Reanna’s birth story: Physiological birth in hospital

After an emergency caesarean for her previous baby’s birth, Reanna had a physiological birth in hospital as part of the Hunter Midwifery Group Practice. ‘My biggest moment from reading Rhea’s book and also the workshop was realising where I had fallen down in my previous labour. I fell very broadly into the “aspirational but naive” category, and it was transformative to recognise that but also how to change my attitude to overcome this,’ she says.

Reanna explained that her previous birth came after a ‘straightforward healthy pregnancy, aside from high-risk NIPS followed by a normal amniocentesis’. Her care for this previous birth was through Hunter Midwifery Group Practice at the public John Hunter Hospital, where Reanna works as a midwifery educator. Reanna declined GBS screening and diabetes screening and went into spontaneous labour at 41+5 weeks but the baby was acynclitic and direct OP (occiput posterior). Here Reanna had ‘a huge “crisis of confidence” and had an epidural at 2cm for excruciating hip pain’. She then laboured to 9cm before an emergency caesarean section due to fetal distress. Her 3.8kg baby girl needed 20 min CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure).

For her next pregnancy, Reanna said she was ‘way more tired and quite anaemic’. She chose care again through Hunter Midwifery Group Practice ‘with a focus on treating me as a mother and not a midwife’, declined NIPS, GIDM screening and GBS screening, and had ‘acupuncture from 36 weeks, as well as raspberry leaf tea, dates, antenatal expressing’. 

‘I was relieved and excited to find Rhea Dempseys’ course “Embracing the Intensity” and it was exactly that I was needing! Even though I had to do it online, I finished the workshop feeling strong and confident in myself and what I needed to do. 

‘I also organised my sister to be my “doula” (I had hoped she could do Rhea’s course with me, but unfortunately things didn’t work out with work for her). My biggest moment from reading Rhea’s book and also the workshop was realising where I had fallen down in my previous labour. I fell very broadly into the “aspirational but naive” category, and it was transformative to recognise that but also how to change my attitude to overcome this and become “pain embracing”. 

‘Reading Birth with Confidence by Rhea Dempsey, as well as Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage by Rachel Reed were very important to my journey. I listened to lots of positive VBAC birth story podcasts. The pregnancy was a lot more challenging due to chasing around my toddler. My intention for this pregnancy and labour and birth was just embracing everything and rolling with it. Rhea’s book really helped me when I felt overwhelmed, and I read it probably three times in total in the lead up to my birth to help me recognise my own inner strength and remembering to embrace the intensity but know it wasn’t greater then me! I felt very supported by my immediate family and friends, though I did have a few people comment that they thought I would just be having another caesarean. I was very happy to inform them that this wasn’t the case, and why!’

Here, Reanna tells the story of her next birth:

On Friday at 41+1 I met with my midwife Jodean for a postdates assessment. I agreed to a cervical assessment and stretch and sweep and my cervix was 1cm and quite posterior, but midwife was able to pull it anterior and it stretched easily to 3cm. The rest of this day, but was getting occasional cramping but not much else.

Saturday not much happened during the day but in the afternoon/evening got a few hours of irregular cramping but all settled down by around 10pm. I had organised for my 2 year old to go stay at my parents’ house so that was one less stress on my mind in case things kicked off in the middle of the night.

Sunday again not much happened during the day but in the afternoon around 5 pm began getting mild tightnings. By 8 pm they were approximately every 10 to 15 minutes and required a little bit more concentration and breathing but not too bad. These continued throughout the night and I wasn’t able to stay in bed. I let my support team (partner and sister) sleep and just quietly laboured through the night, alternating between using a heat pack, my ball, kneeling with pillows, listening to music and aromatherapy. The night felt very long and lonely and I was relieved when my sister got up at 6 am and I had some company. Contractions continued once the sun rose and I began to think that today was the day. I did a self VE at about 8 am and my cervix was a little more anterior but still around 2 to 3cm which I found a little discouraging to be honest.

My sister and partner were amazing support people. I put my TENS on and throughout the day I alternated between time in the shower, time in the bath, birth ball, kneeling on pillows, asymmetrical positions on the stairs etc. Really lost track of time during the day, and felt like I was in my own little world in my house. 

