BIRTH STORY
THE BIRTH OF ELI By Tahlia Dredge Eli’s pregnancy was not at all part of our plan; we had a 13 year old, a just-turnedtwo year old, a five month old and were confident we had completed our family when we discovered we were pregnant again. My five-year plan went out the window and we made the difficult decision to move to Rotorua to be near my family. Once we had sold our house in Palmerston North (8 months pregnant!), we made the move. It was an incredibly stressful time and this time I actually hoped to go ‘overdue’ like I had with my previous two births! Fast forward to 41 weeks pregnant and, just like my other three labours,
it started in the middle of the night. 1:57am was my first contraction. I lay in bed for about 30 minutes timing the contractions which were already quite intense and then woke up my husband Daniel and told him today was the day. We got up and I asked Daniel to start getting the birth pool ready for our home birth. Around an hour in I decided to text my parents who were going to be here for the birth and I also let my midwife know things were happening. I could tell this was not going to take long as this was by far the most
intense labour right from the beginning. I had to keep interrupting Daniel from getting the pool ready as I found it most comfortable to put my arms around his neck and have him support me while I swayed from side to side through the contractions. I then messaged Jill, my birth photographer. “He’s coming”- she must have leapt out of bed and raced here as she arrived in record time! Mum, Dad and my midwife Dinie were here by then too, and the pool was just deep enough for me to climb in… oh the relief! I continued to sway in the water through contractions and went into my birth zone, eyes closed, focusing inwards on what I needed to do.
Mum went and woke up my eldest daughter, Kaylee, who had seen both of her other siblings be born and wanted to be there for this one too. We left Lexi and Archie sleeping. Dinie told me to let her know when I felt ‘pushy’ so she could get her back-up midwife here. Not long after that I told her she had better text Katinka as I was ready to push. With the first push my waters broke and baby’s head moved right down. I was then very slowly breathing him down and out rather than trying to push him out fast, and with only one or two more contractions he was out! He was born at
18 PALMY PARENT . PALMERSTON NORTH PARENTS CENTRE MAGAZINE
