Jemima's Birth

SuNday 11 September - 38+6 Weeks

I had that “I’m so over being pregnant” feeling everyone talks about at the end. We had our maternity session booked for that afternoon and I really didn’t feel like going but this was our last thing to tick off and then we were ready for baby to arrive! Nathan had bought a tarpaulin and set up the birth pool the day before which I thought was a bit premature because I knew there was a high chance I could be pregnant for another three weeks. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately in the end!) the photoshoot was postponed to the following weekend due to bad weather, making it the day before my due date, which felt risky and I wondered if I would make it till then! We had agreed with our Photographer that if we didn’t make it we would use the payment towards a Newborn session instead.

On Monday I felt much better, visited a friend for a few hours and did a few errands, getting the last couple of things I needed for our home birth. I didn't feel super uncomfortable anymore and felt like I could be happy being pregnant for another three weeks, unlike the day before! 

Tuesday 13 SEPTEMBER - 39+1 WEEKS

Earlier that morning our church pastor Dave jokingly asked Nathan if I could “get a move on with having this baby so we have a drummer for Thursday night music practice” I told Nathan to tell him I'd do my best! haha

Around lunch time I was on the phone to my mum and Nathan popped home for about an hour to have lunch. As he left I had a massive spasm that felt like electric shocks in my back that took my breath away. I then felt a bit period crampy but figured it was just more braxton hicks because it was very mild and sporadic.

I ummed and ahhed about whether to say anything to Nathan when he got home from work because I didn’t want to get his hopes up but I did wonder if I might be going into labour. I ended up telling him and we prepped the house as much as we could, just in case. I had a shower and went to bed, and nothing happened.

WednesdaY 14 SEPTEMBER - 39+2 WEEKS

I woke up late around 11am, the cramping started again around 1.30pm but it felt quite regular so I downloaded a contraction timer to see how far apart they were. They were around 7-10 minutes apart but I was able to ignore them mostly. I had a midwife appointment later that afternoon so I didn’t bother texting my midwife about it. On the way to my appointment they started to feel a bit more intense and I was certain I was having contractions. When I walked in my midwife asked how I was doing and I said “I think I'm in labour!”  We did the usual checks and she could feel that baby was very low and she felt me have two contractions while I was there. She said she wouldn’t book me an appointment for the following week because she was certain I would have my baby before then!!

I called Nathan in the car to let him know this was it! I went to the supermarket to get some snacks and last minute bits knowing we wouldn't be wanting to do groceries for the next little while. I was walking round the supermarket in labour, stopping every so often to have a contraction! I also popped into Chemist Warehouse to get combs - the last thing for my birth kit!

I remember sitting in that supermarket carpark crying at the overwhelming realisation that we were about to meet our little girl and I was about to become a mum - something I have always dreamed of.

When I got home I finished packing my ‘just in case’ hospital bag and putting all my birth things together. Around 6:30pm I sneezed and lost some of my mucus plug, contractions were no different, still 7 minutes apart and I was able to ignore them mostly. In some cultures it’s tradition to bake a cake for your babies birth day, I loved this idea and thought doing some baking would be a good distraction during early labour because I knew that this could last a long time. Nathan asked me if I was going to bake the cake and I said “not now! I’ll do it tomorrow when I need the distraction.” At 10:15pm I went and had a shower, Nathan prayed with me and we settled in for the night, contractions seemed to die off again like the night before so I wasn’t sure what to think! 

ThurSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER - 39+3 WEEKS

1.42am

I woke up and went to the bathroom needing to vomit, which wasn't unusual as I’d spent my entire pregnancy vomiting. I timed a couple of contractions, they were barely there and about 10 minutes apart. 

4.19am

I woke up with my contractions being more intense again, yay! I dozed on and off until 4.30am when I got up to vomit again and this time I didn’t feel like I could go back to sleep. I continued to have contractions leaning over on the bed, using my breathing techniques, squeezing combs and rocking. The time between contractions became less and less quite quickly so I knew this was it.

