You can hear Kyree talk about her first two births in Episode 116 . Her first birth with baby Alaska involved two weeks of false labour, an induction at 39weeks and an episiotomy that took months to heal. In preparation for her second birth, she did a Hypnobirthing Australia course that shifted her mindset around birth and she journeyed into her induction with an incredibly positive and determined perspective. She delivered an 11pound baby boy and suffered a severe 3C tear, an experience that she shares in detail.

Kyree admits that it took her a while to conceive both Alaska and Loxley but baby Denver was a lovely surprise, conceived after a Michael Buble concert on a now unforgettable date night. She kept the pregnancy a secret till she was 30weeks, a choice that both delighted and confused her loyal followers. Regardless, she enjoyed the quiet of her little secret and apart from debilitating morning sickness that coincided with a month-long stint of solo parenting and severe back pain in her third trimester, she had a pretty smooth pregnancy.

Despite the confidence of her second birth, Kyree started to feel nervous and unprepared for her third. She touched base with Renee from The Birth Space who reminded her about the hypnobirthing techniques that resonated with her during Loxley’s pregnancy. She was under the care of her OB who supported her decision for a vaginal delivery despite her previous tear.

Denver was measuring average size throughout the pregnancy yet Kyree’s OB believed that an induction would reduce the risk of tearing. On the flipside, Kyree’s research proved that induction often leads to a higher risk of intervention and subsequently, a higher chance of tearing. After considering her options, Kyree felt positive about the opportunity to control the start of her labour and she booked an induction for 39weeks.

In the lead up she started experiencing very mid surges and did all she could to induce naturally; acupressure, expressing colostrum, nipple stimulation and inserting evening primrose tablets to soften the cervix.

On labour day she arrived at the hospital at 8:30am. The plan involved breaking her waters followed by a syntocin drip but her water’s were too high and therefore, her OB couldn’t reach them.

“I didn’t go in with a birth plan but I did have birth preferences. I requested minimal internals, I didn’t want to be told if I was only 4cm as I didn’t want to be disappointed and once the baby was born I wanted someone to take photos.”

One the OB applied the prolactin gel Kyree had to move from the birthing suite into an observation room as the labour ward was full (14 babies were born on the same day!). She made it her own; played music, used essential oils and got in the zone.

“We were in that room all day and I remember saying to Ben: I’m going to miss the opportunity to have my epidural” I just knew, deep down I knew. The surges were getting really painful and coming quite quickly and despite my desire to have very few internals, the idwives checked me every few hours and I hadn’t progressed past 3cm. I walked around the hospital, did 20 laps of the stairs and at 5:30pm they put in another round of gel and shortly afterward I begged for the epidural so they got me to walk up to the birthing suite.

“During that short walk I had five surges so I had to keep stopping and leaning on the wall. I got there and the anaesthetist was waiting and I was screaming at her, calling her every name under the sun, but during the process as I was curled up over the pillow getting the epidural administered I had to keep stopping because I was having a surge. She ended up doing the epidural and I rolled over onto my back.

“The language that was coming out of me was horrific and Gary (OB) checked me and I was having a surge and I said: Get your fucking hand out of me!  but he was trying to move a cervical lip. My body took over and I didn’t even know that I was pushing. I had no control, it felt like an outer body experience. Even though I’d had the epidural it wasn’t working and I was hysterical, I can’t even explain it, it was a horror movie, I was hysterically screaming and swearing. That was my way of pushing the baby out because it was the first time I’d felt it, with the other two I’d had an epidural.”

Denver’s heart rate plummeted in the final ten minutes of labour so with an episiotomy he was delivered quickly yet it took two nurses vigorously rubbing him and asking him to breathe before he took his first breath.

“Because I dilated so fast Denver dropped down so quickly and smashed his head into my pelvis, he came out completely black because of that. Ben was bawling because he was taking in everything that had happened, he’d seen how panicked everyone had been trying to get Denver out.”

Kyree and Ben spent three hours in the birthing suite, enjoying skin-to-skin with Denver and debriefing the almighty day they had. It was during this time that a few of the midwives noticed Denver had a tongue tie so a few days later, Kyree’s OB cut it. Denver has fed beautifully ever since although she admits that he’s so relaxed, he’d rather sleep than eat.