I woke at 5:00 am on July 8^th with regular surges, nine days past my guess date. I was very excited that things were finally starting, but I still tried to sleep or relax until a little later in the morning. Finally I woke my husband, Kris and we went for a walk to keep things going since the surges were still quite mild. We went and visited some friends and tried to keep moving, but close to lunch time the surges started to fade away so we met another friend for Indian food, then kept on walking. I made a special smoothie with castor oil in it in the afternoon and things really got started then. I laboured at home until 5:00 am on the 9^th.

It was great to be home where I was comfortable and could move. Kris was an amazing support, and I also had two doulas, plus my mom and a very close friend. It was a bit of a party. Unfortunately there were no midwives available during my pregnancy and birth. I spent a lot of time in a warm birth pool (which was the very best pain relief!) or rolling around on a yoga ball. I listened to the “musical acupuncture” CD and used lots of different positions and deep, low vocalizations. I remembered a lot of the good advice from Hypnobirthing, yoga, and aquasize classes, and I felt relaxed and happy, even through some pretty intense moments.

I pushed at home for about 3 hours, but the baby didn’t seem to be moving much, so we decided to go to the hospital. I walked across the street and was put in a wheelchair and wheeled right into Labour and Delivery where baby Henry was born 2 hours later. His dad guided him out and put him on my tummy. I didn’t need any drugs or interventions, just a change of scenery and some new positions to push in – those beds that convert all the different ways are pretty neat, and the hospital staff were very respectful of the birth plan that we gave them.

It ended up being very good that we went to the hospital in the end anyway, since I lost a lot of blood right after and the placenta had to be manually extracted by a doctor with small hands and long fingers – OUCH, but I

was glad to not need an epidural or tools for the process. We had some lovely cuddle time right from the start and Henry nursed well – when he could keep his eyes open. One day later we went home and I have felt pretty good since!

Henry Atticus Dueck weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces and was 23 inches longs (56 centimetres). When the maternity visiting program nurse met him a few days later she asked if he was a hypnobirthing baby, since he was so calm, which I thought was nice. We have had wonderful support from our family, friends, and community.

Written by Dennie

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