Trent's
Birthstory.
By Gail Filmer.
Hi everyone. Now for an update on
the Filmer family. I now have two boys. The second pregnancy
was more troublesome then the first, with more morning,
afternoon and evening sickness than the first. It was also
more tiring as I had a toddler to run after, but as a
contradiction I was an insomniac for much of it so I was
constantly tired.
I also had a very unpleasant visit
to local Maternity Hospital to book myself into their
records. The people that consulted with me used scare
tactics to undermine my confidence in my decisions that I
had made. I had planned for a home birth with Lynda as my
mid-wife. Luckily, I was very well researched and strong
enough to disregard the consulting doctor's fear, but the
experience still left me unsettled. I had to reaffirm my
belief in myself and my support network after the
visit.
Trent's birth started with about a
week and a half of periodic pre-labour. It was characterised
by three days of continuous contractions, which did not
progress very far, but were strong enough for me to take
notice. Each run of contractions was stronger than the last,
but each time they would fade or suddenly stop leaving me
frustrated.
Then a week over due it happened.
Contractions started in the early morning again. I spent
some time trying to convince myself that it was not
happening, but they stayed consistent for several hours so
we called Lynda to come over. She said that it was early
labour and if we were comfortable with it she would go again
and keep in touch. The contractions were not getting any
stronger, but were consistent in length.
During the early afternoon the
contractions got more regular and started to get closer
together. David called Lynda again and she came over, she
said that I was still in early labour, but things seemed to
be progressing and asked what was going to happen with
Jaiden. We said that he was going over to his Grandmothers
so David started to get him ready to go. Not long after this
David left with Jaiden to drop him at his Grandmother's. No
sooner had they left when my contractions, that had been
occurring since four in the morning, stopped!!! Much to my
disgust..
I took Caullophyllum to see if the
contractions would start again. It didn't work. So Lynda
left again and I called David who brought Jaiden back
because we all thought that the labour was off again for
another day. This was at about two in the
afternoon.
Earlier in the day we had set up
the birth pool and put some water in it. So Jaiden and I got
in and splashed around in it. The pool was surprisingly
pleasant and Jaiden had great fun splashing and playing with
water toys in it. While in the pool I kept having strong
contractions every so often. Which surprised me as Lynda had
said that if I wasn't in labour the pool would stop the
contractions; it didn't, not completely.
As the afternoon wore on I
continued to have the occasional contraction. This
frustrated me, as I could not rest properly as they were
strong enough to feel painful, when they happened. In the
evening David got take out for dinner and put Jaiden to bed.
Then the contractions started being very regular and harder
and closer together. David called Lynda at ten at night, I
was in the pool trying to convince myself it would all stop,
but it didn't. It got worse.
By the time Lynda arrived I was
shaking and babbling all sorts of things as I was in
transition. Baby was well and truly on the way. After a
short time pushing Trent arrived with the rupture of
membranes and an almighty wail, a healthy, very wet baby
boy. He was born on the fifteenth of October, at twelve
midnight, 3550 grams (71b 130z) and 50 centimetres long. It
was a shock to realise I had, had a baby. It's easily the
most amazing experience of my life.
As a wrap up, because of my
traumatic caesarean for my first birth the VBAC experience
was very much a healing experience. It helped to bring
closure to the Caesarean birth and I now feel a much calmer,
happier person as a consequence.
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