Ella in hospital

MY MIDWIFE might have been joking, but I was taking her ‘’hot bath, hot curry and hot sex’’ advice to bring on labour seriously. I was due Melbourne Cup Day, but our unborn baby girl wasn’t budging. My hubby, Julian, was secretly thankful, knowing he could watch the Cup in peace – so to speak.

Our obstetrician decided to induce me six days later, but in the meantime I was determined to do everything to bring on this labour naturally – if you can call rompy pompy when you’re the size of a hippo ‘’natural’’.

By the Sunday night, I finally resigned myself to the fact that at 8am the following day I would be induced. But, it seems, our bub had other plans. At 5am, three hours before our scheduled induction, my waters broke. All I had to say was: ‘’ah, darling . . .’’ and Julian’s face turned from peaceful sleep to sheer terror.

The bump

Excited and a little scared at the same time, I rang our midwife who calmly suggested I rest as much as I could. ‘’Nothing is going to happen until at least dinner time but, if you feel you need to, come in at lunch time.’’ The lunch time option sounded good to me.

However, once again, our unborn bub had other ideas when my contractions quickly moved to 12 minutes apart within an hour and had us reaching for the phone again. ‘’We’re on our way…‘’

While Julian had the car packed and ready within 10 minutes (the fastest he’s ever moved), it somehow took me a good hour to get from the bed to the shower and downstairs to the car. Well, I did have to shave my legs and things.

Curled up next to the baby car seat ready for the trip to hospital, it wasn’t ‘til the door was shut and my knees ended up around my neck that I realised how little space there was. This, and I’m not even five foot!

As my grunting increased with every roundabout we hit, Julian watched the car clock as the contractions moved from eight minutes to three minutes apart. Half an hour later and he was battling to get me out of our trusty Commodore and into the labour ward – I was more than happy to have this baby on the back seat.

His frustration only grew when the midwife left us alone in the labour ward without first checking me. One contraction began to come directly on top of the next. My grip on his t-shirt tightened. My grunting increased. He was panicking. He barely took his eyes off the labour ward door just waiting for someone to walk through. Someone. Anyone.

An hour later and he couldn’t take it anymore, strongly insisting someone take a look at me. Finally, someone checked the graph.

Mum, Dad and new bub

‘’Ooh, do you mind if we do an internal?’’ the midwife asked, with an obvious surprised tone in her voice. Then her surprise grew – I was already eight centimetres dilated. This baby was on its way.

You couldn’t wipe the grins from our faces – me, because we‘d gotten this far by ourselves and without requiring or wanting drugs, and Julian, because he no longer had to fear delivering this baby on his own.

After nearly two hours of pushing, we finally met our beautiful 6 lb, 13 oz baby girl Ella Mae O’Brien who was born naturally at 11.37am – well before lunch, let alone dinner.

That little girl is now three and still does everything on “her schedule’’ but, to be honest, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here’s a video I put together of Ella’s first year of life. Enjoy!

Taking part in Torkona’s First Born Birth Story competition and the DPA May Blog Carnival hosted by Colin Wee of Super Parents

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43 Responses to FEATURE: From bump to baby in six hours

  1. Marita says:

    Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I can just imagine your husbands terror 😀

  2. Rebecca says:

    Just beautiful. Love the video, so precious

    • Kel says:

      Thanks Rebecca. So glad I had the time to put the video together. It will be something for her to look back on in years to come.
      We ended up showing it at her first birthday party. I’ve now got six months to prepare for Baby Holly’s video!!! 🙂

  3. How absolutely precious!! What a gorgeous post and even more gorgeous little blessing x
    Hope my impending labour is a quick one…fingers crossed !!

    • Kel says:

      I wish you all the best, Romina. It really was a great birthing experience.
      Baby No. 2 was different all together. Everyone kept telling me each birth gets quicker. Unfortunately, because we were so worried about getting to the hospital (Julian did NOT want to deliver Baby No. 2 on the side of the road), we got there too early. As a result, she took a lot longer to deliver. I really wish we had stayed at home for a few more hours now, but you just can’t predict these things!!

  4. Toni says:

    Sounds like a dream delivery! Don’t you love when they say “You’ll be hours yet…” and wander away without even checking?

    • Kel says:

      If only they were all so easy, Toni!
      I was so grateful when the midwife who had been with us from day started her shift. As was Julian!!! 🙂

  5. Tat says:

    Beautiful story. I am thinking of challenging you for Tork’s award, but how do I fit it all in one post? My first birth was a lot longer than 6 hours…

  6. Torkona says:

    thanks for sharing, good luck on the award! 🙂

    – tork

  7. Great post! You did so well! But I admit I laughed out loud when I got to ‘I did have to shave my legs’!

    Thanks for Rewinding at the Fibro.

