The Reign of Lyric - Birth Story

Photo credit- Vanilla Images. Lyric Reign.

I’ve written about you before my son. The worrisome beginning to my pregnancy with you, the thought you wouldn’t make it and then the 40 long weeks later you entered the world and the hearts of everyone who has met you.

At 36 weeks I was already 3cm dilated I thought, just like your sister, you’d make your way into my arms early. No amount of remedy or rhythm could get you out! Then your due date came, Valentines day, still nothing. Finally 40+3 weeks, at 8:30am I sat up in bed and immediately recognized contractions had started. I remained more centered second time around, I kept the hospital informed, my husband came home from work and we decided to wait it out at my mums house, as it was closer to the hospital. Contractions stayed at 7 minutes apart for hours, so I sat in my mum’s kitchen eating hot cross buns, compliments of my little brother and just waited.

Soon enough it was time to head to the hospital as contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart. We were escorted to the allocated room and I staggered along the hospital walls as each contraction soared through me. My experience so far, compared to my daughters was very different, I felt a whole new world of knowledge and my game plan was simple, get him out by any means necessary. Our midwife suggested I lay on the bed but I was happy sitting on the chair talking to my husband like we were just lounging around at home. As calm as I was, I was still fighting the contractions. So, if you are pregnant with your first and reading this, thinking contractions are “Tolerable” let me assure you, they start off manageable but they do become intense, Mariah Carey, highest note, intense! My husband and I continued to talk sh*t and the midwife we had at this point, joined in on our conversational antics whilst monitoring my heart rate and blood pressure through my contractions.

Slowly but surely the beating of baseball bats in my uterus amplified and I was now being asked if I wanted pain relief and if I had any preference on position when it was time to push. I answered in between contractions, I didn’t want pain relief and my preferred position to push, was draped over the head of the bed. I remember this was my most comfortable position when giving birth to Melody, so I made a mental note and made everyone aware of my coping mechanisms for delivery baby number two. Every so often I was being checked to see how far I had dilated. Every time I thought this is it The midwife assured me it wasn’t.

I soon transferred myself over to the fit ball and prayed it would start to rain soon. My water didn’t want to break so they decided they’d assist. With a gentle warning they broke my water and I was advised my contractions would soon amp up…again. BOY OH BOY! She wasn’t wrong the very next round of contractions I felt like my insides were being violently assaulted. I tried my very best to close my eyes, focus on my breathing and refrain from insulting everyone in the room, especially my husband. After all he was able to live and tell the tale pain free but I only felt this way during contractions. Once a contraction left my body I loved him all over again at least for the next 3 minutes. Then the next wave would come on and I’d rip out the play book, in my head, planning how I could get him back, for the pain I was in and the pain yet to come. It truly is a love hate- relationship when your stuck in the thick of it. It’s a lot for the fathers to take in as well but the last thing I was doing, at this point, was feeling sorry for him. Sorry babe!

With each contraction I worshipped my TENS machine. With both births it was my saving grace and I wouldn’t have given birth with out it. It was honestly saving me….until….. right at the start of another wave it stopped working! I panicked through, as my husband frantically switched the battery over but it still remained dead! Killing off all hope and my bravery. At last my husband found some surgical tape, fixed it and ran the remote, straight back over to me like we were in a relay race. What a cruel test of my courage from the universe.

Fast forward, I was close 9 cm! Hooray! & I was ready! They assisted me over the bed and I just had to wait to dilate…one….more…..centremetre. By now I was screaming the house down I was in agony and so tired. No amount of yelling, clenching or crying could save me and I was well past the point of an epidural which I wanted to avoid because ,believe it or not ,I wasn’t afraid of the epidural itself. Instead I just didn’t want a catheter or the inability to have feeling of my lower half for almost two days like I experienced with Melody. I opted for el natural, in that very moment I just thought how much of an idiot I was to refuse pain relief. I was losing my voice because I’m pretty sure I shattered everyone’s ear drums with my whaling. Just like that here I was again, the undeniable feeling of being completely out of your body and out of control as baby descends. This is where the pain ended for me with Melody as I ended up having a spinal block and prepped for a C-section, thankfully Melody was delivered with forceps.

