I had just arrived at Dad's house and was borrowing his step ladder for the big event, when his phone rang. Dad answered and soon passed the receiver over to me. It was Mum. She had and excited tone to her voice as she said "We'll have to leave for Brisbane as soon as possible. Elissa needs us tonight".
Elissa is my younger 32 year old sister. She lives with Dino and they have a daughter, Summer, who is nearly 2&1/2. My brother, Carl, is temporarily living with them too.
Mum and I had all those last minute phone calls and things to do in Noosa before leaving. An hour later I had just finished securely packing Mum's car with large suitcase, oil heater, bedside lamp, three big boxes of food and loads of bedding.
We were on the highway travelling south and I was hoping that the event would not be over when we arrived. Mum and I discussed all the little signs that Elissa had. Some diarrhoea had developed the previous day which can be an indication that her body was doing a cleanse and her waters had been leaking very slightly that day. Carl had been teasing her with his slightly cutting and abrupt humour, but on this occasion Elissa had felt so sensitive that she burst into tears and kept crying over any small things he said. Normally she laughs with him. She had asked Carl to phone Dino to explain the happenings. He cut his band practice short and came home immediately. A call to our very experienced traditional midwife, confirmed that Elissa was in early stages of labour. So it was at this stage that she phoned mum in Noosa and asked us to come now.Elissa's mood picked up rapidly when we arrives and she enjoyed a midnight snack with us before going to bed.
The next day, Tuesday 28th April, was filled with expectancy, with the family asking Elissa "Do you feel OK?" and "Any pains yet?" She was feeling some back pain while out shopping with us so we decided it would be safer at home for her. The reason we were out shopping was to buy a wooden toilet seat. The plastic one had been broken for weeks and it bugged Elissa so much that a mew clean seat seemed to be the strategic turning point for her labour to start.
I gave her a firm massage for about an hour concentrating on her back and sacrum area and this had the desired effect of relaxing her then sending her to sleep/ After Elissa woke, she delightedly told us that she dreamt that she was birthing the "bubba" and even dreamt of the pain. This was her first dream of her baby so it gave Elissa her first feeling of bonding.
Tuesday 8pm While we were all in the kitchen having dinner, Elissa laughed hard and suddenly her waters broke. Summer looked upset at seeing her mum "doing a wee" on the floor of the kitchen but Elissa explained that the "bubba is coming tonight". Dino grabbed a large yellow bucket for Elissa to sit on so we would measure the amount of "water". Her pains were like mild period pain at this stage. Mum mopped up the puddle of water on the floor and continued with cleaning up the kitchen.
Summer was put to bed with a story, and a while later, Carl, Mum and I went to bed to get a little rest as we realised that the labour was not imminent. Elissa and Dino were lying on the double bed waiting for her contractions to intensify. A meditation tape by David Hurst was played so that Elissa could visualise her cervix opening and relieve some pain. Elissa instinctively got onto all fours and did pelvic rocking.
By 12.30 she started moaning so loudly that it woke Carl and me. Mum had awaken earlier and was in Elissa's room putting on gloves in order to do a cervix measurement when I arrived. Elissa was having strong contractions and didn't like lying on her back for the PE. It was soon finished but mum seemed to be unsure of the dilation. She guessed that it was 3 fingers wide and could feel the head. (Mum had done only one PE in her nursing career 50 years earlier so she wasn't experienced in this aspect).
Mum had agreed to be an assistant midwife but she was reluctant to deliver the baby herself, in case things went wrong. I could sense mum's anxiety, so I reminded everyone that perhaps someone could call for the midwife, who lives 45 minutes drive away. Elissa put the responsibility over to mum by saying "Can you handle this yourself, or do you want Claire here? You are in charge here." Mum answered that she would now like Claire to be here.
About this time Summer woke up and was crying for Mumma and Dadda. Carl attended to her by taking her to the kitchen but this didn't pacify her. As everyone was in the bedroom, Summer felt she was missing out on the drama. Carl then brought her in to watch which didn't faze her at all. She had a look of curiosity on her face.
Mum went to the lounge-room and was phoning the midwife.Suddenly the power went off and we were in darkness. An aromatherapy oil burner plus one candle was burning but the room was fairly dark. Mum was in the middle of her discussion with our midwife when the cordless phone was cut off. It relies on house power and they didn't have a back-up phone.
Carl and Dino groped around for torches and hastened outside to look at the fuse box. They were gone for about 10 minutes and came back puzzled. The fuses were fine. Meanwhile the birth was progressing with Elissa working hard, sweating and moaning.
Mum sent Carl down to the public phone box around the corner to phone our midwife again. Dressed in his shorts and with headlamp on this head, he jumped onto his racing bike, phoned Claire and explained about the power cut and said that we wanted her to come as soon a possible even if the baby would be born before her arrival. We wanted her support.
While Carl had been away, Elissa was getting into some serious deep groaning and had started to scream at times. She was leaning on Dino's shoulders and was trying to squat. I was busy lighting three more candles. It was my job to take photos of the birth (that was why I had borrowed dad's step ladder) but unfortunately the camera wasn't doing a very good job of it.
When Carl arrived back, Elissa called out desperately for him and Dino to support her squatting position. All three of them were standing on the bed, plastic covers and old sheets were all getting tossed around and slightly ripped. Elissa was in the middle with her arms around the two men's shoulders with her knees bent. Plenty of birth lubrication was dripping out of her which Summer mistook for "wee wee".
Elissa had a strong urge to change position again because she felt that her thighs were caving in and she began to tremble. She was very cranky because someone touched her. "Don't touch me, don't touch me" she spat.On all fours with her head facing the foot of the bed, she continued but was soon calling out for the bucket. "I'm going to spew" she croaked and proceeded to dry reach a few times.
The contractions were getting very strong. Mum, Dino and Summer were hovering close to Elissa's pelvis all waiting to see the first glimpse of the baby. Carl and I were often going our of the room to fetch things, get water bottles, find torches etc. The whole house was in darkness so we were often frustrated at being blind. Torches were being passed around to the people that needed them.
I was back in the room now and watching intently with camera in hand. Mum then sad "Here comes the baby's head". Elissa pushed hard and the baby's head slid out quite quickly. It's position was Right Occiput Anterior but a month earlier she had been posterior. Mum was nearby letting things happen naturally. The baby's cheeks moved and the colour of it's head was puce. Elissa asked "What's happening? I'm in agony!"
I assured Elissa by saying that we were waiting for the shoulder to be born. By this stage, Mum was feeling around the baby's neck for the cord. There was no cord but what a surprise to find her hand up to her neck! Elissa was in lot of pain so she gave a really hard push and in a flash, the baby slipped out onto Dino's waiting hands. I glanced over at the clock: 1:57am.
Elissa looked between her legs and instantly saw two little legs and a vulva. "It's a girl" she announced proudly. As Elissa was turning around from her all fours position, Mum gently turned the baby a little upside down to let gravity clear the airways of mucous. Mum was a little anxious because the baby did not give a lusty cry and seemed a little tired. The then slippery bundle gave a little cry which showed she was breathing; we all heaved a sigh of relief.
Elissa finally cradled her and placed baby on her warm stomach. We covered her in some warm baby blankets as the room was quite cool.
The umbilical cord was quite short. Elissa complained that she couldn't get the baby to her breast because of this, so it was decided that we would cut the cord. The cord had stopped pulsing so Carl and Dino found a torch and went out to the kitchen to search for the scissors. They used Elissa's dress making scissors and were busy sterilising the blades over the stove-top flame when plastic fumes wafted around. A plastic name tag was melting. They were just abandoning that idea when the midwife arrived, only 20 minutes after the birth.
