Birth Story ❤️

"I am a midwife myself and pregnant with my 3rd with the goal of an unmedicated birth after two positive epidural vaginal births. This time I was really determined to experience physiological birth in its fullness however very much doubted “if I could do it” and wondered maybe “I don’t have a great pain tolerance”. I was looking for material that would help me in the crisis moments of labour. As a midwife I didn’t need birth education perse, but practical advice on getting through labour. I loved Birth Box and particularly loved the meditation tracks but most of all, I loved the breathing exercises & the rescue breath technique made me feel prepared. Both my previous labours were long and slow so I was prepared for a marathon. 39+5 weeks I woke up with cramps around 3 am, I got a heat pack and tried to rest in bed just breathing through the waves. My waters broke at 3:40, I knew I wouldn’t be getting back to sleep, so my husband put on my TENS machine & I laboured on a gym ball in a birth sling to relax my body into the contractions. They were short and fast and intense! I don’t know if I could have vocalized any louder if I tried. We called the midwife at 4:20 am who advised us to drive into the hospital about 25 minutes away; I jumped into the huge boot of our Kia Carnival & the intense contractions continued. We were nearly at the hospital and looking at my TENS, I realised there was a 3 minute break since the last contraction. Thinking to myself “maybe labour is stalling like it did with my other babies”… or “maybe it’s the break before the second stage”. In that moment I felt an adrenaline rush, watched my legs shake and my body involuntarily pushed and I could already feel the baby's head! I yelled to my husband to pull over that baby’s head was coming & to call the midwife. He pulled over and by the time he opened the boot, the head was out. And with the next contraction her body was born, caught by my husband at 4:45am. She cried and had a great tone! We drove 800m further to the hospital & met our midwife there. Wheeled me up to the birth suite and had a physiological third stage birthing the placenta."