Birth story by Luna Woolcott. Birth Photography by Zandra Warland Photography, Byron Bay, Australia.
I had birthed before with lots of plans, expectations, visualisations and things turned out completely different than what I had in mind. This time I did things differently. No expectations, just acceptance of whatever might come.
A few days after my due date, and after a week of cramping, I felt something that was like a contraction (or waves like I will call them from now on) at 4am. The waves kept coming every 10 – 15 minutes. I texted my midwife and she recommended I continued with my normal activities. I got ready and headed into Byron Bay where I usually walked my 2 year old and black poodle every day. I parked my car at the same spot and walked like always but the waves kept coming closer, about 7 minutes apart.
Surprisingly, this day out of all the others, my husband and I kept meeting with many friends. I felt at the start that I had to act as if nothing was going on while I timed my waves. It was pretty hilarious then telling them what was going on so they didn’t think I was being rude by looking away at my phone!
I got checked by the midwife that morning and was 3cm [dilated]. I went home, made a big batch of red raspberry tea and tried to rest. I zoned out of the world and into my body. After 30 minutes of trying to rest, listening to birthing affirmations, I decided to put on one of my favourite childhood movie (Hocus Pocus, please don’t judge, haha!) and just watched it.
I kept track of my waves, timing them, while I sat on the birthing/gym ball. I bounced, swayed, and rested over it. I was alone, in my world, in the dark. Everything seemed quiet, even though the voices in the movie kept me company. I hadn’t seen my daughter or husband in a while. He would come in to fill up my water bottle, give me more tea, and say he was there if I needed anything. I felt my waves getting stronger but they didn’t come closer than 5 to 6 minutes.
At one stage I felt sick, nauseous, I probably even spewed… and I remembered I felt that way in the transition of my first born. I thought to myself I couldn’t be that far ahead even though the night had crept quickly. I had no notion of time at this phase. I called the midwife saying my waves were not any closer even though they felt stronger. I just wanted to rest. A few minutes later I felt a pressure, a natural urge to push.
So beautiful! Congratulations! I gave birth to my 5th child in January, 6 days over due, a little mermaid baby hypnobirthed in water.. her name is Luna! ☺️
It was such an amazing and healing birth for my husband and I after a couple of very difficult births in our years of parenting.
I started getting contractions around 3pm, fed our 2.5 year old to sleep at 7.30, as we always do, thought we better go to hospital at 9, and Luna was born just after midnight. The sac broke as I reached into the pool to scoop her up, and as I put her on my chest, she smiled and went back to sleep! She didn’t even cry, it was just bliss.
I wish that all women could have the birth experience that we did.
Love and light to you Luna! Xx