Antoinette Again - Lydie's Tale
When I found out that I was pregnant with my fourth child I was thrilled, Liz had been with us when Louis (our third) was born and I knew without a doubt that I wanted her with me for this one too. The only way that we could guarantee her presence was to employ her independently. There were of course the financial implications, but I honestly felt that it was worth it. Liz was wonderful about allowing us to spread the payments out, which was a huge help.
What it meant to me was that I had continuity of care, Liz saw me through the whole pregnancy from start to finish, she was always at the end of the phone, even fourth time round you have questions and worries! I especially appreciated the way in which Liz involved the whole family. During my antenatal visits Louis would sit by Liz’s side holding bits of equipment and passing them when Liz requested. Everyone felt involved which was wonderful.
I was 12 days late and feeling totally fed up, I sat on the sofa and burst into tears. Keith sat and listened to me banging on about how totally fed up I was about still being pregnant and was this baby ever going to come! Keith suggested I go and have a rest whilst he took the children out to the park.
He returned a few hours later with arms full of goodies. He bought scented candles, a joint of lamb and a chic flick. He put Louis to bed, (the girls were in London visiting their Father), popped the lamb in the oven and sent me to put my feet up. We had wonderful supper and went to bed with the smelly candles and the film. I went to sleep at about 11pm.
At about 2am I awoke and knew that I was in labour! I went to the loo and thought I would try and go back to bed. My last 3 labours had taken a while to get really going and I thought that a few more hours of sleep if I could would be a good idea.
I lasted about 2 minutes in bed and went downstairs. I couldn’t believe how much this was already hurting, so I gave Liz a call and told her what was going on. The contractions were about 3 minutes apart and about 1 minute long. Liz came right over. I woke Keith and told him what was going on. He remembered from the last time that things were slow to start so wasn’t too panicked. Liz arrived at about 2.40am and could see immediately that this was different from Louis. The contractions were hard and intense.
Liz, Keith and I had discussed the birth plan and we all new our roles and we got down to having a baby. We decided that we would stay downstairs in the sitting room so as not to wake Louis (I think deep inside I knew that I had to have this baby before Louis woke up in the morning). The contractions were coming hard and fast and felt really powerful. At about 4am I knew that things were moving well and felt quite surprised that the contractions were as close and hard. We had to make a decision about when to call my Mum. She lives 3 hours away and I needed someone to be here in the morning for when Louis woke up, but I didn’t want anyone else apart form Keith and Liz at the birth. Liz felt sure that the baby would be born quite soon so we decided to call my Mum.
I went to the loo and lost my mucus plug, I didn’t want to get off the toilet, but equally I didn’t want give birth to the baby in the toilet. Now the contractions were almost one on top of the other and felt relentless, I barely had time to catch my breath. All through this Liz continued to give me words of encouragement and her presence was magnificent. The atmosphere in the house was of total calm, and Liz continued to check the baby’s heartbeat and reassured me that the baby was very happy.
I managed to get myself off the loo and back in front of the fire. I felt now that I needed to know where we were and asked whether Liz would check to see how dilated I was. When I heard that I was 8cm I could hardly believe it. I had a few more minutes of contractions. The baby was lying in an awkward position and didn’t want to come down. I was a bit stuck on about 9.5cm.
I felt now that I wanted to have this baby, but I knew that it needed a bit of help. We decided it was time to rupture the waters, the warm amniotic fluid felt so comforting. By now I was laying face into Keith’s chest surrounded by pillows. I was pushing and though I was fully dilated the baby wasn’t moving down. Liz suggested I sit on the birthing stool (see www.BirthRite.com.au ) It took all of her powers of persuasion to get me to move, but it worked within a few contractions the baby almost flew out. The head was out and as the head was coming out the baby rotated and one more push and with Liz’s guiding hand I hooked my baby up onto my chest! Finally I had the baby in my arms, I put my hand under the bottom to check whether it was a boy or girl and was delighted to discover that we had a girl! Keith was moved to tears, he had a boy and now a girl.
One of the greatest benefits of having Liz a second time was that she knew that I bleed quite heavily after giving birth. She had a number of plans to manage the third stage of labour and knew exactly what to do. Liz and I had discussed all of the possible scenarios, and the ways in which she would manage them. I felt completely confident and safe in her hands.
After the placenta was safely delivered, I lay in front of the fire with baby Lydie in my arms, shortly after that Louis woke. He came and sat next to Lydie, Keith and I with his morning milk, and all was very good.
