April 1, 2025 • 32 mins
It's Christmas morning, you're on all fours and your dad's just accidentally broken your waters.
This wasn't how Francesca Hung imagined birth - but we all know motherhood often arrives unexpectedly. In today's episode, the model and presenter shares the dramatic story of finding herself in active labour just 30 minutes after her first contraction, creating a Christmas morning her family will never forget.
Francesca recounts her daughter Bridie's remarkably swift arrival—a birth that completely defied all expectations of first-time deliveries. While this whirlwind experience brought a healthy baby girl into the world, Francesca honestly reveals how the shock of such an intense birth took weeks to process, creating a story that's both extraordinary and real.
Diary Of A Birth features mums telling their miraculous stories of bringing life into the world. If you’d like to share your birth story, we’d love to hear from you at podcast@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note here.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
that this podcast is recorded on. We pay our respects
to elders past, present and emerging, and feel privileged to
continue the sharing of birth stories and knowledge that has
been a fundamental part of Indigenous culture.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm Cassenia Lukic and this is diary of a birth.
The general consensus amongst medical professionals is that when a
woman has her first baby, it will likely take some time,
but like all things in life, there are exceptions to
the rule. Imagine feeling your first contraction and within half
an hour you're on all fours on the front steps
(01:06):
of your parents' house and your doctor dad has broken
you waters. Well, that's what happened to today's mum, and
it all took place on Christmas morning. A model, presenter
and actor. Our guest today has a wild story that
left me with my jaw on the floor. So let's
(01:27):
meet today's mum.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I'm Francesca Hung and this is the dary of my
birth with Bridy.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So Bridy is now three months old. You had her
just before Christmas.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
She is literally ten weeks today, and she was born
on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
She was born on Christmas Day, Little Christmas.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Baby, Christmas Surprise.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You're obviously super busy before you felt pregnant, But what
was your plan like before? Did you always want to
have children?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, definitely. I think that's something that Nick and I
had been speaking about for years and years. But it
was one of those funny things that I used to
always think I'd be a really young mum, and I
was like, oh my god, when I'm twenty five, I'm
gonna have three kids.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
And then every year that I got closer to you know,
I was like.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, wway seven, I was like,
oh my goodness, I'm not ready for this.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I'm a child. Children cannot have children.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And so even when you know, I had Bridy at thirty,
I still didn't feel really ready. I still felt like
a child and I had so much more to do.
It was kind of that bit of a conflict. But
now that she's here, I'm like, yeah, this is meant
to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
When Nick and you have been together for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Though, Yeah, eight years.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
But you only got married fairly recently too.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I know, we got married December and twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So what was that. I can't even see.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I say, I can't do baths anymore, baby brain, no
longer can do mouth.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
But yeah, we were married for a year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You said, you call her Bertie.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
We do call her Bertie.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yes, So I actually Bridy was like the one name
that we agreed on and we knew the sex and
everything in the gender, and I had a whole list
of names and Nick sort of said no, no, no,
no no. So I said Bridy and he said, oh yeah,
I really like that, and I was so shocked. It's
a classic old name, but it's not very common, and
it's got a bit of an Irish tie for us.
(03:12):
I loved the nickname Bertie, but I just thought it
might a bit I don't know. I didn't want to
name her Birdie in case one day she wanted to
have a different kind of name.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But we call it Bertie.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And was it a planned pregnancy or was it a
little bit of a surprise.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
No, it was definitely planned. We actually were trying for
quite a while. I think that I was on you know,
contraception for I think like six seven years, and I
had that taken out a whole year before we felt pregnant,
so we kind of were trying. I was even trying
before the wedding because I didn't really mind if we were,
you know, pregnant.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
At the wedding.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
But yeah, it did take us probably about six months. Yeah, okay,
not to it's I know she was very wanted. So
what did you feel like when you found out you
were pregnant? Well, funny you asked that, because I was
starting to get a little bit. You get a bit
anxious and you start thinking, Okay, what's happening, Like, why
am I falling pregnant? I had friends around me that
were falling pregnant first try, second try, and you know,
(04:06):
we were all kind of hoping to be aligned together.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I had this silly.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Idea in my head, Okay, well I kind of wanted
to be pregnant before thirty and have my first child.
And it was a night before my thirtieth birthday and
I was just crying to my mom and I was saying,
what's going on. My mom had really struggled as well
to fall pregnant. I'm an IVF baby after numerous rounds
and years and years, so I think it was always
(04:30):
back in my mind that something could happen, and I've
always been a little bit on edge about that, and
I was sort of having a bit of a cry
to her, saying, oh, you know, before thirty, I kind
of want to be pregnant, and she was there for me.
And then it was the next morning. I don't know why,
but I just had a feeling and my period wasn't
even due, and I took a pregnancy test and I
(04:53):
had a faint line on my thirtieth birthday.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
What was your pregnancy like?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
First trimester was a little bit rough, but really nothing
compared to a lot of people. I was nauseous. I
don't think I threw up once, but I was just
the only thing I could eat was vitaweats with butter
and vegimite, and it was just like every day, all day.
Every day, just wanted vegimite. Yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Anything throughout the pregnancy, it was just a normal pregnancy
for you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
They actually did have a few scares, which was a
little bit concerning. So at the beginning when I had
my first scan, I think we were all so excited,
and then I came home and I bled after my
first scan. I think after like mum's history of miscarriages
and eptopic pregnancies. I was at home with her and
(05:42):
when I said, like, I've got fresh blood sort of things,
she came in and she was just sort of oh
my god, so upset.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
But we're very fortunate.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
My dad's a radiologist and I had had my scan
at his practice, not with him, but somebody else, and
so Mum just called dad straight away and said, can
we please come back in and get like an emergency scan,
like she's bleeding. So the amazing staff stayed back after hours,
raced back up. I was like crying, and then they
(06:12):
did a scan and they said, look, the heartbeats still there.
They could have just been having like you know, the
internal examination sort of disrupted a few things, but take
it easy for a couple of days. So we were
on tender hooks for a while there. And then I
think before that twelve week mark as well, I had
some more bleeding.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Look, we don't know what that was about.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It well, my ob believes that because I had a
bit of a percenta previa at the beginning, so it
probably was causing that bit of you know, the rupturing
bit of bleeding. But after that second trimester was incredible, easy, brazy.
I felt fabulous. I didn't even feel pregnant. I was
able to do everything, exercise the way I wanted to
eat whatever I wanted to. And then third trimester, I
(06:52):
was hit with terrible pelvic girdle pain.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I feel like we've had very similar pregnancies because I
had the exact same thing.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And it was the hits because I just I couldn't walk,
could not walk. So I mean, I picked up swimming,
which was great, and I felt like that was amazing,
and I just did pilates, but even by the end
of the play as I couldn't do so pretty much,
it was just like no walking and yep, sit down.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, it's really really painful coming up.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I just start sprinting up the stairs like something out
of a horror film. I'm on my hands and my feet,
like running up the stairs like an animal, screaming help help.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The baby's coming.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So tell me about going into labor.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Hmmmm, Well, I feel like I have to kind of
set the scene for you a little bit. So Nick
and I decided to move home when we had the
baby because I just thought we're both kind of working.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Nick just started his own business.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I'm not really taking time off, and it'd be nice
to have extra set of hands. So in the lead
up to Christmas, we were like, hey, you probably have to,
you know, get going. Bertie's birthdate wasn't until the eighth
of Jam and we're very relaxed, and so we were
sort of like working towards that date, and I wasn't
really carrying that large and IOB was sort of saying,
(08:15):
I'm happy to sort of let you go to forty
one plus no high risk or anything like that anyway,
So we had only moved out of the house in
that week leading up to Christmas. I remember setting up
the nursery at mum and Dad's house and literally putting
together like the car seat and the capsule and the
pram and everything. On Christmas Eve and that was Nick's
last day of work and we was our one day
(08:36):
we had like we were relaxing. It was so nice,
and we went to a Christmas Eve party that night.
