Natural birth at RPA Birth Centre
From our very first meeting with Virginia my husband Joel and I felt like she was very trustworthy. Importantly for me Joel was very comfortable with her and we booked her straight away. She was very comfortable with the idea that we might like our other daughter Olive present at the birth and Olive just adored Virginia. She was the Doula for us.
I felt so relieved that if I had a question, I knew I could email her and would get an answer. When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes she really listened to my concerns and I felt confident in knowing that she was there. It was wonderful that she could prepare some herbs for me to help keep my blood sugars in check- I had not used herbal remedies before and was very impressed.
I felt the prenatal appointments were very useful and really helped to get me in the mindset for giving birth and having a baby, something which I had been too busy with a toddler to really focus on! Virginia also helped us with some pain management techniques, which I drew on during my early labour. Virginia had some really useful information about stretch and sweeps so I could have both sides of the story and make an informed decision when I chose to have this intervention when I went ‘over’ my due date.
When I felt the first few niggles of labour I went to bed, and slept most of the night only waking for surges. At about nine in the morning I decided that I was probably going to have the baby that day and messaged Virginia that I was having irregular contractions. I called her around 10:30am to say I was leaving to go to Birth Centre and for her to organise childcare. I got to Birth Centre at 11am and I was 6cm dilated (“Hooray!” I thought). Then I started to get really overwhelmed by the contractions and got in the bath, asking for some gas from the midwives.
Virginia arrived at the birth centre about 20 minutes after Joel at 11.50am. I was so happy she was there and I remember how I welcomed her with a big “Virginia!” – the room had been very serious before she came in and she had perfect timing to brighten everything up. I then felt like my baby would be here soon and was surprised at how low the head was when I checked. The very next contraction after Virginia arrived, my waters broke (coincidence?). The waters were heavily stained with fresh meconium- everyone remained calm but I had to get out of the bath and get the baby out very quickly. His head was out with the next contraction and the rest of him followed shortly. It eventuated that Virginia was at the Birth Centre for about 8 minutes before he was born! Somehow she still managed to get some lovely photos, which I absolutely cherish.
She also rubbed Bear’s head with some Australian Bush Flower Essences, which were absolutely beautiful. I feel like this contributed to the overwhelming sense of wholeness that Bear radiates. I was so impressed with everything that Virginia had to offer us and would highly recommend her.
I’d like to thank Virginia for helping us welcome our new family member in such a celebratory way! We will always be grateful.