JIREH'S BIRTH STORY

It has taken me a while to write Jireh's birth story, mainly due to a lack of time. But here is our story.

My last midwife visit we had determined that bubba was posterior, I had booked an appointment with my osteopath that afternoon to try and shift bubba. That was on the 6th of November.

On the 13th of November I had another osteopath appointment and a much looked forward to massage but at around 1:30 am I woke up with a few mild contractions. I brushed them off as braxton hicks and pre labour which in my last labour started two weeks before Israel was born. I thought while I was up I would go to the bathroom to save another middle of the night trip and wake up. When I got there my waters broke on the toilet (thank-goodness) and labour was starting.

I called my midwife as I was considered high risk attempting a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). She said to wait it out at home (which was contrary to what I had been told all throughout my pregnancy). My contractions had stopped and I was trying to get them started again on the fit ball. At about 2 am the midwife called back and said that after she thought about our conversation she thought it was best that I head on into hospital for observation. We started to gather a few last minute things and pack Israel's bag so he could head off to his grandparents house for the night and the remainder of the labour and few days after birth.

We arrive at hospital and my contractions had all but finished. I climb the stairs to the maternity ward and I feel things pick up again. After I lie of the bed and am hooked up to the monitor things stop AGAIN. I'm waiting in this room the size of a bathroom for 11 hours, it was dark and had no windows and I could barley move. I made hubby have a nap so he could regain some energy, after a full day of work and only a couple of hours of sleep, I knew it was going to be a long night for both of us. After a few hours on my feet rocking to music my contractions were becoming regular and intense. I called the midwife back and she determined I was in labour - FINALLY.

Here is my only complain with the hospital. I was in the know you midwife program, which is a small and sought after program offered by my hospital. It's where you see the same midwife for you whole labour and then she is there for the birth. She had appointments that afternoon with some more of her clients so I was left there to labour by myself, the contractions became so intense that I needed to call for a midwife - but it was a busy day at the hospital and they could not spare one. I was alone and in pain. This was much worse than my previous sons labour which was drug free until the very end where the midwife suggested pethadine to help my body stop bearing down, as this was causing swelling and ultimately an emergency cesarean. A midwife must have felt sorry for me because she kept popping in, she was amazing! So basically I was lost in the system for a couple of hours. Not fun when your in need of help.

My back up midwife finally arrived and I instantly disliked her (I then warmed up to her after things calmed down a bit). She was strongly opinionated and so was I to how I wanted my birth to go. I was eventually in tears and physically ill as I worked through the pain. I was continually told that a posterior labour was incredibly painful. I didn't believe them, I thought it would be a little bit worse, but as my labour with Israel was more than bearable I never prepared myself for what was to come. It was intense and there was not a break between contractions, but body was bearing down and bubbas head was pressing down into my tail bone. Through each contraction I would scream in pain. I felt bad for any other birthing mummas, if they had planned a quiet peaceful birth they were not getting it.

After a couple of hours I couldn't deal with it anymore and as each wave contraction ended (I only had a few seconds between each one) I would tell my husband that I couldn't do it anymore that I needed pain relief. He would always say it was up to me, that if I needed it he would organize it. An obstetrician was called to check on my progress, and she could see my body was bearing down. She said because of the outcome of my last birth she would advise that I have an epidural, as I was only at 5 cm, I couldn't agree more. She thought that with pain relief my body to rest and release some of the pressure on my cervix so it wouldn't swell again.

The anesthetist  was called and she couldn't come soon enough 20 minutes felt like 2 hours. It took her several goes to get the needle in my spine. Each time she would apologize and asks if it hurt, no was my answer, the contractions were more that making up for the lack of sensation as the needle hit my bone. The overall process of numbing the lower half of my body took well over an hour. And once the drugs had been inserted, the pain was not diminishing like I thought it would. I thought these things were supposed to give relief of pain. The pain I felt was still worse that the worst of Israel's labour. I was out of my groove, there was no rhythm as I tried to breath through and concentrate my way out of the pain, a method I found most effective in my previous labour. Add to that the fact that I couldn't move around but was stuck in a sitting position didn't help the matter of pain of position of baby.

The numbness was moving up my body, yet I could still move my right leg, and was still feeling all my contractions. I was still using gas to try and make my way through each contraction. If you had asked me after my son's labour if I would do it again, I would happily answer yes, even an hour after I had experienced it. I had a great experience. Yes it hurt but it wasn't hell. Through this labour, I would see my husbands hand and have the urge to bite his fingers off, the urge to throw things across the room and the urge to yell F@#$ as loud as I could. Nothing like Israel's. I had to wait an hour until the anesthetic wore off enough to give me a top up. It finally worked but I was high as a kite (which was apparently quite humerus to those around me).

Over then next four hours I was able to dilate to 9 cm. It was past midnight. My waters had broken nearly 24 hours previously and the staff were getting antsy. They don't like high risk women to go over 24 hours with broken waters. I was given 1 more hour to progress, for baby to rotate before an emergency cesarean section was booked. That hour came and went and I was hesitant for them to book in the cesarean, knowing what it would mean for future pregnancies and labours. (I will write more about my feelings on my body failing yet again in the near future). What convinced me that we needed to move was that baby's heart beat had been slowing down. I finally agreed that a cesarean was the best way to move forward in this labour, knowing that I did everything that I could do.

The cesarean went smoothly, I was anxious, not in a bad way but because I was about to meet my much awaited baby. I was crying for most of the procedure.

Jireh (God will provide) Samuel (I asked God for him) was born at 2:37 am weighing 2980 grams (6 pounds 9 ounces) and 49.5 centimeters long.