Geraldine started having contractions on the Friday morning. They were not very intense and were spaced out between 6-8 mins apart. They were fairly frequent during the day and then later in the day they spaced out to about 20mins apart.

So far so good, everything was proceeding in accordance with my training so I was feeling comfortable about how to help Geraldine. She was also relaxed as the contractions were not very painful and she was able to breathe through them.

We went to bed at about 10.30pm, a little excited that maybe we'd be seeing our baby sometime on Saturday.

Geraldine woke at about 4.30am with some fairly strong contractions that were about 6-7 mins apart. We decided to have something to eat, to keep up her energy levels, so she had some pineapple and yoghurt at 5am. Her contractions were now about 8 mins apart and lasting about 45-60 seconds.

Soon after we had eaten Geraldine threw up for the first time. Little did we realise that this would become a common occurrence - she threw up 8 times in the next 12 hours. At first it was the food she ate and then it just became bile. This regular event definitely impacted the labour as Geraldine didn't have a lot of energy reserves to draw upon.

Geraldine started experiencing the contraction pain in her hips. I had expected pain in the middle of her lower back and was ready to help relieve this with massage and my trusty tennis ball. I was a bit confused that this wasn't needed and thought eventually it would kick in at some point. I think I had a few preconceived ideas as to how the labour would proceed, so be prepared for the unexpected.

The contractions remained reasonably regular and at about 2.30pm they began to get closer but did not go over 45 seconds. The pain was still quite manageable with breathing and relaxation, however, we had the added background pressure of an anxious mother-in-law who had been wanting us to go to the hospital since 7.30am that morning. This definitely influenced our choice to call the Birth Centre and go in on Saturday afternoon at about 3.30pm.

We arrived at the Birth Centre at about 3.50pm and, once settled into the room, decided to have an internal examination. Geraldine was 1 cm dilated and her cervix had totally thinned out. This was encouraging and not so encouraging. We were hopeful that, because her cervix had thinned out, dilation might occur quickly given the right conditions.

We were encouraged to go home, but we said that the hot water kept running out at home. As no-one else was in the Birth Centre they were happy to let us to stay.

Contractions continued at about 3-5 minutes apart and lasting anywhere between 30-60 seconds. Geraldine continued throwing up every hour on the hour. I could have set my watch by it. The contractions proceeded at this rate into the night.
There was a shift change at about 10pm and a new midwife. We said good-bye to Loretta, who said that we would probably have the baby during the night and wished us good luck.

Geraldine got into the bath at about 1am as the contractions were becoming a lot more painful. At this point I took a break and my mum and Geraldine's mum took turns supporting her.

At about 5.30am she was still in the bath and becoming very wrinkled and stressed. Up until this point Geraldine had relaxed extremely well, breathing through the contractions and staying relaxed using all the Bradley ideas. I felt we had hit a wall and I had difficulty in helping Geraldine relax. I called our Bradley Instructor, and good friend, Lea Mason at 6 am as I felt I was running out of ideas.

With a bit of advice to keep me going I got Geraldine out of the bath and we concentrated on walking and staying upright hoping to speed things up.

It is interesting to note that Sarah, the midwife, said Geraldine had gone into established labour at about 5am (just over 24 hours since the first contraction). We decided to have another internal examination and found that Geraldine was about 5-6cm dilated.

I received a call from Lea at about 7am offering to come and help out. I was happy to accept as I felt a fresh face (with experience) would be a great help.

Lea arrived at 8am and helped us refocus. The room was cleared to help us concentrate and hopefully get things moving quicker. The strength of the contractions had lessened and we were hoping for stronger contractions and some progress toward the next stage of labour, knowing she could go from 5 cm to 10 cm dilated very quickly. Geraldine walked around the room with Lea and relaxed during contractions.

After about 4 hours Loretta came back on shift, happy to see us and hopefully going to help us deliver the baby in 2nd stage.

For the whole time we had been in the Birth Centre the midwives had checked the baby's heartbeat with an ultrasonic Doppler every hour. And every hour the same comment came, "What a content baby you have". So what seemed to be an eternity for us didn't seem to bother our little baby.

As the afternoon pressed on, Geraldine's hip pain grew worse. She had taken some homeopathic remedies to help with the hip pain and ever persistent nausea. I was also squeezing her hips during each contraction to make them more comfortable. We found out later that the baby's head was not bearing directly down on the cervix and that's why the cervix was not dilating. Hence the contraction pressure was going into the hips because the baby's head was slightly on an angle.

