My name is Alison. I have been fortunate enough to have two really great birth experiences. I attribute this to the quality midwifery care I received, and my own ability to birth! For both babies I  received antenatal care by the midwife who also helped me to birth my baby and then visited me after the birth of my baby, what is called the Midwifery Group Practice (MGP), at Wyong and Gosford hospitals.

I will begin my story from about 25 weeks of pregnancy, in 2005, when Wyong’s birthing unit closed, due to lack of anaesthetic cover. I was seeing my Midwife, Gloria, and I was devastated. She, and everyone else thought that it would re-open, but it didn’t look like it was going to happen before my baby was due. I had it in my head, that I didn’t want to birth at Gosford, despite it being 5 minutes from our home, but I wanted to go to a place with a birth centre type of philosophy, so I booked into a birth centre at a Sydney hospital. As the end of the pregnancy was nearing, this seemed more and more like an impossible option, as, although I was spending a lot of time at my parent’s house in Sydney, I felt like I wanted to be at home, in my home. I decided I would just go to Wyong hospital in labour, and meet my midwife there… open or not…

Well, the big day arrived, it was a Thursday, my husband was working, I rang him mid-morning to let him know that I was pretty sure things were starting, but I would ring him when I really needed him, as I knew it could go on for days like this, with the dull cramping I was experiencing.

I then felt that I needed to lay down on the lounge, which I did, and slept for a little over an hour.

Then an old friend rang me, who I rarely speak to, and on reflection, they must have been becoming noticeable, because she sounded concerned, and told me I didn’t have to be a hero, and the drugs were available. I politely agreed with her, but really was a little annoyed. I mean, who likes pain? Who wouldn’t rather have none? But I was in labour, it had an end to it. I wasn’t dying. I was giving birth to a new life, why wouldn’t I want to be in a right state of mind to witness such a miracle?! I went through the pregnancy without taking anything other than a few antacids and a couple of paracetamol, so I wasn’t planning on numbing my body when it was about to undertake the most physical task it had ever needed to undertake.  I excused myself from the phone call, and tried to forget our discussion, as despite knowing all this, and my pre-labour desire not to use pain relief, I have to admit, it did become increasingly attractive as the contractions became stronger, and closer together.

I found that with each contraction, I felt like I needed to pass urine, and so really couldn’t move out of the bathroom. I did however manage to get out to the lounge room between/ around contractions, and grab the phone to ring my husband.

An hour or so after my husband got home, and the contractions were really biting me, I was ready to ring my Midwife. It was about 3:30pm. When I rang her, she told me she was at Gosford hospital. I remember saying to her “Thank God, because I don’t think I can make it to Wyong”. The thought of going out into the world, and sitting in the car was beyond me, I didn’t think I’d be able to do it.

During my labour, I had a bath in our little bath at home, which was fantastic, despite it barely covering me, I managed to lay on my side, with my tummy in the warm water. I used some microwave heatpacks, on my back, and under my tummy, and I still remember being amazed at how relieving they were, particularly on my lower abdomen, as the pain was strong prior to applying them. I was in my bedroom at this stage, trying to find a comfortable position, and my husband was sitting on the bed. It was probably about 4:30pm by this time, when my husband asked me how much longer it would be…I told him it could be days, at which point, between the next 2 contractions,  I heard a big “snore”, from him, on the bed. I looked up, and he was asleep! It was about this time that I found my voice, and started chanting “Ow, ow, ow!” with each contraction. I guess I had scared him sufficiently, and it was shortly after this, that he asked me whether I thought it was time to go to the hospital. I went to the toilet, and found that I had a large mucous show, with quite a bit of blood in it; I couldn’t speak, I could only nod.

My husband went to ring our Midwife and had, in his nervousness, accidently hit delete, instead of call, so after a couple of calls, he finally got in touch with her to let her know we were on our way.

I had about 3 contractions on the way to Gosford Hospital, which is only 5 minutes from our home, so I was thankful that we didn’t live any further away, as I struggled with them in the car…I had sat in the front seat, with my seatbelt on…force of habit I guess!