I remember just sort of like, you know, having a
bit of a grumbles, like, oh my god, like, wouldn't
it be nice if the baby came on Christmas Day?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Bit of a present?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I'm so I'm so over this, but you know, obviously,
not thinking anything would happen, went home, went to bed,
and I woke up at about two thirty on Christmas morning,
and I stumbled to the bathroom just thinking I needed to,
you know, go to the toilet. And I was sitting
there doing the longest wee ever, thinking, oh, like, my
(09:10):
brags and hicks feel a bit funny. And I've been
having brax and hicks since thirty weeks, so I was
very used to them, but they just felt a little
bit different, and I thought, oh, maybe I needed to
number two, like you know, something going on there. Couldn't
do number two, so I thought, okay, going back to bed,
I'm gonna sleep this off. Because I had heard so
many horror stories of women who have had like prodromal
(09:31):
labor or you know, these labor signs for so long
and then they don't go into labor. And I just
did not want to be thinking that I was in labor.
So I was like, no, I'm not in labor. Going
to sleep anyway. I lay in bed for another fifteen
twenty minutes and I was like, no, this is I
think I'm in labor. I think these are contractions. Oh
my god, Oh my gosh. So I tapped Nick on
the shoulder. Poor boy was fast asleep, and I said,
(09:53):
I think we're having a Christmas Day baby, and he
woke up.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
What what what?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I was like, But don't worry. You know, this takes forever.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
This takes so long. Like, go back to sleep. I
need you to be you know, energetic tomorrow. So just
go back to sleep. And quite funny, in the past,
my birth plan was I said, Okay, I know I
want to stay at home for as long as I
can labor at home. So the idea is like when
I start going to labor, I want to like take
the dog for a walk and get out, go to
a cafe. I've heard that, you know, distract yourself because
(10:22):
it will take forever. Anyway, I had just said to him,
go back to sleep, and then I had another contraction,
and I was literally like, oh my gosh, like no, no,
this is this is so painful. How is this the
beginning stages of labor? Anyway, Nick's like should I get up?
And I was like no, no, no, no, it's fine, just.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Go back to sleep. Go back to sleep. Anyway, another contraction,
and I was.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Like Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I was like, we haven't packed a hospital bag.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
So jumped out of bed and started to try and
pack a hospital bag.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Three am in the morning.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I'd pull out about ten bras and I said to Nick,
pack these and he looks at me and he says,
do you need ten bras?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I said, I don't know what I mean. I can't
I can't think.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I could not think straight. Every contraction, I was like
on all fours on the ground bearing down. I remember
looking at my dog at one point and she was
just staring at me, and I was staring at her,
and I was thinking, what is going on? This is
so painful. Anyway, so I have to say there was
no hospital bag packed. And then Nick started time my contractions.
They were super irregular, like one was every seven minutes,
(11:24):
one was every three two, so random. So he called
the birth unit at the hospital and we spoke to
the most gorgeous midwife that She said, look what we're after,
especially it's her first labor and everything, and she's literally
just woken up half an hour ago and felt her
first contraction. So what we're looking for is four contractions
(11:45):
within ten minutes. It's like clockwork. So maybe we'll see
you later today kind of thing. She asked, have you
taken panadoal? Have you done any of your at home pain,
you know, relief, had a bath, any of that sort
of thing, And I hadn't at that stage.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So she's like, maybe do.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Some of that. How many weeks were you at this
point thirty.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Eight on the dot? Yep.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
So Nick ran and got me some panadole down the
hatch and then I pretty much vomited it straight up
straight into the bathroom. I remember looking at the toilet,
could see my Christmas Eve dinner, and I was like, great,
there's the ham, there's a cran resource, and there's the patadol.
And then I said, okay, let's hop into the bath.
So I hopped at the bath. It was instant relief.
It was so gorgeous, you know, in between those contractions.
(12:26):
But those contractions were just oh, they were just like
getting really really intense. And it was only about three
point thirty at this point, maybe four, I don't really know,
but I didn't do any birthing classes, but I had
looked at some things on TikTok and I'd seen some
things about like holding combs and whatever else. So I
grabbed one of the combs I had in my drawer,
and I was squeezing it so tightly it was literally
(12:48):
like causing these like dents and like blood was coming
out of my hands.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And I was like, this is doing nothing.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
What do you mean trying to get into like a
meditative state and whatever else? Anyway, nothing was working. I
was just like clenching the bath. I think I was
starting to get a little bit panicked at this point.
I hadn't really felt her kick this whole time, and
I'm used to her being quite active. Also, my waters
hadn't broken, I hadn't lost my mucus plug, so like
none of the things you were kind of told to
(13:15):
expect at the early stages of labor. And I just
thought this was happening way too quick, like this isn't
meant to happen like this. And I also was freaking
out about tearing, because you know, you hear so much
about like, oh my god, tearing and prolapse, and I
just thought something terrible is going to happen here. And
then every time I could feel a contraction, I remember satanick,
(13:36):
I cannot do this, I cannot do this. Another one
is coming and he was just like being amazing and
he was like, yes, you can, you can do this.
And I kept saying, somebody cut me open, like please,
I think it will be better. And I want drugs.
I want the epedeel right now. And I had always
been very happy to have all the medication and the
drugs in the world. I just had to get to
the hospital and I kept saying, I just I need
(13:58):
to be the hospital right now, like I need drugs,
like this is unbearable. And then I remember one contraction
was just unbelievably painful, and I looked down and there
was blood in the bath, and so then I think
I just freaked out. I leaped out of the bath
and I just had this insane urge to push, and
I just I needed to push, and so I over
(14:21):
the toilet and I said to Nick.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I need to like, I need to push.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And I said, something's coming out, Something's coming out. And
it was just incredibly painful, and I thought I was
having a prolapse or something.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I thought maybe my vagina was coming out of me.
And I could feel I couldn't see it, obviously, I
had a belly in front of me, but I could
feel this soft, warm, wet thing coming out of me
over the toilet, and Nick, poor boy, was trying to
push it back in.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
He was like, oh my god, oh my god. We
don't know. We didn't know what the hell was going on.
And he kept saying to me, should we get your mom?
Should we get your mom?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And I kept saying earlier I'd said no, let her sleep.
And then he was like, I think we need your
mom and dad. And I was like, okay, but we're
going to the hospital right now. He said, okay, but
like you're naked, and I said I don't care, and
he tried to dress me. He got a bra lette
on me. That's it, and I just started running. I
just couldn't tell that I was in the in between
(15:20):
a contract. Now. We have a lot of stairs my
mum and dad's house, probably about like one hundred stairs
from top to bottom. Mom and dad at the top
of the house and we're at the bottom. Pitch black.
This is now, it's like four fifty in the morning.
I just start sprinting up the stairs like something out
of a horror film. I'm on my hands and my feet,
(15:40):
like running up the stairs like an animal.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Screaming, hell, hell, the baby's coming.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And like I was petrified at this point, like I was.
