KALINA'S BIRTH STORY

7 years of planning, 3 babies, two c-sections, and one hospital VBA2C later, I birthed another beautiful daughter at 5.10ish am on Friday the 7th of May (5days past the expiry date) into my own hands, sunny side up and in the Caul, in a pool in my dining room lit with candlelight with only Pierre and I.

Her name is Kalina Eleanor Jean! She weighed 8lbs10oz (so the smallest of my babies) was 50.5cm long with a 36cm head circumference.

Her birth was really quick, a couple of hours of sporadic, not so ouchie contractions and technically only about 35mins of full on labour, 25 of that was pushing.

I saw my midwife on the Monday and had some acupuncture, baby was posterior but other than that everything was great. I had a couple of days of stop start stuff before she was born, but I had no indication that she would be here so quickly as I had two weeks of that with Davien. I did have a massive emotional breakdown on the Wednesday but figured that was because Pierre had resigned from work, and we were going to have no income in a month’s time but really that should have been a big clue she would be here soon, as that happened before Davien’s birth too.

I had only gotten the replacement birth pool dropped off the afternoon before and set up the birthing space that evening, still thinking I had a few more days to go.

I had been having contractions on and off on the Thursday, and they were anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes apart or sometimes hours went by without anything at all. I was supposed to have my friend Lou come to the birth as she had been at Davien's, but she had gone to Christchurch that evening for some work thing (I thought she was going on the Fri night) and Amalia decided she didn't want to be here for the birth so went to her dads as usual that night. So it really was an inconvenient night to have a baby.

I went to bed at about 1am and woke less than an hour later to ouchie contractions and after a few of them figured I would get up as they would be easier to deal with upright than lying down, especially as I had to vocalise and both Davien and Pierre were sleeping.

I came downstairs, turned on the heater in case the baby did decide to come and did some dishes, cleaned the stove top as it was ick, and while doing that my hind waters broke and the figured I should wake Pierre up so he could get the pool started just in case this was actually it. I went in and said to him you really should get up, cos I either just peed myself or my waters just broke. So he came downstairs, we moved some stuff around in the dining room, and I had a couple of contractions and we decided we should time them to get a slight idea as to how things were going. Thank you Ipod touch with a contraction timer lol we figured they were about 7 minutes apart and about 40sec-1min long.

I was pretty annoyed that I was leaking fluid, cos we had spent hours a few days before hand cleaning the floors and carpet and would have been pretty grrr if they got covered in amniotic fluid so Pierre had to keep rushing to me to put a towel underneath me lol

The contractions had spaced right out again, and went ages without them, so I was knitting and surfing the net and Pierre was just WOW'ing while we waited for the pool to finish filling.

We ran out of hot water half way to the minimum line while filling the pool and my contractions pretty much stopped and only started again when the pool was filled enough for me to get in where they then ramped up to 2 minutes apart and then right on top of each other. I think it took about 3 lots of 2 big pots being boiled before that happened. I was still knitting her hat just before I got in the pool, Pierre was still raiding in WOW, that's how spaced out and manageable things were.

I had a couple of intense contractions, that I had to be on the floor on my hands and knees to get through, as sitting down on the couch breathing through them just wasnt cutting it. It was quite comfy but I decided to get back on the couch cos I couldn’t knit while in that position, oh the priorities!

I told Pierre to text Amalia's dad and let him know not to send Amalia to school but to call here first.

I decided we should probably call Ruth and let her know things were happening and to head over when she was ready. She said she would have a shower, brekkie and head over. This was about 4.10am.

I was getting a bit worried that this was dragging on into morning hours and that the boys would wake up and there was no one to look after them.

About 4.30am I had a contraction that I needed Pierre to apply counter pressure on my hips and back during, and then at about 4.40am I started feeling pushy, and the pool was finally full enough for me to get in, and I practically leaped the meter from my spot next to the couch to the pool, took off my pants and jumped in the pool.

The moment I got in the water a contraction came and Pierre timed it, then another one came and he timed it again, about 2 minutes between them, and he asked if it had finished again and I moaned that another was starting, pretty much straight after the other one had finished.

Pierre got the camera and took a couple of pictures of me in the pool, for memories sake and because we wanted some pictures to send to Helen and Duncan (Aquaub), who the pool was hired from, for their website :)

I started feeling pukey, so asked for a bucket, and then decided I didn’t need it so let it float away. I asked for a glass of water and a cloth for my head as it was quite hot.

I started pushing at about 4.50. I said to Pierre I think I just pooed so he cleaned that up.

About 4.52ish Pierre text Ruth to say I was feeling pushy and she text back saying she was just passing Sylvia Park.

At about 5am, Pierre’s phone alarm went off for him to get up to go to work.

A few sobs, claims of not being able to do it, that I wanted to go to the hospital, and that I needed the drugs, and shouldn’t have been so stupid and should have had the c-section. Thankfully Pierre was awesome and reassured me, told me I was doing it, and it would be over soon, that I was doing so well.

