It’s been almost 5 years since I wrote this birth story for Rockstar Birth magazine. What an honour that was! I thought I’d share it here on my blog as well as it was such a good birth and I was so blessed to be able to experience that…( this was unfortunately not the case for my second birth, but that’s a story for another day…).
Hope you enjoy!
I was absolutely petrified of giving birth.
For the most part I had an amazing pregnancy, however for the whole nine months I was extremely fearful of the whole getting the baby out situation!!
In the last trimester I thought I had better go do Calm Birth or something so I booked it in and told my husband he needed to take two days off work to come with me so we could do this workshop together.
For me, I also made a conscious decision to ONLY do Calm Birth and not go to any of the hospital classes in the lead up to my labour because I had heard how they were and what you see (videos of labours going wrong etc) and I had no interest in seeing any of that. I mean, if something went wrong, I figured I’m in a hospital with medical help at my fingertips so why worry about it beforehand? I was already petrified and didn’t want to scare myself any more… Plus all of my friends that had done those classes had left feeling freaked out so I decided for me, in this instance, ignorance was bliss.
Calm Birth came and went and I did the follow up meditations here and there but not every day like I was supposed to. I also did Calm Birth about four weeks prior to giving birth so didn’t really give myself much time to implement the teachings.
Michelle was the Calm Birth instructor and she also was one of the midwives (out of 13) I could potentially have when I went into labour. It just depended on who was on duty at the time.
So that was all good but I was still petrified.
About two weeks later on a Thursday night (and two weeks prior to my due date), my husband begged me to go see Transformers with him. Ok. So off we went to the cinemas and it was funny because that night while watching the movie I was sitting there thinking wow these action films really make the whole cinema vibrate. I had never noticed that before!
We got home, I went to bed and then got up at about 3am to have a shower because I woke up feeling like I had period pains.
Back to bed I went till a more civilised hour of the morning. About 8am I think. Still had period pains but I was 2 weeks early so thought maybe these are those Braxton hicks everyone talks about.
The whole day I felt like that and I told hubby we should go to the hospital to see what’s going on.
We went, they checked me, my mucus plug came out while there but apparently that can happen a whole two weeks before so they said you’re fine, go home and we will see you Wednesday for your next check-up (it was Friday so Wednesday was another 5 days away)!
I went home, went about my daily business, had dinner and decided to have an early night. So I got into bed and read some magazines before falling asleep.
I woke up at around 11pm and felt like a shower, so did that and went back to bed.
Then woke up again at about 12.30 and decided I wanted a bath so I did that.
Then, again I had a shower.
Then I decided to go back to bed.
I don’t know if I knew that I was in labour or if I thought I was having Braxton hicks or if I was in denial because I was two weeks early, but I do know instinctually I wanted to have a shower, then a bath, then another shower, then to rock on my fit ball for a while.
I went back to bed for about an hour before I jumped up (and by this stage I knew I couldn’t stay home any longer) and said to my husband ‘’Get up, we have to go to the hospital.” he replied ‘’Babe, go to sleep, you need your rest’’. HAHA.
‘’NO, Nick get up now I’m serious.’’ And I got in my robe and ugg boots and waited for him.
He asked me why I’m not getting dressed. Again, haha. I told him, I’m in pain hurry up, let’s go!! But I still waited 10 minutes for him to get dressed and get himself ready.
I don’t remember if he told me to or I did but I rang the hospital and said I think I’m in labour. The lady told me to come in and get checked out so on our way we went.
It was only a 5 -10 minute car ride to the hospital but I all of a sudden knew without a doubt that I was definitely in labour.
We parked and my husband got out of the car without getting my baby bag.
“Why aren’t you bringing the baby bag?” I asked.
He told me they might tell us to go home again so it’s ok. He’ll come back if he needs it. Ahh, men.
When I got up the stairs to the maternity ward I was told to wait in a room for the midwife.