I can laugh at it now, but at the time,
like I thought she was dead or she was like
ejecting herself. Something was really wrong. And Nick, poor boy,
was just left in the bathroom and he was like
he turned around, he was like, where did she go?
Where did she go? And then he could just hear
me screaming. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad Christmas morning, fastest sleep
(16:08):
and they just wake up to blood curdling screams. They
run out into their balcony. They thought the neighbors. Something
was happening with the neighbors, and they ran to the
balcony and they thought, no, no, like that's coming from
inside the house. Mum said she walked back to the
top of the stairs and she just saw me running
naked up the stairs screaming out help, the baby's coming.
(16:32):
And she thought, oh my god, like, what has happened.
Something horrific has happened. What's going on? I ran straight
past her, opened the front door and then hit the
decks and was on all fours having another contraction outside
the front of the house. Luckily we are inside the
front gate, so it's not in the street at this stage.
But I am outside in a bralet, in a brlet
(16:53):
butt naked. And I not a prude, but I was
nervous before birth about the doctors seeing me naked in
the hospital, and at this point I do not care
who sees me naked. It's very animalistic birth, is what
I've learned, and everything what you thought was out the window.
I remember being outside. I'm on the cold stone, you know,
(17:13):
of the ground, and Dad walks out and he says, Franceasca,
come inside, and I just look at him. I'm on
all and I look at him and I say, tell
me what is coming out of me? So, my beautiful dad,
it's a real bonding experience. He did get down on
all fours and he had a good look. I think
someone must have used a flashlight. I don't know how
(17:35):
he saw because it.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Was pitch black outside.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And he started feeling around and he said, he looked
at me and he said, your membranes are bulging. And
I said, Layman's term, what is that? And he said,
it's your amnionic sack. It's coming out of you. But
it hadn't burst, so it was just that's what I
was feeling that was the circular thing, that was the
round thing, and it was like literally hanging out of me,
this big, beautiful sack. And at this stage Nick finally
(18:02):
come outstairs. He had tried to pack some semblance of
a hospital bag. He came upstairs. He said, it was
the strangest scene ever. I'm on all fours, the dog's
running around me, my dad is down touching the amniotic sack.
Mum is trying to find clothes to put on so
she can drive us to the hospital. And Nick just
comes up the stairs with the hospital bag and took
this photo and it is my favorite photo ever because
(18:23):
it just sets the scene perfectly, but obviously because Dad
was sort of manipulating the sack, it broke.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
It broke. Yeah, so there outside the front of the house.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Sorry, can we just back for a second. Your dad
broke your waters?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
My dad broke my waters.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's our headline, literally, But.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You know what it's like when your waters break. I
feel like it steps up a gear. And then I
remember saying I need to push, and Mum and Dad
both said, do not push.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You hold it in. You hold it in.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
And I was like, I need to push, and they
were like hold it in. I don't know how, but
we managed to get up to the car. Mum was
driving Nick and I to the point where we must
have left so quickly that Dad went to put some
clothes on and or shoes or something, and he came outside.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
We're all gone.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
So I love that we just left the doctor at home,
probably the one person that would have been really handy
in the car, but anyway, that's fine. I remember being
in the backseat. I couldn't sit properly, so I was
sort of straddling the seat arms around the headrest waters
that keep breaking every contraction. I remember Nick and Mum
in the front seat. Mum just remembers beautiful Christmas carols playing.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Apparently.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Nick just kept telling me you're doing amazing, you'd be
amazing at all. I remember asking is is she okay?
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Is she okay? Can I have some drugs? Please? Will
I be allowed drugs? Is she okay?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
And Mum kept saying, I don't know, darling, but I
don't think you'll be a loud drugs You won't be
a loud drugs darling. There was no screaming apart from
when I ran up the stairs. There was like never
a scream. I was kind of like very much within myself.
And then we finally got to the hospital. It took
us I think like ten fifteen minutes to get there,
no traffic on the roads.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
But obviously it's.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Christmas, so there was skeleton staff and there was nobody
at the front doors to the hospital, and so Nick
jumped out of the car, buzzing on the intercom. Security
guard comes on, you know, slowly comes down.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Nick's like, my wife's in labor. My wife's in labor
with the door. So he presses the door. They open.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
He runs around to the back of the car because
he thought, oh, Chester is in the car. I had
a robe luckily packed, and so put that over my
shoulders and I'm shuffling in.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
I have enough contraction. I cannot walk.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So the doors shut again, so security guard has to
come back open them again for us. Then we shuffle in,
get to the lift, go up the lift to the
maternity ward. One of the midwives meets us there and
I have enough contraction and I cannot walk, and I
remember feeling something coming out of me was different to
the sack, but I was literally having to use my
hand to like hold I believe it's her head, but
(20:56):
I had to hold it in when I kept saying
I can't walk, I can't walk, and a midwife, Maddie,
she said, come with me. You have to walk, like
I need you to get on the bed right now.
So I'm trying to walk mid contraction. As it was
skeleton staff, there was obviously no planned inductions, no plan cesareans,
so there was only two midwives on Christmas morning at
(21:16):
this time, and it just so happened that three women
including myself, had gone into spontaneous labor and we were
all in labor at the same time, so you need
two midwives per birth, and so the midwives were having
to run between the three rooms and you could just
hear screaming from the other two rooms like one of
(21:36):
the other ladies. Unfortunately I met her later where we
were in hospital, but she was in like active labor
and birth when I came in. But the midwives had
to leave her to come to me, and they said
hop on the bed, and I kept asking them like,
please tell me, like is she okay?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Sheka?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
She k They shut the heart rate monitor on straight away,
and that was the best thing ever because they said
she's absolutely fine, in absolutely no distress whatsoever. Heart rate
is perfectly normal, and I think everyone, Nick, myself, my mum,
we all just we finally could breathe. And then at
that point I thought, okay, like I can do this.
This is fine, She's okay. And then I said, can
(22:12):
I please have some drugs?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Please? Guy, I have some drugs.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And she said I'm sorry no, but you could have
some gas, and so I said okay. So I grabbed
the gas and I had a good suck on that,
and then the midwife said, look that I'm gonna put
my gloves on and just check to see where you're at.
And as she was putting her gloves on, she came
up to me and put her hand on my shoulder
and she said, you just do what you need to do.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And I said I need to push, and she said, yeah,
you just do what you need to do. So I
think it was.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Three pushes and she was born. So we arrived at
the hospital at five eleven and time of birth is
five twenty one.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
My hairs are standing up on end, so you had
a precipitous birth.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Well, from when I felt the first interaction, it was
under three hours from when I gave birth. Wow, I
would have had a home birth if we hadn't left
when we had left, or if I hadn't actually held
her in while I was in the car, because I
could really feel that urge to push, and I was
actively pulling up, pulling in.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Wow, I'm just trying, I know.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
To be there for a shock. Trust me, I was
in quite a lot.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Of Okay, so obviously this is not what you were expecting,
not at all. So they put Bertie up on your chest. Yeah,
how are you feeling? Are you in just complete shock?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
So that probably was the hardest part of it all.
I think I just hadn't really had time to figure
out what was going on, and there was so much
anxiety around what was going on. I think, like knowing
obviously that it was all just happening very naturally and
was meant to happen. If I have another child and
I happened to have that kind of birth, I think
it'd be a very different situation. But that being my
(23:52):
first birth and first labor and not being at the hospital,
alarm bells are ringing, and so when they did put
her on my chest, I couldn't even look at her.
