Birth Story: Hello baby Micah

HELLO BABY MICAH

In some ways, it is a wonder we got pregnant. It was our first year of marriage and several unexpected events occurred in the family that left us no time for any sort of carry-on that would lead to a pregnancy! We feel our baby must have been very determined to join our family right from the beginning. I loved being pregnant. In my first trimester, I was one of those women other people envy; I didn’t have a hint of morning sickness. Apart from being tired, which I feel at the end of every school year, I felt amazing. My husband and I felt very ready to start a family and being a good mum is my career goal, so I embraced my changing body and set about preparing for the family chapter of our life together. I grew quickly; I even had a colleague ask me if we were having triplets, as I was ‘huge’. Our LMC thought I might like Preggie Yoga, so before Christmas, I joined the ladies at Zing and found this to be great. It was helpful being there with other mums-to-be and doing something tailormade for our pregnant bodies. Our LMC also suggested I read ‘Tummy Talk’, a publication produced by Active Birth Taranaki. Reading the birth stories in there was really empowering and it was good to read them early on; it meant that for most of my pregnancy I really believed I could be strong enough for the birth of our baby. The week before we were due back at school (26 weeks), we had a bit of an event when I lost my mucus plug. Apart from thinking it was pretty disgusting, even that was drama-free and gave me an excuse to lie low for a couple of days. Term One seems like a blur now. I took ‘Princess days’ on the last four Wednesdays which gave me a chance to catch up on sleep, do marking and stay in the right headspace to deal with classes full of teenagers. Most people during this time thought I was so big I would not last until my due date; this baby was surely about here. It was at this time I started acupuncture with the lovely Annie Warrington. Not only did she give me labour-preparation treatment, we also managed to turn our baby into a good position. For some reason, I was scared about going beyond my due date. I had heard numerous horror stories and had also started to believe people’s (unfounded) opinion that this baby would be a wee bit early. Everyone I knew had gone on or before their due date, so I would certainly be no different. Well, my due date came and went. I continued to receive induction acupuncture, do lots of walking, and even tried a couple of the old wives’ tales; still no baby. I had three ‘stretch and sweeps’ and felt encouraged at every one as I was dilating nicely (thanks to the acupuncture) and always had a show afterward, but still no baby. My mum arrived for her planned visit (that we thought would be when we were settled back at home with our new baby) and we began to learn about induction. At 42 weeks, I consented to an induction. We decided to have Mum there as well and we prepared for a long day. I received a tiny bit of gel in the morning and waddled around the hospital for a bit and started to feel strangely tired and increasingly sore. We decided it was nothing; I didn’t feel