Thanks to Emma for sharing her story ...

"The contractions started about 30 minutes apart on Wednesday night, but I wasn’t sure if it would develop so I went to sleep about 11:30pm. At 1am I woke up with regular contractions, every 10-15 minutes, until about 3am, and then every 10 minutes until 5am – that's when I called the hospital. They suggested I take two Panadol and see what happens - I didn’t find this advice very helpful. My mum suggested I only take Panadol if I felt the need (which I didn’t) and to call the hospital again when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. Pretty much from 5am sharp the contractions increased to 5 minutes. I rode these out until 8am and when I called the hospital for the second time and they suggested I come in. I was still feeling fine in between contractions, though, so we waited for the morning traffic rush to clear and went in at about 9am.

On the car ride in my contractions slowed, and I thought they might turn us around at the hospital. Thankfully they took us straight into a birthing suite where my obstetrician saw us at about 9:30/10am. I was 5cm dilated so he broke my waters and then we were on!

I was able to breath through the more regular contractions and spent a lot of time sitting in a chair as it reminded me of my meditation and breathing. I had a bit of time standing, and a bit of time lying on my side as the contractions became more intense. By about 1:30pm I was 9cm dilated, which quickly went to 10cm and I was ready to push.

I was not mentally prepared for pushing and found it incredibly tough. My body was exhausted by then and I had trouble standing, so I was lying down and pushing. I was able to lie and breath and regain some energy between contractions, but I didn’t make the progress the healthcare team were hoping for. After nearly one and half hours of pushing, my obstetrician told me it was time to get my baby out in the next half hour.

The room quickly changed from just me, Alex and my midwife (who was an amazing coach for the pushing and was with me for the entire labour) being present, to my obstetrician, an anaesthetist, a paediatrician, and another midwife. I found this bit really hard as I was so exhausted from pushing, and thought it was all about to end, but was still having really painful contractions and trying to stay calm with the sudden change in the room. But everyone was so lovely and supportive and calming in their approach. I ended up having a spinal tap and an epidural, as I needed an episiotomy and forceps to get our little girl out.

Chloe was born at 4:04pm on 21 February, 2018 – weighing 3.6kg and measuring 50.5cm. I am so proud of myself for getting her to 10cm dilated and 1.5hrs of pushing with my breathing and my body alone, and feel so grateful that I had the support and care that I did to help me get her safely into the world for the last little bit of my labour. We are totally in love and so happy!"