She went back into the bath to deal with the pain. She probably spent about 2 hours there. Geraldine and Lea were singing songs and visualising the cervix opening up.

At about 2pm she came out of the bath. Between 2.30pm - 3.00pm we were offered the choice of having Geraldine's waters broken. We accepted as we felt it could be something to help keep the momentum up.
Loretta broke Geraldine's waters without any problems.

For the next 4 hours Geraldine spent the time upright: walking, thumb sucking, in the shower, stimulating the nipples, in the hope of establishing a constant pattern of strong contractions. We were hopeful that more dilation had taken place.

At approximately 6pm Geraldine had an internal examination. The midwife said she was 5-6 cm dilated, which was not very encouraging. At this point she offered a number of choices we could take. 1. A shot of Pethedine (to which in unison we all shot back saying no!) 2. Continue on, or 3. Go to the labour ward and have a Syntocinon drip, which would ensure solid contractions. She felt that no. 3 was the best option because she was concerned that Geraldine would run out of energy (as she hadn't eaten for about 35 hours) and that we would go into second stage fairly rapidly with the strong contractions caused by the drip and would soon be having a baby. She gave us some time to think over the options.

During this time we put Geraldine in a sling made from a folded sheet and gently rocked her pelvis from side to side. This movement can help the baby turn if it is in a posterior position.

It was now about 6.30pm and Lea had to go, after spending a marathon day with us.

We then had a discussion about what might be the best thing to do next and felt that we were best off taking the Syntocinon. I was worried that Geraldine might run out of steam and then I didn't know what would happen next. I was also worried that once she had the Syntocinon we would be on the 'slippery slope of intervention' and that we would maybe end up having a caesarean after all. The other thing we were told was that we couldn't have a natural 3rd stage, which was disappointing.

Geraldine and I decided that we would go to the labour ward, and I promised her that I would help her get through the next phase and that it would turn out fine.

So sometime around 7pm we walked across the corridor to the labour ward. Geraldine started having some stronger contractions on the walk across. We settled into our room, which was very different to the Birth Centre room. We organised the room to best suit our needs. Contractions were stronger and we were wondering if the Mexican sling had helped contribute to this.

The doctor on duty came in and put the canula in Geraldine's arm. She had a fetal monitor put on and they checked that she and the baby were ok. I had a quick talk to my mum and Geraldine's mum and said that we really needed to stay focused and help Geraldine through this, because if we can keep her relaxed she should move into 2nd stage and hopefully give birth soon after.

All Geraldine's and the baby's signs were good and then the drip was put on at about 9.00 pm. The drip definitely makes it harder for moving around and getting comfortable.

Contractions started increasing in intensity and the time between contractions started getting shorter. The pain level in Geraldine's hips definitely went up another level. I worked on keeping her hips compressed, Lorraine kept Geraldine's hands and shoulders relaxed and my mum gave Geraldine ice chips and kept her face cool with a cloth.

Over the next 2 hours the contractions started coming one on top of the other with increasing pain levels. Geraldine did a great job of focusing on breathing and relaxing. This was the hardest part of the labour so far but at least we felt we were getting somewhere.

There was a change of shift and a new midwife. And Geraldine moved from the beanbag and mat to the birth ball. Things kept moving along nicely.

At around 11.30pm Geraldine felt a strong urge to do a poo, a very good sign. The midwife, Julie, said it was time to do another internal examination. Geraldine had dilated to 9-10cm. However, a lip of her cervix was turned outwards and this would hinder the complete dilation and safe passage of the baby. Julie told Geraldine that for the next 3 contractions she would have to let them pass without pushing, and Julie would push the lip of the cervix back. This sounds a lot easier than it actually is. It took a great effort and much pain to allow these strong pushing contractions to pass without naturally pushing with them.

Julie announced that the cervix was in place and that Geraldine could begin pushing with the contractions. The most amazing thing about this phase is how quiet it seems and how you have a nice break of a couple of minutes between contractions.

Geraldine had prepared to squat and push the baby out .She tried this for a few contractions but her legs became a bit rubbery after such a long labour, so Julie went and got the birthing stool and mirror.

For the next 40 - 50 minutes Geraldine pushed, with the wonderful guidance of Julie. I supported Geraldine under the arms and encouraged her.

At 12.40am on Monday morning Serena Marcia Lorraine de Casanove Gray was born, much to the relief of everyone in the room. She was a very healthy 3.895Kg ,53cm baby.

We were very happy to have made it through without any pain relief drugs and felt great when the (very experienced) midwife, Julie said ."You've renewed my faith in natural childbirth."

Paul Gray