Two empowering and positive calmbirth experiences

Story by Adi, Justy, Cali & Connor

I truly believe Calmbirth provided me all the tools to believe in my body and allow it to progress naturally. It also provided my husband with so much knowledge in how to assist me and I can’t imagine how we would have gone had he not done the course! He always says he didn’t realise how much he got from it until we were in labour. During my first labour, it was just the two of us in the room for the majority of the time and he was confident enough to support me through each step. So grateful for Calmbirth and recommend it to every pregnant woman I know!

For my first pregnancy, at 38+3 I woke up and thought I felt a mild period pain and decided to go for a walk, and it seemed to not be going away so I did all the things we’d been told to build oxytocin and I went and got my hair done and walked home and spent time with my dog. By evening, I called my husband and told him I thought it could be early labour but didn’t want to get too excited, so he came home, and we had dinner and by about 9:00pm they were coming in waves of about 10 minutes and my family took turns doing the rebozo towel to relieve pressure. I did a forward leaning inversion and decided to try go to sleep. I had two contractions when I got to bed but now twenty minutes apart so was a bit disheartened that it may be stalling then on the third it was quite painful, so I rolled over quickly and felt a weird popping sensation and then felt water.

We rushed to the bathroom and saw it was my waters broken! We were giddy with excitement calling our families.

We called the hospital and they said to just come in and get checked so I could come home and labour at home if possible. On the four minute drive I had two contractions, so we knew it was starting to ramp up. We packed my very carefully packed bags just in case!

The midwife took us to the assessment room and just monitored baby’s heart rate then said I could have a sleeping pill and some panadeine forte and come back at 8am to be induced. By this point I was having at least 3 contractions every 10 minutes and the intensity had increased so I asked to be checked and she said I was 6cm so I would stay at the hospital.

I jumped straight in the bath with the peanut, and it was amazing, my husband was spraying the shower head on my back too for pain relief. When it got more intense my husband was pushing my hips to put pressure on and it is the most incredible pain relief! I asked for the gas, and it really helped me with my breathing and gave me something to hold. I had also set up my environment with candles (fake), essential oil and my labour playlist.

I then felt my body bearing down and my husband went to get the midwife and she told me not to push as I wouldn’t be ready yet, so I was trying to move my body to stop it, but it was just heavy pressure. I asked to be checked and got out of the bath and she said I was 9cm and at that point I hit transition and wanted a lie down and my husband excitedly jumped on the chair for a sleep but ten minutes later I was feeling so much pressure and began pushing.

I was on my knees on the bed holding on to the top, I held this position most of the time except I rolled on my side which helped her come further down the canal then I got back on my knees.

An hour and twenty minutes later my daughter came out and it was the most satisfying feeling in the world, and I pulled her up through my legs and cuddled her straight on to my chest. She did the breast crawl and latched on beautifully, we had a wonderful golden hour!

I was bleeding a lot so had to have my stomach pushed down in which was worse than the labour! Turned out I had a hematoma and just internal grazing, so we got to go to the room and begin parent life!

That first shower was the most powerful feeling of what I had just done. I appreciated being told to buy a body wash for that shower because every time I smell it, I still feel that feeling!

For my second pregnancy, I got to 40 weeks, and I was a bit shocked I think as I had assumed I might go earlier again. On the early morning of 40+2 I woke up at 3am and had to go to the toilet, thinking my body was clearing out for labour I was super excited however I was then feeling nauseous, so I convinced myself it was a stomach bug. I spent the day just chilling on the couch and resting a lot but just treating it like any other day.

By night-time I had a sore tummy but figured it was from going to the toilet and not eating much. By 7:00pm I was playing with my daughter and sitting down felt painful, so I stood up and was swaying and my husband said it looked like when I was in labour, and I thought yeah, the tummy pain is kind of on and off, so we started timing, and they were about 10 minutes. We put my daughter to bed which made me feel emotional and called our Mums just to let them know it could be early labour so they both came over. I was just sitting on the fit ball and watching my favourite movie to make myself feel relaxed and I was still feeling quite comfortable.

When our Mums arrived by 8:00 and were talking to me I couldn’t respond during the contractions, and they seemed close together, so we called the hospital and said they were 5 minutes and they said to stay home while I was comfortable, so I went to the shower and the hot water was amazing. My husband came to talk to me, and I had two contractions in that time, and he said that was only 3 minutes so we decided we would go to the hospital just in case. I had been avoiding going in too early as I remembered being told I would be sent home last time. By this point I needed my husband putting pressure on my hips. We got in the car and the drive was about 12 minutes now from our house and I had five in the car, so we were glad we left. I had three walking in the hospital and went straight to the assessment room and the midwives were doing a handover so I just asked if I could get in the shower while we waited.

I needed my husband in there holding my hips which was proving the best pain relief again! I was super excited for the bath again as I l loved it last time and our hospital had been newly renovated, so we filled the bath while we waited for the midwife. I went and got in and I almost immediately wanted to get out and hated the position. I tried to relax in there but I felt the most intense need to go to the toilet and the midwife insisted I get on the bed to be checked first and I just wanted to go to the toilet but then agreed to jump on the bed and there was a head so she started encouraging me to push on contractions and I truly just remembered my breathing and trusted my body to know what to do. I used my visualisations and felt so relaxed this time pushing and on the third contraction he came out and it was so smooth, and I pulled him straight up on to my chest again and he latched on.

He was born at 10:26pm so it was a very whirlwind labour. We had beautiful golden hour again, except for the after birth pains while feeding, I never got those the first time. We also Face Timed our families who were all in complete shock of how a baby was here already. I then got checked and had the same hematoma which we opted to have surgically drained and stitched this time to help recovery. My husband used this time for skin to skin with my son and I had colostrum prepared from my antenatal expressing so they could use that too.

I truly believe calmbirth provided me all the tools to believe in my body and allow it to progress naturally. It also provided my husband with so much knowledge in how to assist me and I can’t imagine how we would have gone had he not done the course! He always says he didn’t realise how much he got from it until we were in labour. During my first labour, it was just the two of us in the room for majority of the time and he was confident enough to support me through each step. So grateful for Calmbirth and recommend to every pregnant woman I know!