I was like incomplete, not a shock, and I just
I think I was like disassociating.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I remember just like not looking at her and just
looking at Nicker, looking at my mom, and I never
felt that. People kept saying, oh my gosh when they
you know, that's like the most incredible feeling ever, and
they put the baby in your chest and like it's euphoric,
And I did not feel that at all. It actually
took me like a couple of weeks, I think, to
feel that. I don't know the endorphins, I guess, but
(24:28):
I remember like the first twenty four hours in hospital,
I couldn't sleep because every time I closed my eyes,
like I was transported back to home, and like the
pain and what was happening and the fear. Yeah, I
just like wasn't really coping with it in that first
twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I mean, I think that's completely understandable. That's probably your
body's like fight or flight kicking in. You know, that's
a trauma response, right, Like you know, you didn't know
what was going on. It was all happening so quickly,
and you know when someone tells you, oh it's fine,
it's your first birth, it'll be a while. This is
your first contract. You're only at thirty eight weeks, like,
you'll be right, yeah, and then it all happens that quickly.
(25:05):
I can imagine that would be really, really challenging for you.
So in terms of your recovery physically, was there any complications?
Were you okay?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
So that's a good question because I also that was
my biggest fear, obviously, thinking such a quick berth could
mean a lot of damage down there. I only had
a labial tear, I know. I thought I might have had,
you know, peraneal tear. Nothing, so I was super super fortunate.
I think one of the midwives said afterwards, well, I
(25:37):
think you're just a natural born berth, and I was like, great,
well there's my claim to fame. And they kept saying
that if we do decide to have another one, Nick
will probably have to learn how to deliver or I
literally stay opposite the hospital and come in as soon
as I feel that first contraction.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Wow, yep, this is not that long ago. Are you recovered?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah? I don't know. Like I.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Laugh about it now and I think, yeah, it's wild,
but I still get emotional, like even thinking about it.
Because I just remember sort of the shock and like
I do remember the fear I felt. But I'm also
very conscious of the fact that I've had almost like
the dream birth, I think as well, like for a
lot of women, you know, you labor for a very
long time and then a lot of you know, emergency
(26:26):
cesareans and that sort of thing. So I'm very aware
that I had a very fortunate birth as well.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
What an amazing story. And did your dad make a
che us?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
But no, never, he just got left on.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
No.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I think I didn't see Dad until I think Mom
face timed him like well, obviously probably twenty minutes after
we left home. I don't think he was expecting us
to be calling with the news of a baby. I
think when Mum called him, he was like, how is she?
And then Mum just put the phone to my face
and yeah, there I was with the bub.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Marry Christmas, Grandpa and.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Gramby, I know, and I think we all obviously had
Christmas lunch plans, Nick with his family, me with my family,
so all of that got canned and yeah, it was
really nice. So we had both of our families come
in on Christmas Day and meet her. So it was
like the most special Christmas Day ever.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, that's beautiful. Is there anything that you would change
about that situation? Knowing what you know now?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
The one thing my mom would like me to have
changed is to have let her know earlier that I
was in labor, because I think the poor thing said
that I've taken about ten years off her life because
seeing her daughter screaming like that and thinking that also
her grandchild may not have been in a good way,
and her child, she said that was just her fit.
She said, you know the love that you feel for
your child, now, that's what I have for you. And
(27:45):
then can you imagine, you know, your child screaming like that?
So she said, would it be nice if I knew
maybe you were in labor a little bit earlier? And
I said, Mom, it would have been nice to find
you I was in labor a bit earlier. I didn't
even know what's going on, So probably just that.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, that's an incredible story. Francesca, thank you, thank you.
Here a diary of a birth. We want you to
be armed with all the information. And today we have
obstitution and gynecologist doctor Bromin Devine to answer some of
her burning medical questions, So, how common is a precipitous
(28:25):
birth in a first pregnancy.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
It's not super common for a woman in her first
or a person in their first labor to birth precipitously,
but it's not unheard of. What we tend to do
is say to people who are having their first baby, oh,
don't worry, you'll have plenty of time. There's plenty of
time to call the midwives and chat them through how
you're going, and they'll let you know whether you need
(28:48):
to come in. Because we do see people who've had
babies before, and certainly people who've had relatively quick labors
before have precipitous births, and sometimes births before they actually
get to hospital. But it's not at all common for
a woman in her first labor to labor quickly. We often,
you know, sort of we're really excited and happy for
(29:09):
people who have a quick labor because you know, oh,
lucky you you didn't have to endure hours and hours
of horrible labor pains. But you know, it can be
quite terrifying for someone who you know, can action start
and then all of a sudden, they're really hitting hard
and they're coming with great frequency and they're getting a
lot stronger really quickly, and then suddenly you know, there
(29:29):
can be an urge to push, which someone in their
first birth who hasn't labored before, you know, would find
really quite confronting in some ways. So precipitous births are
much more common, as I say, in women who've had
babies before, and certainly women who've had precipitous births before.
If someone comes to you and says, look, this is
my third baby and my first baby I barely made
(29:50):
it to the hospital, then you'll usually say, look, will
be really cautious, make sure that you know, as a
baby gets to be due, don't go too far from
the hospital. You know, I definitely don't take a trip
up from the Hunter or anything like that. Just stay
close by, you know, the minute you think things are happening,
let's just get you in. So we anticipate if someone's
had a precipitous birth before that they likely to do
(30:11):
it again. But in Francesca's case very different because it
was her first baby. Other things that can make labor
go faster. Sometimes if people have got a bit of
high blood pressure, it's all my like when they get
up to term, their body says, right, I've had enough
of this pregnancy. Now in your high blood pressure, it's
time to just get this show on the road, and
so your body just takes over and lets labor happen
(30:31):
quite quickly. So we do see that sometimes, and certainly
when babies are smaller or premature. A woman who's laboring
would say a prem baby can sometimes have quite a
close cervix and then an hour later be fully dilated.
So that's another reason. But in Francesca's case, it sounded
like she just was someone who is very good at
this and did it in a really rapid way. But
(30:53):
it definitely, you know, something that is scary, because she
would have probably gone to birth classes or spoke to
her friends or spoke to her care providers, and they
would have likely said, oh, you'll be fine, you've got hours,
You've got hours, and that you know, when people ring
up the hospital and they say, look, I'm my contractions
have started and I'm wondering if I should come in.
(31:13):
The midwives will oftense ask you to describe the contractions
you're having and how long they're lasting, and how long
they've been going on like that, and whether you know
you've had any bleeding or any fluid, come away, and
if the baby's moving and you're feeling well otherwise. So
they'll ask a lot of questions and then sometimes over
the phone, make an assessment. Look, it sounds like you're
not quite in good labor yet. I thinks stay at
(31:35):
home a little bit longer if you're happy to. And
you can always say, look, I know you think I
probably should stay home, but I really would like to
come in and just be checked out. I'm worried or
I'm anxious about you know, my mum had a very
fast birth, or my sister did you know that sort
of thing, So you can it's very much an individualized thing.
