Another wonderful birth story – new mum Jessica tells us about the birth of Max...

"At 4:30am on Saturday the 28th of April, three days past my due date, I woke up to find the first proper signs of labour: a bloody show! Thinking that labour was possibly hours or even days away, I went back to bed and tried to sleep but I was way too excited for that to happen. Within 15 minutes I had started to get the first few niggles of labour pains. They were so mild it was hard to know whether I was imagining them or not. 

I stayed in bed and put a movie on, deciding to leave my support people sleeping for the time being and enjoy what may be my last moments alone for a long time. The pains came and went, and felt like they were getting longer and stronger. I decided to start timing them just out of interest and found that they were already fairly regular – about five minutes apart and lasting around 60 seconds. Around 5:30am I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer and woke Max’s Dad up to help me get the TENS machine on. I showered and had a smoothie for breakfast. All the while the contractions were getting stronger but I felt so calm and in control and focused on my breathing. I moved around from room to room, sometimes on all fours, sometimes leaning over the couch and sometimes using the fitball while Max’s Dad and Nanna buzzed around me getting themselves ready for the day and packing the car in case we needed to leave in a hurry. 

At 7:00am I phoned my midwife, Mel, to let her know I was in labour so she could plan her day around meeting me at the hospital when the time came. She told me I was doing well and to continue breathing through and managing my contractions at home. I later found out she had assumed I would labour at home until at least 1:00pm but it wasn’t to be! At 9:00am I felt a trickle and wondered whether it was my waters, I phoned Mel again who said to make my way to the hospital to meet her there in an hour or so. 

Once at the hospital we were taken to an assessment room where they tested for waters and found that my hind-waters had indeed broken, so off to the birthing suite we headed! Because I had tested positive for Group B strep and ruptured membranes, it was time to get the IV antibiotics happening and turn things up a notch with the birth to get this baby out while avoiding any infection being passed on to him. Mel broke my forewaters at 12:00pm and found my cervix was already 4cm dilated and fully effaced. After that, things progressed super quickly and no other intervention was needed.

Mel gave me a circuit of exercises to do in the room (squats, lunges etc) during contractions to help things progress and within 50 minutes I was fully dilated and in transition. At some point, I started using the gas and found this to be a really effective way to manage the pain. Things after this are pretty hazy, but I spent about two hours kneeling on the floor and leaning over the bed doing some form of pushing that turned out not to be very effective. At 3:00pm I ended up on the bed on my back as I had totally run out of energy. I was banned from the gas as it was making me lazy and I managed to finally get the hang of the whole pushing thing.

Max Winter Stein entered the world at 3:55pm, healthy, chubby and pink, weighing 4.2kg – he's my greatest achievement and biggest blessing to date! The labour lasted less than 12 hours in its entirety - four hours of active labour and a prolonged Second Stage. Throughout my whole experience, I felt safe and supported and wouldn’t change a thing!"