5:40am

I lost more of my mucus plug and had some show. I kept saying I felt like I needed to poo which people often say when their baby is coming so Nathan kept asking if I was sure it wasn’t the baby haha! But it was just my body clearing out which is also very common! Contractions were about 1 - 1 and a half minutes long and 3 or less minutes apart. 

We decided to wait till 6am to call my midwife.

6.05am 

We called my midwife Heidi. She heard me have a contraction over the phone and suggested putting the tens machine on at that point. She was going to get her kids off to school and then head over to us around 8.30/9am.  After getting off the phone from Heidi, I messaged a midwife friend, Jess and let her know how I was going, she thought I’d have my baby by that evening so I mentally prepared for the long haul. We had not long moved into our house and we still had no curtains so I had been hoping to birth at night, but of course it was broad day light! Jess made a comment along the lines of “I hope you don’t get any couriers!”. Over the next hour and a half Nathan juggled making breakfast, reheating two wheat packs every few minutes, holding wheat packs around my tummy during contractions, putting the tens machine on, moving it about five times because I didn’t like where it was placed and doing other bits around the house to get ready, all while making a batch of veggie soup and homemade focaccia bread!

7:33am 

I felt like I really wanted to be in water so I decided to hop in the shower. At this moment I have never been more glad that we decided to put a double shower in our ensuite! I stood with one on my back and held the other over my tummy. I had the combs with me in the shower as well. I started feeling hot after a while so I was leaning on the cold tiles to try cool down, I had the bathroom window open and the shower door, with water going everywhere, it was quite a site for my backup midwife Rachael to walk in to around 8.20am! My memory is a bit patchy because I was very “in the zone” with my breathing techniques. I had my hypnobirthing tracks going as well. 

I remember asking her if I was in active labour - she laughed and said “yes honey, you definitely are!” which was a relief because things were starting to feel intense and I wasn’t sure how long I could cope if I had hours and hours to go.

Nathan started filling the pool at 8am and Rachel went between helping get things set up and checking on me. She told me to “yell out if you see eyebrows” and I said “does that mean the head!?” which it did and it suddenly hit me that this baby was close. 

I continued to labour in the shower and once the pool was half full Rachel and Nathan had come in to get me. I had such an intense contraction I dropped to the shower floor. At that point Rachel asked if I wanted to stay in the shower or move to the pool in the lounge, I really wanted to birth in the pool so I decided to move. I had one more contraction in the shower and then got up and walked to the lounge like there was nothing going on. This is something I found so crazy in labour is that between contractions there’s no pain, no one would even know you’re moments away from pushing out a little human!

8.30am ish

I hopped into the pool and my midwife Heidi arrived not long after, gave me a big hug, set up a bit and then asked me to see if I could feel baby's head, which I could! I remember being concerned that I had forgotten to get something to scoop poo out of the water if needed and I let Heidi know so she found something to ease my mind. I had these acupressure balls that I squeezed from this moment on and continued to ride the waves of each contraction. I had a moment when I got in the pool where I suddenly started crying from the overwhelmingness of it all. Nathan and Rachel thought there was something wrong but they were happy tears, I couldn't believe I was doing it. I was giving birth and I was about to meet my little girl so soon.

9.25am

My waters broke with a big pop and I instantly felt like my body needed to push so I went with that. Heidi gently let me know there was a bit of meconium in my waters. Contractions were right on top of each other and this is the point where I found it really hard. I was tired, I felt faint and I was struggling mentally. I know I said a few times “I can’t do this” and I feel like I lost my calm, intentional breathing from this point.

9.42am 

I exclaimed that  I wanted to “give birth so bad” which my midwives lovingly reminded me that’s exactly what I was doing. 

Something I really loved was cold face cloths. Nathan had got a bowl with water and ice that was being used to keep them on rotation for my neck and forehead and they really helped! It was somewhere around here that I was in the middle of a contraction and we heard a gush of water and realised the hose attachment had come off in the bathroom, Nathan ran to sort it out and there was water spraying everywhere!

