This in-depth post follows on from Ziggy’s Dramatic Arrival at the Gold Coast Birth Centre – A Mother’s Review (Part 1)
Want the 5 minute version of this? See Ziggy’s Birth Story in Numbers (it includes a video of us talking about the surprising delivery)
To recap, Ziggy Lionheart Anderson arrived on 20 February 2021 at the Gold Coast Birth Centre. It was a phenomenal and dramatic birth. Despite Ziggy being my third baby (and son) in 5 years, my pregnancy, labour and post-partum experiences were radically different to Forrest and Charlie’s journeys. I’ve learned so much from him already.
FYI, I refer to core services midwives and birth centre midwives below. The former work with doctors and mums in the wards, so are more used to inductions and giving epidurals etc. The latter work with mums who have been accepted to the birth centre. They are trained to assist with active labour techniques, water births and to deliver women-centred care.
All three of my children have been born in birth centres (Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital x 2, Gold Coast University Hospital x 1).
9 Challenges of Ziggy’s Birth and their Hidden Blessings (continued)
Challenge 5: The core services midwife didn’t realise I was about to give birth and then panicked. As I wrote in Part 1, I am Chinese and a long-term meditator (with possible ASD). So I show less feelings. Being a third-time mum, I also laboured quietly as I wanted to conserve energy. I’ve learned over time and through yogababy’s Active Birth classes, that yelling is not as effective at moving baby out, as low-pitched vocalising and hip circles, so I only made noise at the end. That’s my way, I’m not judging anyone else’s style.
Perhaps due to my calm, fast labour, the midwife appeared to have no idea how far along I was, until I told her. At that point, she tried to get me on the bed – which I refused to do as baby’s head was out and I couldn’t walk! Plus, I wanted to birth upright, as I had done before. After the birth, she walked out without a congratulations or goodbye, despite Kris thanking her.
Hidden blessing: Kris saw us fighting and did something so cool, that I fell in love with him even more. Just writing about it is making me cry as I type this (at 11.11pm, no less). The midwife asked him to press the help button, but no one came. Then she called for him to bring a towel. Kris could only find one we had brought to hospital. As he came over, he saw Ziggy crowning and instinctively squatted and pulled the baby out from my clothing (I was fully dressed still). Wow!
It is so rare for a father to co-deliver a baby like that. The birth centre midwives joked that we had a home birth inside the maternity ward. You’ll laugh but I thought Kris was just standing around until the day afterwards. I was like, ‘that’s great how the midwife caught Ziggy’ and Kris said ‘actually I was the one who gave him to her…’
Kris is a 28/10/1 life path Pioneer in numerology, as is Mashenka Barlag (who helped me prepare for birth). They are known for their healing hands and ability to handle crises. You can trust a 1 life path with your life. Forrest’s midwife is a 1 too. In fact Nicole woke up as I went into labour with Ziggy, after a Spirit called her name (!) Like us, she’s an 11:11 See’r.
Ziggy’s birth was a spiritual initiation for me and Kris. He’s been a new man since then. Fortunately, he had watched David Hasselhoff delivering a baby on Baywatch days prior and attended to yogababy classes with me, where they teach you to catch a baby. We’d joked about him delivering Ziggy for months. As psychics, it’s possible we knew that the birth would be unusual. Ziggy’s astrology shows he has a past-life bond with Kris, so it’s perfect that his father’s hands were the first touch he felt.
Challenge 6: The birth centre midwife pressed birth emergency, which caused all staff on duty to run into the room. Although she got there before Ziggy came out, the core services midwife sent her away instead of handing over (long story). When she returned, things were a bit crazy.
Ironically, I had spent an hour with her the week before, saying I didn’t want extra observers for Ziggy’s labour, after a drama at Forrest’s birth. So much for my control freak streak. Motherhood is one long exercise in letting go and letting Go(o)d. As a 9 life path Old Soul, Ziggy is here to teach me and others to trust in a bigger picture.
The birth centre midwife said she called the others because she couldn’t see what was going on (due to me birthing in a corner). She said ‘the staff were only there to observe, then they left’. In my head, I was like ‘grrr, birthing is sacred, you should birth in a dark, private room under similar conditions you made the baby in.’ It took me a while to accept she did the right thing. After all, birth can be a life or death matter, even in this modern world.
Hidden blessing: After months of reflection, I can see that this event helped me to clear buried memories from childhood and from the 2004 tsunami, which I missed by 10 minutes. That day also involved people running towards me. His birth opened my heart in ways I never thought possible. After submitting written and verbal feedback, I heard from a manager that all the midwives above were given extra training, as were other staff. So our story has changed lives already.
