Kariba & Naya | Second baby, Birth Centre, water birth

My contractions began around 2am on June 18th (I refer to them as contractions because that word actually makes me feel really powerful!) We had just moved house finally the evening before so everyone was pretty tired.

The contractions were really intense from the start which was a different experience from my 1st born. With him my contractions built up in intensity over a number of hours. These started off very intense and very sporadic. I called the birth centre at about 9am to ask if it was normal for things to be intense so quickly and the midwife reassured me that it was probably because it was my second baby so my body was 'fast tracking' the process.

When it got to about 1pm everything stopped. I was a bit disappointed, but to be honest, it was a welcomed break and I used that time to keep preparing my mind and have something to eat. There was quite a lot of clutter around the house due to the move so I needed to remove that sense of clutter from my mind and focus on calm. I went for a walk to perhaps try and kick start things later that afternoon. It was boiling! Towards the evening, just after I had dinner, my contractions started again. It was about 10.30pm. At this point they came back, a bit more intense and much closer together. Within an hour, we were on our way to the birth centre as they were 10 minutes apart.

When we got to St Mary’s I was seen very quickly and consented to a vaginal exam. My midwife explained it was difficult to tell, but she could see how intense my contractions were so things will probably go quite fast. She checked on baby who was doing great then admitted us into a room.

My husband was a fantastic support mentally and physically. We were doing our breaths together, he was continuously telling me how great I was doing and reassuring me that "you can do this". I also used his shoulders as a support to fully lean on and take my body weight. That position was very helpful. All the while he was managing to record the experience which is exactly what I wanted.

In about an hour or so, my midwife came in to check in how things were going. She listened to baby again who was happy and still quite high up. Within 20 minutes I had to call her back because my contractions were almost constant. I’d say they were coming on every 10-20 seconds so I knew baby was on the way. She had a listen and confirmed that baby had moved right down so quickly so it was time to get into the tub.

Thé tub was filled so quickly and I was helped in. It was nice being in the water as I could weightlessly move from side to side gently and rock my hips. At this point my waters still hadn’t broken. With every contraction I kept focusing on my breath and trying to breathe baby out. All of a sudden I felt a strong pop and those were my waters! I was doing lots of breathing and focusing on relaxing my face and body (floppy face, floppy fanny!). I was also getting a strong urge to push. I never got this urge with my 1st birth so it was new to me. My midwife was fantastic. I asked her if I should push and she told me to go with my body and kept saying how wonderfully I was doing.

Finally, she told me she could see some hair. She asked me if I wanted to feel which I did. It was amazing to be able to do that. Baby’s heart rate was still good and she was almost out. At this point contractions were at their peak intensity wise, and I got to the point where I was questioning in my head "can I do this??" But these thoughts were drowned out by my husband and my midwife constantly reassuring me. Each contraction brought baby closer to us. Finally, about 30 - 40 minutes after my waters broke, our baby girl arrived beautifully at 2.27am on June 19th. Tears upon tears of joy, relief, gratitude and POWER!