The Birthing Story

Welcome to the world Little Bean!

Hello Darlings,

As promised...my awesome birthing story.

It all started with this...



Our 20 week old Little Bean. I was alone in Adelaide for most of the pregnancy while Mr. Man was in Singapore working. It was certainly an emotional first few months but our unexpected pregnancy was a long awaited event in our lives so we welcomed it with open arms.

I always tear up when I watch the video. Only because of the music and how I felt at the time, hard times for my heart but with a lot of love and support, I pulled through. :)



So, on with the story!

I'm seriously NOT going to lie about giving birth. Yes, it is a beautiful thing, but it depends on how you define beautiful, no?

It all started on Sunday morning, the 15th of August at 3am, I started to get mild contractions but slept through most of it, well, tried to anyway. I just stayed home most of the day counting contractions and timing them. I ensured I ate well during the day, all of the long lasting energy foods, no sugary stuff. I ate oats, toast and lots of fruits. I knew that it was going to be a long day and I took it like a marathon runner, eating carbs through out the day.

I also called my midwife at 3pm to let her know what was going on. She said, it's ok, take some panadol and try to sleep. Lovely. I didn't take any, panadol does jack for me, as if it will take my contraction pains away!

By 6pm that day, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was eating between contractions. Haha!

I called up my midwife at 6pm, telling her that they're now 5 minutes apart, she said the same thing, "Relax, take it easy, take a Panadol and rest as much as you can. If they're still bearable, you still have a long way to go."

Bummer.

So I lied down in the bedroom, in the dark, counting contractions on my iPhone contraction counter thingo. I also tried to do my Hypnobirthing relaxation too. I must say, it worked for a whole hour or two while I was having contractions at 6-7pm but after that, I was in hell. I had to call in Mr. Man to count the contractions for me while I walked around the room and tried to find a comfortable position while I was contracting.

Hypnobirthing went out the window by 9pm. I called up my midwife again and told her that they're getting to be about 4 minutes apart and she said, "If you can still talk through your contraction, then it's still too early (ARGH!!). I don't want you to go into the hospital and then be sent home again." Well, me neither, I didn't want to make the effort to get to the hospital and then be sent back because I wasn't dilated yet.

So, there we were again, in the bedroom, counting contractions. Mr. Man was excellent, he kept track of the contractions when I had them and didn't fall asleep at all! haha!

They started to get to 3 minutes apart and a lot more intense by 10pm. They say that having a back rub while contracting is a good thing, well, not me, I liked to do it alone, that's just the way I roll.

By 11:45pm, I got Mr. Man to call the midwife and tell her that I was in PAINNNNNNNNNNNN. Time to go in. So by 12:15am, the 16th of August, we were in the Woman's Assessment Centre, waiting for my midwife to arrive. The drive to the hospital was hell, even though it was a short 10 minute drive, I had several contractions and having them while in the sitting position...was...err...not the most comfortable. A bit like stabbing me in my stomach for a minute, every 3-4 minutes!

There's no way I will forget the pain...that's for sure.

The midwife checked me...I was 5cm and she said, "Well done!" Woohoo! I didn't have to be sent home!

They checked me in and Mr. Man, my Mum and the midwife walked to the birthing suite together. I had to stop along the way to hold on to the railings on the wall to get through the contractions.

Then I had the urge to vomit in the elevator. Lovely.

Someone opened my handbag to look for a plastic bag and my midwife said, "No, don't vomit in the handbag!" So, there we were, moving swiftly to the birthing suite and getting a spew bag along the way. I didn't end up vomiting in the end, just spitting like a camel most of the time.

After getting my antibiotic shot, I stripped off and got into the shower for a little while, ohhh, that felt good...for a whole 3 minutes when I didn't have the contractions! I got my mum to pull out my sarong, I wrapped that around me because I'm pretty sure I don't need knickers or bra for this event. Heh.

I came out and well, I think the rest was a blur, I lost cost of time and I was certainly in another world.

Hypnobirthing...what was that? HAHAHA!

In my birthing plan, I had put down that I would try hypnobirthing and if the pain got unbearable, I'd take some gas. So there I was, beside the bed and sucking gas, it did nothing for me, the first few sucks gave me a light head but didn't take any of the pain away.