Challenge 7: Due to a staff oversight, I had two post-birth internal checks. Although the first one was uncomfortable, I didn’t mind it as I wanted to be sure I didn’t tear. It was the second one, performed by a different staff member I’d never met, that triggered my anger. I was upset at having extra things done when I’d already had a dramatic labour.
Hidden blessing: I found my voice! Speaking about Ziggy not only brought me new friends, it led me to seek help from the GCUH women’s health physiotherapist (who has been amazing) plus Danni Gillham from The Wellness Boutique. In the process of healing, I’ve been releasing habits from childhood (such as holding on for too long), that I now believe contributed to my eating disorder diagnosis in 2013.
Here’s a quote from my blog on anorexia/ orthorexia: “SO many people I know with eating issues are simply leaders who are afraid to grow up, due to a lack of positive role models. Once they let go of the need to control, everything blooms really quickly. My life is proof of this.”
I have no doubt that part of my illness was the fear of becoming pregnant, having a painful birth and hating motherhood. I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self how much she would LOVE being a mama.
Just look at these photos – Forrest, Charlie and Ziggy are my life’s work.
Challenge 8: I found breastfeeding Ziggy difficult – to the point I wanted to give up. I thought it was be easy to nurse him, given I had only recently weaned Charlie, my 3.5 year old. However Ziggy was born a week early (and smaller than our other boys). Like Forrest, our firstborn (also a 9 life path), Ziggy had a tongue and lip tie, plus jaundice.
So, he kept falling asleep instead of draining my milk. Also, I had little chance to rest after the birth, due to having two kids at home. I was so tired and used to nursing while lying down that I persisted, even though it was obvious Ziggy was getting reflux and not able to latch well. Poor little guy!
Not only did I have to put him on a bottle at 4 days old, there was one night that my boobs were so sore he couldn’t feed and I couldn’t pump. That was the pits. Fortunately, he fell asleep in Kris’s arms, allowing me time to heal.
After seeing lactation consultant Shona Cassels, who was amazingly helpful, we ended up getting his tongue tie released (thanks Dr. Fergus Ring for the procedure and Dr. Nicole Hutchison for being my GP).
Hidden blessing: I’ve never had so many people touch my boobs! That was a heart chakra clearing in itself. For me, the spiritual meaning of mastitis and blocked milk ducts was ‘feeling inflamed about a painful let down and struggling to express one’s feelings’. After all, MILK and LOVE have the same vibration in numerology (18/9). I plan to post more on this topic soon.
As part of healing from near-mastitis (it was more breast trauma than infection), I had many baths, massages and acupuncture sessions, where I disovered my Liver energy was stuck due to power struggles with family (thank you Savitri Wiednya and Tia Yoong for your kindness). I also took homoeopathy (Phytolacca), which made a rapid difference – thanks to my postnatal doula Kate Porter.
During these times, I saw the faces of people who were leaching my energy as I cut energetic cords. I had visions of my past and the future with Ziggy. He took me astral travelling to his home planet, which is full of jungles. Basically, his birth propelled me into the 4th stage of 11:11 awakening. I am much more grounded, gracious and able to embrace my wobble now.
Challenge 9: I had to give up feeling superior to my mum. There were a few days where the birth centre midwives put Ziggy on a feeding plan to clear his jaundice and improve weight gain. That meant I had to wake every 2 hours to feed, pump and track his progress, while recovering from the birth. ARGH. Being so disciplined broke my brain and helped me realise that I’d had a fairly easy ride with Forrest and Charlie.
I had to call every one I knew for support and am much more sensitive to other mothers’ feelings now. Until recently, I felt my mother should have breastfed me as a baby but after what happened with Ziggy I understand what may have happened. I have a tongue-tie too, plus my mum had no support or friends around. If it was hard for me with so much help, I can imagine her struggle.
We’ve also been to see so many doctors, nurses and healers that I’ve overcome my anxiety around hospitals and have renewed faith in Spirit. For example, Ziggy needed blood tests for prolonged jaundice, which required 3 nurses and me to hold him down (pretty confronting).
Can you believe the main nurse recognised me? She had taken my blood years ago and follows The Numbers Queen on Facebook. That was funny. We talked about repeating numbers to take my mind off things. BTW Ziggy was fine – Mashenka and I muscle-tested him the next day and he showed no distress, because the procedure was done with love.
Hidden blessing: I’ve had to be compassionate and walk my talk more now than ever. Ask for help. Cry in public. Drop the mask. Go offline. Let go of my expectations that having a third baby would be a walk in the park (it’s been more like trekking part of the Kokoda trail).
