Hi Melissa

Our Baby Boy Lucas has arrived!

The birth went really well. It was 12 hours from the first twinge to when he arrived. I had just gotten my daughter to bed (10 pm ?) and climbed into bed myself.

Eugene and I had a conversation about how we thought bub would arrive on 6 August. 2 days after the due date. We kept chatting when I told him I just got a practice surge… And another…. And another. I decided to stay quiet after that, realising it may not be practice. We put the tracks on as we did every night. I found it hard to fully relax because I was a bit excited and nervous. An hour later I told Eugene I think it’s happening. He said if it is, I need to let him get some sleep so he can assist me when it’s stronger.

He suggested I try to relax and get some sleep and we’ll see what’s happening in the morning. Another hour went by and I couldn’t lay there any longer. I went to the lounge room and leant over the exercise ball. I tracked the distance between some of my surges and the length of them and then went and woke Kris. By then they were very regular, lasting about 45 seconds. She set up the lounge room with candles and towels and cushions. I had a bath with the tracks playing. It felt so nice. I didn’t want to get out. I finally did and woke Eugene up saying I want him to put the TENs machine on me. He said something about how I should get through the initial stages just with the hypno. In hindsight I was much further along than any of us realised. He put it on for me and I tried to rest in bed or on the couch. I was able to fully zone out for a couple of hours between 3 and 5. At 5 or 6 (I wasn’t keeping track) I became very jittery and hot/cold (transition). I didn’t realise it was transition at the time.

My daughter woke not long after that and Kris took her to a friend’s. I then requested to go to the hospital. Eugene asked if I could possibly stay longer. I said no its time to go. We took a taxi to the hospital. I remember the taxi driver asking if we actually need an ambulance. I said don’t worry I’m not going to have a baby in your taxi ?.

RBWH were so good. They took me straight into the birth suite and let me get comfortable however I wanted. They didn’t request any checks. Instead, they took the time to read through our preferences. After they did that they very nicely asked if they were allowed to check how dilated I was. I decided I wanted to know. I was 8-9 cm. It made me smile. I managed to stay home much longer than last time. I then just breathed through surges and used TENs machine and gas. I do like the gas.

The tool that worked best for me this time was visualising going up over the wave and back down. I listened to the ‘Surge of the Sea’ track most of the time. After a couple of hours I felt my body just ease and the surges stop for longer. I knew it was because I was fully dilated and I actually got them to check because it was nice to hear the confirmation.

I now understand what you meant by mooing. I didn’t get it with my daughter because they requested I start pushing to get her out faster. This time they left it up to me. And I mooed. Lots!!!! But it felt very satisfying. Eugene was reminding me to breathe. It was very helpful as I was wanting to get baby out quickly. I wanted to meet him. It didn’t take long and our Baby Boy arrived. I even got to use the mirror and saw some of the crowning. That was pretty amazing. We had no complications. We got an early discharge and went home 6 hours later.

Eugene only arrived in Brisbane from being away just over 24 hours before Lucas arrived. I think having him here made my body relax and know that baby was allowed to come.

Thank you again for all your help

Tanya & Eugene