Baby Max & Mum

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a mum and had so much excitement to experience being pregnant, giving birth, and having a baby. Over the years, my mum spoke about how she had given birth to me at the Birth Centre. I hoped that just like her, I would be able to give birth to my own baby there.

As luck would have it, I got into the Birth Centre and attended my first appointment after my 20 week scan. I was so excited to meet my midwife and see the space I would give birth to my baby in. Over the months, I spent my spare time learning everything I could about pregnancy, labour and birth. The more I learned, the more passionate I became about physiological birth. I looked forward to each appointment to discuss my pregnancy, and I loved that my midwife, Angie, and student midwife, Ebony, shared the excitement about birth that I had. They made me feel heard, and I felt reassured that I would have support to achieve the birth I wanted. I felt confident and positive in the leadup.

At 39+1 weeks pregnant, I woke up around 2:30am with cramps and a sore back, but that late in my pregnancy, I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. After a couple of hours struggling to return to sleep, I felt my first few contractions. As soon as my contractions began, they were so painful I couldn’t speak through them, and they were occurring with little time in between them, so I woke up my husband to let him know my labour had begun. I promptly got help putting the TENS machine on, and while it wasn’t effective in relieving my pain, it was perfect for timing my contractions. We checked the times and each contraction was lasting for around one minute, coming every two minutes. I had prepared myself with the expectation that my first labour would likely be slow, so I was in disbelief that the contractions were coming so fast and were already so intense. I thought that surely I didn’t need to go to the hospital yet. Despite this, I agreed to have my husband call our midwife, and then we promptly went to the Birth Centre.

We arrived at the hospital and I got into the shower for some relief. My midwife felt my stomach to check the position of my baby and suspected he was posterior. With her assistance, I tried different positions to labour in, to successfully get my baby into a better position. My back pain was still extremely intense, so we tried sterile water injections. Unfortunately, I only had relief in my back for a few contractions. Over the hours, I followed my instincts about what felt best, which included walking slowly, standing, and sitting in a supported squat on the toilet. I found that gentle movement was most comfortable for the pressure in my back and pelvis.

​I’m thankful that I had learned so much about the stages of labour and birth, because when I reached the point of feeling like I couldn’t cope anymore, I knew I was transitioning and that my baby would be here soon. Angie encouraged me back into the shower because I had found some relief in there earlier. I sat in the shower, in dim light with my husband and Angie supporting me. At the end of each contraction, my body began to push on its own. After around fifteen minutes, we moved over to the mat and I got onto my hands and knees. Here, my waters broke and Angie encouraged me to begin pushing. As each contraction came, I pushed. I had suddenly found new motivation, and found that pushing was less painful than my contractions had been alone. Another fifteen minutes passed and at 10:17am, I gave birth to my beautiful boy, Max.

Unfortunately, Max needed a bit of assistance with his breathing. I was lucky to have so much support in that moment so I felt safe, and reassured everything was okay. With the help of the team, Max was healthy and in my arms in no time. I was grateful to have the opportunity to have so much time for skin to skin with Max as we tried to initiate breastfeeding. While it took Max a little bit of time to get the hang of latching, we got there in the end.

Over the following weeks, we had visits from Angie, which was great knowing that we had support if we had questions. After every visit, we felt reassured and confident.

The Birth Centre is a space where I felt safe, had trust in my support team, and felt the trust they had in me and my body to birth physiologically. Even though my birth had been quicker and more intense than I expected, I’m so glad I got to give birth at the Birth Centre, and achieved the birth I wanted. I hope that if I give birth again, I’ll have the opportunity to have the same access to continuity of care and support.

Written by Rosie Taylor - FBC committee member 
​Published 30/07/2024