Baby 1 December 2011, Baby 2 November 2013, Baby 3 March 2015

Like majority of mums I made a birth plan and spent my last few weeks of pregnancy preparing for labour. Diagnosed with preeclampsia at 37 weeks I was a regular at the maternity ward getting my blood pressure taken, from 39 weeks it became a daily routine appointment; spend 20 minutes trying to find a park, waddle my way to maternity and read a magazine for 10 minutes, take my blood pressure and relax around for an hour with the CTG monitor and then head home.

At 40 weeks and 4 days I had my regular hospital appointment at 9 am and so far there had been no signs of our baby girl making an entrance into the world yet, so my husband having his first day of Christmas holidays decided it would be a great day to go for a motorbike ride through the mountains with his Dad while I had my appointment. We parted ways; him on his bike and me heading to the hospital but once I had my blood pressure checked it was decided that it was no longer an option to wait for her to come naturally and I was to be induced. I asked for 10 minutes to get onto my husband, but being on his bike he didn’t feel or hear his phone ring so after half an hour it was time to break my waters and get the syntocinon drip in, it was about this time that I realised my birth plan was not going to go according to plan.

After an hour I finally reached my husband and by the time he arrived I was already having contractions and 4 cms dilated. We started doing what we had planned, he rubbed my back, helped me soak in the water and bounce on the ball. Having our baby sit posterior was causing back pains which were very intense during the contractions so we spent a long time in the bath. 9 hours into labour and I was told my blood pressure was still rising and babies was getting low so an epidural would be my best option at this point. I had read so many horror stories of it going wrong and up until that moment I had been breathing through the pains drug free but my midwife ended up giving me gas so I would stay still long enough for the needle to go in.

I feel like that was where my labour came to a stand still, I could no longer move around and baby was still posterior and not coming any lower, I had only progressed to 7 cms and that’s where I stayed until 4 am when I was told I had to have a cesarean. That was the scariest moment for me.

We then started prepping for surgery and my husband was taken to another room for himself to get prepped. I don’t remember much from the theatre; be it exhaustion or from the drugs but I remember seeing my gorgeous girls swollen and bruised face and thinking she was the most gorgeous girl I had ever laid eyes on. I had roughly 5 minutes before my husband and baby were rushed out and I was put to sleep as I was hemorrhaging.

For the next 4 hours I remember waking up all groggy in recovery and asking details about my baby, I wasn’t allowed into maternity where they were until I could feel the ice on my body. When I finally arrived in maternity I got greeted by an ecstatic new father and a beautiful 4.24kg baby girl! I couldn’t have been happier.

23 months later I was back at the same hospital being prepped for baby number 2. This time I knew what was happening and was so much more prepared for the events to follow. I was welcomed into the hospital and given antibacterial wash to shower in and then wheeled into theatre. Our cesarean went to plan and at 8:32 am, only an hour and a half after our arrival we welcomed our baby girl into the world. The midwife laid her next to my face and I cried. I was so overwhelmed with how different my experiences were and how aware/awake I was this time around. My husband and daughter never left my side, we went into recovery and I was able to do skin to skin and breastfeed.

When we were moved into maternity our eldest and my mum came in to meet her, which was such an amazing memory and I’m so happy we recorded it and can play back for them now.

Just over 15 months later again I was being prepped for another cesarean, this time in a whole other state and hospital. The hospital was amazing and I was able to work with a midwife leading up to our date to create a birth plan. She was born with music playing in the theatre, we did delayed cord clamping for as long as we could, I then got to do skin to skin while still in theatre and my husband carried her into recovery where I was able to breastfeed and continue skin to skin for another hour before being wheeled into maternity where my parents and our two older girls were waiting to meet their new baby sister.

Not everyone’s birth stories go to plan. Mine were so different; from experiencing contractions with my first, being awake and able to stay with my second right through from theatre to maternity and with my third actually having a birth plan worked out with the midwife and doctor that was followed to the dot point.

It took me three goes to get the ‘perfect’ birth plan, but each time I had to open my mind to the what ifs of what could change during those hours before I was left snuggling my newborn.

Guest Blog @ Relaxed Parenting Blog by Tegan- Central Queensland

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