I woke up at 6 am with some mild cramping. I didn’t think much of it at the time. But after about 30 mins I started to pay attention. From 6:30 am onwards, I began to track my cramping. I called Nick to let him know that I think today’s the day. He then started to make his way back home after being in peak hour traffic for one and a half hours. I then called our midwife (who was unavailable, so Sam was my midwife until 6:00 pm). Sam said it sounded like Braxton Hicks; so suggested to take some Panadol and to take it easy. I kept calling as they were still happening after a few hours. She said she would call me back at 1:00 pm, and if they are still happening, she would get me to come in for an assessment.
Sure enough, when she called I was still cramping, so she got me to come down to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital at about 1:30 pm when my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. I was 4 cm dilated on arrival.
After a few hours - I had lost all concept of time at this point - Nomes (my best friend) arrived at the hospital. I was laying on my side using the TENS machine as pain relief. And I just remember getting the biggest bear hug and instant comfort when she got there.
After a while, I moved to the ball. I was midway a contraction when I felt a thud in my pelvis. I stopped almost immediately. I asked Nomes if she heard or felt that, as she was holding my hand at the time. She looked confused. The midwife said it was my waters. She asked me to stand up, and sure enough, it was my waters.
I moved around the room a bit before Nick asked if I wanted to get into the bath to try for a water birth.
After a while, I started getting the urge to push. After about an hour of pushing (still seeming as though nothing had happened), I was checked and was fully dilated! I Just needed to push harder to get little miss out. After another 20 minutes, I had to get out of the bath so we could get monitored.
I pushed for another 45 minutes. During a contraction, I did another push, and her head was almost out, but it would go back in as I was getting beyond exhausted. It was at this moment a huge amount of blood squirted out, and my midwife decided that I need to be cut.
She started to numb me up, and at the next contraction she cut, but at the same time, I also tore. The midwife kept telling me to push, and I was trying so hard to push, but nothing was really happening. She then started to pull her out, and at 9:07 pm, Mia Jayde was here, on my chest, and there I became enclosed in my Mia bubble.
The call was then made by my midwife that emergency assistance was needed, where it seemed like 15 people ran into the room. A doctor examined me and determined that the blood I was losing was from my tear. I ended up having extremely bad tearing (grade 3c) and haemorrhaging. The doctor then let Nick know that I would need emergency surgery. I was then put on the surgery list and was next in line.
The next couple of hours was my bliss. Nick and our midwife did all the measurements for Mia. He then dressed and swaddled her. I remember watching him and thinking what a natural he was at his new role.