camille’s birth - olivia’s birth story #1

Camille joined us on planet earth on Wednesday 28th December, 11:52am and weighing 6lbs15oz. It certainly ended up being a far more exciting experience than we had bargained for. Things didn't quite go according to our birth preferences but it ended up being pretty much exactly what we hoped for - a natural delivery within a calm and confident environment. 

On boxing day I went for a 'light induction' acupuncture session, I also walked about 4/5 miles that day so both of these together meant that come boxing day evening at around 9pm my surges had started. The surges ramped up pretty quickly and by 6am on the 27th they were 3.5mins apart so we called the midwife to come over. 

The midwives arrived and examined me but I asked not to be told the reading - they said that I was doing well but they were going to leave us to it. They also informed us that the baby was back to back and that I should try and spend the majority of my time on all fours in order to encourage the baby to turn. They were happy with how we were doing and off they went.

So we ran a bath and I hopped in - with your relaxation tracks on loop, candles and bubbles I continued with my pretty hefty surges throughout the morning. It was incredibly intense and I could feel myself going deeper and deeper within - visualising cogs turning within me, clunking around and around and around allowing me to open with each contraction. It was very surreal!

Our midwife came to see us at around 2pm, she told Jack on the phone that earlier in the morning I had only been at 1cm so she still thought we had a long way to go. She examined me again and I asked her to tell me how many cms I was - I was 2cm and the baby was still back to back. By this point, we were very sleep deprived - having not slept all night as the surges were incredibly intense on my back and bottom due to the position of the baby. Our midwife encouraged us to sleep (yeah right) and eat a 'proper' meal (again, yeah right as by this point I had been vomiting with each contraction and could barely eat chunks of banana let alone a full meal!).

On we chugged! I found the bathroom was my safe haven and with the pressure all on my lower back and bottom I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening moving between the toilet seat, bouncy ball and on all fours on our bed. Each time a relaxation track finished I would make a hand movement and Jack would repeat it again and again! The whole process felt like we were in some sort of broken record player going round and round, Jack heating the kettle over and over to keep the birth pool at the correct temperature, moving between rooms to bounce, rock, groan - mixed with the visualisations of these turning clogs - it was all very profound!

Jack was determined not to call the midwives out again until it was 'the right time' and we were so focused on doing this that we didn't realise how close we were! At midnight on the 27th, while on our bed, I had the urge to push and for about 3 surges I began pushing - I put my hand down and could feel Camille's head coming out! Jack confirmed this was true and he went to call the midwives while I FINALLY could get into the birthing pool.

The midwife asked to speak to me on the phone and asked what was happening - I told her I had begun to push and with each push I could feel the head coming down. The midwife told Jack to call for an ambulance just in case they couldn't get to us in time. Jack called the ambulance and within 5 minutes the first response paramedic had arrived - Jack had to go and meet him at the end of the driveway, 5 minutes after this the first midwife arrived, 5 minutes after that another 2 paramedics arrived and the second midwife....and there I was floating around in the birthing pool suddenly having 6 people talking around me. Jack kept telling me to stop listening and to keep focused on the recordings but I feel like I totally lost my focus and it felt like no-one was talking to me and coaching me through what was happening but rather everyone was talking to each other around me.

The paramedics left once the midwives confirmed they had everything in hand and the midwives went ahead preparing for the birth, setting out the towels, cord cutting scissors etc etc. THIS IS IT! we thought. The midwives said that if I got the baby out by 6am (it was now 1am) they would make me tea and toast, I remember thinking 'god this baby is going to be out much sooner then that'.

But somehow, 4 hours later we found I was still no closer to having the baby with us. Things just seemed to slow down completely, my surges weren't rolling into one anymore and the bearing down feeling had changed back into a more intense feeling of pressure rather than relief which is how they had felt on the bed before the paramedics had arrived. The midwife asked if she could examine me and confirmed that I was 8cm and Camille was still back to back, she broke my waters in the hope that this would encourage things to ramp up once more but they told me to stop pushing - which was the hardest thing to do when all the pressure is in your bottom!

Come 6am (on the 28th) things had still not progressed and they said that we needed to transfer to hospital to try and get my contractions ramped up and we had gone long enough on our own at home. I was contracting 2 in 10 mins and they wanted me to get to 4 in 10 mins and this would need the oxytocin drip. I had a moment of feeling like I had failed and that I couldn't go on anymore - we were both so exhausted. I was scared of having an assisted delivery. But there was this other part of us that knew exactly what we were about to enter into on the labour ward that we weren't afraid and I felt confident that we would be ok.

The second ambulance arrived at 7am and we got to the labour ward and were so well looked after - we saw various doctors, midwives, specialists and the long and short of it is that they wanted me to have an epidural and the hormone drip as they didn't think I would be able to handle the intensity of the surges following the drip. I was not very happy about this as I wanted and needed to move around the room and with an epidural I would have to be on the bed - but I reluctantly agreed and had resigned myself to an assisted delivery by the doctor...The doctor said I had 4 hours to deliver the baby...

However....some confusing things started to happen (it was like we were in some sort of episode of ER!) - they lost my bloods(!) which meant they couldn't put the epidural in right away so I had an hour to myself to wait and refocus, they put an 'in-out' catheter in me and emptied 500ml of wee which was an amazing relief and following this I naturally dilated to 10cm, and off we went again! Things started to ramp up, I was allowed to move around and I was told to push...YES FINALLY!

By now it was 4 hours since arriving at the labour ward and the doctor came in and gave me a 'verbal vontouse' (this is what my midwife called it afterwards!). He said "It's been 4 hours, you are now a high risk patient and if this baby is not delivered in the next hour I will come back in and deliver it for you"... "We'll see about that" I replied.

They put the oxytocin drip on and 10 mins later the surges were rolling into one and I just went for it. Pushed, pushed, pushed - not the ferocious, strained and forced sort of pushing but the focused, internal pushing using my breath (I was so pleased to finally put the J breathe into practice and my goodness does it work!). Camille turned just at the last hurdle and out she came! I absolutely breathed her out! In just 30 mins, with a lovely student midwife coaching me. I had no tearing, no stitches required, no pain relief and Camille was this totally chilled out bundle of joy when she entered the world.

I can't put into words the immense feeling of achievement I felt after delivering little Camille so perfectly. I would also say that throughout the whole 36 hours Camille's heartbeat stayed completely steady the whole time - she was totally stable and happy throughout. I just knew somehow that she was going to be just fine and that we both had it all under control. I never let go of that inner confidence.

After the birth we were transferred to the birth centre to recuperate and have some peace and quiet together as a new little family with some super lovely midwives there to support with feeding.

So there you have it! A LONG birth story for you. We had the best of all worlds - home birth, labour ward, birth centre and I wouldn't change any of it at all. I learnt that there is no need to be afraid of the labour ward - just make sure you know your stuff! I learnt that the breath is the most powerful tool we have. I learnt that women who have given birth are bloody amazing and wondrously powerful creatures - I still can't quite believe that I am now one of them.

Jack was amazing and did everything just perfectly - light touch, applying pressure on my lower back with each contraction, force-feeding me snacks and water, and generally keeping me in the zone so that we could achieve the birth that I so wanted. I think he boiled about 500 kettles to maintain the pool heat!  And as for little Camille-Jean, she's a little bundle of joy. She's 1 month old today and is challenging us, entertaining us and providing us with so many snuggles and squeals. I can't wait to do it all again to be honest!