BIRTH STORY
THE BIRTH OF MAIA, OUR THIRD AND FINAL CHILD ???? By Sarah Taylor S ho r t l y a f t e r finding out we were e x p e c t i ng o u r third baby, the temporary c l o s u r e o f Te Papaioea Bir thing Centre w a s a nno u nc ed. Both my husband and I w e r e gu t t e d to hear this as our older t w o c hi l d r e n were both born there. T he e nv i r o nm ent was supportive and r e l a x e d a nd we had been excited for t he s a m e e x p erience this time around ( a nd t he a m a zing food!). I really didn’t w a nt t o b i r t h at the hospital and luckily f o r u s m y m i d wife offered homebi rths. A l t ho u g h I w a s apprehensive about the i d e a a t f i r s t a fter doing some rese arch a nd a t t e nd i ng a Manawatu Home Birth a s s o c i a t i o n m eeting, I felt like birthing a t h om e c o u l d be a positive experience f o r u s . H a v i ng had fast labours with m y p r e v i o u s two pregnancies my hu sb a nd ’ s b i ggest fear was having to
Nurturing,loving, consistent relationships which provide the foundations that children need in order to develop and flourish
Contact us to find out how to become an educator or to talk to us about the best natural home based childcare options for you and your child. Short webinars available through ForLife, providing training for the first 1000 days and beyond.
0800 023 456
porse.co.nz
catch a baby in his own at home and I was concerned about what we would do if something went wrong. We were able to put a great plan in place around when we needed to contact my midwife and what would require a transfer to hospital and both felt comfortable and reassured by that. We decided to prepare for all eventualities-organised a birth pool, packed a hospital bag just in case and had the grandparents on speed dial. As the 40 week mark approached I was feeling quite excited and certain baby would be born soon, our older two were both born on their due dates so I was certain I wouldn’t go ove r . My due date came and went and I s t a r t e d to feel less excited and more gr u m p y and ripped off at still being pre g na nt ! At 40+3, although hardly over d u e , I woke up determined to get ba b y o u t and spent the day trying out a l l t he old wives’ tales. Finally, at abou t 6 p m I started to think hmm this migh t b e more than just some niggles w he n I couldn’t get comfortable unless I w a s bouncing on the Swiss ball or w a l k i ng up and down the hallway. We de c i d e d that my Mum should come and p i c k up the kids...hopefully we were go i ng to have a baby and if not at lea s t w e would get a sleep in the next day . I a l s o sent my midwife a message just t o l e t her know that we could be all on. A f t e r we sent the kids on their way I ho p p e d into bed and managed to get a f e w hours sleep before waking up a r o u n d 1am with a much stronger contrac t i o n. I
14 PALMY PARENT . PALMERSTON NORTH PARENTS CENTRE MAGAZINE
