We were excited when that first contraction hit!

Story by Tarlyn

Russ and I attended your course back in January, and have since welcomed a little girl – Delilah! We also realised after we left why you looked so familiar – you played basketball with Russ’ sister Vanessa Matthews! Small world.

I wanted to reach out and let you know how grateful I was for you and the Calmbirth course information presented. There were a few things that really stayed with me during the birth, and I thank you for that.

In terms of our story – well, it never quite goes to plan, but ours (almost) did. My waters dramatically broke at midnight, and contractions quickly followed. Not even an hour later, they were 5mins apart and almost one minute long. It was then that I noticed quite a bit of meconium on my pad. We called the midwife, and were told to keep an eye on it (she thought it may have been mucus from the photo), however I was certain I knew it was mec.

I laboured at home for 3.5hours, followed by a 40min car trip to the Angliss. When we arrived, more meconium; and I was asked if my midwife (also Amy) could do an internal. I was 7cm, but Amy couldn’t feel baby’s head. I immediately knew what that meant, and so we agreed on a c-section.

From then, it was very dramatic. We waited 30mins for an O.R. to be available, and in that time, I got to 9cm. Doctors said “there’s someone on the way who’s interested in vaginal breech”, but that sounded like a science experiment to me! The difference between doctors and midwives was astounding!

By the time they prepared me for the spinal (which I had to have lying down), I was fully dilated and desperately trying not to push. 10mins later, Delilah, who had secretly been frank breech* (!!) was born and with an apgar score of 9. Perfectly healthy!

*I’m still not sure if it was undiagnosed, or she flipped…

Whilst we certainly had an intense ending, what you said was so true – it’s all about how you’re made to feel. It was a very fast and intense labour and I was very close to having her naturally – of course you know how that could have potentially turned out. But with all said and done, I loved my labour. I did everything I wanted to do – laboured at home, laboured to full dilation, no drugs (only the tens machine and gas), I just missed the ending. However, I’ve been cleared for VBAC next time!

In terms of the other helpful pieces of information that got me through:

• I really noticed the waves of the contractions: 20sec rise, 20sec intensity, 20sec fall
• Your words continued to run through my head – “You can do anything for 60sec”
• That I had autonomy over my body. I really felt like I was being pressured to deliver naturally because they thought it would be a great case study. In the midst of trying not to push, Russ and I remained firm (with the help of my midwife)
• I also loved the way you breezed over the c-section content. You didn’t fear monger, you just stated the facts – that it’s simply another option, sometimes required, to get baby out safely. I think that helped me overcome the stigma of it.

Most of all, Russ and I both felt really prepared and even excited when that first contraction hit, which was mostly due to the information you presented!

Thanks Amy, all the best.