    • Kel says:

      LOL! Yes, hubby’s never let me forget it, too. When we were in the final week before our second daughter was born, he made me shave my legs every day!!!! 😉
      Loving the idea of the Rewind. It’s now one of my fave memes (despite not having an extensive archive just yet!)

  8. Kakka says:

    Popping over from Weekend Rewind.

    I love how babies have their own schedule, and I could just picture your hubbys face as mine had a similar panicked look many years ago when our third daughter was born and no one seemed to think she was coming for hours. xxx

    • Kel says:

      Yes, even at age three, she still has her own schedule, Kakka!! hehe!!
      Our poor hubbys, hey? It can’t be easy for them watching us go through all that. But, oh so worth it in the end!

  9. tinsenpup says:

    Lovely story! Good luck in the competition.

  10. Nicole says:

    Wow 6 hours for your first! Lucky you. I wish I had been better prepared mentally for my first labour. The second and third were much better.

  11. Torkona says:

    hey, you’ve been featured on Aussie Mummy Bloggers.. grats! 🙂

    – tork

  12. Naomi Ellis says:

    What a beautiful birth story. I love how it took you an hour to get to the car and your description of how hubby was going into a panic! These little cherubs really do have their own agenda and I have found that no matter what I do they will come out in their own time. What a blessing to have a perfect little cherub to treasure. Naomi x

    • Kel says:

      Thanks so much, Naomi.
      Yes, I can imagine you’d know only too well about little ones and their schedules!! hehe!! They do love to keep us on our toes though – even long after the birth.
      Really looking forward to reading your birth story too. 🙂

  13. Kym says:

    Oh Kel! That was beautiful! The video was just gorgeous! Miss 2 had to sit on my lap the whole time and watch it to and be a commentator, lol. She thinks Ella is very cute! You photos of all of you are just lovely!

    • Kel says:

      Thanks so much, Kym.
      Hehe! Ella loves watching videos of other children on the computer too. Although, most of all, she loves watching that video of herself. It must be strange seeing herself so little (because, of course, she’s a BIG girl now!! hehe!). 🙂

  14. Madmother says:

    Wow – I wish mine had run like yours! Here from Tork.

  15. Wanderlust says:

    Wow, that’s the way to do it! What an absolutely beautiful girl you have. Just an angel. My contractions with my son started out just minutes apart but the labor still went on for 12 hours! Ugh.

    • Kel says:

      Ah, that’s no fun! I complained about my second going for two hours longer than the first. I really should be grateful, I think!!

  16. nellbe says:

    Thanks for sharing your story. I am glad they finally got around to checking on you and in the nick of time. I bet you surprised the midwives! Was your second one just as quick?

    • Kel says:

      Yes, the midwives were just a little shocked!! hehe!! The second one was about two hours longer (go figure!). It also was nowhere near as enjoyable (if you can call labour “enjoyable”!) I’d go through this birth five times before I went through the second one again. I don’t think I appreciated how easy I had it!

  17. felicakes says:

    awwww…. I love a good birth story. The video at the end made me tear!! all the laughter and all the joy! I love it!

    • Kel says:

      Thanks Feli. I love watching that video back, especially now we have Baby Holly. I can see so many similarities between the two – not to mention wearing the same clothes!! hehe!!
      It makes me tear up everytime I watch it! 🙂

  18. Beautiful story. To quote Melanie from Gone With the Wind “The happiest days are when babies come.”

  19. Lulu says:

    I am a little late to the party but reading this reminds me of my own birth stories- both times I arrived at the clinic I was already 10cm dilated- both couldn`t wait to come out (and my second, sadly, arrived 2 months early but he is doing great now!)

    I tried everything to bring on labour with my first as well- he came 6 days late (and I was set to be induced at 8 days over-as in Japan, where I am, they usually will not let you go past 41 weeks)

    Ella is gorgeous!

    • Kel says:

      Wow! 10cms, that’s cutting it fine, Lulu!! LOL! Sometimes I think it’s a blessing that we don’t know how far along we are until we’re actually at the hospital! So glad to hear your second bub is now doing great too. xx

  20. […] tears of all will be one month before your 30th birthday, when you meet your first daughter, Ella. Then again just before your 33rd birthday, you will be blessed with another, Holly. Those two […]

  21. […] “record’’ a moment of your child/ren’s life. Regular readers will be familiar with my From bump to baby in six hours post. This was Ella’s birth story. It was a dream – six hours, no drugs and a huge three-course […]

  22. […] we marked Princess Ella’s fourth birthday. Writing that down just blows me away. It seems like only yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Totally dependent. Oh, so tiny. And covered in […]

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