Empowering birth after
Empowering birth after Caesarean[EBAC]
Pregnant yet again for the third time. However, having
had an empowering birth after caesarean last time, I was not
plagued with thoughts of self doubt in my body to birth
naturally. Instead I had a firm belief in myself to give
birth with strength, courage and serenity, like countless
women before me. My last birth, over time, healed a lot of
the pain and disappointment that I had experienced with my
first birth.
Once again I needed to find a midwife/s who believed in
my ability to birth naturally, at home, even though I had a
history of a caesarean. So off I went to the same group of
midwives who took me on last time. However, since my last
birth at home a lot of not so nice exchanges had gone on
between the midwives and the Obstetrician whom I was under
last time. Due to fear of litigation I was by law not
allowed to birth at home with my history of caesarean. So to
avoid conflict I chose not to see any Obstetrician as long
as my baby and I were healthy. I also signed a disclaimer
stating that I have been informed of the risks of birthing
at home with a scar on my uterus and took full
responsibility for my actions.
Well the pregnancy was uneventful, and as always at the
end I grew impatient for the birth day to arrive. Then it
started.
At about 4pm I had a show and informed the midwife on
call. She informed me that I was probably going into labour
and to call her when the contractions were regular. I then
called my support friend and told her what was happening and
since she lived a good hours drive from us she decided to
make her way to us. I then continued with cooking the dinner
to keep me distracted from the slight contractions I was
getting.
From about 5.30pm the contractions were coming every
three to five minutes. At 6.30pm we called the midwife. She
came and found me to be 2cm dilated. I did not let this
dishearten me even though by now the contractions were
feeling heavy to me. She suggested I get in the bath. So I
got into this hot bath which I found very soothing and just
melted away a lot of the tension that I was holding. At the
same, the contractions got stronger, longer and more
frequent. After nearly an hour in the bath the midwife asked
to check my progress and hopefully rupture my membranes.
So out I got and before I could get on the bed felt the
urge to vomit. That I did a few times. I was then found to
be 8cm dilated and I was very excited and relieved to hear
this. She then ruptured my membranes and I returned once
again to the bath. There I closed my eyes and relaxed
completely in-between contractions. The contractions were
quite intense and my support friend helped me breathe
through them. I had an incredible urge to push and after a
while at 20.33pm, another daughter Jessica, was born into
the bath peacefully. The midwife picked her upper body out
of the water and placed her on my abdomen. We did not plan
to have our baby in the bath, it just happened. It was very
emotional for me. I felt relieved and could not believe that
3 hours later I had given birth. She was so peaceful and
relaxed. I was blown away.
I feel truly blessed, grateful, proud, humbled and at
peace to have birthed once again naturally, at home with
people who believe in a woman's instinct and right to birth
naturally and beautifully.
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