When Sarah met Poppy
With my first birth 16 months earlier, Quinn came 9 days early with only a 9 hour labour from first contraction to her arriving. It was an unmedicated water birth that all went very smoothly. As I came to the end of my second pregnancy all I could envision was an almost similar birth and I was truly hoping this baby girl would come the same way, while knowing that anything can happen during birth so I always had an open mind.
On Father's Day at 39+6 weeks, I lost my mucus plug in the morning and began having on and off contractions. All day I was in early labour, sometimes contracting every 10 or so minutes for an hour and then nothing for 2 hours. Lots of laying on the couch and relaxing, while also playing with my toddler when I could. Once the evening hit, contractions were becoming more consistent and I was so excited bub was coming! I told my mum she would need to come and sleep the night as I was fairly confident I'd be having the baby overnight. However, I had to watch the Survivor All Stars final, so was both happy and disappointed the contractions slowed down during that hour and a half.
My mum arrived about 10pm, so I decided to go to bed to get some rest in between contractions. At about 11pm my contractions starting ramping up and they were 4 minutes apart and lasting for over 1 minutes each time. My midwife had said once they get consistent to call her, because my first birth was so quick she wanted to make sure I got to the hospital in time.
At 11.15pm my husband starting properly timing the contractions. They were still 4 minutes apart but very consistent. At around midnight, he said "after this contraction, I'll call the midwife" and it just so happened that at the end of that contraction I felt my waters break. Luckily I was wearing an adult nappy because my gosh, it felt like a pool of water came out of me. I was freaking out because I didn't want it to get all over the bed, but that nappy was the goods and everything stayed dry!!
I told him to ring the midwife immediately. He rang her at 12.05amand said "Sarah thinks her water broke" and I yelled "I don't think, I KNOW!!!". Calmly, our midwife told us it's time to come in. Nick had already packed the car earlier, just had to grab some snacks, the frozen colostrum and a few other essentials, while I quickly jumped in the shower to clean myself and get a fresh nappy on.
We left home at 12.20am, and surprisingly had a good car ride there. Because the contractions were still 4 minutes apart, I actually got a break and was just chatting to Nick about how crazy it is that we'll be having a baby very soon. We arrived at 12.35am with my midwife meeting me outside emergency with a wheel chair. She'd already started the bath, knowing I wanted a water birth. When we got to the birth centre, I asked if she could check how far along I was. I was 8cm. As soon as she'd finished, I had my next contraction and I felt like pushing. The bath was almost ready and at 12.50 I hopped in. I just had to push but my midwife told me to slow down, as they could see the head and it was all happening too quickly. I couldn't help but push and 6 pushes later, at 1.03am, baby Poppy was born.
We did skin to skin immediately and Nick cut the cord again after delayed cord clamping. I hopped out of the bath, delivered the placenta and breastfed Poppy. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear and had stitches. Poppy got weighed (3.38kg) and she had her needles and examination etc, then we all had a family nap as we were all exhausted. Once I woke, I had a shower and breakfast and at 8.05am we were walking out of the hospital, ready to get home and start our life as a new family of 4 🥰
I was so surprised and relieved that it all happened so quickly. I hardly had time to process that we were in the hospital because next minute she was here and then we were home. Everything went super smoothly and I had my unmedicated, water birth just like my first. I was so so happy.
What do you wish you knew before birth?
I think from my first birth, I was pretty informed and luckily nothing new cropped up that I was unsure of. Something I took into both my births was knowing that the pain was good pain because my body was doing something natural and amazing.
If you could, would you do anything differently?
Nothing, it was everything I had hoped for. I feel super lucky.
What did your partner do that really helped during labour/birth?
Hilariously, he was ready for the 2 hours of pushing and getting me water and ice chips like last time, however it all happened so quickly he didn't have time for that. But he just held my hand, encouraged me, talked me through it and was just so supportive. Having him in charge of the hospital bags and snacks meant he knew where everything was and I didn't have to think about anything.
What advice/honest truth would give a mama-to-be about birth?
It hurts, SO MUCH, but it is so worth it in the end and you forget what it's like. You can do it!! Trust yourself and always advocate for what you want.