It's not a hard and fast rule. You have to
(31:56):
stay at home until your contractions up this far apart
lasting this long for this amount of time. For some people,
they get contractions and they're worried, you know, they're just
not sure. It's always fine to go in. You can
always go home if you're in early labor and the
midwives think or your doctor thinks, that it's going to
be a while yet. And some people want to come
in in early labor and just be there because they
(32:18):
feel safer. This so it's we very much to visualize it,
but for Francesca, it sounded like she really just cracked on,
and that's you know, not at all common in your
first pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Diary of a Birth was hosted by me Casseniya Lukitch,
with expert input from doctor Bronwin Devine. If you have
a birth story, we'd love to hear from you. Details
are in the show notes. This episode was produced by
Tina Mattiloff and myself Casseniya Lukitch, with audio production by
Leah Porges,
You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters
that this podcast is recorded on. We pay our respects
to elders past, present and emerging, and feel privileged to
continue the sharing of birth stories and knowledge that has
been a fundamental part of Indigenous culture.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm Cassenia Lukic and this is diary of a birth.
The general consensus amongst medical professionals is that when a
woman has her first baby, it will likely take some time,
but like all things in life, there are exceptions to
the rule. Imagine feeling your first contraction and within half
an hour you're on all fours on the front steps
(01:06):
of your parents' house and your doctor dad has broken
you waters. Well, that's what happened to today's mum, and
it all took place on Christmas morning. A model, presenter
and actor. Our guest today has a wild story that
left me with my jaw on the floor. So let's
(01:27):
meet today's mum.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I'm Francesca Hung and this is the dary of my
birth with Bridy.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So Bridy is now three months old. You had her
just before Christmas.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
She is literally ten weeks today, and she was born
on Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
She was born on Christmas Day, Little Christmas.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Baby, Christmas Surprise.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You're obviously super busy before you felt pregnant, But what
was your plan like before? Did you always want to
have children?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, definitely. I think that's something that Nick and I
had been speaking about for years and years. But it
was one of those funny things that I used to
always think I'd be a really young mum, and I
was like, oh my god, when I'm twenty five, I'm
gonna have three kids.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
And then every year that I got closer to you know,
I was like.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, wway seven, I was like,
oh my goodness, I'm not ready for this.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I'm a child. Children cannot have children.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
And so even when you know, I had Bridy at thirty,
I still didn't feel really ready. I still felt like
a child and I had so much more to do.
It was kind of that bit of a conflict. But
now that she's here, I'm like, yeah, this is meant
to happen.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
When Nick and you have been together for quite a while.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Though, Yeah, eight years.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
But you only got married fairly recently too.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I know, we got married December and twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So what was that. I can't even see.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I say, I can't do baths anymore, baby brain, no
longer can do mouth.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
But yeah, we were married for a year.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You said, you call her Bertie.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
We do call her Bertie.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yes, So I actually Bridy was like the one name
that we agreed on and we knew the sex and
everything in the gender, and I had a whole list
of names and Nick sort of said no, no, no,
no no. So I said Bridy and he said, oh yeah,
I really like that, and I was so shocked. It's
a classic old name, but it's not very common, and
it's got a bit of an Irish tie for us.
(03:12):
I loved the nickname Bertie, but I just thought it
might a bit I don't know. I didn't want to
name her Birdie in case one day she wanted to
have a different kind of name.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But we call it Bertie.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
And was it a planned pregnancy or was it a
little bit of a surprise.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
No, it was definitely planned. We actually were trying for
quite a while. I think that I was on you know,
contraception for I think like six seven years, and I
had that taken out a whole year before we felt pregnant,
so we kind of were trying. I was even trying
before the wedding because I didn't really mind if we were,
you know, pregnant.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
At the wedding.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
But yeah, it did take us probably about six months. Yeah, okay,
not to it's I know she was very wanted. So
what did you feel like when you found out you
were pregnant? Well, funny you asked that, because I was
starting to get a little bit. You get a bit
anxious and you start thinking, Okay, what's happening, Like, why
am I falling pregnant? I had friends around me that
were falling pregnant first try, second try, and you know,
(04:06):
we were all kind of hoping to be aligned together.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I had this silly.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Idea in my head, Okay, well I kind of wanted
to be pregnant before thirty and have my first child.
And it was a night before my thirtieth birthday and
I was just crying to my mom and I was saying,
what's going on. My mom had really struggled as well
to fall pregnant. I'm an IVF baby after numerous rounds
and years and years, so I think it was always
(04:30):
back in my mind that something could happen, and I've
always been a little bit on edge about that, and
I was sort of having a bit of a cry
to her, saying, oh, you know, before thirty, I kind
of want to be pregnant, and she was there for me.
And then it was the next morning. I don't know why,
but I just had a feeling and my period wasn't
even due, and I took a pregnancy test and I
(04:53):
had a faint line on my thirtieth birthday.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
What was your pregnancy like?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
First trimester was a little bit rough, but really nothing
compared to a lot of people. I was nauseous. I
don't think I threw up once, but I was just
the only thing I could eat was vitaweats with butter
and vegimite, and it was just like every day, all day.
Every day, just wanted vegimite. Yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Anything throughout the pregnancy, it was just a normal pregnancy
for you.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
They actually did have a few scares, which was a
little bit concerning. So at the beginning when I had
my first scan, I think we were all so excited,
and then I came home and I bled after my
first scan. I think after like mum's history of miscarriages
and eptopic pregnancies. I was at home with her and
(05:42):
when I said, like, I've got fresh blood sort of things,
she came in and she was just sort of oh
my god, so upset.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
But we're very fortunate.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
My dad's a radiologist and I had had my scan
at his practice, not with him, but somebody else, and
so Mum just called dad straight away and said, can
we please come back in and get like an emergency scan,
like she's bleeding. So the amazing staff stayed back after hours,
raced back up. I was like crying, and then they
(06:12):
did a scan and they said, look, the heartbeats still there.
They could have just been having like you know, the
internal examination sort of disrupted a few things, but take
it easy for a couple of days. So we were
on tender hooks for a while there. And then I
think before that twelve week mark as well, I had
some more bleeding.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Look, we don't know what that was about.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
It well, my ob believes that because I had a
bit of a percenta previa at the beginning, so it
probably was causing that bit of you know, the rupturing
bit of bleeding. But after that second trimester was incredible, easy, brazy.
I felt fabulous. I didn't even feel pregnant. I was
able to do everything, exercise the way I wanted to
eat whatever I wanted to. And then third trimester, I
(06:52):
was hit with terrible pelvic girdle pain.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I feel like we've had very similar pregnancies because I
had the exact same thing.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
And it was the hits because I just I couldn't walk,
could not walk. So I mean, I picked up swimming,
which was great, and I felt like that was amazing,
and I just did pilates, but even by the end
of the play as I couldn't do so pretty much,
it was just like no walking and yep, sit down.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, it's really really painful coming up.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I just start sprinting up the stairs like something out
of a horror film. I'm on my hands and my feet,
like running up the stairs like an animal, screaming help help.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
The baby's coming.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So tell me about going into labor.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Hmmmm, Well, I feel like I have to kind of
set the scene for you a little bit. So Nick
and I decided to move home when we had the
baby because I just thought we're both kind of working.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Nick just started his own business.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I'm not really taking time off, and it'd be nice
to have extra set of hands. So in the lead
up to Christmas, we were like, hey, you probably have to,
you know, get going. Bertie's birthdate wasn't until the eighth
of Jam and we're very relaxed, and so we were
sort of like working towards that date, and I wasn't
really carrying that large and IOB was sort of saying,
(08:15):
I'm happy to sort of let you go to forty
one plus no high risk or anything like that anyway,
So we had only moved out of the house in
that week leading up to Christmas. I remember setting up
the nursery at mum and Dad's house and literally putting
together like the car seat and the capsule and the
pram and everything. On Christmas Eve and that was Nick's
last day of work and we was our one day
(08:36):
we had like we were relaxing. It was so nice,
and we went to a Christmas Eve party that night.
