Justine’s Birth Story

We live 3 hours east of Perth in a small town called Merredin. You can’t birth in Merredin so we would have our baby in Perth.

This was my 3rd birth, my 1st and 2nd were birthed privately and both were quick, unmedicated births. My 1st was 3 and half weeks early and my 2nd I was induced a few days before her due date.

When we found out we were pregnant with number 3 we decided to try the public sector as I had my heart set on a water birth. We went the through the Family Birth Centre at King Edward hospital. I had a fairly straight forward pregnancy, a few different issues compared to my 1st 2 pregnancies. This time I had an unusual antibody which required monthly blood tests to check the levels, I had Gestational Diabetes managed by diet and exercise, low iron and platelet levels. Despite these few issues I was still able to birth at the birth centre, providing I didn’t come early. I had a scan to check baby’s size at 35 weeks and everything was looking great, baby was measuring ok and all other checks were good.

Around 1am on Monday 18th April (36 weeks and 3 days) I felt something trickle, I decided to ignore it thinking surely not and tried to go back to sleep, a few minutes later I said to myself I will go to the toilet and just make sure, as soon as I stood up, I felt a gush, so I went into my parent’s room and said I think my waters have broken, they were both very confused and sleepy! I rung my midwife and explained to her that it felt very similar to my 1st birth, so she suggested coming straight in to get assessed, as I was under 37 weeks I couldn’t go to the birth centre, so we headed into King Edward memorial hospital. I called my husband letting him know my waters had broken and that he could start making his way to Perth or wait until I got to the hospital to make sure that it was my waters. Luckily, he decided to leave straight away! He had a 3-hr drive!

After completing our RAT tests, we arrived at triage around 1:50am, got assessed and monitored, at 2:30am I was checked and was 6cms dilated, I messaged my husband to let him know. I had regular contractions, so I put on the birth affirmation playlist and had that on repeat throughout the whole birth (the playlist was a godsend). A doctor came in around 2:45am to put a canula in for antibiotics, after a few seconds I said to her I need to push, she went and found a midwife to check me and the urge was there again. No time for canula they needed to get me to the delivery ward. I remember been wheeled down the hallway very quickly to try and find an empty room. Once they found one, I was transferred onto the bed, stopping half way to breathe through each contraction. Once I was on the bed, I was able to get back into the zone and focus on my breathing, still listening to the playlist. I pushed/contacted on my back for a few minutes, but the pain in my legs was becoming unbearable, so the lovely midwife suggested laying on my side, there was a huge relief laying in that position. I remember checking my phone at 2:50am and my husband had messaged saying he was still an hr and half away. I continued breathing through each surge, focusing on the end result. I actively pushed for 3 minutes and our little girl was out! My husband missed the birth, but I hadn’t told him that I had her, so when he finally arrived at the hospital over an hour after she was born, he was very much in shock to see me holding the baby!

This birth was very different to my first 2, it was the quickest, still unmedicated but I felt much more in control. Even though I didn’t get my water birth I still had an amazing experience, and I think that was because of the tips I had learnt from my hypnobirthing course, the calm environment the midwife made, the lovely midwife I had deliver bub (she was amazing!!) And the positive birth affirmations I had playing during the birth. Thank you, Melissa, for providing expectant mothers with the knowledge and understanding of birth and what to expect and how to have a positive birth.