04/08/2026
At 2am on June 6th, two days before my due date, I started contracting. They were about 5–10 minutes apart, and shortly after, my waters broke. I was like, "Finallyyyyyy!" I called my midwife, Jenni, to let her know. She was so excited for me but said we needed to wait a little longer for my contractions to get closer together. Sadly, that didn't happen. They stayed 5–10 minutes apart for the rest of the morning.
Later that morning, Jenni called to check in and then came over to see me in person. She checked my maternity pads and wasn't sure whether my waters had actually broken. She explained that if they had broken and I didn't go into active labour within 24 hours, it would be recommended to transfer from the Wanaka Birth Clinic to Dunedin Hospital.
We decided to meet at the Wanaka Maternity Unit to do an amniotic fluid swab, which confirmed that my waters had broken, but they were only trickling out, which can make labour progress more slowly. My babies limbs were also facing upwards and her spine was against mine, which we suspected was slowing things down as well.
I had worship music playing the entire time, and every contraction sent me leaning into Jai. I needed him beside me constantly. Compared with my first labour, I struggled much more internally this time. During my first birth, I really felt like God completely took the wheel. This time, I had to fight to stay in the Spirit. Thoughts like, "I need an epidural," and, "I can't do this," kept coming, but I had to rebuke those thoughts and trust that God was with me and that, with Him, I was capable. My contractions then felt almost continuous, and I held onto Jai the entire time. I genuinely couldn't have done it without him.
Soon I started feeling pressure and assumed it was the babies head. Everything was happening so quickly that the birth pool wasn't even completely full yet, and Jenni was still getting everything ready outside the room. I yelled, "Jenni... the headddd!" She rushed in, only to discover I was wrong—the head wasn't coming just yet (thank goodness 😂). She helped remove my maternity pad and walked me over to the birth pool because it really was time to push. I still had my socks on... lol.
Looking back at the videos now, everything seems so peaceful. There are no screams, no chaos, no panic—just heavy breathing, worship music, and Jai and me working together. But internally, it felt absolutely crazy.
The moment I climbed into the water, though, all the noise in my head disappeared. I instantly felt calm, exactly like it looks in the videos.
Jai held me from behind so I wouldn't sink into the water while Jenni sat in front of me, calmly monitoring everything with the biggest smile on her face. I remember asking her, "Do I push?"
I was waiting for instructions because that's what I'd experienced with my first birth in Sydney. I don't remember her exact words, but I remember how calm she was. She completely trusted that I would know what to do and that my body would do what it was made to do.
She trusted me.
So I trusted myself.
I waited for the next contraction...and I pushed. Still not one scream. Just one big breath. The head was out, and I didn't even realise until Jenni told me. Then I pushed again....and the body was out. I reached down, picked my baby up, and placed her on my chest. She cried for a few seconds....and then fell asleep on me.
(She's been a little chiller ever since she came out of the womb.) There wasn't one drop of blood in the pool. It was perfect.
It's hard to put into words just how supported and cared for I felt through all the chaos of labour. Jenni was the perfect midwife for me. She anticipated situations before they happened and always gave me multiple options to choose from. During my first birth, I was usually presented with just one option once the situation had already arisen, so I really appreciated the way Jenni worked. The birthing clinic was amazing too.
And if anything shows just how much I loved having Jenni as my midwife....it's that I still miss her to this day.
