The Birth of Petra

WRITTEN BY ABIGAIL SHEPHERD
The Birth of Petra began on a cold Christmas day (or rather night) on December 25th which also happens to be the anniversary of our engagement! We had had some snow a few days before but thankfully it had cleared up before Petra came.

I had been having strong Braxton Hicks all day but didn't think anything of it because I had been having them all week. They did feel a lot stronger than the ones over the last few days but I reasoned even if it was the beginnings of early labour Micah's birth had been so long it would take hours for something to get going.
We had been for a good long walk around the block that evening so that probably helped to get things moving!

I think we may have watched a movie afterwards but I can't remember now. Anyway, we went to bed slightly earlier than usual as we were tired and I had in the back of my mind if this WAS the night the baby was going to be born I definitely needed some rest! It turns out it was although she was born in the early morning the next day.

I remember being fast asleep but I kept being woken up by what I thought were strong Braxton Hicks. I was able to go back to sleep but by midnight they were so strong I was having to breathe through them and I was wide awake. I woke Tom up because by this point I knew it must be early labour. We timed them for several minutes and they were consistently 6 minutes apart.
Tom said we should ring the midwives but I was still thinking to myself I could be in labour for hours yet so there was no hurry to.
I will mention as well that they contractions felt very different to Micah. But I wasn't expecting them to be exactly the same. When in labour with him the contractions felt higher up and all over my belly where as this time they felt lower down. Maybe that's because Petra was so low down already she just needed pushing out!

Tom rang the midwives and was told there was actually only one midwife on call so they recommended that we go to the hospital (even though we had planned for a home-birth.)
Tom then rang his mum and dad as they and Talitha were part of our birth team. Also Liberty was coming this time to help look after Micah. They came pretty quickly which was good as the midwives didn't arrive until the very last minute.

It was while Tom was on the phone that the contractions really started getting strong, I was sitting up on the end of our bed when I felt my waters go. Thankfully we have an en-suite so I was able to get to the bathroom.

Because we weren't sure whether the midwives were going to make it in time and it was clear that we wouldn't make it to the hospital, Tom rang for an ambulance just in case. After asking all of the usual questions like, "Is she breathing?" and "Is she having contractions?" they said they would be on stand-by if the midwives weren't there in time. At this point I was in the bath starting to fill it up to ease the pain a little when Tom's mum, dad and girls arrived. They immediately started to blow up the birth pool as we had planned to have a water home birth so I went downstairs to wait for it to fill up. Sadly, we never got to use it in the end!


Micah had been asleep all this time but woke up soon after they arrived. He didn't want to go back to sleep after that but it was nice he was able to see Petra soon after she was born.
We then got news from the midwives that two were available and on their way, which was a great relief.

Over the next hour labour intensified and contractions got closer and closer together. I was needing to push but the midwives still hadn't arrived. I went with the feeling anyway thinking to myself I was going to have to deliver this baby midwives or not when there was a knock on the door and they came in to help. Literally less than 3 minutes after that Petra arrived! And so I pushed and out came little Petra at 2:59am less than three hours after going into labour.

We decided not to find out the gender before Petra was born and I'm glad we didn't as it was such a lovely feeling to find out when she was born. She looked exactly like we imagined her to look, which sounds strange but when we picked her name she had already become a person in our minds and we knew she would come, if not this time, then eventually to us. She had lots of dark hair and such a pretty face, I had actually prayed for a girl named Petra before she was even conceived. So I was so happy He answered my prayer even down to what she looked like!

Because we had kept the name secret until she was born we were excited to tell everyone. I asked Tom to tell them and he announced it straight after she was born...

Perpetua Providence Lydia 

(Petra for short.)

And that is Petra's birth story! She is such a wonderful gift from God and we love her to bits! She is so peaceful and sleeps so well at night. She is also so alert and loves to look around everywhere with her big, navy blue eyes. Micah has adjusted really well to her too which is what we'd hoped for. We are all very happy to have her now as part of our family.

On a side note it is easy to tell what happened during Petra's birth but very difficult to explain how it felt. Giving birth is such an incredible and an amazing experience which is not only different for different women but also for each birth you have. Petra's birth was so different to Micah's and if we are blessed with more children then it may be different again.

I never expected Petra's birth to be so quick, there was no birth pool, no pain relief, or music, (and almost no midwives!) All of which I thought would be there. I'm glad it happened the way it did though and I didn't have any of those things because not only do I know that it can be done without those things but that was when God was able to step in and help me through the whole thing. I wasn't able to rely on anything else. Thankfully Mum and Talitha were right beside me the whole time encouraging me.

Giving birth is very intense but also very powerful. It is such an amazing feeling that soon you are going to bring another human being into the world and that is what helps you when you feel you think you can't go any further. Also, God has designed it so that when women go into labour they go into their own little world as it were, into deep concentration which helps them cope and focus on the tasks at hand. It is so amazing to think of the way God has chosen for people to be born into the world. I'm sure He knows what He is doing and I think it's sad when the medical profession try and complicate birth so much. I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to give birth naturally at home.

Great Nanny

Great Grandad