Felicity
Hello World
Introducing Billy James Viney
Born on the 3.4.2022
Weight 8 pound 5 ounces (3.790g)
52cm long
Felicity, Adam and Cate are family friends of mine and are all very special to me.
We joke, out of the three of us, that I was the first one to see Cate’s sweet little head as she was being born.
Felicity’s mother, Sheree, is one of my most treasured friends. I am humbled and honoured to share in the most special times in their lives. Sheree knows from one mother to another that I will take care of her precious daughter with all my heart.
Felicity’s first baby, the delightful Catherine Mary (Cate) made her calm, rather swift and complication-free debut over four years ago at 39 weeks. I had the honour of supporting Felicity and Adam as they welcomed baby Cate into the world that day.
Felicity has positive and fond memories of Cate’s birthday. A truly brave and confident first-time Birthing Goddess.
Felicity feels calm and confident as she is about to don her Birthing Goddess crown for a second time. Felicity, Adam and especially Cate, can’t wait to meet their new precious baby.
It is comforting for felicity to know that she will have the same birth support with Adam and myself by her side. Felicity has also engaged the same wonderful obstetrician that supported Felicity when she birthed Cate.
The intensity of labour sensations has softened in Felicity’s mind over the past 4.5 years. She feels she could just sneeze this baby out. I wish I could grant her this wish.
As all births are unique, this little baby will write his or her own story.
As 39 weeks came and went, Felicity starts to wonder why her baby isn’t here! She just expected that 39 weeks was her full-term date. Life is full of surprises.
40 weeks and 2 days: On the evening of the 2nd of April, Felicity is experiencing mild sensations. Something feels different, Felicity had a strong sense that she was going to be going into labour very soon. She thinks that maybe she is feeling different because she’s been standing at the football all day.
What Felicity is feeling tonight is the sign she has been waiting for. She is woken at 2.30 am with strong sensations.
I receive a text message to inform me it’s game on! Consistent but manageable at the moment. I’m jumping in the shower and Felicity is going to do the same.
When I arrive at their home around 3.30 am, I am greeted at the door by Adam. “Am I coming inside or are we off to the labour ward”? He thinks we won’t be staying home long. Felicity is having very consistent 1-minute apart sensations while sitting on her birth ball in her ensuite. Breathing through them bravely, I apply cold cloths to her face and neck as she is feeling very hot. I remind her to go with the sensations and not against them. I know this can be easier said than done, sometimes. We wait for Felicity’s mum Sheree to arrive to look after Cate, and we inform the LGH we are coming in. Last time, the ride in the car was unbearable for Felicity. It feels like the timing is right to leave at this moment.
I did laugh to myself, feeling very much a sensation of “deja vu” as we again had Felicity in the wheelchair with Adam and me holding one handle each, juggling all our bags like we were packing for an overseas trip. We must be getting better at this – because this time we didn’t ram Felicity into any walls as we made our way to labour ward.
4.15 am: We are settled into labour ward. Felicity’s sensations are strong and still around 1 minute apart. I get busy setting up the diffuser and the birth cub (although I don’t think we used the cub at all). As we are birthing during COVID times, Felicity did have to endure COVID testing. The swab in her mouth made her throw up multiple times.
Just as with Cate’s labour, Felicity finds the toilet a good place to labour. Adam and I support Felicity with cold cloths and water. These sensations are very strong and very close together. Felicity has also been feeling a lot of pressure in her bottom – this is usually a good sign of baby moving down. I feel Felicity is going to need to dig deep to keep on top of what her labour is going to ask of her. We have a beautiful young midwife and although Felicity won’t be having her OB this morning as she is off duty, her colleague is just perfect. She is a great mixture of gentle and firm, all the while being a very supportive woman with a strong desire to help Felicity to labour and birth without interventions.
5.15 am: Felicity’s sensations are really causing her to doubt her ability to continue, without knowing when it’s going to end. Unfortunately, none of us has a crystal ball to share the time of birth with her. Felicity decides she would like an examination to know how far along she is. Felicity also knows this dilation number could make her feel empowered or deflated in her ability to continue. I encourage Felicity to really think about the consequences of knowing dilation progress before she decides on whether she wants to know. Our Ob shares the same thoughts. Felicity, being a practical thinker, decides she wants to know how dilated she is.
Her baby is low, her cervix is nice and thin, and she is 6cm dilated. It’s the number 6 that rattles her confidence. This number doesn’t match the intensity that Felicity is feeling or the number she had in her head surrounding this birth.
This is wonderful progress. No one knows how long it will take to go from 6cm to fully dilated. I feel it won’t take our birthing goddess too much longer.
A women's bodies have near-perfect knowledge of childbirth; it's when our brains get involved that we can start to doubt our inner strength.” Felicity, there is something inside of you that is stronger than any obstacle.
I suggest a shower. Felicity benefits from a change of scenery and will continue to be brave, breathing through each one of these strong surges and holding her tummy through many of them.