I felt inside to make sure that the baby was actually coming and that I was fully dilated, and felt a hard little head, that would have to be the most awesome feeling ever.

Ruth text again that she was just on the bridge, and I remember thinking that the baby better bloody hurry up.

About 5 mins later she was starting to crown and the bloody smoke detector went off, and I felt her go back up again, Pierre went and dealt with that, and after laughing about how creepy that felt, and how we had to have some drama with me birthing, I got grumpy and told her to hurry up and get out. I started to overheat so asked Pierre to turn the hose on.

A couple of pushes and her head was out, I remember saying to Pierre like it was the most normal thing in the world that we have a head, and that the baby was bald (I don’t have bald babies so I was a bit shocked). I tilted myself forward for him to see, and he tried to get a picture but I wasn’t in a good position. It felt like her head was out for awhile, but I just stroked her head and talked to her. Pierre took off his pants to get in but I had to push again and then she was out so he didn’t get a chance to get in.

I sat down on the other side of the pool and looked at my new baby, thinking god it’s got no hair, and its ugly, and then realised that the baby did have hair but had the amniotic sack still intact over its face, so pinched it to break it and pulled it up over her head. Grotty fluid spilled everywhere and the baby let out a squawk and blinked a few times as she took her first breath.

I lifted up her leg to see if my feelings had been correct, and confirmed she was in fact willyless. Her cord was still pulsing against my leg. Being the only one to know what my baby was even for such a short time was just awesome, I so hate that I missed out on that with the other three, especially after waiting the whole pregnancies to find out.

I lifted my top up so that she was skin to skin and asked Pierre for a towel so she didn’t get cold. She started crying, just as Ruth arrived at about 5.25ish. I asked Pierre if he wanted to see the sex of the baby and lifted up her leg so he could see.

Pierre rang his dad and let him know that the baby had been born and it was a girl etc.

I latched her on for her first breastfeed at about 5.37am. A few minutes later she unlatched and the after pains were nasty and it was hard to latch her on in the pool, so I decided to get out.

Pierre grabbed the babies towel from the birth box, and Ruth grabbed a towel for the floor and they both helped me get out of the pool with baby still attached to me. I went and sat on the couch and latched her back on again for another feed. Pierre called my mum and left a message to say that we had, had our baby and to call us back. He made a cup of tea and some honey toast, and Davien woke up and came downstairs, so Pierre made him some toast while we waited for Kidzone to start on telly.

I had a few contractions and felt the placenta come down, so Ruth grabbed an icecream container to put it in. She checked for tears but there was just a graze and a teensy one inside but nothing major.

I gave my good friend Nicole a call to let her know that the baby had been born, felt a bit bad that I had woken her but figured a text wouldn’t have cut it lol
I was starting to get cold so wanted to get dressed, so we weighed the baby and did all that stuff, she had a pretty impressive ridge on her head from where she must have been wedged against my pubic bone for ages.

Pierre sat down on the couch and took the baby while I got some clothes on. Davien got up next to them and had a look at the new baby while I ate my breakfast.

A little while later Aston came downstairs and we showed him the new baby, he was over the moon that his baby was here. At about 7.30 Pierre called and told Josh (Amalias dad) that he was to drop Amalia home not to school, and that the baby had been born but he would have to wait till Amalia knew what the baby was before he knew.

Ruth left at about 7.30 and we were all alone. It was such a surreal feeling, being in my own home, having legs, and having this new baby, with no drama this time.

We made some phone calls and sent texts to other family members, and at about 8.30 Josh, Leila and Amalia arrived. Amalia came over and I showed her. She was totally over the moon that she had her baby sister finally. My mum called back and we chatted for a while.

At about 9.30 Pierre went upstairs for a nap while the kids watched telly and I cuddled the new baby on the couch. It was just so cool to continue on with our lives without having to have gone anywhere, without having anyone else know what was going on, and without having to share it all with strangers. Amalia's school rang to ask if she was still sick, because we hadn’t called to say she wasn’t coming in that day, it was the most awesome feeling to say well no she isn’t sick I just had my baby 4 hours ago, and when the receptionist exclaimed that I was home already, and was doing well, that no infact I had my baby at home.

After dinner Amalia and Pierre made Kalina's birthingday cake, and they gathered around us and sang her happy birthday and blew out her candle.

Breastfeeding has been going well, was a bit worried about getting mastitis again as my right side was still not working right from when I got mastitis with Davien, and my nipples got cracked and painful again but between Kalina and Davien we managed to keep it away, my milk came in pretty quickly and they have both been feeding well.

We had another lotus birth this time too, though it was quite different this time, and there were a few times we were going to cut her cord as it was a pain but we hung in there and with a little cry her cord detached when she was about 7 days old.

We are all so totally in love with her. She is such a laid back baby, reminds me very much of Amalia, just more baby like, an old soul, she wants to move already eager to take on the world. She has been full of smiles from early on. It took two weeks for her name to come to us but she totally adores her name, every time we say it to her we have huge smiles. Its like she has always been here!