UK birth story
Our little girl is six weeks old today and the day I gave birth already feels like a life time away so I have decided to write our birth story now before the details of the day get lost in my memory.
On Tuesday 23 March 2010 I had an appointment at the hospital to have a cervical sweep as I was six days overdue.
The next morning I was in bed at around 6am (after getting up to pee for the fifth time that night!!) when I noticed very mild 'contractions' in my lower tummy and back - I say contractions in inverted commas because they were so mild and I wasn't convinced until much later on in the day that they were in fact contractions at all! I didn't want to wake my partner, Laura, to begin with as I knew she'd immediately think they WERE contractions and I didn't want us to get our hopes up that the baby was going to come today - it sounds ridiculous in hindsight!
After a couple of hours at home we decided to go for a walk around the block - all the while timing my contractions - they didn't really seem to be getting any closer together, longer or stronger.
After getting home I tried to eat some bead, but it didn't really go down very well. I wasted a bit of time in the garden - pruning the buddleia between contractions! We then watched a bit of telly with me leaning over the back of a chair. The pains started to get more intense so I decided to take a bath to try to help ease the pains and relax myself. The pains continued to get more and more intense until they actually made me physically sick a couple of times. Laura called the birthing centre and they suggested coming in (even though my contractions still weren't that close together).
When we arrived at the birthing centre we were shown to the biggest of their birthing rooms, which I was really pleased about as it had a big birthing pool in it. The midwife took some information from us, then examined me and told us I was 4cm dilated. Because of the intensity of the contractions I had really really hoped to be told things had progressed further than that, so was quite disappointed. Obviously we were aware that each person is different but we asked the midwife if she could give any idea of roughly how much longer we had to go; she said that as a very rough guide we could expect 1cm dilation an hour and she would expect us to have 6-8 hours left to go.
Once the midwife had left the room I told Laura I really didn't think I could keep going for another 6-8 hours. The pain was so intense and had been making me sick again. This was the point that I asked for some gas and air to help me through it. Whilst they were sorting out the gas and air for me another midwife came to look at me. She was feeling my tummy whilst I was having another contraction and looked really concerned (and a bit scary) and asked me what I was doing. I didn't really know what she was talking about so told her I wasn't doing anything! She said it felt like I was pushing during my contraction. I admitted that I had been but I couldn't control it. She told me it was really important to not push as I wasn't at that stage yet and she gave me the impression I could do myself and/or the baby some serious harm if I carried on doing that.
She encouraged me to get to my feet and get moving as I still had quite a long time to go. I went to the toilet and whilst I was in there I had another contraction and could not control the overwhelming urge to push which made me panic a little.
When I came back out of the toilet Laura encouraged me to stand up whilst leaning over the side counter and she helped me to move my hips. I sucked on the gas and air but it didn't really seem to help at all and just made my mouth very very dry. I told Laura about the urge to push (which continued through my next few contractions) and asked her to go find the midwife as I was really worried about not being able to control it. During the next contraction the midwife took another look at me while I pushed. She did and was very surprised to find that I was now fully dilated!! I had progressed from 4cm to fully dilated in under an hour! I was hugely relieved and was given the all-clear to get pushing when the contractions came.
At this point the midwives suddenly sprang into action. The room was re-arranged, sheets thrown on the floor and I got down onto my knees and leaned my elbows on a birthing ball that Laura was holding in place for me.
I continued to push through the contractions and it wasn't long before the midwife told us she could see the top of the baby's head. Laura had a look and told me she could see our baby's hair - this felt amazing! The pain at this stage was different as there was an intense stinging pain, but it was bearable as I knew the end was in sight!
The next contraction was supposed to be to push the baby's head out, but when I pushed her head came out swiftly followed by her body! Our daughter came into the world in one push in the end! And with an almighty cry - the best sound in the world. I immediately turned round so I was kneeling on the floor and our daughter was placed in my arms. Laura was right beside me and the three of us had our first family hug - precisely nine months after her conception. Both of us were completely overwhelmed and we couldn't take our eyes off of our beautiful daughter.
Our perfect little girl was born at 18:17 on 24 March 2010, weighing 6lb 2oz.
I naturally delivered the placenta shortly after. When I was examined a bit later I was told I had a third degree tear but that stitches wouldn't be necessary, so that was a relief. The midwife told us that our baby had entered the world with her hand above her head (which is what had probably caused the tear) - like our own little Super Girl!
I had had no idea what to expect from my labour and birth. Although the pain was intense it was bearable (I can say that now!) and I feel if I'd know that the last stage was going to be so short I could have managed it without the gas and air, but the thought of a further 6-8 hours was not something I could cope with. Because everything happened so quickly in the end I didn't get the water birth I'd wanted, but I was still very happy with the birth experience I had. Laura was the perfect birth partner - she was just there for me and was very encouraging and supportive throughout the whole day. I feel extremely proud to have brought this beautiful little girl into the world.
Introducing Agnes.....
A couple of hours after the birth:
At home, a few days old:
Wrinkly newborn feet:
At the park:
This week:
