Chris could feel that the birth was starting so we spent that hour finalising packing. When we called back we spoke to a different nurse who was adamant that it was not labour and to go back to bed and to take a couple of panadol despite no pain involved (which Chris ignored). We weren't particularly impressed by this midwife's attitude but did not let it negatively impact our experience.
By 3am Chris was well into labour and woke me up. She was a little concerned that she could not get in the zone so we focused on deep breathing and this helped her relax. She was feeling pressure especially an urge to defecate but no pain as such.
I began timing her surges and they were lasting around 50 secs with about 7min between each one. We rang the hospital again only to be told labour typically lasts between 11 and 15hrs and that given Chris was not in any significant discomfort she was not in labour. We got the impression they measure labour by the amount of pain the mother is in, given that Chris was not screaming into the phone they had trouble believing she was actually in labour.
Over the next hour the surges strengthened and frequency came down to around 3mins with duration extending to 60secs. By 4:30 it was clear we should go into the hospital and thankfully they agreed. We arrived at 5:00am where on examination Chris was found to be 7cm dilated. This was the nurse who had not believed Chris was in labour and her attitude changed dramatically as she immediately rang our Obstetrician and organized us a birthing suite.
We then got a new (& nice) midwife who picked up the fact we were "HypnoBirthing" and pretty much left us to ourselves (apart from routine checking of Lara's condition) which was surprising, but not concerning and allowed Chris to concentrate on breathing.
Chris lay on the bed for the whole of her labour, first and home and then at hospital and found this to be the most comfortable position, she used an ipod to listen to the HypnoBirthing® and relaxation music. We had expected to be more mobile and to use the shower and swiss ball but Chris never felt the need and given the speed of the labour there was no need to use gravity.
Chris's Obstetrician arrived at 5:45am and soon after Chris commenced pushing with technique coaching by the obstetrician, as he believes pushing is required rather than using the J breathing alone. We had full confidence in him especially as it was he who had referred us to HypnoBirthing® in the first place.
Lara Olivia was born at 6:44am. She was very pink and cried immediately. Lara weighed in at 2.41kg, and was 47.5 cm long.
Chris felt she did an amazing job and got a real sense of achievement from having a natural birth with no drugs required at all.
It really works!!!