With one unplanned home birth already under her belt, Kirsty Gale was determined to make it to the hospital for the arrival of her third daughter. But as they so often do, her baby had other plans.
With her first labour lasting only two hours and her second baby accidentally born at home in just 30 minutes, Kirsty knew baby number three would be in a hurry. She just didn’t realise how much of a hurry.
A little girl in a hurry
The NSW mum and her husband Adam were already parents to two gorgeous girls, aged eight and six when they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their third daughter.
“My first baby was born in two hours from start to finish. My waters broke when I was in bed and it wasn’t for another hour until I had a contraction and then one more hour she was born. Our second baby was born in 30 minutes from start to finish at home with paramedics just arriving,” Kirsty told Mum’s Grapevine.
And the indications were that baby number three wasn’t the most patient tot either. She had threatened preterm labour at 27 weeks and was sent to Brisbane for monitoring and steroid injections before the pregnancy settled back to normal.
It wasn’t until she was just over 38 weeks pregnant that Kirsty finally had some more labour signs.
“On Monday woke up and went to the toilet and I had what appeared to be a lot of blood when I wiped and in the toilet, I was quite worried so I went to the hospital to get checked out. Baby was fine and was told I had my ‘show’. So went home after about two hours as bleeding settled completely and I was happy with that answer and I wasn’t contracting at all.
“Tuesday rolls around and I had another bleed so I went up to get checked as a precaution, still no tightenings or pain and again was told it was just more ‘show’. I was asked if I wanted to get checked internally to see if anything was happening down there. I agreed and was told I was 4cm dilated and could stretch easily to 5cms. The midwife knew my history of fast labour’s so she gave me a refresher on what to do if baby came at home and said, ‘I will probably see you in the morning’. I laughed and said, ‘maybe’ and we left.”
‘This baby is coming at home!’
Kirsty woke at 1.30am on Wednesday morning to go to the toilet and once again had a bloody show, but she had no pain or tightenings. But this time she had a feeling things were about to get moving.
“I went back to bed, closed my eyes and all of a sudden I had a strong contraction. I sat up and tapped my husband to wake up and said ‘it’s time’ he then asked if I was sure and I said ‘I think so’ I got up and went to the bathroom and another contraction started. I said ‘it’s definitely time’.
“He called his mum to meet us at the hospital to take the girls. I decided to go downstairs to the dining room in case my waters broke as upstairs is all carpet. My husband got the kids up straight away and we tried to get to the car but I turned around and said nope not happening baby is coming at home.”
Adam called his mum to divert her to their home rather than hospital, and his next call was to the midwife to let her know it was action stations.
“Things progressed extremely quickly and contractions were continuous and I was getting the urge to push, so I set up in the dining room. Adam’s mum arrived and he was on the phone to the ambulance. The ambulance operators tried to tell my husband to lay me on my back and he said he would try but he knows that it would be impossible and I very sternly said ‘NO!’.
“The kids went to the lounge room with Poppy while my husband and his mum helped me bring baby into the world at 2.02am – all that happened in just 30 minutes. If I didn’t look at the time when I got up to go to the toilet I would not have believed it. As with my other home birth, baby Mia’s face was very bruised and her eyes bloodshot from coming so quickly. The ambulance arrived 15 minutes after she was born and confirmed she was a healthy and perfect.
“We went off to hospital for all the precautionary tests and checks and she was a lovely eight pounds. The only thing I worried about during the labour was that she was going to come too quickly and have breathing issues so I made sure I was pushing as gently as I could manage. I just wanted her to be ok and thankfully she was.”
Kirsty, you’re our hero – accidentally birthing two babies at home like a boss!
More birth stories from the Grapeviner community…
- Birth Story: The car park birth caught on camera
- Birth story: ‘My body was shutting down’
- Birth Story: Mum gives birth on her own, sends selfie to husband
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