Birth story for Baby Bell #2 - our cheeky, adorable daughter B

By the summer of 09/10 hubby J and I were thoroughly enjoying parenthood and totally smitten with our firstborn H.  She was a delight and our little family was humming along nicely.  I had received a years study leave for 2010 and we were building a new house so we started the year with lots of changes on the cards but excitement too.  I was also trying to get back in shape and was training for the Buller Marathon teams event we had entered in February, over on the coast in Westport, so I was running regularly too.

J and I even managed to escape to Wellington with friends for a weekend to attend the AC/DC concert and we had a great time...too much of a great time it seems as a few weeks later I realised I was late.  I thought surely just one time wouldn't result in a pregnancy, especially not this soon after H, so I took a test and it said negative.  Life carried on and I put the lateness of my period down to running lots and having a young baby.  However it gave me enough of a scare that I decided to book in a visit to my Doctors so I could go back on the pill.  A couple of weeks later when I finally got around to visiting the doctors you can imagine my shock when before she prescribed me the pill she got me to do another preg test and sure enough, a very strong 2nd line showed up almost instantly, and thats how our little B began, not planned but a blessing all the same!

B was due on the 26th Oct 2010 (H was due & born on the 26th May 2009).  Monday 25th Oct was actually Labour Day and we had been joking about going into labour on Labour Day.  Sure enough, I woke up that morning after a pretty rubbish sleep thinking this could be the day.  Braxton Hicks had been driving me crazy for the last couple of weeks and I had had a bad night with them on and off right through.

At 11.30am we decided to go for a family walk and see if I could either get the Braxton Hicks to stop/settle down or force them to crank up a notch and get labour going.  We walked 5km with pains coming sporadically the whole time.  We got home around 12.30pm and had some lunch, J said he might shoot through to Mitre 10 in town and I said maybe give it another 30mins, just in case this was the real deal. By 1, 1.30pm the contractions had def cranked up a notch in terms of pain and regularity and I was finally sure I was in labour so we called the midwife.


Even though H's birth was an unplanned home birth, it went so well and was such a good experience that we had always planned to have the 2nd baby at home too.  This time though I wanted to try a water birth, so I borrowed our midwives portable birthing pool and we set it up in our dining room.  After J rang the midwife he went about filling the pool and I settled in on the swiss ball to work through the contraction pains.  I am one of those lucky woman that in between my contractions I am pain free and everything is totally normal, chatting and moving around no worries...until the next contraction hits!

My midwife and trainee midwife arrived around 2.30pm, at which point I was having strong but manageable contractions every 5 mins, but felt like this was just the start. She checked me and said to my shock that I was 8cm dilated - most likely a result of all the Braxtons I had been having for a few weeks already.  She calmly suggested it might be time to get in the pool but I still thought I had heaps of time.  I mucked around for a bit but eventually climbed into the blissful, warm, relaxing pool around 3pm - it was heavenly!  I would recommend a water birth for anyone considering it that has had a risk free pregnancy.

So finally at around 3pm I was in the pool, music was cranking on the ipod (The Cranberries I think) and things were at the noisy end of labour for me.  I am a yeller during contractions, not abusive or anything, just very loud groaning and moaning.  We had 3 contractions in the pool and our newest bundle of joy - Brooke was born, at 3.15pm, 25/10/10, 8pd 3oz!

Coming up for her very first breathe

It was a very fast, but peaceful, easy birth.  She floated up to me and squawked one or twice to clear her lungs and then lay peacefully and quietly on me from then on.  Having a trainee midwife there was great as she took lots of photos and we actually had a video camera set up in a corner too to record the whole thing.  H's birth happened so unexpectedly and differently to how we had planned that I found myself struggling to remember the night accurately.  This time I really wanted something to watch back and recall the whole event, there are no close ups or anything too full on, it was just recording quietly in the background and I am soooo thankful to have it as it is really special to me now.



H was bought back home after only an hour or 2 away at her grandparents to meet her new sister - we were now a family of four!

...Soon to become a tight-5!




Brookey is a stubborn, independent, loving and cheeky wee girl - a typical middle child who is more like myself that I like to admit.  She is very different to H, is so much fun and the 3 of us girls have a great time together, we can't wait to see what the next baby will bring!