Strong as a mountain but still flexible

I wanted to share with you our birth story, just as we planned to do after the course! The course was a great way to prepare for childbirth, and it was good to know what choices we had about various pain mangement methods and how it would be best for my partner to support me during labor and birth.

We had been in Ísafjörður for two weeks, very excited to give birth in the northwest of Iceland surrounded by family, but it was so unfortunate that on the Friday before the birth, I woke up and saw that the amniotic fluid had started to leak, and it was stained with meconium. I went to the hospital in Ísafjörður, and there we made a decision to be transported to thesouth by air-ambulance, as I was just starting to get mild contractions and they felt it was too much risk to give birth in Ísafjörður in the event that something would happen during the birth or right after the birth. This was a certain disappointment for me, because I had become so excited to give birth in Ísafjörður, but I knew I had to be flexible. In the ambulance flight on the way south, I thought of what we said in pregnancy yoga: I am strong like the mountain, but I am also flexible! The most important thing is that my little girl comes into the world safe.

We came south on Friday afternoon and the labour was induced with tablets, but I got a rather short rest during the night as they were constantly checking my and my baby’s wellbeing or giving me the next dose of tablets. Early in the morning on September 25th, we were taken to the delivery room. I had hoped to be able to take a bath, but we did not get a delivery room with a bath, and I just did not think to ask, since I had to be connected to the baby’s heart rate monitor the entire time. The dilation was slow, although the contractions started to get a little stronger, and at noon it was decided to connect me to a i.v. drip to stimulate the contractions, as it had been 24 hours since the amniotic fluid started to go!

With the i.v. drip the contractions were stronger and I used the ocean breath to help me through them, and then when they got stronger, I started humming too. It helped me a lot, and later I got to use the nitroxide gas with my breathing. I was still getting a little nauseous at the time and after a while with the gas I ended up vomiting and I felt quite weak and tired, after a rather little rest and maybe little food for the last 24 hours. My husband and I decided to ask for epidural anesthesia, as I had to get some rest and the dilation was still very slow.

I managed to rest with the epidural anesthesia and worked up the endurance to complete the last chapter of the birth, to bring the little lady into the world! I tried to think as hard as I could to push down when the contractions came and keep my face relaxed, to open up the pelvic floor! In between contractions, when the baby´s head was beginning to show itself, I touched it and felt that a girl with a full head of hair was going to appear in the world. At 6:50 pm she arrived in my arms, safe and sound, and we, her parents are completely amazed by her!

It was nice that Edythe was on duty when we were in the maternity ward after the birth! It helped a lot with breastfeeding after the tongue tie was taken, and we got more sleep after that. Our little girl, Lára, is doing well and we are incredibly grateful for the course we attended with you at the Reykjavík Birth Center! I very much hope that you will have your birth center ready before I have my next child, so I can hopefully be with you then.