After a really long, hard HG pregnancy, with early labour scares, infections, kidney issues, and more, we finally reached the end. I’d spent weeks doing everything I could to prepare for a straightforward labour and we were hoping for a fairly quick, smooth labour.
About a week before she arrived I noticed baby’s movements had dropped off drastically, and we couldn’t get her to respond. I also woke to a ‘pop’ and knew my waters had broken but was concerned at the lack of liquid. I went into the maternity ward to get everything checked out thinking it would be a quick in and out. Five hours later I had a booked induction and was being monitored regularly for baby’s heartbeat and movements.
The induction process began slowly, we had our 2yo with us and she was an amazing wee doula. We walked and bounced and talked to the baby, and waited. My contractions began ramping up and by midnight I was having back to back contractions but labour wasn’t progressing as baby seemed to be stuck. By 4.30am we woke my MIL to come get our 2yo (who had slept through all this happening) as things weren’t going as smoothly as we had originally hoped and we both needed to be fully present to handle whatever happened next.
We later opted for an epidural as I was over 24 hours with no sleep and not getting any break from the pain while still not actually getting anywhere, no matter what we tried with positioning etc to encourage progression. At this point I was trying to rest but began feeling really ‘off’. This grew through the morning, a nasty feeling of things not being right, I was nauseous and spacey and my contractions began to slow down. In an attempt to get things going again my midwife went to break any waters remaining, thinking that a bubble must be stopping her descent, only to find nothing there. After poking around baby’s head they got a small gush of discoloured waters and realised there was already an established infection. They moved quickly to set up antibiotics, at which point I began having seizures. By the time this whole situation had resolved my contractions had stopped completely, and the next concern was getting the baby out safely and soon.
After consultation with the OB (my last experience with pitocin resulted in a haemorrhage) they began a slow IV of syntocin to bump the contractions back up again. With zero results they began upping the dosage every half an hour while beginning to table the idea of a caesarean. In a last ditch attempt to get things going my LMC began dosing me with homeopathics and finally my contractions began again, though I was only getting one every 15 minutes or so. As the lack of progression continued it became apparent that the next step would include an operating room. Then my contractions hit full force out of the blue, and I was determined to make the most of them. I worked my way onto my knees and with 4 back to back pushes, 3 contractions, and less than 10 minutes, all 4kg of our newest wee babe made her way into the world.
My contractions then promptly stopped again but our attention was on baby who wasn’t responding as well as she should and had fluid on one of her lungs. As our medical team worked on her we watched and hoped everything would be ok, and thankfully she was soon back with us. Due to the medical issues during our labour baby and I stayed in hospital for observation before coming home, but recovery was surprisingly quick. We had the privilege of introducing our children to their new sister, no matter how many children we have it never ceases to be magical watching them bond and fall in love. This was our birth story.
Sometimes bringing life into the world is a dreamy, peaceful experience that feels almost spiritual. Sometimes it’s a journey of grief, heartbreak, and empty arms. And sometimes its hard, a little traumatic, and takes some time to process. As a mama of 6 earthside babies and many star babies I’ve experienced all of these, and the only wisdom I can share is that as birth breaks you and rebuilds you, you’re stronger and more beautiful for it. And now we are a family of eight, in our tiny home on wheels.
