About me
My name is Sophie Armstrong and I am a certified doula in birth and postpartum at Birth Hero. I am French, I live on the Sunshine Coast in Australia with my husband Sam and our two beautiful girls, Sadie and Pia.
From two blue lines to babe in arms, I’ve got you!
Did you know that going through pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period is like entering an alternate universe? As a mom myself, I realized how crucial it is for us ladies to have some solid support during this monumental transition to motherhood. Every hero needs a mentor, right?
During my own journey, I saw a severe lack of consistent care and heard so many stressful stories about childbirth from my friends, as well as so much shame, guilt and regret. And let's not forget society's expectation for us to bounce back like superheroes just weeks after giving birth!
Personally, I LOVED giving birth and all this got me super passionate about supporting women through this amazing yet challenging time. So, I started my doula training with the awesome Vicki Hobbs at Doula Training Academy and created my unique birth and postpartum support business with a fresh take.
My ultimate goal is to make sure every woman and her partner feel confident, informed, and excited about their birth experience. I want them to look back on it with all the good feels and memories. Because let's be real, bringing a little human into the world is one wild and crazy ride, but with the right support, it can be a blast!
My birth stories
Sadie - born 3rd November 2019, 52cm, 3.8kg
I’ve always wanted to be a mother. I cannot explain why. But I know that is something that deep down I knew would fulfill me in my life and make me complete.
I married Sam in August 2018 and we started discussing trying for a baby. We were living and working in Melbourne at the time. We went to a party one night and decided to give it a try. It worked! First try! I really did not think it would happen that fast…
The next few days were pretty stressful. I didn’t know who to tell, whether to be happy or not. I was just really anxious because I felt totally unprepared for what to come. Our lives were a lot of parties, friends without kids, it was hard to hide the fact that I wasn’t drinking alcohol. I stopped hanging out with my colleagues because I felt removed from conversations and removed from the fun. I had 5 migraines in a row and felt nauseous most of the first trimester. I was also afraid to tell my family because my sister and my sister in law both had miscarriages in the past, so I was too afraid to tell them then lose the baby. So overall the first trimester, I felt lonely, sick and isolated.
I started feeling better after week 11-12 after telling our families once the risk of miscarriage had significantly decreased. We started planning our future and looking ahead. Discussing baby names. Projecting ourselves as a family of three. Plus, the nausea stopped, and the happy hormones started kicking in and therefore I felt better and I was laughing a lot. Things were looking up!
I had 3 ultrasounds at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne where I gave birth. I had 4 appointments with a different midwife each time. My pregnancy was low risk and going well, and therefore didn’t require me to come regularly for check ups. It also meant that I had very limited support during my pregnancy - physically or emotionally. I was still worried and fearful about what to expect of labor.
I decided to follow a hypnobirthing course with my husband from the Positive Birth Company. That helped A LOT! I was given the knowledge and the tools that I needed to anticipate my child’s birth in the most peaceful, serene and fearless way possible. I felt amazing and I looked forward to giving birth and meeting my baby.
My due date arrived. Nothing happened. I did three sessions of acupuncture to induce labor. The morning after the third one, we left for the weekend to Geelong, 1 hour away from Melbourne. I was at 40 weeks + 4 days. That night, we were sleeping in our friends’ guest room. I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling like I needed to pee. My waters broke. I ruined the bed and the carpet…
We called the RW hospital and they said to come to get checked. Our friends wished us luck (they have 3 kids so they were very excited for us) and we took the road at 3am. My contractions then started in the car, I was giggling with excitement. I started timing them on my app. They were getting closer in time (less than 5 minutes apart) and more intense so I told my husband (the best birth partner ever) to start counting my breathing, just like we’d learn in hypnobirthing. In for 4, out for 8. For some reason, it helped me to hear my husband count. I was more disciplined in my breathing if he was counting. He counted each and every single one of my surges for the next 8 hours…
We arrived at the hospital at about 4am. I waited in the emergency room for a bit then they showed me upstairs to an assessment room. They realized there that the amniotic fluid was tinted. Baby had pooped in the sac. They told me they would have to induce me in the morning if I wasn’t in active labor by then.
They put me in a birthing suite with a bathtub as I wanted to have a water birth. But they told me that I couldn’t have a water birth anymore because of the meconium of the amniotic sac. They needed to closely monitor the baby’s heart rate. My contractions at that point were still going and getting stronger but still manageable with my breathing technique. They put a monitor on the baby’s head through my vagina. The midwife was very gentle but it was still a bit uncomfortable.
