pooped 4-5x over the next two hours and lost more mucus. Around 7am then the surges became strong enough for me to feel like it was a good moment to go to the hospital as we live on the 5th floor with no elevator + a 15min taxi drive away. It was a good call as the surges intensified as soon as I was there.

AT THE HOSPITAL:

They first put us in a small room with a bed to labor. I started using a TENS by then but have to say I did not consider it of much relief. Sometimes it rather bothered me as it felt too strong (even though it was the same level each time) & changing levels distracted from my breathing. I kept FREYA on at all times, loved Siobhan's calming voice and tried my best to stick to the up breathing as counted by her. Sometimes I would breathe in shorter etc but I felt the best when I was able to stick to the app's rhythm. The surges were strong at this point and felt like a strong pressure down (rather than period cramps). I was super uncomfortable sitting straight as I felt I wanted to 'stay open' down there for the pressure to fade + my tailbone (which I broke 5yrs ago) hurt when sitting. I didn’t feel any of my SPD pains at all which I was afraid of before.

I was standing and swinging a lot next to laboring on the toilet. I ate banana and dried fruit bars and drank a sip in between each surge. Roughly 2 hours in, the midwife asked to examine me which I was keen on as I wanted to hear how dilated I was.

The problem: she couldn’t get her fingers in without me being in pain. For the past 6 weeks of pregnancy already I was super sensitive down there so that even at doc appointments I felt really uncomfortable. She said everything was really really soft and the head pushing real low already but she couldn't “get past it” to check for dilation. I was disappointed to not know but couldn't bare her trying. I asked for the pool and she agreed.

The pool felt SO GOOD. The surges kept intensifying quickly. There was a long piece of fabric hanging from the ceiling above the pool which I pulled when the surges seemed too strong. Again, it didn’t feel like stabbing pain but rather an incredibly strong pressure down. Very incredibly strong lol.

🗣The affirmations that helped me most were: You can do anything for 60 seconds. And another one I made up spontaneously: So many women around the world are going through the same right at this moment, you can all do this together, you are strong.🗣 My partner was amaziiiing repeating those to me and telling me how proud he was.

Weirdly, I fell asleep in between surges!😄😅 It sounds odd as it's barely been a few minutes in between them but I drifted off completely only to be awoken by the next surge. My partner was slightly worried as neither of us knew this could happen (&we are still not sure as there is barely literature on it) but I guess I was just really relaxed after all.

TRANSITION

2 hours in the pool later, I started feeling like this might be too hard for me after all but didn’t dare to speak it. Secretly I was hoping I was in transition.

The midwife examined me again around 1.30pm. It didn’t hurt this time maybe as I was in the water but she again said she couldn’t get there and estimated maybe I was at 4.That immediately felt SO WRONG to me and I was right! Because within 15minutes or so I felt the surges so differently.

It felt like something was turning inside me/ my body was taking over completely making me arch my back in the water during each surge and feeling like baby wants out NOW. Like when you want to throw up and your stomach just starts making waves to get the food out and there is nothing you can do about it lol. Super weird but fascinating! But having just been told I was only at 4 confused me utterly so I felt I couldn’t embrace the pushing stage like I otherwise would have. It caught me by surprise. I did down breathe 3-4 surges and the midwife then recommended I try to push the next one. Only now I realised that this is indeed where I am: at the pushing stage! 🥳Whereas I knew pushing was not necessary, I really wanted this baby out by now so I did just that and 3 pushes and very loud screams from my side later (I never expected myself to scream so loud but needed it) her head was out! I touched it and another push gave her body. It was incredible to catch her myself and pull her up gently. The second she was on my chest I felt such a burst of happiness and euphoria and just kept touching her skin, looking at my husband with tears in our eyes and kept repeating Oh my god this is our baby. She is so cute! Haha. Still getting all watery eyes thinking of it now.🥺🥰🥰

We stayed in the bathtub for 20min, had delayed cord clamping, skin on skin and I birthed the placenta with one small push and without any pain whatsoever. They helped me out while daddy held baby and moved me to a bed where we spent two hours cuddling, started nursing and where the doc stitched me up for a 2nd degree perineal tear. This was difficult for me due to the sensitivity but I kept staring at baby!

We are now 10 days postpartum and I am starting to realise how lucky I was to have the waterbirth I wanted & how proud I feel having done it without any pain relief and with such a positive mind.

The digital pack was just perfect as it allowed me to enter this whole experience without any fear and I have ever since told everyone about the power of hypnobirthing!

All the best to those about to experience this life changing event soon. Your baby believes in you, You will do great 🦸‍♀️