The Free Waterbirth of Phoenix Hazna (23/3/07)
Here it is finally:
My labour with my first baby was pretty textbook for a first time mum: 14 ½ hours from start to finish, 8 ½ hours active labour, anterior cervical lip (for 4 hours), VE’s, lots of people (partner, mum, dad, sister and midwife in a tiny one bedroom unit), pushing, tearing, bleeding, bedrest for 10 days. I didn’t think it was really painful. When she was 1 ½ we decided to try for another baby and I was pregnant after the first try. I had excellent prenatal care to ensure my body was in the best possible condition to birth my baby without a midwife present.
According to my conception date Phoenix was due on the 17th March. I prelaboured for 3 days over that weekend. On the Tuesday morning I had a clear show but then nothing for 3 more days.
On the Friday morning (the 23rd) I was making breakfast when I felt that the contractions were back….just more prelabour I thought. I decided to hope into a nice warm bath with Samarra and seeing as these contractions were a bit stronger than the ones I had been having previously I timed them. 8 mins…..14 mins….10mins…nope just more irregular Braxton-Hicks. Out of the bath and mum calls at about 8:15am: Do I want to go out for lunch? Yep sounds great. I tell her I am having some contractions about 8 mins apart but think I will be fine to go out for lunch. She tells me she is just a few suburbs away so to call if I need her.
Chilling out on the couch I have a few contractions that make it uncomfortable to sit down…hmmm maybe this is really it? I tell Eddie that I think the time has come. I send a text message to my best-friend Bonnie (who was living with us at them time) to let her know I am having some contractions as she is Samarra’s support person.
9:15am: I call mum, I think this is actually it, contractions are a bit more noticeable but still not requiring much attention. I call my sister…Yay I am in labour!! I have a contraction while chatting to her but not enough for her to notice. She tells me to enjoy the journey. At about 10am Bonnie calls. She can’t get off work to come home but I tell her that things are just plodding along anyway so it might last all day. She says to wait until she gets home at 3:30. No worries.
I change the sheets on the bed and have a couple of good contractions that make me stop and breath through them. Eddie has set up the lounge room with the birth pool and an air mattress. He has blocked off all the doorways and windows so it is very dark with just candlelight and he is filling the birth pool. I go to the kitchen to put pots of water on the stove. I now need Eddie to rub my lower back during a contraction but he is busy with the pool so Samarra decides she can do it. Gorgeous girl. Mum calls at about 10:45am to ask if we want her to come and take Samarra to the park for awhile. I think she is ok, she has a movie on (Over the Hedge) and is very content. Eddie tells mum that me contractions are now quite close together (every 3 mins). She asks if I want her to come now and I say if she wants to.
I decide to move into my dark haven and find comfort on my hands and knees with my arms wrapped around the exercise ball. I have about 2/3 very good contractions before Mum arrives at 11:05am. I am starting to use my birth song and swaying my upper body from side to side with each contraction. Mum gets some oil to massage my back. Samarra decides to help and makes sure to check my rear end to see if the baby is coming. I am starting to feel the pressure in my bum already. Each contraction is short but coming frequently.
“I don’t remember it being like this Mum”
From now on time becomes blurry. I remember asking if I can get into the birth pool now. It is very hot so Eddie has to add more cold water. Once I am in the water on my hands and knees the contractions became much more intense. I am moving my body around a lot during each contraction. Eddie gets in the pool with me so I lay back into him but this intensifies the pressure in my bum which is driving me crazy so I go back onto my hands and knees. I feel inside and can feel the soft bag of waters about an inch in and I know my baby is just behind that. Samarra wanders in and out as she pleases just to check what is going on. With each contraction I bury my head into the soft inflatable side of the birth pool and feel the vibrations of the my birth song ripple through the water and through my face. I move to be floating on my back again. Eddie is kneeling on the outside of the pool but supporting my shoulders. The intense pressure in my bum is unbelievable…I feel like my whole pelvis is going to split open. I can’t do this. Where is my rest-and-be-thankful?…I need my rest-and-be-thankful. I feel the bag of waters come right down and then break with a contraction. How much longer?…Not long (Mum)….How many contractions? I feel inside and there is my baby’s head. A couple of contractions and his head is on my perineum. I spontaneously close my legs…No Brooke, you have to keep them open. With the next contraction I put my hand down to cover my perineum and my baby’s head. I feel a bit more head come through but then recede slightly. Next contraction the head comes back and then keeps on coming, all the way. There is nothing I can do to stop it…baby wants out. I put my head back on the side of the birth pool and wait for the next contraction. Out he comes into Eddie’s waiting arms and then he is on my chest. All the pain is gone. He did it all himself, I never pushed.
I immediately feel that he has balls but this also happened when Samarra was born so I have a look to be sure. Yes we have a boy. He doesn’t cry at all, just little grunts. The umbilical cord is short. We have a bit of trouble keeping him high enough out of the water so we decide to get out of the pool. Eddie lifts us both to the mattress where we stay as a family for over an hour and where Phoenix has his first boob.
Phoenix and I move to the shower so I can birth the placenta but it is being stubborn. Due to the short cord I have difficulty squatting and holding Phoenix so we decide to cut the cord after 2 hours. The placenta is birthed 20 mins later.
5 hours from start to birth, 1 ½ hours active labour, just Mum, Eddie and Samarra, breathing, tiny insignificant tear, small blood loss. So there it is. Our pure but raw, fast and furious freebirth proving that sometimes all you need is to trust yourself, to trust your body and to trust birth.
Brooke
Partner to Eddie
Mummy to Samarra (Homebirth 30/11/04), Phoenix (Free Waterbirth 23/03/2007) and Baby Seed (Due late January 2010)
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Beautiful, lovley story Brooke, thanks for sharing
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