I remember just sort of like, you know, having a
bit of a grumbles, like, oh my god, like, wouldn't
it be nice if the baby came on Christmas Day?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Bit of a present?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I'm so I'm so over this, but you know, obviously,
not thinking anything would happen, went home, went to bed,
and I woke up at about two thirty on Christmas morning,
and I stumbled to the bathroom just thinking I needed to,
you know, go to the toilet. And I was sitting
there doing the longest wee ever, thinking, oh, like, my
(09:10):
brags and hicks feel a bit funny. And I've been
having brax and hicks since thirty weeks, so I was
very used to them, but they just felt a little
bit different, and I thought, oh, maybe I needed to
number two, like you know, something going on there. Couldn't
do number two, so I thought, okay, going back to bed,
I'm gonna sleep this off. Because I had heard so
many horror stories of women who have had like prodromal
(09:31):
labor or you know, these labor signs for so long
and then they don't go into labor. And I just
did not want to be thinking that I was in labor.
So I was like, no, I'm not in labor. Going
to sleep anyway. I lay in bed for another fifteen
twenty minutes and I was like, no, this is I
think I'm in labor. I think these are contractions. Oh
my god, Oh my gosh. So I tapped Nick on
the shoulder. Poor boy was fast asleep, and I said,
(09:53):
I think we're having a Christmas Day baby, and he
woke up.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
What what what?
Speaker 1 (09:58):
I was like, But don't worry. You know, this takes forever.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
This takes so long. Like, go back to sleep. I
need you to be you know, energetic tomorrow. So just
go back to sleep. And quite funny, in the past,
my birth plan was I said, Okay, I know I
want to stay at home for as long as I
can labor at home. So the idea is like when
I start going to labor, I want to like take
the dog for a walk and get out, go to
a cafe. I've heard that, you know, distract yourself because
(10:22):
it will take forever. Anyway, I had just said to him,
go back to sleep, and then I had another contraction,
and I was literally like, oh my gosh, like no, no,
this is this is so painful. How is this the
beginning stages of labor? Anyway, Nick's like should I get up?
And I was like no, no, no, no, it's fine, just.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Go back to sleep. Go back to sleep. Anyway, another contraction,
and I was.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Like Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I was like, we haven't packed a hospital bag.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
So jumped out of bed and started to try and
pack a hospital bag.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Three am in the morning.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I'd pull out about ten bras and I said to Nick,
pack these and he looks at me and he says,
do you need ten bras?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
I said, I don't know what I mean. I can't
I can't think.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
I could not think straight. Every contraction, I was like
on all fours on the ground bearing down. I remember
looking at my dog at one point and she was
just staring at me, and I was staring at her,
and I was thinking, what is going on? This is
so painful. Anyway, so I have to say there was
no hospital bag packed. And then Nick started time my contractions.
They were super irregular, like one was every seven minutes,
(11:24):
one was every three two, so random. So he called
the birth unit at the hospital and we spoke to
the most gorgeous midwife that She said, look what we're after,
especially it's her first labor and everything, and she's literally
just woken up half an hour ago and felt her
first contraction. So what we're looking for is four contractions
(11:45):
within ten minutes. It's like clockwork. So maybe we'll see
you later today kind of thing. She asked, have you
taken panadoal? Have you done any of your at home pain,
you know, relief, had a bath, any of that sort
of thing, And I hadn't at that stage.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So she's like, maybe do.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Some of that. How many weeks were you at this
point thirty.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Eight on the dot? Yep.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
So Nick ran and got me some panadole down the
hatch and then I pretty much vomited it straight up
straight into the bathroom. I remember looking at the toilet,
could see my Christmas Eve dinner, and I was like, great,
there's the ham, there's a cran resource, and there's the patadol.
And then I said, okay, let's hop into the bath.
So I hopped at the bath. It was instant relief.
It was so gorgeous, you know, in between those contractions.
(12:26):
But those contractions were just oh, they were just like
getting really really intense. And it was only about three
point thirty at this point, maybe four, I don't really know,
but I didn't do any birthing classes, but I had
looked at some things on TikTok and I'd seen some
things about like holding combs and whatever else. So I
grabbed one of the combs I had in my drawer,
and I was squeezing it so tightly it was literally
(12:48):
like causing these like dents and like blood was coming
out of my hands.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And I was like, this is doing nothing.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
What do you mean trying to get into like a
meditative state and whatever else? Anyway, nothing was working. I
was just like clenching the bath. I think I was
starting to get a little bit panicked at this point.
I hadn't really felt her kick this whole time, and
I'm used to her being quite active. Also, my waters
hadn't broken, I hadn't lost my mucus plug, so like
none of the things you were kind of told to
(13:15):
expect at the early stages of labor. And I just
thought this was happening way too quick, like this isn't
meant to happen like this. And I also was freaking
out about tearing, because you know, you hear so much
about like, oh my god, tearing and prolapse, and I
just thought something terrible is going to happen here. And
then every time I could feel a contraction, I remember satanick,
(13:36):
I cannot do this, I cannot do this. Another one
is coming and he was just like being amazing and
he was like, yes, you can, you can do this.
And I kept saying, somebody cut me open, like please,
I think it will be better. And I want drugs.
I want the epedeel right now. And I had always
been very happy to have all the medication and the
drugs in the world. I just had to get to
the hospital and I kept saying, I just I need
(13:58):
to be the hospital right now, like I need drugs,
like this is unbearable. And then I remember one contraction
was just unbelievably painful, and I looked down and there
was blood in the bath, and so then I think
I just freaked out. I leaped out of the bath
and I just had this insane urge to push, and
I just I needed to push, and so I over
(14:21):
the toilet and I said to Nick.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I need to like, I need to push.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
And I said, something's coming out, Something's coming out. And
it was just incredibly painful, and I thought I was
having a prolapse or something.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I thought maybe my vagina was coming out of me.
And I could feel I couldn't see it, obviously, I
had a belly in front of me, but I could
feel this soft, warm, wet thing coming out of me
over the toilet, and Nick, poor boy, was trying to
push it back in.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
He was like, oh my god, oh my god. We
don't know. We didn't know what the hell was going on.
And he kept saying to me, should we get your mom?
Should we get your mom?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And I kept saying earlier I'd said no, let her sleep.
And then he was like, I think we need your
mom and dad. And I was like, okay, but we're
going to the hospital right now. He said, okay, but
like you're naked, and I said I don't care, and
he tried to dress me. He got a bra lette
on me. That's it, and I just started running. I
just couldn't tell that I was in the in between
(15:20):
a contract. Now. We have a lot of stairs my
mum and dad's house, probably about like one hundred stairs
from top to bottom. Mom and dad at the top
of the house and we're at the bottom. Pitch black.
This is now, it's like four fifty in the morning.
I just start sprinting up the stairs like something out
of a horror film. I'm on my hands and my feet,
(15:40):
like running up the stairs like an animal.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Screaming, hell, hell, the baby's coming.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And like I was petrified at this point, like I was.
I can laugh at it now, but at the time,
like I thought she was dead or she was like
ejecting herself. Something was really wrong. And Nick, poor boy,
was just left in the bathroom and he was like
he turned around, he was like, where did she go?
Where did she go? And then he could just hear
me screaming. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad Christmas morning, fastest sleep
(16:08):
and they just wake up to blood curdling screams. They
run out into their balcony. They thought the neighbors. Something
was happening with the neighbors, and they ran to the
balcony and they thought, no, no, like that's coming from
inside the house. Mum said she walked back to the
top of the stairs and she just saw me running
naked up the stairs screaming out help, the baby's coming.