One of my favourite moments was sitting in my room with my mum, sister and partner. Between contractions we would chat and eat lollies, and then we would pause for a contraction and then just keep right on chatting and hanging out – it was so relaxing! 

My contractions were really irregular, especially when I wasn’t moving. If I stayed still, they could be as far apart as 15 to 20 minutes, whilst moving they would come more like every 5 to 8 minutes. This made me feel that the baby was in a bit of an odd position, so I worked hard on positions and techniques to help the baby move into a better position in my pelvis. I did some forward leaning inversions and sidelying release with jiggling (from the Spinning Babies website). 

At around 12 pm I had some endone and the contractions virtually stopped for 40 minutes. I then randomly had a huge contraction that lasted for 2 minutes, and then I suddenly began contracting again approx. every 10 minutes (position change from baby perhaps?). By 3:30 pm I called my midwife (who I had been updating throughout the day) and asked her to come by to just check in on baby heart rate and I was also curious where I was at. 

Midwife arrived around 4 pm and checked that bub and I were both well. I asked her to do a VE and I was 3cm but my cervix was anterior and paper thin. She agreed that my labour sounded like baby was in a funny position, so suggested I tried sitting backwards on the toilet to let gravity assist and relax my pelvic floor. She also suggested I keep doing the asymmetrical positions on the stairs with one leg up 2 stairs and turned outwards. Well this sure got things moving! I was suddenly contracting every 2 to 3 minutes! My midwife only left at 5 pm and by around 7 pm I called her and said that things suddenly felt like they were escalating. Weirdly enough, I had a contraction where it felt that all of the muscles at the top of my uterus were bunching together like they were about to push (I could also physically see these muscles bunching up, it was so strange and totally different to all the other contractions I had prior!), but I had no pushing sensation or feeling of pressure in my bum or anything. As soon as that contraction was over, I turned to my partner and was like ‘We need to go to the hospital right now!’ I didn’t know what had changed – but something had!

Fifteen-minute car ride later and we arrived at the hospital around 7.20pm ish. By this stage I am bellowing like a crazy woman. Walked into the birth suite (I even took the stairs) and headed straight down to the birth centre. I had previously decided to decline IVC and CTG, and my wishes were respected and I actually didn’t see a doctor at all! I sat on the ball being very vocal whilst my partner and sister filled up the bath. I got in and maybe 15 minutes later my group practice midwife arrived as well as my photographer (who I forgot to call until we were enroute to the hospital – oops).

I said to my sister at one point in the bath ‘what if I am wrong and I am still 3cm?’. But my whole support team had absolute faith in me and my body. Wonder now if this was my ‘crisis of confidence’. The next part got so intense! The back pain was extraordinary, and I was clutching my wooden spiky balls in my hands and making a hell of a noise. Rhea would have been proud that I was embracing my ‘wild woman’. I needed something, and was very happy to have some nitrious oxide which was so amazing and the high feeling straight after the contraction was hilarious. I was alternating between during the contraction thinking, ‘This is the worst pain of my entire life’ and then immediately after the contraction thinking ‘I feel so amazing and happy’. So trippy!

I said again to my midwife that I was worried that perhaps I was in all this pain but not actually doing anything. I asked her should I reach inside to feel and she said go ahead. I reached a finger inside and I could feel the intact water bag, and the baby’s head on the other side. It was my whole finger length inside. My midwife asked if I could feel any cervix and I said I wasn’t sure if I could feel cervix of vaginal wall. She quickly did a VE and said I was 8cm. During the VE my membranes spontaneously ruptured, and wow the fetal ejection reflex sure kicked in then! Even though I knew I was 8cm and should probably try to hold off pushing at least for a little while – my body had other plans! It was absolutely on!

Not going to lie – this next part was the most intense experience of my entire life. I felt like I was strapped to a freight train and couldn’t get off. Between contractions all I could think about was how could I get out of this situation and out of this pain. I didn’t verbalise any of it – but I remember thinking that by the time the anaethetist got here it would be too late, and if I tried to quickly get out of the bath and run to theatre and ask them to knock me out then the baby would be out before I got there (so many crazy irrational thoughts!). I looked in my support peoples eyes to try and find someone who would be sympathetic and ‘save me’ but they were all so beautifully encouraging and for every ‘I CAN’T DO IT’ I screamed at them, they would answer with absolute confidence ‘YES YOU CAN!’.