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I woke up around 3:00AM on April 29th with an achy feeling and saw that daughter Mia had wandered into my room and was staring at me. I like to think that somehow she knew today would be the day; that kids know these things. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up, made myself a red raspberry leaf tea and jumped on Facebook and played a bit of a videogame. I went to the loo a bit later and had what I realized later was my show. I was getting period type pains around 10 minutes apart. The aches were getting stronger and a bit closer together by 5:00AM so I messaged my doula Nicole. She said she would call my other doula, Talitha and they would be around later that morning and to keep on timing the pains.

I messaged my mum a bit later and told her she would need to come babysit Mia for us. Mum arrived around 9:00AM and Nicole and Talitha arrived about an hour later. I told them the pains were getting a bit stronger and were about 5 to 6 minutes apart. We sat around for a while and then went for a walk to see if things would speed up. Things picked up a bit but a little while later they started to die down and I got a bit disheartened. My doulas decided to go back to Talitha’s for lunch and said to call when I needed them. Around 1:00PM the pains got worse and closer and I got them to come back. We went for another 2 laps around the oval (stopping every 2 – 3 minutes so I could double up in pain). On the way home I had a concerned neighbour ask if I was alright which was sweet. Back at home things started to progress but still weren’t quite bad enough for the hospital.

At about 4:30PM Nicole asked if I wanted to lay down or go to the hospital. I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep and laying down sounded great but I was in pain and decided the hospital would be a better idea. My partner Matt said he would follow behind us after he made sure Mia was happy to stay with my mum. After what seemed like the longest car ride ever we got to the hospital, heading up the elevator we got to my room and realized the new baby’s bag was downstairs still! Talitha went back down to get it while I got changed and settled in. It was about 5:00PM and the midwife asked if I wanted my cervix checked so I said “yes, why not”? She checked and I was already 6 centimeters!

About 20 minutes later Matt arrived and told us he had to stop on the side of the road as his car window was trying to fly off (it didn’t wind up properly and popped out and it was raining hard!). I was in a lot of pain by now but was managing it by concentrating on Nicole’s voice telling me to relax through the contractions. I ended up laboring on a chair sitting backwards leaning on a pillow. Matt and Talitha held a heat pack on my lower back and Nicole coached me in front of the chair. Without her coaching I honestly think I would have lost control of the situation but she kept me so calm.

It was almost 6:00PM and Nicole suggested a shower so I went into the bathroom and had to use the loo, unfortunately I had some pretty painful contractions on the loo and while Nicole was kneeling trying to coach me through them my waters popped all over her! There wasn’t even time for the doctor to arrive and before I knew it I was having Kaia right there on the bathroom floor! I was lucky and only pushed for a couple of minutes before beautiful Kaia Sophia was welcomed into the world by the wonderful midwife. I am forever grateful to Nicole and Talitha for being my doulas and couldn’t have done it without them.

Erin Phillips

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Posted by ergospazmo, 20th January 2014