My birth story
Hi girls,
This is the story that I wrote after my baby boy (who is now 2, so not so little anymore) was born. I thought I'd share this with you :-)
On February 26 11:15am (2009) our son Tristan was born in a delivery bath. At birth Tristan weighed 3640 gram (8 pounds). He was a very quiet little man, who, according to the midwife, looked a lot like his dad. But his grandmother said he has my nose.
In hindsight the delivery went very smooth. Even though we did not think in the midst of birthing pains. In the week running up to the birth my tummy was going through quite a bit and on Tuesday night I woke my boyfriend (Martin) because I started having some light contractions. Over the course of the next morning these subsided to return the following night. This time the contractions meant business. The contractions woke me up at 01:00am and two hours later I woke Martin. With his sleepy head we took hold of our stopwatch and found there was a rhythm to the contractions.
The contractions were six seven minutes apart and never lasted longer than a minute. They didn't seem to increase in speed so we thought there was no real progress. Which made us doubt whether we were in the pre- or latent phase.
Just to be on the safe side Martin set up and started to fill the bath tub. The tub can be used 24 hours after it has been set up because of the heating elements in it.
At around 06:00am it was starting to become harder and harder and I locked myself in the bathroom and made it very clear that Martin was not welcome. A sharp pain and the sound of something plopping made me suspect that my water had broken. After a some doubt we decided to call the midwife at 07:30am.
The contractions were getting severe and I wanted to get in the bath. Around 09:30am the midwife came and gave us the news that with six centimeter dilation I was at the start of the active phase! That, was a real morale booster.
The pain and exhaustion were really kicking in by that point and I wanted it to stop. If needs be, in hospital. But because of the steady progress I was making that was not even an option any more. So we decided to give the bath a go. At 10:00am I could catch the first contraction in the bath, which didn't go so well – It was very hard to find a good position. Sitting down on my knees seemed to be the best option. Because I was having a hard time, Martin decided to get into the bath as well. This was not something we had decided before hand, but it gave me the option of supporting my weight against Martin. And he could manoeuvre me when the midwife had to look at something.
The midwife left to assist another birth, but she hadn't walked out of the door or another contraction to push was there. Puffing we were trying to steal time and with another call the midwife was on her way back. And at 11:00am she said I was fully dilated. Which meant that instead of just puffing I could now properly push. Six pushed later Tristan dived into the water!
In all quiet and calm he was lifted up onto my chest where his breathing started perfectly without crying. Martin cut the umbilical cord and not long after the placenta was delivered in the bath as well.
Tristan and I are doing well. We needed a little incision and my pelvis also needed some time to recuperate this major achievement. Luckily things improved steadily and after ten days of bed rest and with home physio treatment things approved progressively.
In spite of the fact that it was hard to find a proper position in the bath and that there was still a lot of pain involved, we think the bath did make the birth smoother. Due to my pelvic pains a lot of manoeuvres would have been a lot more trying or impossible on the 'dry'.
This is the story that I wrote after my baby boy (who is now 2, so not so little anymore) was born. I thought I'd share this with you :-)
On February 26 11:15am (2009) our son Tristan was born in a delivery bath. At birth Tristan weighed 3640 gram (8 pounds). He was a very quiet little man, who, according to the midwife, looked a lot like his dad. But his grandmother said he has my nose.
In hindsight the delivery went very smooth. Even though we did not think in the midst of birthing pains. In the week running up to the birth my tummy was going through quite a bit and on Tuesday night I woke my boyfriend (Martin) because I started having some light contractions. Over the course of the next morning these subsided to return the following night. This time the contractions meant business. The contractions woke me up at 01:00am and two hours later I woke Martin. With his sleepy head we took hold of our stopwatch and found there was a rhythm to the contractions.
The contractions were six seven minutes apart and never lasted longer than a minute. They didn't seem to increase in speed so we thought there was no real progress. Which made us doubt whether we were in the pre- or latent phase.
Just to be on the safe side Martin set up and started to fill the bath tub. The tub can be used 24 hours after it has been set up because of the heating elements in it.
At around 06:00am it was starting to become harder and harder and I locked myself in the bathroom and made it very clear that Martin was not welcome. A sharp pain and the sound of something plopping made me suspect that my water had broken. After a some doubt we decided to call the midwife at 07:30am.
The contractions were getting severe and I wanted to get in the bath. Around 09:30am the midwife came and gave us the news that with six centimeter dilation I was at the start of the active phase! That, was a real morale booster.
The pain and exhaustion were really kicking in by that point and I wanted it to stop. If needs be, in hospital. But because of the steady progress I was making that was not even an option any more. So we decided to give the bath a go. At 10:00am I could catch the first contraction in the bath, which didn't go so well – It was very hard to find a good position. Sitting down on my knees seemed to be the best option. Because I was having a hard time, Martin decided to get into the bath as well. This was not something we had decided before hand, but it gave me the option of supporting my weight against Martin. And he could manoeuvre me when the midwife had to look at something.
The midwife left to assist another birth, but she hadn't walked out of the door or another contraction to push was there. Puffing we were trying to steal time and with another call the midwife was on her way back. And at 11:00am she said I was fully dilated. Which meant that instead of just puffing I could now properly push. Six pushed later Tristan dived into the water!
In all quiet and calm he was lifted up onto my chest where his breathing started perfectly without crying. Martin cut the umbilical cord and not long after the placenta was delivered in the bath as well.
Tristan and I are doing well. We needed a little incision and my pelvis also needed some time to recuperate this major achievement. Luckily things improved steadily and after ten days of bed rest and with home physio treatment things approved progressively.
In spite of the fact that it was hard to find a proper position in the bath and that there was still a lot of pain involved, we think the bath did make the birth smoother. Due to my pelvic pains a lot of manoeuvres would have been a lot more trying or impossible on the 'dry'.
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