I started to feel a lot more pain and decided to sit on the exercise ball, FAIL. That hurt like a bitch, got off that one pretty quick! Sat on the birthing stool and went through a few more contractions on there then then midwife told me to get off the stool and have another shower to ease the pain. She said if I gave birth on the stool, I'd get a crap load of hemorrhoids...ouchies! Mr. Man was standing behind me, rubbing my back (or was he? I can't remember!). You see, my waters still hadn't broken yet and after the birth, I came to find out that Mr. Man was thinking about his shoes the whole time. He was afraid that if my waters broke, his shoes would get wet! WTF! Hahahaha!

Next time around (IF there will be a NEXT TIME!), he can come barefoot!

On the suggestion of the midwife, I made my way to the bathroom for another shower but I stopped at half way, I couldn't make the 5 metre walk to the other side of the room. I got down on all fours for the contractions. I slowly crawled to the bathroom and I got to the door between contractions but I started to scream in pain! I said that I screamed like a girl but Mr. Man said I screamed like a man. Hah!

I wanted to push while on all fours and the midwife said, "Do what your body tells you to do." and I reallllly reallly wanted to push! The midwife quickly got a mat and turned me around so I was on my back....on the floor, in front of the bathroom...such a lovely place to give birth, not.

My waters hadn't broken yet and I knew that if they were still in tact, the baby wasn't going to come out. The midwife said, "The waters haven't broken yet," which I replied with, "BREAK THE WATERS!" or along those lines...and so the waters went-a-flowing with a huge GUSH!

The urge to push became stronger after my waters broke and I screamed even LOUDER! Mr. Man was by my head and so was my mum. They did well, they encouraged me all the way to the end and when I did that final push...the pain was finally over! WOOOOHOOOOO and the Little Bean exploded out and let out a massive cry! All over by 1:45am with just a 1st degree tear that didn't need stitches! I dropped my head back in relief while the midwife stimulated the Little Bean on my tummy. Mr. Man cut the cord and the Little Bean was freeeeeeee!

No more contractions, no more pain...well...for a few hours anyway. The midwife put him on my chest but I was still completely out of it. I thought I'd do the ugly face cry when I saw his face but I just looked at his cute little puffed up face and thought, WTF have I got myself into?

With another injection, the placenta was quickly expelled. I had a quick shower and freaked out at the amount of blood gushing out...and that's when the love hate relationship with maternity surfboard pads started. Boo to them, but yay too for being so...err...big?

While I was having a shower, Mr. Man held the Little Bean and said the call to prayer in his ears and put some crushed dates on his lips.

After the hot shower, I climbed up onto the bed...where I should have given birth on...and had my first official cuddle with him. Mr. Man bent over and kissed me on my forehead and said, "You did well." Nawwww!

Still in shock from the whole birthing experience, we walked on up to the maternity ward where Mr. Man and Mum left me for the night. I didn't sleep much at all, my ward mate kept on calling on the midwife every half an hour and I was still coming to terms with the fact that I was now a mother.

Who knew...me...a mother?

I pulled the Little Bean's cot closer to me and looked at him..."Assalamualaikum," I said to him. I couldn't believe that I gave birth to this 8.26lb (3.75kg) little crying and fragile human. All I could think of was how I could accidentally hurt this little man. I didn't want to drop him or smother him, I felt afraid of my own actions. I was unsure of what I was doing and in the midst of the confusion...THE PAIN HIT.

No one told me that weeing would HURT LIKE A BITCH.

I wanted to cry!

After all the adrenalin had worn off, I could feel EVERYTHING HURT. My boobs, my groin and my vajayjay.

The aftermath of giving birth...please, first time mothers...don't be fooled, it doesn't end at the birth of your child...it goes way beyond that and it takes WEEKS to heal! I'm sitting on a pillow right now and I have to drink fibre drinks. Oh, did I mention that hemorrhoid cream is also my best friend? People don't usually talk about this, but this is the reality, it hurts! What ever you do, don't sit cross legged after a vaginal birth, keep your legs closed for goodness sakes! Your tear will heal a lot faster.

So, ladies and gents, that concludes the birthing story!

Stay tuned for more awesome parenting moments. :)

xoxo,
Sweet Success