Articles > One Day Course Comments and birth story
Kaio and I completed Julie's 1 day birthing course about 2 months before we expected the arrival of our first son. As our lives had gotten rather busy we found it hard to meet regularly to attend any weekly antenatal courses available so when we were given a brochure about Julies 1 day course we knew that this was the course for us.
We highly recommend Julies course. From the course we were given the confidence to make decisions about what we wanted and know some of what to expect at a time where we knew hardly anything. The course environment was great and we felt comfortable to ask 'those' questions. Julie is a great facilitator, she definitely knows her stuff and imparts her knowledge well.
...And the food provided by Julie's husband Geoff, during the course was both plentiful and sensational. Great team work guys!
THE LABOUR
At 1.30am on the 16th April (Easter Sunday) I felt what I thought was a slight sore stomach, only to later recognise as being contractions. Around 4am I excitedly woke my husband to tell him that I thought we were going into labour - he just gave me a silly smile (which I was later told was 'excitement?'). The contractions continued throughout the day but either stayed at round 10 minutes apart or were not present at all. From attending the course and refreshing ourselves with the course notes we knew there was no need to rush off to the hospital just yet. While we waited we calmly but purposefully checked the course notes to see what else we needed to do. We spent some time writing a birth plan as we had discussed some ideas but not written anything down yet and packing the hospital and baby bags and relaxing to conserve energy (this was hard as I wanted to run round and get the house ready, but in hindsight I'm so glad I did rest).
At 1:30am on the 17th April (Easter Monday) I woke to my water breaking. As the contractions hadn't really intensified, there wasn't much we could do - so more relaxing on the agenda!. We spent the day timing the contractions and waiting patiently for nature to take its course. Kaio (my husband) went to get some groceries to take to the hospital (after suggestions from Julies course), but when arriving at the supermarket he realised it was Easter Monday and came home empty handed. Around 5:30pm that evening we rung the hospital to determine what we needed to do and were advised to go in for an examination to see where we were at. The examination showed that our son wasn't arriving any time soon as I hadn't dilated past 1-2cm and we were sent home.
By the Tuesday we were very eager to see our son, but nothing much had happened over night. The contractions had become more intense but were still no more than 10-7mins apart. We had planned for a water birth, but were told the previous night that we may need to be induced if things don;don't start happening naturally and this would mean that we won;won't be able to have a water birth. We spent another day waiting. The cot was delivered and in between contractions we were making up our son's bed and getting more and more eager for his arrival. That evening we rung the hospital again to determine what we needed to do and were advised to come in again for another examination. Even after all the contractions throughout the day I still hadn't dilated much past 1-2cms. So after advice from the Midwife in the Birthing Centre we decided to start the induction procedure.
I was slightly disappointed as I was keen for the water birth, but oh so much more keen to see our son. So although some of the ideas in our birthing plan were not longer relevant, such as the water birth, we still felt confident as the course encouraged us to make decisions on things such as 'drug free birth', 'delayed cord clamping' and 'playing our choice of music' which we could still apply. We were admitted to the RWH Delivery Suite and settled in for something neither of us were prepared for (what happened to those 6 weeks).
THE BIRTH
We are so glad that during the course we practiced the birthing positions and breathing techniques. Although we weren't as prepared as we could have been with more time up our sleeves we had practiced the 2 things that were so valuable and apply them. During the birth I got to breaking point where I thought there was no way I could go on - but as I recognised this from the course I knew we were so close to the end. After 8 hours of intense contractions, frustration, sweat, tears and excruciating pain, at 1:30am on the 19th April our son (Armani Kaio Iraia Afoa) was born. He weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces - pretty good for being 6 weeks early. We were blessed with a great pregnancy and what I believe was a great labour/birth even though it was long winded. Armani is really healthy, happy and brings his parents and family so much joy. We praise God daily for intrusting us with such a blessing. Sure the labour was long and the pain intense, but I am happy the way the labour went and that it was all done drug free (which was something both my husband and I wanted). I would definitely go through this experience again and I hope that we are blessed with further children in the future so we can.
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Thanks for this opportunity to write this Julie.
Kind regards
Robyn