Baby Alfie

Born Monday the 9th of November, 2020

At 10:45am

3.354kg

52cm

My darling little boy entered the world on Monday morning the 8th of November very quickly…..another little hypnobub like his big brother.

On Sunday night at 10pm I went to the toilet & saw that I’d had a show…. I felt baby moving lots & then at midnight I was about to go to bed & saw more of the show. I hesitated about going to bed as I was 8 days overdue & just felt like I needed the hospital to confirm this was a show & that it was completely normal. I woke my husband & we went up to the hospital,  they monitored bub & checked me to confirm it was a show. My tummy was going hard & I felt some mild, very mild cramps. The midwife pointed it all out to me, I didn’t want to get too excited as it was too mild for me to really feel.

On the car trip home I felt the cramps increase a little but again nothing to excite me too much. We went to bed & I dozed, got up to to go to the toilet alot & felt the cramps increase in intensity. I breathed through them & thought I was in very early labour. When my husband woke up I told him the cramps were a bit stronger. He went out into the lounge room to ask his parents who where staying with us to take care of our toddler for the day as I was starting labour.

It was 6am & I called my Mum & text my student midwife to let them know I was in early labour but not to rush over as it could be a while before the surges ramp up. We started timing my surges around 7am & they were quite close together but I wasnt convinced it was time to go to the hospital.  Each time I stood up I would have a surge & I was finding my long hypnobirthing breathing wasn’t helping me, I was finding shorter breaths more helpful. I had a shower, which was wonderful & got dressed. My mum arrived around 8:30am & I was having a surge on my hands & knees helping bub & myself with position. My Mum walked out to the lounge room & told my husband that she thinks we should go to the hospital. They put everything in the car & I walked down the stairs stopping to have a surge & weeping a little bit saying to my Mum, they’re going to send me home…it’s too soon. We drove to the hospital which is 10 minutes away, I heard myself change in breathing during the surges in the car & found groaning a little bit helped the surges to pass.

We arrived at the car park, I got out with Mum while my husband parked the car. A midwife saw me lean not the wall while having a surge… I was feeling the texture of the wall to focus on passing through the surges. The midwife, my husband & my Mum insisted I got into a wheelchair. I wasn’t happy about this as I wanted to walk but they were quite firm with me. Suddenly I saw a team of doctors & midwives running towards me panicking.  I looked at them & said I’m ok, I’m probably only 2cm. Its quite early. They calmed down & then took me through to birth suite, then decided by looking at me that I wasn’t ready to deliver. I walked through to MAC & a midwife hooked me up to a monitor, I again told her I’m probably only 2cm & calmly managed my surges. She checked my dilation & then said she was going to get another midwife to check as well. The second midwife said ‘You’re 8cm, we had to double check because your behaviour wasn’t convincing us that you were 8cm.’ My husband called my student midwife and told her, fortunately she was in the lift and arrived a minute later. At 9:50am They wheeled the bed I was on through to birth suite as I leaned over the back of the bed.

Once in birth suite the midwife asked if there was anything in particular that I want from her, I said I’d like warm compresses when pushing & that I will be hypnobirthing.  She a asked if I wanted calm music or hypnobirthing tracks on….I said I had Ed Sheeran to listen to for now so she put it on.  I stood up & felt a few surges, then my waters gushed out like an explosion! My husband jumped in shock. I could feel baby moving down….I got back into the bed & leaned on the back of the bed. I started feeling pressure to bear down. The midwife applied the compressions & talked me through the bearing down. Bearing down felt like it was in slow motion but I felt like I had lots of Calm time between feeling the urge to bear down again. Then they told me the head was out & the body just followed so quickly. The brought baby up to me telling me he was a little boy….another surprise gender. A beautiful baby boy like his big brother. At 10:45am on the 8th of November 2020 our precious Alfie was born and filled our hearts with the deepest love & delighted us for being in the world. The midwife told me that this was a quick, calm 85 minute labour. It all happened so quickly that I was still processing that I’d had my baby when he was in my arms. Hypnobirthing is just amazing & has helped me birth both my babies with two totally different & very unique births.

Anna