Emilia Rose’s Birth Story

The last few weeks of my pregnancy I was extremely relaxed I wasn’t too concerned about when this baby would arrive, this is quite out of character for me however I had come to terms with the fact that I can not plan for this and it will happen when it has to happen. I knew however that I wanted to avoid a possible induction on the 30th November (due date was 20 November) so I did all the eating dates, pineapples, drinking raspberry leaf tea and after 39 weeks used some aromatherapy blends. At 40 weeks my midwife offered a membrane sweep and with that 30/11 date looming I thought well why not… it came as a total surprise that my cervix was in fact quite favorable and we agreed on doing a very gentle membrane sweep. This gave me power that my body seemed to know what it was doing.. we waited a bit more.. Early hours of the morning of the 21st November I woke to contractions, I did all the usual stuff I would advise any other pregnant lady and drank plenty of water, took a warm shower and used the birthing ball… I told my husband we were at this crossroads and either things will continue and get more intense or it will all just stop here and in fact after a few hours of regular contractions it just stopped. That day was pretty much a normal day, I did some laundry so as not to have a backlog after returning from the hospital, put together a really simple meal to get plenty of carbs and went on a walk. We sat on the sofa watching Trevor Noah and then my midwife brain said lets have an early night because I knew the likelihood was that night time would bring on more contractions, which it did. After just a few hours in bed I was woken by the contractions again, despite their irregularity these felt different I had a few more showers and leaned forward onto the bedroom dresser, our cat Kiki close by almost like a doula would be. It was time to let my midwives know things were happening but it was also the middle of the night. Hubby was getting a bit edgy now about me still insisting that its too early to go to the hospital, I needed him to feel supported to support me best so I took the decision to call one of my midwife friends and let her know I was going in. I remember very clearly getting strong contractions in the hospital car park and thinking this is it most likely I will leave here with a baby in my arms. I got to the delivery suite my place of work and felt very much at home but a bit shy at the same time, what if it all stops and Ill be back home in a few hours. I was greeted by familiar faces, a blessing very few women in Malta have. Within a few minutes my friend and midwife was there and within a few hours we would be joined by 2 other very close friends and midwives. I set up my vision board and we made the environment our own with the music I had left my husband in charge of setting up and some electric tea light candles it was dark and cosy and I used my breath through the contractions. At 7am I tried to eat but not much was getting in, and as labour became more intense I even vomited a few times, this meant that I needed a drip for hydration. I got into the bath a couple of times but the restricted movement was not doing anything for me even though the warm water was soothing. I attempted to take some gas and air but the taste of it bothered me, so I opted for paracetamol Intravenously as I was not keen to take any further analgesia, the breathing and the massage from my husband and midwives were enough. Labour continued to intensify, the transition phase of labour was rather long and intense, I believe this was due to a bit of fear of the pushing phase, I needed a lot of support from my birth team, and a few kind words from one of the midwife’s who had kids of her own reassured me that the pushing phase didn’t need to be feared. Then suddenly I felt a huge relief and a gush of water trickling down my legs, my waters had released by themselves and soon after I began to feel the urge to push my baby out. I was standing at the time and that’s how the pushing phase started however after a while I tired and moved to the bed were we used a variety of positions like on all fours and side lying with the support of the amazing people in the room. My husband was particularly supportive and was encouraging me throughout. I don’t remember how long this phase was exactly but I do remember the sensation of her head being born and moments after picking up my baby and bringing her to my chest, she was so pink and so petite at 2.99kg. She took to the breast almost immediately and I don’t recall much of the placenta being born, however I trusted that the midwives with me followed my birth plan for optimal cord clamping. I didn’t need any stitches which was a relief and I was up and in the shower after some tea and cake. My daughters birth was the most empowering journey of my life I felt like if I was capable of creating and brining this small person into the world then I must be capable of anything!