I am so glad we had all of the tools to assist us to have the birth we had hoped for.

Jess’ Birth Story

38 weeks 6 days
Natural
Lucas Vance, born 04/09/24, 2.59am
Margaret River Hospital

I am Jess (44) and my partner Matt (33).

This is our birthing story…

I have 2 older children from my previous relationship.

My partner was really keen to try for a child of our own, I love being a Mum at 43 and fit and healthy, was given the go ahead by our doctors.

I fell pregnant naturally, and we were feeling very blessed.

I was considered to have some risk to my pregnancy due to my age and also due to some uterine fibroids (they had never caused any issue for me and I was only aware of them from a pre-conception ultrasound).

I made contact with MGP early in my pregnancy as I had several friends that recommended the program.

I was allocated my lovely midwife Karen via MGP and we commenced our appointments.

I also made contact with an OB that had been recommended. I had one appointment and chose not to return as I didn’t feel it was the best fit for me and my journey.

I was referred to the consultant OB in our region due to the risk factors associated with my pregnancy.

Every thing went along smoothly during my pregnancy, my partner and I completed the hypno-birthing program and loved the idea of a hypno-birth.

We were always mindful that if complications did arise we would follow the advice of the specialists whilst also listening to my body, who had birthed 2 babies naturally and without any pain medication or intervention previously.

The consultant OB always asked us how we felt about a situation and what we wanted, and advised us as we got closer to our EDD that she felt comfortable for the pregnancy to progress naturally.

We were just over a week out from our EDD, I had noticed a decline in bubs movement, it was all checked out and confirmed bubs was ok.

This was monitored through my last weeks of pregnancy.

However at my appointment (38 and 5) the OB had noted that I was a little more worried than usual and asked us if we were ready and comfortable to be induced, we agreed and were booked in for the following day.

She did suggest some old wives tales on things that could assist my body to start labour naturally, noting they were all just old wives tales.

We were both excited and nervous to meet our little man the following day and set the alarm for 5am to get up and to the hospital for 7am.

But bubs had other ideas, I woke at midnight thinking my waters might have broken, but there was minimal fluid in the pad I was wearing and no fluid leaking so I went back to sleep.

I work again about 45 minutes later and thought my braxton hicks contractions seemed a little different and bit more regular (I’d had them for weeks but they were not regular in length or time apart).
Matt asked me if I was ok, and I said I wasn’t sure.
We did some contraction counter timing to check, and they were about 5-6 minutes apart and lasting around 50-60 seconds.

I still wasn’t 100% sure that I was in labour but we decided to call our midwife to check in with her.

We got her partner, Katie, and she confirmed that it did sound like I was in labour and said she would meet me at the Busselton hospital.
We got organised, grabbed our bags and frozen colostrum and headed to the hospital.

Shortly after leaving home my waters broke completely and my surges intensified almost straight away.

I called my midwife again and asked if we could meet at Margaret River hospital as one of my biggest fears living regionally was that I would have my baby on the side of the road.

We got to Margaret River Hospital and were greeted by 2 of the ER nurses, they took us down to the delivery suite and got us settled while Katie was on her way in.

Katie arrived a short time later and did an internal to see if we had time to get to Busso, I was about 5cms dilated and my surges were about 3 minutes apart.

Katie said we had a 50/50 chance of getting there so we opted for an ambulance transfer to be safe.

I continued to labour, with all my birthing tools still in the car, and things progressing quickly.
We went straight to the positive birthing affirmations we could remember.

Each surge brings my baby closer to me was on repeat in my head.

The ambulance was organised but when they arrived Katie did another internal and I was 8cms with surges now 2 minutes apart.

Katie reminded me to relax my shoulders and face during my surges.

Matt played calm acoustic music from his phone up behind my head and reminded me of the affirmations he could remember.
Your body was made to do this.

Katie had called one of the local OBs in for further support, he checked me when he arrived, confirmed there was no cervix left and asked if I had an urge to push, I didn’t in that moment.

But it wasn’t long before I did.

It was decided that I would need to deliver in Margaret River and about 15 minutes later our little boy arrived, and was placed straight onto my chest.

Katie waited for the cord to stop pulsing and asked Matt some time later if he would like to cut it.

We were left in our little bliss bubble for what I remember as 2 or so hours before bubs was checked and weighted and we were then moved to our room.

I had no tears or stitches and was feeling amazing.

Our birth was beautiful and perfect in every way.
We felt so calm and prepared and were able to apply that calm when things went a little differently than planned.

We felt so supported and advocated for by our midwife and birthing team.
And so glad we had all of the tools to assist us to have the birth we had hoped for.

I spoke to one of the ER nurses the following day and the other ER nurse had asked her if she though I was actually labouring, this made me smile, it was acknowledgement that the hypno-birthing had helped our birthing journey.

We have so much thanks and appreciation for Karen and Katie (our midwives), Lauren (consultant OB SW Region), Liam (Margaret River OB), Casey (Hypnobirthing Coordinator), Tiff (our class host), the Margaret River and Busselton hospitals and the MGP program.