Monique’s Birth Story

Monique shares her calm and brave birth story with us. Her story shows us how strong and courageous women are when they give birth. 

The entire day is a bit of a blur, except for the beginning and the end. I remember waking up just after 2am and feeling uncomfortable. After going to the bathroom and monitoring the discomfort I suspected that I was finally in labour. At that point I was 40 weeks and 3 days so I was awaiting a sign of labour in anticipation. I started tracking the discomforts on a contraction timer app and noticed they were already 5 minutes apart. I woke up Lorenzo and then my mom. 

They were both very concerned because the contractions were so close together. All I wanted was a nice warm bath and a big cup of Milo. They eventually convinced me to go to the hospital at around 5am because the contractions were getting more intense. When we arrived at the hospital they informed us that I would have to go in alone and not even Lorenzo was allowed inside. I knew I could not let that get me under because it would affect R’s birth so I kept telling myself “from now on every contraction is one closer to having your baby in your arms and going home”.

The entire walk from the car to the maternity ward I was so excited, until they checked how far dilated I was, which was only 1 cm. My contractions were already intense and were still only 5 minutes apart so I knew I had to put my big girl panties on and power through because it was going to be a long day. I started making myself comfortable in the room, pacing up and down the hallway, breathing through every contraction and saying the same mantra. At a point someone told me where the bath was and I knew that would help so I took a bath twice that day. 

At 16h50 my water broke while I was hooked up to a monitor and immediately I felt the urge to push. I was sharing the room with four other ladies at the time and I knew I needed to get to the delivery room ASAP. One of the other ladies went to call a sister and at first glance she whisked me away to the delivery room. I was so tired but so grateful because at that stage it felt like everything had paid off and I was about to meet my sweet baby boy. 

As soon as I started walking to the delivery room the most amazing thing happened, all the pain went away. I was feeling a lot of pressure and I could feel I was having contractions but I had no pain. In that moment it felt like magic, but I was so tired. 
I vaguely remember passing out between contractions and the doctors giving each other a weird look like they thought I was going to give up. But at 17h50 little baby Reef was born safely into this world. He was so calm and immediately started breastfeeding as soon as they placed him on my chest. He’s always been such a strong and brave boy.