Sarah’s Birth Story with Baby Bea
I’d like to start with how truly terrified I was. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how my baby was going to come out.. from there! You know? Even after my husband and I attended The Bump to Baby Chapter classes, I felt informed, prepared & excited… but completely terrified about the pushing & birthing part. I pictured myself at home, waters breaking, contracting at home in my bath by candlelight, a quick trip to the hospital & a couple hours later holding our baby girl.
Nope – instead I was 10 days late, I didn’t get the birth I imagined, it was not natural (as hoped for) and very long but AMAZING. My baby girl was born a healthy 7 lbs 9 oz after a whopping 3 days after my waters broke. By 28 hours in established labour from being induced, my body was exhausted & I had no energy to push. My baby was helped out by forceps & an episiotomy with 2 final pushes. I can honestly say, in the moments leading up to that my body just took over & the adrenaline kept me going. It was completely out of my control & with every contraction I was a step closer to meeting our daughter. I felt empowered and strong & honestly loved having contractions.
I had an epidural which I could top up every 15 minutes using a button… I felt in control of the pain & stopped pressing the pain relief so by 9cm dilated, my epidural had worn off. And the pain of my babies head lowering was intense. My anaethetist quickly helped me manage the pain again & before I knew it, I was pushing. I remember telling my husband she was coming… that urge to push is REAL. You just know! Again it was empowering to feel that I just instinctively knew what to do, it was very primal. Shortly after I was holding my baby on my chest & didn’t feel a thing or notice what was going on around me, I just looked at my babies tiny hands, counted all her fingers & toes & watched my husband look at us both in amazement. She was here & the whole experience was magical. I remember looking at my husband and loving him more in that moment than I thought possible, I was so thankful to him for giving us such a precious little life. We made her, together – it’s magic! If you’re reading this at 2am (like I did) reading birth story after birth story, watching birthing videos on YouTube… stop worrying. Don’t stress. You will AMAZE yourself. Trust your body. Trust your partner and midwifes to support you. You’ve got this!
You can read more birth stories here.
