Is it the method or the experience that matters?

Story by Kate and Kodey McNamara

I decided to do birth classes as I started to get quite nervous & also I wanted my husband to know how to best support me as I have heard some sad stories.

Despite the footy grand final being on the first day, my husband attended the Calmbirth class with me.

We were both so happy and grateful we got recommended to Katrina because we both left each class feeling empowered and confident for any situation that we could be faced with!

• I got induced on the Monday night a balloon catheter, I went home that night and started to get period like pain.
• We returned to the hospital on Tuesday morning where one of the midwives said that the balloon did its job which was great to hear, she then broke my waters and I started on the Oxytocin drip.
• For the first 6 hours I felt that I handled the contractions so well with the breathing techniques Calmbirth taught me as well as having the support of an extremely present and hands on husband.
• I was having 3-4 irregular contractions every 10 minutes during this time therefore the midwife increased the drip and the contractions started to get much more intense.
• In this time I moved from using the tens machine in bed to the shower, which worked well however not for long. I started to get 5-6 intense contractions every 10 minutes leaving me with very little to no time to recover or mentally prepare before the contractions.
• Due to being so exhausted after about 12 hours of labouring, I asked the midwife to check how dilated I was for my husband and I to come up with a plan.
• The midwife told me that I hadn’t progressed and that’s when I asked for the epidural.
• My assigned angel of a midwife Carmel walked into the room, assessed the situation, turned off the drip and allowed me to rest.
• It was extremely hard for me to stay still and calm in the preparation and administration of the epidural as I had an excessive of Syntocinon in my bloodstream causing those 5-6 contractions to occur every 10 minutes despite the machine being turned off.
• It took 20 minutes for the epidural to start working then my midwife assessed me and felt that my babies head was essentially stuck. She allowed me to rest for a few hours and during that time we worked with Carmel and we repositioned me and used all our toolbox tricks to potentially get baby into a better position.
• Eventually – The doctor and midwife informed me of the different options I had needed to consider given the time I had been labouring and my progress – however I knew that I was beyond exhausted and that potential caesarean was likely to happen due to baby remaining in a not ideal position despite all our efforts.
• Then – After a few hours of resting the babies heart rate started to increase as she was not liking any position I was laying in and my temperature spiked therefore the birth turned into an emergency caesarean.
• I was not scared during this time as I had so much trust in the team, I already mentally prepared myself and most importantly I knew I tried everything I could have beforehand.
• At 0027hrs on Wednesday the 20/11/24 weighing a healthy 3.6kg, our beautiful baby girl Maya was earthside.

We cannot thank Katrina enough for her support during my pregnancy, my husband and I have so much love and respect for her. If you are expecting please do yourself a favour and take the time to see Katrina, you will not be disappointed.

I not only did Calmbirth classes with Katrina but also utilised her skills and made an appt for External & Internal Pelvic Release work to prepare for my birth.