We progressed from Richard saying ‘How are we going to get him out of you?’ after our 12 week scan to looking forward to Aronin’s birth day. Your first session helped us put aside our fears of pain during the birth and gave Richard a sense of the important role he would take and your second session helped us with our fears of parenthood. Our minds were able to shift so we enjoyed Bec’s pregnancy, bonded with Aronin before he was born, and were excited instead of scared when his birth day arrived.
After a series of sporadic practice waves the days prior, on a Sunday morning, gentle waves started to come more regularly. We kept ourselves distracted cleaning the house, Bec wanted the house spotless for when we brought Aronin home. We had our chosen music playing the whole time and Bec’s exercise ball available when needed. The waves became more intense around 5pm so Bec pulled out pictures of beautiful mountain areas she had visited which she visualised as she used breathing through each wave and Richard rubbed her back. At 10pm, Bec started to be more vocal as the waves were more intense, pulling out the animal type groans. We went to the hospital at 11pm. The midwife explained that the waters might break soon, which they promptly did as soon as she mentioned it. Even though we didn’t give the midwife a birth plan she really helped us go through the birth without the need for medicated pain relief. Only once did she offer Bec to use some gas which we both did not respond to and she did not mention it again. Richard continued to hold Bec through each wave and tell her story after story about mountainous areas she had visited which really kept her calm. There were a couple of moments where Bec felt out of control, one where she was trying to make deep groans but couldn’t hit a low enough note and ended up being a high pitched wail! (which she soon sorted out) and a second when she was feeling a strong urge to push but her cervix wasn’t fully dilated and she had to learn how to keep herself from pushing by using short breaths while visualising the cervix opening. Sure enough, not too long after it was time to push and Aronin’s head was showing. Richard was down at the ‘business end’ where he had never imagined he would be, being a support for Bec to push against. Bec pushed hard for two hours and then it was recommended we get some assistance with suction. Once the suction cap was on Aronin’s head, Bec had one contraction and seven pushes later Aronin was on her chest and Bec couldn’t stop exclaiming how much she loved him!
Six weeks later we continue to be overwhelmingly enamoured by our son Aronin! He’s such a placid and beautiful soul and we can’t believe we get to look after him!
Thanks so much again for being pivotal in our experience during pregnancy and birth (and even with the support book you sent for Bec about motherhood which has been so grounding).
Love Richard and Bec