It’s taken months to recover from Ziggy’s birth, versus days or weeks with the others. Although physically I’m okay apart from fatigue (I trained with Leah Williams up to birth), mentally and emotionally it’s been hair-raising. Talk about a dark night of the Soul.
In one of my acupuncture sessions to clear blocked milk ducts, I saw my whole body covered in butterflies. From that moment, I started getting better and feeling like I hadn’t failed Ziggy. Perhaps it was my late friend Butterfly, a 33 life path Master Healer, paying us a visit.
She was a conscious parent as well. Just before she died from cancer at 44 years old, she said ‘Enjoy yourself. Seriously, life’s pretty enigmatic. It doesn’t matter what number you are, or what colour your hair is…it’s just a matter of letting yourself be the biggest being you can be…I believe in reincarnation, I also believe you’ve only got one chance in a certain moment.’
Conclusion
As you can tell. It’s been a journey. Almost every day since Ziggy landed, I see 911 – he is a 9 life path Old Soul and I am an 11 life path Spiritual Messenger, so that gives me goosebumps. See this post on 911 numerology – the global healers code.
I’ve now had dozens of people comment on Ziggy’s Buddha-like presence . People come up to us constantly, sometimes bursting into tears. After I gave Ziggy to an older lady to hug and she said ‘I can’t see my grandkids due to the travel restrictions. I will never, ever forget this day.’ See How We Met an Angel in an Op Shop
These sweet experiences have given me hope that Ziggy’s birth was the perfect storm he needed to incarnate as a Rainbow Child. I see rainbows around him, especially rainbow roses. He’s a special Soul.
Did you know? I communicated with Ziggy in 2018, when he appeared in a Tarot reading with my husband Kris. Back then, we thought he was a girl! I thought we had a third child coming, based on my Children’s lines in palmistry. I asked Ziggy to wait 2 years, which he helpfully did. Our babies truly choose us, and vice versa. There are no accidents.
Thank you to everyone involved in Ziggy’s pregnancy, birth and our recovery. To the midwives at the Gold Coast Birth Centre, it was an adventure and a half. Thanks for the encouragement pre- and post-birth. We are very appreciative of your support and all the learnings.
I just heard my inner voice reciting this quote ‘one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.’ (Nietzsche) Indeed.
You rarely hear mothers say ‘I did a great job in labour’, but I am proud of myself for having the courage to stand and deliver. Looks like I’ll need to do another stand up comedy set soon with jokes about Ziggy…
Stay tuned for more articles on conscious pregnancy and labour.
Publishing this at 9.11am!
P.S. As I finished this blog, Ziggy started giggling in my arms for the FIRST time. He sure knows how to have the last laugh. Amazing.
P,P.S. Note: Links to this blog have been sent to the Gold Coast Birth Centre. They have replied and thanked me for sharing it.
Related Links
Find your life path
All Ziggy Lionheart articles including:
Ziggy’s Birth Story in Numbers (includes video – posted above)
My Birth Mentor Suzanne Swan from Yogababy Brisbane
Baby Ziggy says ‘Hi’ at 8 weeks and ‘Yeah’ at 10 weeks!
10 Ways Making Breastmilk is like Making Money I donated breastmilk after Ziggy stopped taking a bottle. It was a thought-provoking decision.
Conscious Parenting, Pregnancy and Fertility Resources including:
7 Discoveries About Babies That Blew My Brain – A Psychic’s Tale
Hello Charlie! My 333 Angel Baby Arrives (born Aug 2017)
Forrest’s 11:11 Birth Story – A Piece of (Chocolate) Cake (born Feb 2016)|
Also see Birth Time – The Documentary (fascinating movie – I will review it soon)
Feedback on this post: “Hi Sarah, I just read parts 1 and 2 (2 for first time). 2 made me cry! Love the photos, in the one of Ziggy with the boys you can just clearly see this young man knows EXACTLY what he’s about.
So many people today have lost the understanding that birth is a spiritual process. Everyone sees it as a medical event. The shift to hospital birth (in US starting 100 years ago, in Britain significantly later —hence “Call the Midwife” series from the memoir which took place in the fifties!) that shift to hospitals is what did it.
Medical-technological childbirth is now the norm and the invisible negative effects on child development and families are now completely silted over by time and viewed as the norm/ just the way things are/ blamed on other things. Every woman who speaks on a public platform about this is doing a public service. A workshop with author Joseph Chilton Pearce (The Crack in the Cosmic Egg) years before I ever had kids changed my life and that of my children. So I was lucky. Speak out!” Helen Winslow-Black, author and wonderful long-time psychic readings client. Helen is a 43/7 life path Spiritual Teacher. Find your life path
