It was still nearly two weeks until my due date, but I had felt all along that this baby would be early. My son was born a week early, and I just didn't expect this one to hang on till the due date. So when on Thursday night I realised I was experiencing twinges every half hour, I thought it would be wise to try and get some sleep. I'd only had two hours sleep before going into labour with my son and I didn't want to repeat that.
On Friday morning I woke up at about 5.30am, and realised the twinges hadn't gone away, and had become significantly more noticeable and frequent. I decided I didn't want to worry my husband with the details of what was going on, just in case it stopped - I didn't want him spending the day at home for nothing, so I didn't tell him I was having contractions, and let him catch the train to work.
I tried to go back to sleep, but the contractions were now coming about 5 minutes apart, and getting painful. I had only been in labour with my son for 8 hours, but I didn't want to spend all day wandering the corridors of the hospital waiting, and decided I'd be more comfortable waiting it out as long as I could at home. I had planned a totally natural birth at a Birth Centre, so there was no reason for me to get there any time soon, it's not like I was getting an epidural anyway !.
I got up and had a shower at about 6am to help with the pain. Vomited once in the shower. Got out and got dressed. I decided I didn't want to call anyone before 7am, so I laid on the couch and hugged a cushion through the contractions.
At 7.20am I called my husband Phil. He'd been at work less than an hour and now I wanted him back home. He was a bit annoyed that I hadn't told him when he left for work, but knowing there was not much he could do now, and that he had a 30 minute train trip, a 10 minute walk home, and a 40 minute drive to the hospital ahead of him, now probably wasn't the time to discuss the finer points of labour etiquette.
I then called my mum, so she could come and look after our son. She arrived about 10 minutes before Phil did. Phil ran in the door at about 8.30am, and called the hospital for me. It took me about 15 minutes to make it from the couch to the car.
We started the drive from Cranbourne to Ferntree Gully, and about half way through, found ourselves in the thick of peak hour traffic with no end in sight. At that point I was having contractions every two minutes. They were lasting about a minute, and I was just about to say "pull over and call an ambulance, we are not going to make it", when Phil asked for the street directory. Next thing I know, we're turning off the jammed, but familiar road and going some other way. I closed my eyes at that point, and just hoped I didn't have to give birth in the back of my Daihatsu. Not 5 minutes later we turned on to a dirt road. I panicked and said "where the fuck are you taking me??". Phil assured me he knew what he was doing and I was quite relieved to look up a few minutes later and see a familiar street sign - we were just streets away from the hospital - we were going to make it!!
When we got there, there were no parking spots for miles around, so Phil dropped me close to the door and said he'd park the car and come and find me. I got out of the car and as far as a lamppost before another contraction hit me and I had to lean against the post for support. I walked slowly inside the hospital and as far as the ground floor lounge area before having to lean over a chair with another contraction. I began to wonder if Phil was going to beat me upstairs. I made it up to the third floor without having another contraction, and was walking towards the Birth Centre when I heard my name, and turned to see one of the midwives. She led me into the room where I gratefully leaned over the bed and had another contraction. It was about 9.15am.
The curtains were drawn and the room was illuminated only by a small lamp in the ensuite bathroom. Phil arrived with my bag and the midwife suggested I might be more comfortable on the floor. She got out a rubber mat, and Phil rolled the big rubber ball over to me, and I leaned over it and continued to have contractions. The midwife sat on a chair off to the side and waited. Phil rubbed my back. It felt good to have him do that, but at times he was a bit too vigorous and I ended up with friction burns on my lower back.
At about 10.30am I started to feel like pushing. I held on for a couple of contractions, just to make sure, then I told the midwife I felt I needed to push. She said "that's ok" and moved around to where the action was. I pushed the ball away and pushed on my hands and knees with the next contraction. I felt the baby move down a lot. With the next contraction I felt a trickle of fluid down my leg, and with the next good push, my waters broke.
I got down on my elbows, which seemed to help me push harder, and with a couple more pushes my baby's head emerged. One more good push and I felt that incredibly fantastic feeling of a body sliding out of me.
The midwife passed my baby between my legs, and I just knelt over her and held her for ages before the midwife asked if I'd looked at what I had yet. I looked down and saw that we did have our expected little girl. We wrapped her in a towel and I stood up and sat on the toilet with my baby in my arms and waited for the placenta to come out. I knew that having a natural placenta delivery was meant to take longer, but it was only about 10 minutes later that I felt a weight bearing down, I passed our baby to my husband, who had to sit in front of me as umbilical cords are only so long. I gave a little push, and out it came. The midwife held the scissors out and Phil said "why don't you cut this one?". He'd cut our son's cord, so I took the scissors and disconnected our daughter from the cold bloodless cord.
I stepped straight into the shower and thought back over the past few amazing hours.
Without a single drug I had delivered our second child in the most beautiful environment. My every wish had been followed and in the darkness at 10.45am Amber Elise Wilson had been born, weighing 2830g and measuring 46cm.
