Finley's Birth
Please welcome baby Finley, born at 42 weeks, weighing 9lb13oz and 56cm long.
I had managed to stick out the pregnancy until the 42 week mark, although I did have a precautionary 41 week placenta and fluid check, plus the baby and I were doing absolutely fine so we decided to let nature take its course. Fortunately I was prepared to have a long gestation as my mother went very overdue with all four of her babies. I was feeling very disheartened by this point though like labour was never going to show naturally and I was very anxious about being induced.
Finally, on the first day of winter at 3am I started pre labour signs which woke me from sleep feeling like period cramping. I assumed it was just gas so proceeded to head back to sleep however they kept coming every 10 mins or so. Luckily I managed to put this to the back of my mind and relax with the breathing we had learned and managed to sleep through until around 9am.
Between 9am and 3pm my husband and I went for a walk and coffee in the park in the sunshine and I managed to do laundry and prep some dinner, stopping periodically for surges, I was so relieved to actually be in labour at this point! At the 3pm mark the surges were becoming more consuming (active) and I felt the urge to start focusing and relaxing into the afternoon. We put a TENS machine on and we went over our birth plan and my eating/hydrating plan.
With our plan for home birth we read through affirmations, we hung fairy lights for soft lighting and popped a movie on in the background...this didn't last long though! With regular communication from my midwife she thought I may be in for a long night as I was able to eat some light dinner at 7pm and was upbeat between the surges. The surges were coming regularly and strongly now though, my husband would count 40 seconds rising up and 40 seconds counting down which helped more than I could ever imagine. He kept calm and attentive throughout.
At 730pm I wanted a change of scenery to the living room as I was starting to struggle with the intensity having exhausted all the different positions, so we decided to run the bath. Hopping in the warm water was so soothing however when the next surge came I almost hopped straight out and reattached the TENS machine! I decided to stay in though as the warmth was amazing in between and I had faith my hormones would catch up soon for some pain relief.
At 8pm we called the midwife as I was very lightly and uncontrollably bearing down for a few seconds with each surge. She quickly hopped in her car and proceeded to head our way! The midwife arrived just before 830pm and by then I had started to feel much stronger bearing down, so amazing to feel the power the human body has I just surrendered to it remembering not to do anything forcibly. She proceeded to tell me she could see the baby's head descending with the surges now so she made it just in time.
Each surge was powerful and I felt in control and deeply relaxed during and inbetween, I felt the baby was progressing down well and his heartbeat was well maintained throughout. Out 'popped' babies' head, what a strange feeling! Brad was sitting with hands on the baby's head, sack still intact bulging. Baby turned almost a full 90degrees but then Brad mentioned it looked as if the baby was trying to breathe. The midwife proceeded to break the sack with a finger nail and instructed me to do a small push, she hooked her fingers under the baby's underarm and out he shot (another weird feeling!). I was lucky enough not to tear (I have to thank a genius invention called an Epi-No for that as Finley's head was the 91st percentile :0 )
Finley screamed and reached out for me as soon as he emerged and we stayed in the bath for about 20mins soaking it all in. We moved to the couch and the placenta birthed nicely. Unexpectedly I had really intense afterpains for a number of days but otherwise well.
We certainly were not expecting a big baby and all of our scans indicated 47% baby so just shows the body is so capable! I am so grateful for the breathing and visualisations we learned plus the message about deep relaxation, I feel this was the difference for us to realise our home birth plan.
Finley is now 7 weeks old and is smiley, calm and content. He breastfeeds well and is slowly learning that sleep is for nighttime!
I had managed to stick out the pregnancy until the 42 week mark, although I did have a precautionary 41 week placenta and fluid check, plus the baby and I were doing absolutely fine so we decided to let nature take its course. Fortunately I was prepared to have a long gestation as my mother went very overdue with all four of her babies. I was feeling very disheartened by this point though like labour was never going to show naturally and I was very anxious about being induced.
Finally, on the first day of winter at 3am I started pre labour signs which woke me from sleep feeling like period cramping. I assumed it was just gas so proceeded to head back to sleep however they kept coming every 10 mins or so. Luckily I managed to put this to the back of my mind and relax with the breathing we had learned and managed to sleep through until around 9am.
Between 9am and 3pm my husband and I went for a walk and coffee in the park in the sunshine and I managed to do laundry and prep some dinner, stopping periodically for surges, I was so relieved to actually be in labour at this point! At the 3pm mark the surges were becoming more consuming (active) and I felt the urge to start focusing and relaxing into the afternoon. We put a TENS machine on and we went over our birth plan and my eating/hydrating plan.
With our plan for home birth we read through affirmations, we hung fairy lights for soft lighting and popped a movie on in the background...this didn't last long though! With regular communication from my midwife she thought I may be in for a long night as I was able to eat some light dinner at 7pm and was upbeat between the surges. The surges were coming regularly and strongly now though, my husband would count 40 seconds rising up and 40 seconds counting down which helped more than I could ever imagine. He kept calm and attentive throughout.
At 730pm I wanted a change of scenery to the living room as I was starting to struggle with the intensity having exhausted all the different positions, so we decided to run the bath. Hopping in the warm water was so soothing however when the next surge came I almost hopped straight out and reattached the TENS machine! I decided to stay in though as the warmth was amazing in between and I had faith my hormones would catch up soon for some pain relief.
At 8pm we called the midwife as I was very lightly and uncontrollably bearing down for a few seconds with each surge. She quickly hopped in her car and proceeded to head our way! The midwife arrived just before 830pm and by then I had started to feel much stronger bearing down, so amazing to feel the power the human body has I just surrendered to it remembering not to do anything forcibly. She proceeded to tell me she could see the baby's head descending with the surges now so she made it just in time.
Each surge was powerful and I felt in control and deeply relaxed during and inbetween, I felt the baby was progressing down well and his heartbeat was well maintained throughout. Out 'popped' babies' head, what a strange feeling! Brad was sitting with hands on the baby's head, sack still intact bulging. Baby turned almost a full 90degrees but then Brad mentioned it looked as if the baby was trying to breathe. The midwife proceeded to break the sack with a finger nail and instructed me to do a small push, she hooked her fingers under the baby's underarm and out he shot (another weird feeling!). I was lucky enough not to tear (I have to thank a genius invention called an Epi-No for that as Finley's head was the 91st percentile :0 )
Finley screamed and reached out for me as soon as he emerged and we stayed in the bath for about 20mins soaking it all in. We moved to the couch and the placenta birthed nicely. Unexpectedly I had really intense afterpains for a number of days but otherwise well.
We certainly were not expecting a big baby and all of our scans indicated 47% baby so just shows the body is so capable! I am so grateful for the breathing and visualisations we learned plus the message about deep relaxation, I feel this was the difference for us to realise our home birth plan.
Finley is now 7 weeks old and is smiley, calm and content. He breastfeeds well and is slowly learning that sleep is for nighttime!