Lisa’s speedy hospital birth

Mother-of-three Lisa Powell’s deliveries got progressively quicker with each baby; her first labour was around 28 hours, the second was five hours and her third and most recent birth was a mere two hours long.

Lisa needed a little help to get each labour started, but by no means did that set her up for a dire delivery, in fact it was quite the contrary with her third baby Mabel. 

Did you have a birth plan?
Lisa: I had a rough plan which involved my midwife performing an ARM (artificially ruptured membranes, also known as having your waters broken) in hospital and then going into labour naturally. I think my body has a long gestation period, as my first two babies stayed in until practically 42 weeks and only came once I’d had my waters broken. My first two daughters were about 4kg so I figured Mabel would also be a 4kg baby if I let her stay in until she was 42 weeks! 

How did you know you were in labour?
My contractions started about 20-3o minutes after my midwife, Ange Kingi, broke my waters. I’d been having Braxton Hicks ‘false’ contractions, but these ones were very different and obvious – there’s an all-over wave of tightening. The final countdown to meeting your mini human! 

Did the birth go to plan?
It went exactly to plan, except for the fact we broke my waters on Mother’s Day, which wasn’t ideal for my midwife who is also a mum, but she was amazing and squeezed me into her day! Once the contractions had started, things progressed pretty quickly. There was a moment when my body started pushing Mabel down and it felt like things were happening too fast compared to previous times. I remember opening my eyes wide in shock to look at my midwife for help. She smiled back and me and said it was fine. Her calm face made me realise things were okay.  

When Mabel’s head was born I remember relaxing, thinking ‘I’ve done it!’. But because I was so relaxed, my contractions stopped and my midwife had to tickle my tummy into having more contractions! In the end, Mabel’s head was out for about five minutes before the rest of her body. It’s pretty funny but it makes you realise how powerful the mind is. I felt great afterwards, it had all happened so quickly. I was so happy with how things went.

How long was your Labour?
I had my waters broken around 4:30pm and Mabel was born at 6:30pm, so my labour was just two hours long. It happened so quickly, and it was by far my easiest birth. It seemed too easy! 

Describe the moment you met your new baby:
When the midwife lifted Mabel up onto my body I felt so much bliss, joy, love and amazement that I’d done it. That was by far the best ‘Yesss!’ moment ever. It was incredible to think that I’d carried this tiny little human inside my body for the last nine months and now she was out in the world for the first time. Giving birth to my daughters has been the greatest achievement of my life. There is a quote I love, from American author Elizabeth Stone, which perfectly puts how I feel into words. She said, “Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.” 

How did you prepare?
I took hypnobirthing classes before my first child and while it didn’t help with that labour, it certainly did for the other two. It gave me something to focus on and seemed to help lower the intensity of the contractions.  

Pearls of wisdom:
I recommend having a diffuser with Absolute Essential birth oils going during labour. The scent is divine and I’d used it leading up to birth when I was lying in bed at night, so I associated the smell with relaxing. 

Image: Cassie Emmett, Capturing Life Photography