By 7am, they came to have a look at how dilated my cervix was, it was 4 cm dilated so they said no need to induce, keep going, you’re doing great. At that point, contractions were getting more intense. So I started getting in the zone…
I was sitting on a yoga ball pretty much the entire time, leaning onto my husband Sam, hanging on to his neck and shoulder or his forearms. He was counting each surge and I just breathed through them. Contractions got more and more intense. The midwife finished her shift and another one replaced her. I had never met any of these before at my previous appointments. After a couple of hours, I decided to take the gas. It took the edge off a little bit, but I also stopped being connected to reality.
At about 10.30am, I felt an urge to poop. I went to the bathroom but nothing was coming. I just felt the urge to push. So I thought, this is it! But no, the midwife had a look and told me I was only at 7cms. The baby had shifted position and the head was pushing on one side of the cervix only. It was going posterior. So she said not to push now, otherwise I would make some damage. But it was becoming too difficult to control the urge to push, and breathe through my contractions which were becoming extremely painful. So the midwife suggested an epidural.
So, I didn’t want an epidural initially, I wanted to birth my baby in the water naturally. But I wasn’t in the water. And I was in intense pain. I was also on the gas which meant I was a little bit disconnected. Therefore, we talked with my husband and we decided to say yes to the epidural. I was afraid of the epidural because of the big needle, and I also have scoliosis and back issues. Therefore I was a little bit apprehensive. The anesthetist took 45 minutes to arrive, I was making a lot of noise by then. Then it took him another 45min to manage to put the epidural in because my contractions were so close to each other, I was moving a lot. My husband was holding me but I was away with the fairies. I now know that I was transitioning.
At 12pm, the epidural was in, the doctor only gave me a light dose and I felt better. I stopped taking the gas so I came back in touch with the real world. The urge to push was gone. The midwife had a look and said: oh, you’re at 10! Great, now you can push!
So my first reaction to that was, oh well what was the point of the epidural then? But retrospectively, it might have relaxed me a little bit in order to gain the last centimeter I needed. The midwife told me to rest and she said she’ll come back in an hour to push the baby out.
So we rested, the pain was gone, I felt much better. An hour later, the midwife came back, and she said: are you ready to push that baby out? The midwife was supposed to end her shift but she stayed with us which I really appreciated. I was ready to meet my baby. The epidural was wearing off already so I felt the surges but very mildly. I had to stay on the bed to push, so I tried to sit as upright as possible but it wasn’t ideal. I remember I tried to kneel on the bed but I couldn't. So I started pushing lying on my back, practicing my down breathing technique from hypnobirthing. The midwife was impressed. I did three pushes like that. She said that we were almost there and the baby’s heart rate was slowing down. I had to give it my all now. Which I did. One last big push and my baby was out! Looking up!
The midwife instantly gave it to me on my chest. My husband was crying. I was crying too. Just writing this makes me emotional again. It was such an intense and powerful moment in our lives. After a few minutes, I thought, hey, what is it? So I pushed the umbilical cord and found out our baby was a girl! I was so surprised, in my mind, even though my husband was hoping for a girl, I had sort of thought it’d be a boy. But I was so happy. We were so happy! Our baby girl was there, all was well.
Well, minus a slight postpartum hemorrhage and a tear that required 13 stitches. But I can tell you, it healed beautifully, in a matter of days, because it was a natural tear, not an episiotomy.
My postpartum was ok. I was home the next day. I felt like I had been run over by a truck but I was walking and out and about after 2 days. I chose to breastfeed and it was difficult the first week or so. Our girl wasn’t latching on properly so it was very painful but she finally figured it out and I was able to breastfeed her for 14 months. I loved it.
I had appendicitis 5 weeks after the birth which ruined an otherwise “easy” postpartum. I was taken into surgery and wasn’t able to lift my baby for 6 weeks until I was completely recovered.
We named our daughter Sadie Louise Armstrong. And she became our whole world. Until…
Until we decided that one wasn’t enough and we wanted another one of the same! So when Sadie was about 13 months, we gave it another try and again, I got pregnant instantly. Baby number two was on the way.
Pia - born 7th September 2021, 51cm, 3.2kg
When I was pregnant with my second baby, I felt much better mentally than the first time. I felt less isolated, we had more friends with kids, I knew what to expect etc. But it was draining physically. My last pregnancy was barely a year before, Sadie was a good sleeper but she always woke up so early and my work was intense at the time. I was very very tired! My body was sore, I had restless leg syndrome and a lot of Braxton Hicks, especially in third trimester. I couldn’t stay still except when I was sleeping at night. But I was really looking forward to giving birth again.
