Birth Story: Aurelia Ava Natalia
My birth story starts on 14 September 2021, 10 days before my due date: Shortly after waking up on a beautiful mid-September morning, I thought that I had started leaking little amount of amniotic fluid. I remember reading about this phenomenon shortly before and so I called my midwife on what to do. As I had an appointment at my OBGYN the next day anyway, she said we could wait and see if contractions would start on their own. And lo and behold, that afternoon I noticed the first gentle contractions, which felt like period cramps. They came about every 8-10 minutes, so there was no need to rush to the birthing center yet. Also, the intensity was still so low that I was able to sleep through the night. The next morning, I went to my appointment with my husband. That was the first time he was allowed to come to a regular appointment due to Covid-19 restrictions in place at that time.
At my OBGYN‘s, they did all the normal tests, as well as a CTG, which showed regular and intensified contractions every 8 minutes. Due to my hunch of losing amniotic fluid, they did a pH-test, which was negative and they did an ultrasound as well as a vaginal exam. Everything looked good and I was already dilated to 1cm. As the pH-test is not 100% accurate most of the time and my doctor wanted to be on the safe side, she advised us to go to hospital for a different test with more accuracy. Thus, my husband and I drove to the hospital where they did an additional CTG, which still showed regular contractions every 8 minutes. After another vaginal exam, the attending midwife believed that I was, in fact, not leaking amniotic fluid, just very liquid vaginal discharge, and that the amniotic sac was still intact. The additional test they performed confirmed her assumption and we were allowed to go home and give our birth at the birthing center a go.
As my husband had to work the following day, I spent the night on the couch in order to let him sleep. By that point, my contractions came every 6-8 minutes, were starting to get pretty painful and so I started with my breathing exercises. The next morning, my mum came over so I would not be on my own with my husband at work. I think it was really hard for her to see me like this and not being able to help me, as I did not want to be touched. The only thing she could do was clean, so she cleaned almost the whole house. When my husband came home around lunchtime (he‘s a teacher), we decided to call my midwife and drive to the birthing center, as the intensity and frequency of my contractions had been at the same level for over 30 hours. After another vaginal exam, she said I was dilated to 2cm and that we could go home for now. As I had not slept one wink the night before, she gave me a light homeopathic sedative in order for me to get some sleep before the main event, which my midwife thought would happen in the next 12 hours. Back at home, I was then able to sleep for 2 hours, after which I felt so rejuvenated. However, that afternoon, my contractions started to taper off to every 45 minutes at around 11 pm. Due to these long intervals, I could doze in between and my husband took over timing. At that point, I had to sleep with several pillows between my legs (I was lying on my left side) because it felt like I was suffering from a bad case of constipation. Which was, in hindsight, the baby‘s head I was feeling.
At around 1 am that night (17 September), a strong contraction woke me up and I started to time them again. The contractions came every 10 minutes and my belly stayed hard even after the contraction had come and gone. So my husband called the midwife and we left for the birthing center, where we arrived at around 2 am. After another vaginal exam, my midwife announced I was dilated to 5cm and that my labour had really started. She decided to to another CTG, which showed contractions every 5 minutes, and prepared the birthing suite for me. So we moved to bed birthing bed and after 20 minutes, my midwife decided to do a check on my progress, which showed 8cm of dilation and that was also when my amniotic sac ruptured. I was now advised to turn on my left side and to work with my body to push baby a little further down. I do not remember for how long I was doing this (it must have been about 20- 30 minutes), but this was the hardest and most painful part of my whole labour. I reached a point where I started telling my husband that I could not do this anymore. That was when my midwife came back to check me again. As she could already see the head, it was time to start pushing now.
After a few pushes, she noticed baby sliding back after each push so she gave me the option of doing an episiotomy. As my tissue was hardened, I ran the risk of tearing really bad during continued pushing. I chose the episiotomy as I wanted the baby out NOW. And after one more push, my little girl was born in one fell swoop at 3:04 am with 50cm and 3270g. Aurelia started crying immediately and was put on my breast. There, she calmed down and fell asleep in a matter of minutes. After 30 minutes, the umbilical cord had stopped pulsing and my husband cut it. With one more push, the placenta was delivered and shortly after, the doctor arrived to examine Aurelia. She passed all her tests with flying colors and my husband gave Aurelia her first bath under supervision of my midwife while I was being stitched up. Then Aurelia nursed for the first time and fell asleep in daddy‘s arms afterwards. I was finally cleaned, washed, changed into clean clothes and we enjoyed a light breakfast while Aurelia was sleeping. As i had passed all the discharge criteria, i.e. stable blood pressure, we were allowed to go home three hours after birth.
I’m 30 years old and currently working part time as a substitute teacher while finishing my teacher’s degree. My husband and I have been married going on 6 years this fall. We met when I was 20 and have been inseparable since. In December of 2020, I was told I had an insulin deficiency and that the levels had to normalize for me to get pregnant. I was not in any rush and was so imagine my surprise when we found out 3 weeks later that we were expecting our first child. Luckily, I was blessed with an easy pregnancy and birth. We live in Northern Bavaria and love spending time in our garden and with our families.
My Instagram account is @carapiccolina