Levi's Arrival - A Wonderful Water Birth!

Friday 27th March 2009
It was a sunny Friday afternoon and I was watching Harley on the trampoline when I realised that I had a dull constant backache and very frequent Braxton-Hicks. I tried to shake the backache with Panadol and also tried walking around the trampoline (not ON the trampoline!) a few times but there was no budging it. This was when I knew something was up so around 3pm I rang Keith to let him know that I thought I may go into labour soon. I then rang the Birth Centre and told them what was happening and they suggested I come in for a quick checkup, just in case (considering my last birth!).

Keith got home around 4pm and had a quick shower while I packed the car and got Harley ready. We arrived at the Birth Centre around 5pm and after a VE, discovered I was already 5cm dilated. Sue the midwife told me they probably weren't Braxton-Hicks but were actually mild contractions. I hadn't felt a thing apart from the tightenings! It was then decided that we weren't going anywhere so we called Keith's parents to come and get Harley. It was really hard saying goodbye to him knowing that soon he wasn't going to be my only child! He was more than happy to spend some time at Nana & Pop's place though (they have chooks!). :)

So dinner was ordered for us and we sat on the verandah of the Birth Centre eating while watching the sun go down over the river. The contractions continued on for a few hours and got down to 2 mins apart at one stage but I still I wasn't feeling much pain so I went and watched a movie with Marion the night midwife on duty. I thought, if I'm going into labour soon, I should probably try and get some sleep (yeah right!) so I went to bed and not long after I layed down, nothing. Everything stopped! I was shattered. :( I went and saw Marion and she said there's various reasons why labour stops including stress, anxiety, etc. We're still not sure why mine stopped but it gave me a few hours to get some sleep for what I knew would be a big day the next day!

Saturday 28th March 2009
Keith and I got up around 6:30am and walked to the little shop over the road from the hospital to grab some breakfast. I was ravenous but also felt like I needed to keep moving so walk we did! And it worked. While I was sitting down to eat my bacon & eggs, a contraction hit. Still wasn't a painful contraction but I knew what it was. They continued on throughout the morning but with no regularity and not getting any more painful so we discussed breaking my waters. We decided to wait until 10am to see if it would happen naturally but nothing improved so my waters were broken at 10:06am. The first time I felt a real, proper, very painful contraction was 20 minutes later at 10:26am! Sue asked if I wanted the bath and I said I would like to try it so she ran the bath and I got in around 11am (it took forever to fill!). I was only the tub for a few minutes and a few contractions when I told Sue I needed to push. She asked if I wanted to get out of the tub or stay in there and I think I mumbled "stay in please". After about 4 or 5 good pushes on my knees, Levi Charles was born in the bathtub at 11:14am with his Dad right there to help catch him. "Established labour" was even quicker than Harley's - just over an hour!

He was weighed later in the day and so much for me thinking I was having a monster - he was only 7lb 15oz (3590gm). Smaller than Harley was! But Levi had a bigger head and that's what mattered. He was also 53cm long - the exact same length as Harley. His APGAR was 9 at 1 minute and 10 at 5 minutes. He was perfect! All done with no drugs but with a bit of a nasty tear.

I'm so totally in love with my little family. I had a wonderful experience at the Birth Centre. I'm so glad I chose to go there and if we decide to go back again for #3, I'll be more than happy to use them again. ;)