I was convinced I was having another girl but we kept the surprise again, it had been such a wonderful moment finding out the gender when Sadie was born. Deep down, I knew it was another girl…
I chose to give birth at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne again. This time, I managed to get allocated the same midwife during the end of my pregnancy and for my labor and birth. Her name was Roxie.
I finished work one week before my due date. Sadie was at daycare, I spent the days reading, walking, going to coffees with friends and going for acupuncture and massages. Living the dream!
The following week, two days before I was due, I was reading by the pool and felt mild contractions happening. It was around 11am. I kept reading for another 30 min. I went back inside and told my husband who luckily was also on parental leave since the day before. I called Roxie the midwife to let her know. She said if they were getting somewhat stronger to come to the hospital where she would meet me. The contractions were far apart and very mild, we had lunch and I didn’t feel anything until I got up after we were finished. That contraction was somewhat stronger so I called the midwife again, she said to come to the hospital, she’ll meet me there. It was 12pm.
We arrived at the hospital 30 min later with our hospital bag. Roxie was waiting for us. I almost wanted to pretend that my contractions were stronger than they actually were, so she wouldn’t send me back home but the reality was, the contractions I felt were getting regular but were still extremely mild compared to my first labor.
Roxie still took us to a birthing suite and at 1pm, we were settled, our music was on, the lights were sort of dim. Not that I cared so much at this point, I kept thinking they were going to send me home. I was walking in the room, making jokes and every time I had a contraction I just breathed through it (my husband still counting in for 4, out for 8, just like for my previous labor haha!). I was feeling great and excited. At about 2pm, the midwife asked me if I wanted to hop in the water since I wanted to have a water birth. It took about 30 min to fill the big birth bathtub. I hopped in at about 2:30pm. At that point, I had no idea how dilated I was or anything. Roxie said there was no point in having a look.
Being in the pool was just the best thing ever! My husband was next to me and we were just having a chat. It was so nice he wanted to join! I remember he had even packed his togs! My contractions stopped in the pool. After 10 min like that, I thought maybe it had completely stopped so I stood up. I felt a bigger contraction then. So for the next 30 min or so, I stayed in the pool, standing up every now and then so I could have a contraction. The intensity was still very manageable, nowhere near like the contractions of my first labor, therefore I expected us to be in there forever.
A little bit after 3pm, I asked Roxie to have a look at how dilated I was. She said it wasn't necessary but I insisted. I just wanted to know how long I would be there for. I got out of the bath, had a stronger contraction whilst on the bed and she was having a look, she told me I would have a baby soon. How soon? Soon, was the answer. I went back to my bath. At this point, I told my husband Sam that maybe we should consider an epidural. That maybe I could just rest on the bed and let it progress. Roxie told me I could do this. I was just a bit annoyed. I expected this labor to be much quicker than the first and turns out, it was going to take longer! Little did I know…
After I said that, I stood up in the bath for a second to “have my contraction”. This one ripped me apart. All of a sudden the intensity of the contraction went up 100 times. I screamed from the shock. I didn’t really have time to sit back in the bath, another contraction came. Even stronger. And the sudden urge to push. Irresistible. I was squatting in the bath, holding on to my husband, screaming my heart out. And I felt something come out of me. The pain stopped.
Roxie screamed stop, stop, stop! I thought: did I push my organs out of my body or what just happened? She said the head was out (she didn’t want me to sit back in the water and drown the baby). She came behind me, I barely pushed and the rest of the body came out like a cannonball. Roxie caught it and gave it to me between my legs.
Oh the surge of oxytocin! I was high in an instant! And I also had a massive deja-vu because this baby looked so much like Sadie. From looking at her face only, I knew my baby was a girl. And she was beautiful. So beautiful. My husband cried, just like the first time! And I was standing in my bath, with my baby in my arms.
Still holding on to her, they helped me out of the pool, gave me a quick injection to help me birth the placenta quicker. I laid down on the bed with my baby on my chest. The contractions during the afterbirth were so bad. I was in worse pain than before the birth. I begged for some pain relief then. I was like: that’s it my baby’s there, give me some Panadol or something! It took a while to get better. I wish I had known the afterbirth pain was worse from your second birth onwards. It turns out my placenta was also a bit funny, with the umbilical cord implanted on the wrong side, meaning that if my waters had broken before she was out, then it might have ruptured the cord. So that was a bit of news… Luckily (or naturally), it hadn’t happened.
This birth made me feel like a total warrior! I felt really connected with my instincts and I felt strong. It set me up for the best postpartum ever.
We named our baby Pia Mathilde Armstrong. She is such a good sleeper, a little clown, a clingy one and an adorable baby sister to Sadie.
Now with our two little girls, we feel that our family is complete and we couldn’t be happier!