With all my might, still draped over the bed I yelled “BABY!” my husband flew to my side and replied “Yeah babe I’m here”.. God bless his cotton socks! Honestly, so quick to attend to me, but it was not him I wanted! I was yelling, “Baby!”, to try and tell everyone that the baby was coming. I laughed a little, thinking I’d rather push this baby out laughing then crying. At last it was go time. The medical staff prompted my husband while pointing at the wall, if anything were to go wrong he was to push the button on the wall. This would alert staff to race in. At last they instructed me to puuuuuussshhhh! What a relief it felt, in my head I was imagining ,with every grunt, I had just pushed out the head, the neck, the shoulders and with one last push my baby would be out. I took a little break and I was in absolute disbelief when they told me I had only pushed his head out. By now I think I had maybe four staff members assisting me and with my sons head dangling out of my body, they told my husband to push the red button and told me to turn on my back as soon as possible. It wasn’t happening, how could I? I was in a complete state of exhaustion the only thing keeping me from collapsing into a heap was that I was hung over the bed.

I had one staff member cradling baby’s head, my husband holding one arm and other staff attached to my other limbs as they managed to flip me over. I don’t recall much at this point, except the urge I had to push.

I joked earlier about resenting my husband for helping me make this baby and getting away with it unscathed. However, what we don’t talk about enough, is actually how scary and traumatic it can be for the fathers. So, here I was laying on my back with my husband clenching my arm so tight, telling me to get the baby out over and over again. I sensed fear in his voice. Little did I know at this time he had just pushed the emergency button and was staring down at our baby’s head, silent and grey. His heart was in his throat and I instantly regretted all the built up resentment towards him hours earlier. Still holding onto me he kept close to my ear telling me to push and keep going.

Photo Credit- Vanilla Images. Father and son, hand in hand,

Women talk about the “Ring of fire” when giving birth, yep I can confirm I felt it and I didn’t even know it was a thing until afterwards. Just like someone had poured kerosene on my bits, lit a match and stretched whatever they could grab of me, around baby’s neck. Moments later, I felt the last of my baby’s body leave mine and I heard the most beautiful sound in the world, my baby’s first cry. I was conscious but shaking uncontrollably, as I reached for my baby. I threw my head back on the bed, closed my eyes and took a moment to take it all in.

I decided this pregnancy I didn’t want to know the sex of my baby and it didn’t even matter whether I was holding another girl or a little boy. I immediately put him on my breast to settle him and there we were as one on the outside. I looked over at my husband and I could see he was relieved. I just felt complete. Minutes later my husband unwrapped the bottom half of the swaddle and told me we had a son. I couldn’t believe it! I had to keep checking but there he was my little prince, finally earth side fitting right into the space, we had been waiting for him to fill. Lyric Reign was born, 11.07pm, weighing 3.7kg and 53 cm in length. I was so grateful for everyone involved in delivering Lyric. Thank goodness this time round I wasn’t connected to the fetal monitoring machine, I didn’t have the same complications I did with Melody and within 30 mins after giving birth I got up, had a shower and walked my self up to the floor where I would spend the first two nights as a mum of two. I remember wheeling him in the hospital bassinet, up corridors in the elevator and the whole time I couldn’t take my eyes off him and his strawberry blonde hair. His eyebrows and eyelashes so fair and delicate they didn’t even look like they were there.

I was lucky to have most of what I wanted, go to plan this time around but I also went into it without a lot of expectations. All I wanted was to experience a natural birth but also didn’t pressure myself into it and have my baby happy and healthy. Each birth is different and I found I could better cope with the idea of giving birth by letting the universe guide me and thinking whatever will happen will happen. So there I was, armed with a jelly belly, nanny knickers, sore sections but holding my long awaited, beautiful baby boy.

Written by - Liela Thurling

The Reign of Lyric - Birth Story

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