Hire a Tens Machine Hire a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) machine to help reduce your pain during labour and childbirth. Palmerston North Parents Centre (PNPC) has five TENS machines available for hire by our members for ONLY $20 for up to four weeks’ hireage (plus a $40.00 refundable bond). Machines can be booked for the two weeks prior to your due date until two weeks post due date. Watch a video interview with a TENS machine expert at youtube.com/ watch?v=4gUEtYAqPw8 Book your TENS Machine from: Junior Kids Store, 23 Broadway Ave, Ph 06 354 5516, info@juniorkidsstore.co.nz, Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm › Sat 9.30am - 4pm. Please pay by cash and bring your PNPC Membership card. Full terms and conditions on our Facebook page: facebook.com/PNorthPC
meet my lovely back-up midwife (who I had met once before and discussed my birth plan with) and the first year midwivery student who had been following me through pregnancy. We set the room up with a lovely relaxing playlist on the iPad and dim lights. Thirty minutes later I was in the bath, and feeling much more comfortable. My midwife was brilliant at encouraging me to keep moving within the bath, using the bar to change positions when needed to maintain an active labour, but allowing me to rest when needed, too. My husband was supportive providing massages, drinks and cold flannels during this time. My mum arrived and, despite my intentions not to have anyone else in the room during labour, her extra support and help was great! When I felt like it was all getting a bit much and I asked for gas (Entonox), my midwife reassured me (as per my birth plan) that I was likely very close to reaching second stage of labour and to try changing positions instead. Sure enough, only two contractions later, I started feeling the urge to push, and pain changed to excitement! I needed to change positions frequently during the latter stage of labour to continue to encourage progression, and my midwife gently and unobtrusively monitored the baby’s heart rate between contractions. At 12.54am Matthew was born into the water, where I was able to catch him and bring him up to my chest. The skin-to-skin contact quickly resulted in expulsion
of the placenta. Matthew was able to have skin-toskin contact with his dad while I got out of the bath, before we settled into the hospital bed for Matthew to feed while I received some sutures. After the first hour, Matthew was weighed and dressed and I was starving! We made it up to the ward by around 4am on Saturday morning and, being a weekend, we managed to have a room to ourselves for the next 36 hours before heading home Sunday afternoon. Matthew was a great feeder from early on, but it was nice having the support of hospital nurses for the first few feeds, nappy changes, and attempts at swaddling. My midwife, Dawn, was fantastic and respected all my wishes, and I also found that having a student midwife during pregnancy, birth, and the postnatal period was interesting and led to thought-provoking discussions; I would highly recommend it. It turned out she was a great photographer too and our post-birth photos are so precious. With Matthew’s little brother due in November, I hope to have another great birthing experience, and this time I will plan to use the Birthing Centre as it appears to be a beautiful new facility and I have heard great things about the food. I will never know how much Hypnobirthing and the TENS machines helped with the labour itself, but to me the most valuable part of the whole experience was that I spent the last trimester confident in my body and my ability to give birth, rather than fearful of what may be to come.
ISSUE 297 . October | November 2020
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