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Robyn Hamlyn Whitehead's Birth

Here's the story of our wonderful Home Birth

Robyn Hamlyn Whitehead a beatiful daughter for Charly and Gary.
Sunday, 26 November 1995 at 7:33pm
She weighed 9lbs and was 23 1/2 inches long!!

I woke up just after 7am on Sunday and realized that I'd been having slightly painfull contractions for some time. These were not much worse some of the Braxton Hicks I had throughout my pregnancy.

At 11am with contractions every 6 minutes (but no more painful) we rang our midwife June to let her know that we would probably need her that day. June came round about 12ish and chatted with us for a while and then arranged to come back in a couple of hours unless we called her sooner.

Around 3:30pm the contractions became more painfull and I could really feel them in my lower back - the TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation - I think) machine we'd hired seemed to help. June arrived back and we settled in around a blazing log fire to await developments! Shelly and Timmy were getting a bit bored by this stage and wandered off to play on computers - much more fun!

My doctor (Tim) turned up at about 5pm. He'd arrived rather early but we think this was to get away from a houseful of kids who were helping them eat the ruined food from his freezer (one of his sons had turned it off!).

6:30ish - First internal examination of whole pregnancy (done by midwife) 5cm dilated. Still just using TENS. The doctor was more interested in the computer games being played downstairs! Gary was giving me lots of support.

7pm - contractions 'nice' and painful using TENS and Entonox. June did another internal (7cms+) and got me to roll over onto my side to encourage Robyn's head to turn into the right position. 10 minutes on my side and I was fully dilated and wanting to push - Entonox in full use!

I started pushing.... and pushing .....and .... WOOOOSH my waters broke more pushing ....... suddenly Robyn's head popped out and then NOTHING!!! Oh *!@% her shoulders were stuck (does anyone else watch ER and see that infamous child birth episode?) LOTS more very painfull pushing and the doctor managed to hook his finger under her armpit and assist in pulling her out.

7:33pm the most beautiful moment ever I looked down and saw my baby, saw she was a girl, saw she was healthy and just wanted to cry. I looked up at Gary and saw the wonder and joy on his face.

Unfortunately it wasn't all over - June took hold of the cord (I was watching her) and it just came away in her hands! The cord was in such poor condition she couldn't even lift it up without it collapsing. The placenta was totally out of sight in my uterus. I tried some more pushing and coughing but nothing was happening. Gary was holding Robyn all wrapped up and alternating between gazing in wonderment at her and horror/worry at me. So we ended up with a IV drip and the doctor was preparing to do a 'manual removal' (help!) when June realized she could see a bit of the placenta several coughs and pushes later and Labour is finally over.

To have this birth at home was wonderful even with the above complications. If I had been in hospital I would have been less relaxed and less sure that we would have a say in what was done to both me and Robyn. It was beautiful to have just Me, Gary, June (who cared for me throughout my pregnancy) and my own family doctor as the only people present. Shelly and Timmy came upstairs as soon as I was cleaned up a bit (there was a lot of blood around, I lost about half a litre). June stayed till 10pm and gave me a much needed bath. By 11pm Gary and I were tucked up in bed with Robyn between us totally unable to do anything but gaze at her!

Charly
Mummy to Shelly (12y), Timmy (10y) and Robyn (16 days!)