Kayla's Birth Story
How would you describe your birth in a sentence?
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Beautiful and supportive home birth followed by a transfer to hospital and cascade of interventions.
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Tell us about your birth experience in a few paragraphs :
I had an incredible home birth. I woke up after days of Braxton hicks just knowing that the process had really started so I told my partner to work from home and spent my early labour baking a birthday cake for the baby and relaxing. The midwife came and assed me late afternoon and told us to call her when things got a little more intense, so we ordered in food and watched a movie enjoying our last night just the two of us. Around 10 we called the midwife back and after assessing me again she said it was time to settle in. I labored through the night in a super cozy environment lit only by some string lights. Both my midwife and partner were extremely supportive as I listened to my body and moved and vocalize the way I needed to. I hit transition around 2am and at around 4 I asked to have my waters broken as I knew that both mentally and physically I was more prepared for a more intense shorter transition than a longer less intense one. At about 5 45 the midwife told me I could try pushing if I wanted to - and oh my did I want to - she hadn't yet called the second midwife as this was a first baby and she thought it would take a while but once she saw me start to push the way I was she called in backup immediately. The second midwife arrived as baby was crowning- just when you want to meet someone new. Baby arrived after just 20 minutes of pushing at 6 04 and was passed up to me before anyone checked their sex, so we didn't even know our gorgeous baby was a girl until about 20 minutes after she was born. I had my skin to skin golden hour and cut the cord myself. After the midwives got me into the shower they did some more assessments on her and her oxygen was reading low. They said this may have been a faulty reading on the machine but wanted to be safe and so we transferred to hospital where interventions cascaded and we ended up staying for 75 hours
What's one tip you'd share with other women due to give birth?:
Have a plan, but understand that what you think you want in your head before hand and what you want in the moment might be different, and that's ok! Your body will tell you what it wants durring labour and you just need to be open and listen to it.