I felt heaps of pressure so put my hand down to check...I could feel my baby girls head / Elise

I woke Friday morning (exactly 39 weeks) and felt my waters had possibly broken (slight trickle). I wasn't sure so I called the birthing unit and got checked around midday. They confirmed it was my waters. Surges hadn't started so I started doing all that I could that evening and the next day...spinning babies, yoga, squatting, bouncing, acupressure, walking stairs and kerbs, hand expressing, hypnobirthing tracks/visualisation, everything possible with only very mild period like cramps occasionally. I had a good couple of nights sleep and they looked after us so well at Mt Lawley. I started IV antibiotics late Saturday arvo as still no contractions and it was now over 24 hours since PROM. My OB then came and saw us Sunday and after much discussion I decided to be induced to nudge my body into getting my surges going as it had now been a couple of days. I was at first anxious about an induction and of course needing CFM (and upset that I would no longer be able to hop in the bath for pain relief) but my OB and our wonderful midwife really made me feel safe and secure, talking through everything with myself and my husband thoroughly. Using the BRAIN technique we learnt in hypnobirthing really helped in making informed decisions along the way where we both felt comfortable with our choices. And the amazing affirmations on my vision board and the tracks helped keep me grounded. We started synto at 9am with CFM. My husband had set up all our candles, vision board, yoga mat and ball for me to use. My amazing midwife said to me, do whatever you need to in terms of movement and leave the CFM to her/not let it get in my way of being comfortable. She was incredible and I can't thank her enough. She made it her full time job to keep the monitors secured while I moved about so I could forget about them. Encouraging me along the way with such amazing supportive words. Also suggesting to the OB for me to have the monitoring off for a break at some point for a warm shower if I so requested seeing as though I couldn't use the bath which he was happy with (such a gem, I hadn't even thought of that option!). I used my TENS machine throughout and had my ear pods in with the hypnobirthing tracks on repeat, constantly using the visualisation and breathing techniques that I had been doing daily since the course in preparation. I knew I had to give it my all going into an induction with no pain relief other than the TENS and really got into the zone. I don't remember much or who else came in and out of the room, as I had my eyes closed most of the time and was in my own little world.

I was really quiet apparently the whole time. My midwife and any other midwives that came in kept it all very calm and quiet for me, just as I had wished. I mostly sat on the ball to begin with, then up on the bed (which I didn't really like), then on the floor on all fours. Crazily enough, I vomited quite a bit which is something I wasn’t expecting, but apparently the reflex can help the baby descend which I found interesting. I started to think to myself that the surges could go on like this for a while to come yet and I was starting to find them difficult to deal with so asked to try some gas, but baby was coming and my midwife recommended we just check how dilated I was first before giving gas a go. I also remember trying to sit on the ball and not being able to or on the bed edge either, too uncomfortable and I didn’t even click that maybe it was time to start pushing. She called another midwife in to double check...and yep I was fully dilated and ready to go! Now looking back I must have been transitioning at that point of asking for gas. She recommended I go empty my bladder so I sat on the toilet but couldn't help my body from bearing down and I changed my breathing to breathe baby out. I was so comfy on the toilet doing it there I couldn’t stop to try to empty my bladder. It was all consuming.

I felt heaps of pressure down below, put my hand down to check...I could feel my baby girls head!!

I yelled out that I could feel her head. Another midwife came in to help move me out of the toilet area. My midwife was about to finish her shift and was doing changeover but my girl came before she could do full changeover which was lovely. I moved over to the birthing stool from the toilet. Thank goodness for the birth stool! I can’t imagine birthing without that thing. Just as comfy as the toilet had been. And surprisingly very underused at the hospital apparently. I can’t recommend it enough to anyone thinking of using one. My midwife just encouraged me to go with my own urges to push. I just listened to my body and used the breathing techniques and slowly, slowly breathed her out taking my time (I really did not want to tear and was telling myself to go slow!!).

My OB at some point had walked in the room but was quietly observing from the corner not wanting to disturb me. He came over at one point and checked in with me getting down to my level and asking if I was OK and letting me know he was there.

I was so in my zone with visualisation and concentrating on working with my bodies urges I didn’t have a clue who was in the room. Everyone was so quiet, room dark. My lovely midwife held a warm compress against my perineum as I was pushing which was a huge pain relief (did not experience that ring of fire sensation many people report) and I believe helped immensely in preventing any tearing. Her head came out and I stopped for a bit....slowly wanting to push her out....then I pushed again and my midwife caught her and helped me bring her up onto my chest! The pushing stage was all over and done in under 10 minutes. It was incredible and so healing. My baby girl was born at 2.42pm. Just under 6 hours since the induction started. I couldn’t believe she was in my arms.

I moved over to the bed where we had delayed cord clamping, the placenta then followed all while I fed my baby girl who latched so well from the get go. My OB checked for any tearing and was happy to report no tears. I feel the warm compress and the perineal massage really helped with this. I was so relieved and cannot get over how amazing the recovery has been after compared to my c section. The care we received from my OB and especially the amazing midwives at St John of God Mt Lawley was just incredible before, during and after. All the midwives were so pro-VBAC that we came across which was so encouraging and being such a small maternity hospital they were all so attentive. I can't thank them all enough.