10.05am

I had been struggling with pushing so Heidi suggested I move to the toilet as she thought this position would be helpful. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to give birth on the toilet and I was nervous that once I got out I wouldn’t make it back to the pool. I sat on the toilet with a stool under one foot and a mixing bowl under the other, I had a towel around me and was using that as counter pressure while pushing which I found so helpful. I got quite frustrated at this point because she kept telling me I wasn’t pushing in the right place and I needed to push in my bum to which I yelled at her “I AM pushing in my bum!” haha. I eventually got it right and after a few more minutes, contractions and pushes, baby was crowning (10:19am) and Heidi said we could move back to the lounge. Heidi helped me get back to the lounge and I remember saying how much it burned - the ring of fire everyone talks about - it’s the perfect name I tell ya, the only way I could describe it is an intense burning! This was the most painful part for me and I wanted to get back in the pool so bad.

10.22am

I had another contraction in the lounge, squatting with Nathan holding me up. My midwives were cautious that I might regress with pushing if I got back in the pool but I was determined that that’s what I wanted so they helped me back in. I sat leaning back against the side of the pool with Nathan holding me under my arms. I had another contraction and my midwife noted that my perineum was really tight and asked if I was okay with her stretching it a bit for me which I was, she said if I didn’t get baby out soon we might have to do an episiotomy but I really didn’t want that - it was the encouragement I needed to give a mighty push - I felt a huge release of pressure and I knew I had pushed her head out, I opened my eyes thinking I’d have one more contraction to get her body out but when I opened my eyes, there she was in front of me, our sweet Jemima born at 10.32am, with a full head of dark hair. She let out a cry and Heidi placed her on my chest. It was the most surreal feeling holding her in my arms after the longest, hardest 9 months of my life. She was here. We stayed in the pool for a bit and relished in this blissful moment, we video called our parents - we hadn’t told anyone her name so it was very exciting to finally introduce her and tell them the name we had chosen.  Three minutes after Jemima had arrived, a courier turned up at the door. What are the chances!

10:45AM

I hopped out of the pool and lay on the ground with some towels and a blanket over us. I gave Jemima her first breastfeed which for something so strange and new, felt so natural. Heidi checked me over and I had some tearing, she couldn't quite tell how bad it was and she thought we may need to transfer to hospital for me to be stitched up. It turned out it was just a blood clot that came out with my placenta which I delivered naturally, and amazingly the cord had a true knot in it which is very rare apparently! We decided to keep it to bury later on. I stayed lying down snuggling my girl in front of the fire while we waited for the cord to go white and Nathan and my midwives drank coffee and ate caramel slice I had made a few days earlier. It was at this moment that I found out about the soup and bread waiting for us for lunch - I don’t know how he managed that amongst everything else!

12:15PM

We moved to our bedroom for me to be stitched up while Jemima had skin-to-skin with Nathan and then had all her checks and weight etc done. I had a deep second degree perineal tear and some labial tearing. I was quite surprised how hard I found it after birth to simply stand up felt like the biggest challenge. I think my body was so tired and they say birth is like running a marathon which it definitely felt like I had! Heidi helped me to the shower and then to bed where I called my sister and messaged a few important people to let them know she had arrived safely. I ate some soup while the midwives cleaned up and then they left! We all had a nap for a few hours, tried to figure out breastfeeding, video called both our families again and surprised some of my best friends that night over video call which was so fun because they both asked how I was going thinking I was still pregnant. Aside from being very sore from my tearing we had entered our newborn, blissful bubble and we couldn’t stop staring at this little miracle in front of us.

My birth was really everything I could have hoped for. It was hard work but it was so empowering and I feel so proud of myself. It felt really surreal to go through such a life changing experience after only imagining what it would be like for a long time. I'm so thankful for my amazing midwives and Nathan. I had the best birth team, attentive but hands off. They did everything behind the scenes and let me and my body do what it needed to. I have no regrets about choosing to birth at home. It was magical and now it feels so special when we sit in our lounge, that our little Jem was brought into the world in that very room, where we will make so many more memories together.