(16:32):
And she thought, oh my god, like, what has happened.
Something horrific has happened. What's going on? I ran straight
past her, opened the front door and then hit the
decks and was on all fours having another contraction outside
the front of the house. Luckily we are inside the
front gate, so it's not in the street at this stage.
But I am outside in a bralet, in a brlet
(16:53):
butt naked. And I not a prude, but I was
nervous before birth about the doctors seeing me naked in
the hospital, and at this point I do not care
who sees me naked. It's very animalistic birth, is what
I've learned, and everything what you thought was out the window.
I remember being outside. I'm on the cold stone, you know,
(17:13):
of the ground, and Dad walks out and he says, Franceasca,
come inside, and I just look at him. I'm on
all and I look at him and I say, tell
me what is coming out of me? So, my beautiful dad,
it's a real bonding experience. He did get down on
all fours and he had a good look. I think
someone must have used a flashlight. I don't know how
(17:35):
he saw because it.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Was pitch black outside.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And he started feeling around and he said, he looked
at me and he said, your membranes are bulging. And
I said, Layman's term, what is that? And he said,
it's your amnionic sack. It's coming out of you. But
it hadn't burst, so it was just that's what I
was feeling that was the circular thing, that was the
round thing, and it was like literally hanging out of me,
this big, beautiful sack. And at this stage Nick finally
(18:02):
come outstairs. He had tried to pack some semblance of
a hospital bag. He came upstairs. He said, it was
the strangest scene ever. I'm on all fours, the dog's
running around me, my dad is down touching the amniotic sack.
Mum is trying to find clothes to put on so
she can drive us to the hospital. And Nick just
comes up the stairs with the hospital bag and took
this photo and it is my favorite photo ever because
(18:23):
it just sets the scene perfectly, but obviously because Dad
was sort of manipulating the sack, it broke.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
It broke. Yeah, so there outside the front of the house.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Sorry, can we just back for a second. Your dad
broke your waters?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
My dad broke my waters.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's our headline, literally, But.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
You know what it's like when your waters break. I
feel like it steps up a gear. And then I
remember saying I need to push, and Mum and Dad
both said, do not push.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You hold it in. You hold it in.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
And I was like, I need to push, and they
were like hold it in. I don't know how, but
we managed to get up to the car. Mum was
driving Nick and I to the point where we must
have left so quickly that Dad went to put some
clothes on and or shoes or something, and he came outside.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
We're all gone.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
So I love that we just left the doctor at home,
probably the one person that would have been really handy
in the car, but anyway, that's fine. I remember being
in the backseat. I couldn't sit properly, so I was
sort of straddling the seat arms around the headrest waters
that keep breaking every contraction. I remember Nick and Mum
in the front seat. Mum just remembers beautiful Christmas carols playing.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Apparently.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Nick just kept telling me you're doing amazing, you'd be
amazing at all. I remember asking is is she okay?
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Is she okay? Can I have some drugs? Please? Will
I be allowed drugs? Is she okay?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
And Mum kept saying, I don't know, darling, but I
don't think you'll be a loud drugs You won't be
a loud drugs darling. There was no screaming apart from
when I ran up the stairs. There was like never
a scream. I was kind of like very much within myself.
And then we finally got to the hospital. It took
us I think like ten fifteen minutes to get there,
no traffic on the roads.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
But obviously it's.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Christmas, so there was skeleton staff and there was nobody
at the front doors to the hospital, and so Nick
jumped out of the car, buzzing on the intercom. Security
guard comes on, you know, slowly comes down.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Nick's like, my wife's in labor. My wife's in labor
with the door. So he presses the door. They open.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
He runs around to the back of the car because
he thought, oh, Chester is in the car. I had
a robe luckily packed, and so put that over my
shoulders and I'm shuffling in.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
I have enough contraction. I cannot walk.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
So the doors shut again, so security guard has to
come back open them again for us. Then we shuffle in,
get to the lift, go up the lift to the
maternity ward. One of the midwives meets us there and
I have enough contraction and I cannot walk, and I
remember feeling something coming out of me was different to
the sack, but I was literally having to use my
hand to like hold I believe it's her head, but
(20:56):
I had to hold it in when I kept saying
I can't walk, I can't walk, and a midwife, Maddie,
she said, come with me. You have to walk, like
I need you to get on the bed right now.
So I'm trying to walk mid contraction. As it was
skeleton staff, there was obviously no planned inductions, no plan cesareans,
so there was only two midwives on Christmas morning at
(21:16):
this time, and it just so happened that three women
including myself, had gone into spontaneous labor and we were
all in labor at the same time, so you need
two midwives per birth, and so the midwives were having
to run between the three rooms and you could just
hear screaming from the other two rooms like one of
(21:36):
the other ladies. Unfortunately I met her later where we
were in hospital, but she was in like active labor
and birth when I came in. But the midwives had
to leave her to come to me, and they said
hop on the bed, and I kept asking them like,
please tell me, like is she okay?
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Sheka?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
She k They shut the heart rate monitor on straight away,
and that was the best thing ever because they said
she's absolutely fine, in absolutely no distress whatsoever. Heart rate
is perfectly normal, and I think everyone, Nick, myself, my mum,
we all just we finally could breathe. And then at
that point I thought, okay, like I can do this.
This is fine, She's okay. And then I said, can
(22:12):
I please have some drugs?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Please? Guy, I have some drugs.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And she said I'm sorry no, but you could have
some gas, and so I said okay. So I grabbed
the gas and I had a good suck on that,
and then the midwife said, look that I'm gonna put
my gloves on and just check to see where you're at.
And as she was putting her gloves on, she came
up to me and put her hand on my shoulder
and she said, you just do what you need to do.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And I said I need to push, and she said, yeah,
you just do what you need to do. So I
think it was.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Three pushes and she was born. So we arrived at
the hospital at five eleven and time of birth is
five twenty one.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
My hairs are standing up on end, so you had
a precipitous birth.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Well, from when I felt the first interaction, it was
under three hours from when I gave birth. Wow, I
would have had a home birth if we hadn't left
when we had left, or if I hadn't actually held
her in while I was in the car, because I
could really feel that urge to push, and I was
actively pulling up, pulling in.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Wow, I'm just trying, I know.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
To be there for a shock. Trust me, I was
in quite a lot.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Of Okay, so obviously this is not what you were expecting,
not at all. So they put Bertie up on your chest. Yeah,
how are you feeling? Are you in just complete shock?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
So that probably was the hardest part of it all.
I think I just hadn't really had time to figure
out what was going on, and there was so much
anxiety around what was going on. I think, like knowing
obviously that it was all just happening very naturally and
was meant to happen. If I have another child and
I happened to have that kind of birth, I think
it'd be a very different situation. But that being my
(23:52):
first birth and first labor and not being at the hospital,
alarm bells are ringing, and so when they did put
her on my chest, I couldn't even look at her.