This is where my birth story becomes my dream birth because of all the midwives that could have been on duty, in walks Michelle, my Calm Birth instructor!! She tells me that she’s excited to be on duty when one of her Calm Birth girls is in and asks to check me.
She looks at me and tells me I’m 6.5 cms dilated and I will definitely be having this baby very soon.
She also tells me that the midwife I spoke to on the phone said I have one of your Calm Birth girls coming in to get checked out but she didn’t sound like she was in labour.
Michelle told her you’d be surprised what Calm Birth can do.
Nick, my hubby then decided he better go get the baby bag and I told him to hurry up, please.
While he was gone and in what felt like five minutes, I had the need to take all my clothes off, started rocking back and forth against the bed and vomited once.
Michelle said that’s normal and it means you’re labour is progressing.
My water’s also broke in that time and there was meconium in the water so I was told I would have a monitor attached to me to make sure baby’s heartbeat stayed ok.
I also had a midwife standing at the back of the room and some kind of table with a heater and medical equipment I think just in case any intervention was needed.
It was all very calm though, which was nice.
I remember breathing through my contractions like I had learnt in Calm Birth and Nick helping me with my breathing and giving me sips of water here and there.
Most people tell me once you get to the pushing, it’s a relief.
I found this quite the opposite. For me, the contractions were much easier than the pushing and the pushing was where Nick and Michelle helped me immensely.
Nick was so helpful and supportive. I remember at one stage him saying he needed to go the bathroom (which was literally a footstep away) and I wouldn’t let him because I didn’t want him to leave me, until Michelle said its ok he’ll be back in a second and I’ll be here in the meantime.
Nick and Michelle were the most amazing people to have in my birth and I honestly feel like they helped me have this dream labour of mine. Seriously, it was beautiful. Yes it was also ridiculously painful but I got through it, completely drug free like I wanted, by breathing and listening to them and squeezing Nicks hand for dear life!
I remember when the pushing got unbearable and when my breathing was getting shallow and panicked, Nick and Michelle would gently remind me to count and breathe and I would get back into the pattern.
It took an hour and twenty minutes to push my baby’s head out and it was excruciating but I just kept thinking I am going to meet him soon and it will be worth it and Nick and Michelle really kept me on track.
After the head was out, the rest of the body came out in one push and compared to the head that one felt like a tickle!
Michelle handed me my baby and Nick burst into tears. It was beautiful and writing it now makes me feel like crying tears of joy.
We held him and stared at him for ages while he cried and made jerky movements and then finally went to sleep. He was so much fairer than I expected and I instantly fell in love with him.
I was beaming and I’m so thankful he chose us to be his parents.
I was in the hospital in labour for a total of 3 hours and 50 minutes. I had a drug free birth, not because I wanted to be a hero but because for me I knew that I wanted to be in control (as much as you can be in labour).
I know for some people having pain relief or an epidural is what is right for them and makes their birth amazing but for me, having drugs or an epidural would have freaked me out, panicked me and made me feel out of control. Deep down I know that is why throughout my whole pregnancy I was really adamant I didn’t want them.
My husband was the best and most supportive person I could have asked for in labour and out of 13 midwives, the midwife I wanted happened to be on duty that night.
It was just Nick, Michelle and I in the room (I didn’t even notice the other midwife) & none of our family or friends knew we were even in labour until after the baby was born. This was exactly how I wanted it and how I envisioned it throughout pregnancy.
Costa James Mihelis was born two weeks early at 5.47am on Saturday the 5th July 2014 weighing 3.27kg and 52cm long.
He is turning one in two weeks and I can honestly say this has been the best year of our lives and he is the most precious little boy I could have ever asked for.
I love motherhood and feel so blessed and grateful to have had such a positive birth story that I am now able to share.
BIO: Anna Mihelis has a certificate of Nutrition, is a health and wellness coach, blogger, writer and spiritual seeker. She is a mother, a wife and has always had a crazy love affair with all things alternative and a little hippie-ish. Anna loves helping women live a healthier, happier, more peaceful life.
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