She was led by torchlight into Elissa and Dino's bedroom where she gazed at the baby. "She's very little" was her first remark. Dino had earlier clipped on a plastic umbilical clamp about 2 inches from the navel and we told the midwife we needed assistance with the cord cutting. She found her sterilised scissors, attached another clamp close to the baby's navel, then thoughtfully let Dino cut the cord. She then examined inside the cord to check if there were three vessels. Yes, everything there looked OK.
The third stage of labour for Elissa was painless. The placenta had already slipped half way down. Claire pulled gently, but it seemed stuck. She pulled with more force and this had the desired effect. Dino was holding the plastic bowl ready to catch it, which he did. Our midwife prepared 2 maternity pads and helped Elissa fit them.
Now we turned our attention to the baby. Her face and head were a blue colour but most importantly, her lips were red. Her body seemed a normal colour. The midwife said that a valve in her heart was a bit slow in shutting, which explained the bluish hue on her head. She was then weighed using hand held scales with the baby in a soft bunny rug. She was 5 pound 8 ounces.
She was covered in a thick coating of vernix (natural white grease), but no blood. Our midwife and mum both agreed that it was a very clean birth. The midwife was then handed a nappy, singlet and a baby's dress which she carefully put on the sleeping baby. She seemed exhausted and wanted to sleep. Our attention then turned towards the examination of the placenta. the midwife discovered a tear about a third of the way across while the general state of the placenta was tattered and old. She explained that it was in the process of disintegrating and the baby had been missing out on nutrients. Perhaps the baby had instinctively come a week early for that very reason?
Our midwife filled out various sheets of paperwork, inscribing mum as the midwife. As there wasn't anything left to do, she said her farewells with a promise to be back on Friday.
It was about 4am when the excitement in the room seemed to evaporate and a tiredness seemed to settle on everyone. We put Summer to sleep and all slumped onto our beds for some rest before dawn.
Wednesday 7am: The little baby was still quite blue this morning so we decided to heat up the room with Carl's Trangia - his camping stove. At 8.30, Elissa sent me to the shopping centre to buy a plug-in phone as we needed it in case of emergency.The power wasn't restored until about 10am. A tree branch had been rubbing on two wires wearing them thin. With power restored, we turned on mum's oil heater.
The baby's health improved very slightly but we noticed that when she slept her face colour would turn more blue. Her chin was distinctly purple. Elissa would move her limbs and shake her gently which would wake her slightly and improve her colour. This first day was worrying time for everyone. The midwife was consulted by phone a few times. Elissa had been so worried she couldn't eat. Dino was even called back from the Gold Coast before he had time to play his gig. Strangely enough, the baby's health seemed to improve when Dino walked back into the room.
Thursday 2pm: By Thursday afternoon we were all worried enough to take Eden to a GP for examination. Carl and I stayed home to babysit Summer. The GP said that the little baby was cyanosed and he also heard a heart-murmer. He thought that the fact that her grandfather had a hole in the heart was an "interesting connection". Elissa became very emotional and had to leave the room only to stagger back to the van in sobs. The doctor suggested that they take the baby to the Prince Charles Hospital for a specialist's examination.
On the way to this hospital they named the baby Eden Tigerlily. A paediatric heart specialist tested Eden for the amount of oxygen she was getting. It was normal. Three tests for heart murmurs were done but no murmur was detected. So Eden was given a clean bill of health. The purpleness of her face and head was put down to bruising.
Elissa, Dino and Mum arrived home after dark in a happy frame of mind. They all relished their Chinese take-away meal.
Six days later, Eden is now feeding well and has a more energetic demeanour. Her bruises had faded and she is a healthy colour. She is adored by her big sister Summer who kisses her ever so gently many times a day. She is being cared for by loving parents and family members.
My only regret is living at Noosa which is too far to have regular daily visits to see my new niece.
Michelle Freeman. 5 May 1988
Editor's note: The name of the traditional midwife has been withheld because of the draconian laws in the state of Queensland
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