Labour, Birth and Bringing Goldie Home
A recount of The best week of our lives!
Goldie is three weeks old as I write this and gosh it feels good to relive the story.. it’s bringing back all of the feels!
Our birth definitely didn’t go the way I expected it would but I do feel the way I wanted to. I wanted a birth where I felt supported, in control of my decisions and empowered as a woman. Goldie’s birth was the most transformative moment of my life, I have never felt so in-tune with my own body and connected to Al.
I want to thank Al for being the best pregnancy, labour, birth and baby support partner I could wish for.
A huge thank you to the incredible midwives, doctors and staff at Barwon Health Maternity Services, University Hospital Geelong, we are so fortunate for the level of care we receive in public hospitals in Australia.
Thank you to Kath Maxwell who facilitated our Calm Birth Course, we attribute our positive birth experience to being educated and confident in making informed decisions that would benefit the birth of our baby.
And lastly to all of our amazing family and friends for all of your help pre and post baby and for sharing the joy of our new family member with us.
Contractions stared as we were finishing the cot
It was a Saturday afternoon, we were in the workshop finishing the cot for the nursery when my contractions started… It's like my body knew this was the final piece of the puzzle and it was time to birth my baby.
The contractions kicked off pretty strong from the start and we were excited thinking “wow, what a good girl… she's going to arrive tomorrow on her due date…”
We were so excited that night that we hung out in the finished nursery, listening to our birth playlist, checking to make sure we had everything packed while stopping and breathing through each contraction. The waves came randomly, 10 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes. We went to bed and I tried to sleep (without much luck).
Labouring at home
Sunday morning we went for a walk along the beach track, again stopping to breathe through each contraction… We spent the day at home, the contractions strong but still not any pattern. That night we set the lounge room up with dim lighting, listened to our birth meditations and utilised the pressure point and massage techniques we’d learnt at our Calm Birth Course. I was wearing a tens machine and Al was amazing at supporting me through the contractions that were still random and coming every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 minute …
We continued this through to Monday morning and around midday I started vomiting and as I ran to the bathroom I thought my waters had broken (I found out later I’d just peed myself… a lot). We called the hospital and they told us to come in, so we packed our bags and drove in. Contractions in the car are as uncomfortable as I'd heard!
We were taken to the Birth Suite and continued to labour through the (still very random) contractions for an hour, the midwife came in and we found out that my waters hadn’t broken, I was only 2cm dilated and it was best we went back home. We packed our things and I waddled back out of the hospital feeling deflated and exhausted - I hadn’t slept or eaten in 2 days.
Once home we picked up where we left off in the lounge room, breathing through the contractions and using the tens machine and massage. At around 11.30pm I became distressed that I was going to have to go through another sleepless night. I remember looking longingly at our bed wondering whether I'd be able to lay down again… Al called the hospital and told them I was exhausted and we went back in.
Goldie’s Birthday
Upon arrival I was 4cm, I used gas as pain relief until 5am on Tuesday morning, by this stage I was only 6cm. I was disheartened and so tired - remember saying to my midwife “I haven’t slept or eaten in 3 days, there is no way I am going to be able to birth my baby, what can you give me?” She offered an epidural. I slept for 45 minutes and when I woke up I was able to eat a piece of toast… I felt like a whole new woman!
My contractions slowed down and I was assessed again at 11.30am to find out I was still only 6cm, the doctors did an ultrasound and suggested because I wasn’t progressing we should go in for a cesarean. This doctor also happened to be the one who performed the successful ECV on me at 37 weeks to spin the baby out of breech position so she knew how much I wanted to have a vaginal birth. I asked “Is the baby in danger, am I in danger?” She replied no, so I asked that we could have more time. She agreed to give us another hour but if I hadn’t dilated to 8cm we were going to go to theatre.
I immediately asked to have all of the lights turned off and curtains closed. I closed my eyes, put on my noise-cancelling headphones and listened to a Hypnobirthing app called “Freya” which counts breathing through your contractions and guided meditations in the breaks. Al was in control of my phone, watching the monitor and pressing the button when he could see I was having a contraction. After an hour the room filled up again and I could tell there was tension between the midwives and doctors. I was examined and much to everyone’s relief I'd gone from 6am to 10cm in the hour and it was time to push!
We kept the lights low and put our Birth Playlist on, my morning midwives stayed on so I was surrounded by four amazing women who encouraged me through each push. I hadn’t pressed the epidural button in hours so I could feel the contractions and knew when to bare down, Al caught our baby and placed her straight on my chest saying “That was incredible, let’s do it again!”
Marigold Louise Disco Roberts
“Goldie”
Born 3,23pm Tuesday the 4th of May
2.8kg
No words can describe the feeling of having your baby placed on your chest. I remember looking down at her in amazement, thinking she’s absolutely perfect and feeling so proud of myself for listening to my body and giving birth to our baby. Our midwives were so happy for us and the room was bursting with love and joy.
Al and I were in baby bliss when all of a sudden the room was filled with doctors, lights on and music off. The umbilical cord had broken leaving the placenta still inside. The doctors were again talking about taking me to theatre to have it surgically removed.
Luckily I ended up being able to birth the placenta myself and had remained fully intact. The room emptied and quickly as it had filled and Al and I were left with our baby and midwives. Marigold was checked and weighed, I was able to have a shower and Al was shown how to dress the baby and feed her colostrum that I had expressed and brought with me to hospital.
We both realised how hungry we were so Al ordered us in Vietnamese and we enjoyed dinner by battery-operated candle in the Birth Suite with our little girl swaddled in the cot next to us… best dinner date ever! We were then taken up to the Maternity Ward, Al went home to get a good sleep and I settled in for the night with my girl.
Because Goldie was 2.8kg and declared ‘small’ she had to have her blood sugars checked 3 times, if she didn’t pass the tests they would keep us in the hospital longer for extra monitoring. Throughout the night I breastfed her and topped up her feeds with colostrum. Al arrived back at the hospital at 8am with coffees and pastries, Goldie passed all of her tests and we were discharged at 10am.
Heading Home from the Hospital
What a strange feeling leaving the hospital with a baby…
We swung past the shops and picked up some preemie suits and when we got home we popped her in the basket that we’d bought ready for our new puppy that was due to arrive the next day - hoping that her smell would help when introducing them to each other.
We continued to top up Goldie’s feeds with colostrum during the first week and she didn’t lose any of her birth weight.
When Goldie met Edwina
Very early on Thursday morning after our first night at home together Al went out to pick up our puppy Edwina. It was love at her first sight, you can read more about their meeting here.
First Family Outing
My favourite weekly outing is going to the Saturday Torquay Farmer’s Market. With the help of my best friend Mia we were able to get out of the house for our first family outing. It was a quick trip and I definitely felt a little nervous leaving the house but it was also so great to get outside and do something that felt normal.
Ever since that day we’ve made an effort to leave the house once a day to go for short walks in nature which I feel has been really beneficial for my personal mental health.
Pregnancy & Family
HEY! WE’RE AL + IMO
We’re a husband and wife duo, building our dream life one DIY project at a time. We are proudly self-taught, furniture-makers, business owners, designers and stylists.
DIY RUNS IN OUR DNA
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