Natasha shares Matilda’s Birth Story
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After getting to my due date, and it passing right by i was 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant!
I started having braxton hicks contractions that were 5 minutes apart, not very painful but very regular.
All through the night they were coming and going but stopped being so regular and varied a lot in intensity. I got up at about 5am and started to get the birthing stuff ready, got babies clothes out, towels and anything else i thought i might need! Then went back to bed and tried to get some rest.
My midwife came over at 7.30am and the contractions had pretty much stopped. I just felt like my body wasn’t doing what it should and that things weren’t progressing so asked her to do an internal, which she wouldn’t do and it annoyed me! She left, suggested i have some food, have a shower and try and get some rest.
So all day we tried to keep occupied and i was having contractions sometimes one a minute and others were as far as half an hour apart. Some felt like a braxton hicks, some took my breath away and some just stopped right in the middle.
So my body wasn’t in actual labour,it was more like pre labour, and we had no idea how long it would last.
I was really tired and called my midwife in tears wanting some magical answer to get my body into actual labour. She told me to have a bath, and get as much rest as possible. So my husband set up cushions on the couch and i slept, inbetween some really painful and some really pathetic contractions for about 2 hours. I woke up feeling so much better and well rested. So ran a bath and stayed in there for about 45mins, having one contraction the whole time.
The midwife came over at 3.30pm and felt baby’s position and we figured out she was posterior. So my body could continue like this for ages (Sad) or we could try and get baby to turn and try to get things going. Since we knew why things weren’t progressing like they should i felt like i had my ‘answer’ and mentally and physically i felt like a weight had been lifted.
We set up cushions on the couch again and i leaned into them and swayed my hips to get baby to turn. Almost straight away contractions started coming every 7 mins and were more painful and regular than anything I’d had all day.
Quickly things progressed and they started coming every 5 mins, then every 3. It was an amazing feeling, i was so happy for each contraction to come even though they were getting so painful, i just knew things were happening like they should now. After 2 hours i started getting double and triple peaked contractions and was finding it very hard not to collapse in a heap on the floor lol. They were AMAZINGLY painful.
But Joe helped me through each one, and after it was gone i was even able to crack jokes, and had the MWs in hysterics laughing I had so much more energy and was so alert between contractions compared to being in labour with my first baby. I started feeling ready to push but i mentally wasn’t ready, i felt like things were going so fast i didnt get a chance to even think!
One contraction ended in an almighty grunt and i knew she was coming whether i was ready or not! So i knelt on the birthing mat, and next contraction my waters broke and her head was seen. Next contraction her head was out and she started to cry with just her little head sticking out. And the rest of her flew out with the next contraction, very skillfully caught by Joe after 8 mins of pushing.
We sat down to look at our baby and got to see our little girl for the first time! I told her how much we loved and we cried as much as she did!
So little Matilda Eva Page was born at home in the lounge at 6.11pm weighing 3310g. She is a little breastfeeding machine and was even relatching herself on the first night, I’m so proud of her!