I was like incomplete, not a shock, and I just
I think I was like disassociating.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I remember just like not looking at her and just
looking at Nicker, looking at my mom, and I never
felt that. People kept saying, oh my gosh when they
you know, that's like the most incredible feeling ever, and
they put the baby in your chest and like it's euphoric,
And I did not feel that at all. It actually
took me like a couple of weeks, I think, to
feel that. I don't know the endorphins, I guess, but
(24:28):
I remember like the first twenty four hours in hospital,
I couldn't sleep because every time I closed my eyes,
like I was transported back to home, and like the
pain and what was happening and the fear. Yeah, I
just like wasn't really coping with it in that first
twenty four hours.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I mean, I think that's completely understandable. That's probably your
body's like fight or flight kicking in. You know, that's
a trauma response, right, Like you know, you didn't know
what was going on. It was all happening so quickly,
and you know when someone tells you, oh it's fine,
it's your first birth, it'll be a while. This is
your first contract. You're only at thirty eight weeks, like,
you'll be right, yeah, and then it all happens that quickly.
(25:05):
I can imagine that would be really, really challenging for you.
So in terms of your recovery physically, was there any complications?
Were you okay?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
So that's a good question because I also that was
my biggest fear, obviously, thinking such a quick berth could
mean a lot of damage down there. I only had
a labial tear, I know. I thought I might have had,
you know, peraneal tear. Nothing, so I was super super fortunate.
I think one of the midwives said afterwards, well, I
(25:37):
think you're just a natural born berth, and I was like, great,
well there's my claim to fame. And they kept saying
that if we do decide to have another one, Nick
will probably have to learn how to deliver or I
literally stay opposite the hospital and come in as soon
as I feel that first contraction.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Wow, yep, this is not that long ago. Are you recovered?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah? I don't know. Like I.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Laugh about it now and I think, yeah, it's wild,
but I still get emotional, like even thinking about it.
Because I just remember sort of the shock and like
I do remember the fear I felt. But I'm also
very conscious of the fact that I've had almost like
the dream birth, I think as well, like for a
lot of women, you know, you labor for a very
long time and then a lot of you know, emergency
(26:26):
cesareans and that sort of thing. So I'm very aware
that I had a very fortunate birth as well.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
What an amazing story. And did your dad make a
che us?
Speaker 1 (26:36):
But no, never, he just got left on.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
No.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I think I didn't see Dad until I think Mom
face timed him like well, obviously probably twenty minutes after
we left home. I don't think he was expecting us
to be calling with the news of a baby. I
think when Mum called him, he was like, how is she?
And then Mum just put the phone to my face
and yeah, there I was with the bub.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Marry Christmas, Grandpa and.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Gramby, I know, and I think we all obviously had
Christmas lunch plans, Nick with his family, me with my family,
so all of that got canned and yeah, it was
really nice. So we had both of our families come
in on Christmas Day and meet her. So it was
like the most special Christmas Day ever.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah, that's beautiful. Is there anything that you would change
about that situation? Knowing what you know now?
Speaker 3 (27:23):
The one thing my mom would like me to have
changed is to have let her know earlier that I
was in labor, because I think the poor thing said
that I've taken about ten years off her life because
seeing her daughter screaming like that and thinking that also
her grandchild may not have been in a good way,
and her child, she said that was just her fit.
She said, you know the love that you feel for
your child, now, that's what I have for you. And
(27:45):
then can you imagine, you know, your child screaming like that?
So she said, would it be nice if I knew
maybe you were in labor a little bit earlier? And
I said, Mom, it would have been nice to find
you I was in labor a bit earlier. I didn't
even know what's going on, So probably just that.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, that's an incredible story. Francesca, thank you, thank you.
Here a diary of a birth. We want you to
be armed with all the information. And today we have
obstitution and gynecologist doctor Bromin Devine to answer some of
her burning medical questions, So, how common is a precipitous
(28:25):
birth in a first pregnancy.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
It's not super common for a woman in her first
or a person in their first labor to birth precipitously,
but it's not unheard of. What we tend to do
is say to people who are having their first baby, oh,
don't worry, you'll have plenty of time. There's plenty of
time to call the midwives and chat them through how
you're going, and they'll let you know whether you need
(28:48):
to come in. Because we do see people who've had
babies before, and certainly people who've had relatively quick labors
before have precipitous births, and sometimes births before they actually
get to hospital. But it's not at all common for
a woman in her first labor to labor quickly. We often,
you know, sort of we're really excited and happy for
(29:09):
people who have a quick labor because you know, oh,
lucky you you didn't have to endure hours and hours
of horrible labor pains. But you know, it can be
quite terrifying for someone who you know, can action start
and then all of a sudden, they're really hitting hard
and they're coming with great frequency and they're getting a
lot stronger really quickly, and then suddenly you know, there
(29:29):
can be an urge to push, which someone in their
first birth who hasn't labored before, you know, would find
really quite confronting in some ways. So precipitous births are
much more common, as I say, in women who've had
babies before, and certainly women who've had precipitous births before.
If someone comes to you and says, look, this is
my third baby and my first baby I barely made
(29:50):
it to the hospital, then you'll usually say, look, will
be really cautious, make sure that you know, as a
baby gets to be due, don't go too far from
the hospital. You know, I definitely don't take a trip
up from the Hunter or anything like that. Just stay
close by, you know, the minute you think things are happening,
let's just get you in. So we anticipate if someone's
had a precipitous birth before that they likely to do
(30:11):
it again. But in Francesca's case very different because it
was her first baby. Other things that can make labor
go faster. Sometimes if people have got a bit of
high blood pressure, it's all my like when they get
up to term, their body says, right, I've had enough
of this pregnancy. Now in your high blood pressure, it's
time to just get this show on the road, and
so your body just takes over and lets labor happen
(30:31):
quite quickly. So we do see that sometimes, and certainly
when babies are smaller or premature. A woman who's laboring
would say a prem baby can sometimes have quite a
close cervix and then an hour later be fully dilated.
So that's another reason. But in Francesca's case, it sounded
like she just was someone who is very good at
this and did it in a really rapid way. But
(30:53):
it definitely, you know, something that is scary, because she
would have probably gone to birth classes or spoke to
her friends or spoke to her care providers, and they
would have likely said, oh, you'll be fine, you've got hours,
You've got hours, and that you know, when people ring
up the hospital and they say, look, I'm my contractions
have started and I'm wondering if I should come in.
(31:13):
The midwives will oftense ask you to describe the contractions
you're having and how long they're lasting, and how long
they've been going on like that, and whether you know
you've had any bleeding or any fluid, come away, and
if the baby's moving and you're feeling well otherwise. So
they'll ask a lot of questions and then sometimes over
the phone, make an assessment. Look, it sounds like you're
not quite in good labor yet. I thinks stay at
(31:35):
home a little bit longer if you're happy to. And
you can always say, look, I know you think I
probably should stay home, but I really would like to
come in and just be checked out. I'm worried or
I'm anxious about you know, my mum had a very
fast birth, or my sister did you know that sort
of thing, So you can it's very much an individualized thing.
It's not a hard and fast rule. You have to
(31:56):
stay at home until your contractions up this far apart
lasting this long for this amount of time. For some people,
they get contractions and they're worried, you know, they're just
not sure. It's always fine to go in. You can
always go home if you're in early labor and the
midwives think or your doctor thinks, that it's going to
be a while yet. And some people want to come
in in early labor and just be there because they
(32:18):
feel safer. This so it's we very much to visualize it,
but for Francesca, it sounded like she really just cracked on,
and that's you know, not at all common in your
first pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Diary of a Birth was hosted by me Casseniya Lukitch,
with expert input from doctor Bronwin Devine. If you have
a birth story, we'd love to hear from you. Details
are in the show notes. This episode was produced by
Tina Mattiloff and myself Casseniya Lukitch, with audio production by
Leah Porges,
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