We parked out the front, and made that wonderful walk into the hospital. There were some elderly women smiling at us, understandingly, yet, I just couldn’t bring myself to smile back. We entered the lift, and I was grateful we were on our own, as I must have been a sight to see, in my sarong, and mismatched t-shirt, chanting “ow, ow, ow” every time I got a contraction!

We got out of the lift, and as we were walking along the corridor, I realised, that we were on the wrong floor! We headed back to the lift, and scared the life out of a couple of old people! I remember seeing them sort of huddling over the other side of the lift, with eyes wide, but turned downwards!

We finally arrived at the birthing unit at around 6ish, where my midwife greeted me with a laugh, big hug, and smile. I looked up to see people at the Nurses station, smiling at me, but I couldn’t give anything back, I was focused on getting my baby out, and he, obviously on getting out of me!

We went into the room, where I headed straight to the bathroom. My midwife reassured me that it was just my baby’s head that was making me so uncomfortable, which I knew, and remember a point where I felt I was looking at myself from the outside, thinking I looked like I was close to the end, but did not believe it, and still insisted on going and sitting on the toilet, due to this incredible urge to urinate. She examined me, and I was almost fully dilated…I was completely shocked! I had known it was happening, but I hadn’t realised it was happening so quickly! She encouraged me to try pushing with the next contraction, which I did, as I squatted in the shower recess, and my waters broke. I then got onto my knees, and began pushing with the contractions. The time had come to call my second wonderful midwife, who headed in from her dinner at home. I felt this amazing resistance to push, but at the same time, I couldn’t stop my body from pushing. I think I had to get my head around it all, as it really wasn’t until I felt the top of my baby’s head with my fingers that my brain and body worked together, and at 6:45pm, my beautiful son was born. A healthy 4.250kg/ 9 ½ pound boy. I put him to the breast, and the placenta was born.

It was such a wonderful experience. I felt like I was the smartest, most amazing woman on the face of the earth. I had given to birth to this beautiful baby boy. Me, who was never any good at sports, not athletic in the slightest, yet I had done it! I felt like shouting it from the roof tops “ I gave birth! I did it!” I had never felt more proud of myself.

I have since gone on to have a second baby, but my next son was at born at home, at a planned homebirth, with my husband and midwife.

The decision to birth at home was based on my trust in my ability to do it, my trust in my midwife and trust of her judgement, and a strong desire not to have to leave the warmth and safety of our little “nest” at home; not to have to move or see other people I didn’t want to.

There was no worry of who would care for our first son while I was in giving birth, as he just stayed asleep in our bed, and his new little brother joined us there during the night. The birth was really just a special moment, in an otherwise ordinary day. I was amazed at how little impact it had on our day, with my first contraction starting as my husband’s car pulled into the driveway after a day at work. Our first son had gone to sleep a few hours earlier for the evening, and I had slept with him for a couple of hours. I spent my labour, again, in the toilet, then gave birth less than an hour later, with Lewis arriving earlier than we had anticipated, so, with just my husband and I there, our baby entered our arms in such a beautiful, safe and amazing moment…as it had been when he was conceived I guess!

My midwife arrived minutes later, and my mother and two friends arrived shortly after that, to eat birth day cake and drink coffee with us.

I have focused on my hospital birth, as that is where the majority of women give birth in Australia, and on the Central Coast. I would like to share one thing I learned after experiencing labour twice now, which was unrelated to place of birth.

During my first labour, I vocalised during the contractions, saying “ow, ow, ow”, with each contraction, I found that really helped me get through them. With the second one however, I felt that I surrendered to it, let it overtake my body, and just breathed big deep breaths through the contractions, visualising that opening cervix, and my baby moving down. I didn’t consciously do this, it all happened very unconsciously, but I was aware of the change, even during the labour I noticed it, and realised that I coped much better than the first time by doing this. My husband’s observation was that I was “stronger” the second time around, I think I was more in tune with my body, and not a victim to the pain, in fact didn’t even see it as pain.

They were the most empowering experiences I have ever had, and the most proud moments of my life. I encourage you to experience it, not to be scared of it, but to embrace it, and grow from it. It is truly the preparation for the challenges, joys and pain of motherhood.

Thank you for reading to my story.