Birth story of Millah Eve

When I think back to the birth of our daughter, it was the most memorable and empowering day of my life thus far. Being a midwife, I’ve seen many births and I had always wanted a waterbirth. We did Calmbirth classes to help prepare for the labour and birth. I felt like my husband needed to know how to support me during the labour.

We were very lucky, our whole pregnancy went very smoothly and we were looked after by Westmead’s Caseload midwives programme.

The day my water broke, I had some contractions but nothing irregular or overly painful. I came into the hospital and got checked out. An induction was booked for the next day as I didn’t go into labour naturally. We arrived at the hospital at 11pm, nervous as hell. However I felt I was well prepared.

My beautiful midwife Olivia met us at the Birth Unit and I had an IV drip put into my hand. Olivia checked my cervix and broke the remaining waters around baby’s head. I was 1cm dilated and I remember thinking “Great, I’m a first time mum, we will be here all night”. Little did we know, baby wanted to arrive a lot quicker than that. We were put on the CTG baby monitor and the contractions started very quickly.

I did everything I could think of to help with the discomfort. Making sure I was off the bed the whole time. I was rocking on a exercise ball, walking, leaning over a beanbag, concentrating on my breathing. The best thing I found helped was squatting beside the bed. My amazing husband squatted behind me each contraction. Once that no longer worked, I went into the shower. The warmth from the water was amazing. It was in the shower I felt the urge to push. My cervix was checked and I was 7cm dilated and baby was really low, hence the pressure and feeling like I had to push. I went back into the shower on my hands and knees and started to use the nitrous gas, which took the edge off the pain.

We then filled the bath and it was very relaxing. I felt very in control even when the contractions were coming every 2 minutes.

I remember feeling baby “drop” into my vagina and I was then ready to start pushing. In between pushing, I’d close my eyes and rest. My husband (bless him) got into the bath with me ready to catch the baby. We hadn’t discussed him being into bath and took me by surprise. Luckily for him the water stayed crystal clear.

After about 20 minutes of pushing and 4 and a half hours of labour, Millah Eve made her grand entrance in which she floated into my husband’s hands with the assistance of Olivia. We didn’t know the sex of the baby until she arrived, it was so amazing to find out like that.

Of course labour is hard - surround yourself with supportive people. Labour is probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but it’s also so rewarding. Like the saying goes, “Labour is the only blind date where you know you will meet the love of your life”. How true that is.

Shoni, Tyron and Millah Creek