Story by Bec & Sam
Kit Frederick Dundas
Born 2/5/21 at 8:58pm, 3.78kg, 54cm
We first heard about Calmbirth from a friend who highly recommended Cherie’s classes & we booked in for 31 weeks.
Calmbirth positively impacted Sam & I in three key ways; It armed us with knowledge & knowledge is power, it centred my fears of birth & taught Sammy how to advocate for me & it brought us together as a team!
Some of the content was not new to me, but a great refresher, but much of it was & I learnt a huge amount about birth & what to expect in a hospital environment.
We set ourselves up for a fall early in the third T by convincing ourselves he would come early! We had three very close friends go between 36 & 38 weeks on first babies so we had that window of possibility in our heads. By 40 weeks I was pretty uncomfortable – my career as a contemporary ballet dancer meant my hyper mobile hips were unraveling – amongst all the other delightful things we experience in the third T!
By 41 we were wondering where bub was but trying to be patient.. It was during this week that calm birth really helped me – the nightly meditations & mindfulness got me to sleep & helped me stay grounded in my affirmation that baby comes when baby is ready! The hip squeeze we learnt at Calmbirth also saved me in this time too.
Unfortunately no amount of raspberry leaf tea, dates, bouncing, stairs or curry helped with movement at the station – he was way too comfortable in there & I had no signs of labour by 41 + 5.
It was on this day that we had to start to entertain the idea of induction – we’d been adamant not to be induced & I could feel the fear creeping back in.
I decided to go home & read some positive induction stories to settle my thoughts & found some through the calm birth website & also listened to the Australian Birth Stories Podcast too which had been helping me since I2 weeks.
We held strong, & kept going in for monitoring & we pushed it out as far as we felt safe & comfortable to, but alas, by 42 weeks & three failed attempts at a stretch & sweep + no sign of baby we agreed to an induction.
I went in at 9am Saturday 1/5 for cervidil & was to stay in overnight & they would break my waters the next morning & start the pitocin drip after. By 3am in the night I had pretty intense cramps & by 4am they had a clear pattern & I’d gone in to labour off the cervidil alone. I rang sam & he came in & they moved me to the birthing suite – where by 6am I had very strong contractions at 3 mins apart!
It all happened very fast & I unfortunately wasn’t able to use my Calmbirth breathing or techniques. Baby Kit came just before 9pm after a long day. I ended up having an epidural which I knew was more likely with induction, but it definitely felt like the right decision for me, & I felt really informed about my choices.
I was disappointed at first to not get the birth I imagined – in water, with my music & mindfulness & to labour with minimal intervention or interruptions. But I still feel very positive about our birth – it was REALLY powerful! I ended up with both my MGP midwives in the room & Sammy by my side, a playlist of fearless female artists playing & a team that really advocated for me in that space.
Calmbirth allowed both of us to feel empowered & informed & I’d recommend it to everyone to do! It gave me the confidence in the room to refuse anything that didn’t serve me & my baby in that moment. I’m really grateful for Cherie’s words of wisdom & support & for providing a really safe open space to ask questions, speak frankly & discover more about our community resources.
Baby Kit is 3 weeks old & thriving, we are enjoying the bubble & leaning in to it all.