An hour and 15 minutes in the shower seem to help Felicity with managing her sensations. Warm water helps when you are trying so hard to focus on relaxing all your muscles instead of fighting against them. These sensations are not stronger than Felicity, they are part of her. Pain with a purpose. Felicity is feeling so much pressure and the intensity feels more than she can bear. We can see that she is pushing with some of these sensations. Honestly, Felicity is doing amazing! Labour is hard work.
Adam does a wonderful job of holding the shower head over Felicity and we both offer consistent calming words of encouragement. Birth will not ask you to be fearless…. Only to be brave xxx It was hard to see Felicity feeling like she just couldn’t keep going at times, and just wanting to know how much longer she needed to keep pushing herself to get to the end. The words she voiced may have had her doubting her ability, but her actions and how she faced every one of those mighty surges with courage and resilience shined a light on a whole different story. She could do this. We all believed in her, and we all knew that there was something inside of her that was stronger than any obstacle she may come across. She would never give up; this is just not in her nature.
Birth is an opportunity to transcend, to rise above what we are accustomed to, to reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth.
Felicity listened to her body laboured in the positions that felt right for her. The acupressure comb, the shower and the toilet were her best friends, along with sipping cold water, being wiped down with ice-cold cloths and some double hip squeezes combined with a good measure of pain relief and aromatherapy massage oil for her hips.
6.30 am: Felicity is out of the shower and feeling like she would like her waters broken. The pressure is so extreme, and she feels this would help her baby come sooner rather than later. I always listen to the mother. Her instincts are on high alert, she can trust them. We discuss the pros and cons of what may happen if she chooses this path. Our Obstetrician is also sharing the downfalls of disturbing a physiological labour and the negative effects it may have on the baby. It is decided the obstetrician will examine Felicity again and depending on what she can see, they can discuss her options. Baby has been very happy all through labour so far. Hasn’t missed a beat.
An uncomfortable few minute of laying on her back, pay off. Felicity finally has the news her heart has been yearning for. She is 10cm dilated and her baby is nice and low. It is discussed and agreed that if Felicity would like her waters broken, now would be a good time. Our Ob feels this would be a positive move.
6.40 am: The bag of water above baby’s head is broken.
Felicity is feeling strong urges to push, and she is going with those feelings. 9 months of waiting to fall in love for a lifetime, wondering if she is going to meet a little girl or a little boy. Knowing that she is now heading towards the finish line. She is ready to meet her baby.
This little trickster has his mummy working especially hard to bring him or her earth side.
Finding a comfortable position to push was demanding, as nothing felt great – there were a few leg cramps thrown in for good measure.
Just as a woman’s heart knows how and when to pump her lungs to inhale and pull her hand back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.
Felicity knew that she had to push her tiredness and any reservations aside. She has to solely focus on birthing her baby.
Her Obstetrician spoke firmly but kindly, voicing that Felicity needed to concentrate and move all her energy down into her bottom and birth her baby sooner rather than later. Her Obstetrician shared that she knew Felicity could do this and that she didn’t want to have to use interventions to help baby out. My birthing goddess, hearing these words, re-focused, dug deep, and gave it everything she possibly had left. We all continued to support and empower Felicity to collect the soul of her baby and bring him or her ear side emotionally and physically. Adams’s hand became very useful for felicity to squeeze through this stage of labour.
With some serious deep pushing, we started to see baby Viney! Some dark hair appeared. When I mentioned trickster earlier; It is due to baby Viney showing us his/her face sunny side up! Presenting posterior, meaning the largest part of the head was coming first. Felicity’s OB thought in her last examination that this may have been the case, thankfully, she had the wisdom to know it would not be of any benefit to a woman trying her hardest to birth her baby to share her findings.
Felicity was working her way up the bed with all the effort she is putting in. Holding nothing back to birth her baby.
Pushing through the ring of fire, remembering that there is no benefit in trying to hold back from the stinging pain, as her perineum stretched at this pointy end.
In the last moments before birth, there was a concern that baby’s shoulders may have been stuck, so the alarm button was pressed for some assistance, and the pediatric doctor was summoned. Thankfully this was not the case, and no extra hands were required to help baby out and no extra examinations after birth were needed. A very happy and healthy baby made his or her debut as her Ob asked Felicity to reach down and collect her baby, lifting baby up and into her loving and waiting arms. After having a few moments to cuddle her baby and catch her breath, Felicity lifted her baby to see who she was meeting. “It’s a boy, we have our pigeon pair!” she announces, “I won’t be doing this again.” We all have the biggest smiles on our faces and happiness continues to pour effortlessly into our birth suite. We had all just witnessed the miracle of birth! What an honour and a privilege to be present at such a magical moment in time.
Words can’t express how proud I am of you, Felicity. All our medical care providers felt the same way. I know as you reflect, you will be so elated with all you were able to achieve in and through your birth.
Thank you for inviting me along for a second time to be part of your special birth story.
What a beautiful new family of four you are. You have lots of wonderful, new memories and adventures to embark on in all the coming years xxx