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Saturday 25th November… (my due date) 

We went down to Waitpinga in the morning to grab our real Christmas tree with my daughter. While I was there, I had heard that nipple stimulation was really helpful for getting things moving! My sister has a 3 month old so we thought why not pop her on the boob and see what happens.. we didn’t think much of it at the time.

We drove home with Christmas songs blaring, ready to put up the tree and get in the chrissy spirit!

I went to bed that night and then at 11pm, woke up with some pretty strong cramps. I’d been having cramps and aches for a few weeks leading up to this point so I didn’t think too much of it. Little did I know this was the start of my labour. I woke up again at 2-3am and I told my partner this is it!! The cramps were strong from the get go so I knew that it was early labour. I tried to go back to sleep but as my little Ruby Lou was posterior, it was far too painful to sleep!!

After 12 hours of contractions ranging from 8 minutes apart, to 4 minutes apart, my midwife came over as I was SURE I’d be able to get in the pool by this stage (she recommended waiting till I was 6cm dilated to hop in the pool so that the warm water didn’t slow things down). The midwife and my AMAZING student midwife came over around 3pm in the arvo. This was where I got the disappointing news that I was only 2cm dilated.. this was a massive mindset changer but I carried on anyways, as you do! Using my birth affirmations, my amazing partner and my four year old Lyla, as support.

The contractions ramped up and the midwife came back around 6pm as again, I was sure I’d be ready for the pool.. I was 4cm and this is when they realised that Ruby was posterior.. at this point I was feeling so defeated.. although the midwife recommended waiting longer for the pool, I ripped off my tens machine and just jumped in. The change of scenery, position and the water really helped me reset my mind. I spent a few hours contracting in the pool. By this time I was feeling so tired. My partner got me some hydrolites and my midwife’s came back over. This time they stayed.. they said the birth pool actually sped things up a little for me which I was SO stoked about!

As I felt lots of pressure on my bum, my midwife’s encouraged me to start pushing.. but I wasn’t feeling any movement or urges to push.. which I now know is SO important. You NEED to feel the urge to push in your body to actually want and be able to push! So this pushing only made the contractions more painful and used up my energy.

Being so tired and feeling quite defeated.. my midwife used her fingers to break my waters which she said was super easy as the baby was RIGHT at the top of the birth canal waiting to transition! It was such a relieving feeling for them to break and then things really got moving!

Before I could hop back in the pool, I literally felt my baby slide down from the top of my birth canal, to my vagina opening and then I had THE URGE TO PUSH, and with that one big push her head was out. I waited for the next contraction to push the shoulders out and even though it was what they call the ring of fire, it was my absolute favourite part. The relief and control I had over the pushing made it just unexplainable but by far the BEET part!! I grabbed her myself, unravelled her from her very long umbilical chord and pulled her up onto my chest.

My daughter watched my birth which was incredible and she loved it too! Although she had to cover her ears for the pushing as my grunting and yelling was fairly loud, she couldn’t take her eyes off me and her new baby sister. What a magical night. Ruby was born on the 26/11 at 11.26pm on the full moon of November.

Some things I learnt from my home birth was that how many cm’s dilated you are really does not help determine how far along in your labour you are.. I think if I didn’t know, I would have remained a lot more positive.

My body knew when to get in the pool, it knew when to hop out, it knew when to push!! Listen to you body ladies!

I could home birth a million times over and I would highly recommend a birth pool. It changed my whole mindset during my labour and was so calming for me.