I had decided that Erin wasn’t going to come until she was induced on the 6th September, so we went to a farm in the morning with Alastair and did a bit of walking whilst there. We got home and had lunch Alastair had his nap and I just got on with the day. I had no signs of labour only a bit of back ache and felt uncomfortable but just put it down to how heavily pregnant I was (40+6).
Anyway it got to the evening and I was quite tired I decided that I wanted to just sit and watch T.V so watched last choir standing and texted a few friends. I even mentioned to a few of them how I thought Erin would maybe hold off coming until September began, as otherwise she would be the youngest in the class. How wrong I was.
Well at 10:15 after hours of feeling uncomfortable on the sofa I decided to give up and go upstairs to bed. I had a pain in my back which was making me cringe but thought nothing of it. At 10:45 Ian came up and could see I was in pain so decided to lock up and stay with me. After two hours of lying in bed and getting really sharp pains in my back every 15minutes we decided to go downstairs and see what happened whilst we were down there, and at least that way we were dressed, near the phone and ready to go when we could. Luckily Alastair was tucked up in bed totally unaware of what was happening.
By 1 in the morning I was getting pains every ten minutes and was having to stop what I was doing and was practically doubled over in pain. We decided to ring the hospital and ask for advice. They said normally they would say wait until contractions unbearable or five minutes apart. So we decided to stay at home a while longer. By 2 they were coming every 5 minutes and I was coping reasonably well thinking of the sea and breathing the waves away, however we knew we would have to move soon. So we rang Mum, got the answer machine so panicked and after 5 mins of mum trying to ring me whilst I was trying to ring her the phone finally rang and she said she would come straight away. I clock watched for the next 45 minutes and the contractions were now 3-4 mins a part and absolute agony, but I was pacing them out and bobbing up and down which did help. When mum arrived at 2:45 I was still in a bit of denial that it was happening there and then and was convinced we would be on our way back from hospital within the hour. We packed everything up in the car and were on the road by 3:00. I think Ian was a bit disappointed that I could scream in the car and the contractions were coming every three minutes and I was screaming “bumps avoid the bumps”.
We arrived at the hospital at 3:15 and after finding a security guard to let us in a slowly and through contractions made my way upstairs. I was greeted by the midwife that had been there when I had given birth to Alastair, I then doubled over with another contraction. I was seen into a delivery suite and another midwife came in, again one that had looked after me in labour last time. She examined me and I was 3 cms dilated. I was overjoyed said to Ian “ at last 3 cms how long has it taken to get to this stage” the midwife looked confused and said “41 weeks” I was not amused, after ten weeks of contractions and near starts.
I asked for the birthing ball after about an hour the contraction became much stronger and I was having to rest my head on a pillow and grip onto it for dear life so I asked for the entinox and sat on the ball head on bed and used the entinox well through contraction thinking of waves coming in and out of the shore. I was offered some toast at around 5ish and then it all kicked off. I was haunted by bloody squirrel Nutkin with every contraction I would close my eyes and there she was dancing around a tree...best not to ask why. It was around this time that I became too uncomfortable and the midwife offered me some pethidine which I accepted it didn’t take any pain away but it enabled me to rest a little better between contractions as I was knocked out by it. After bouncing on the ball for two-three hours I became uncomfortable and needed to lie down I assumed a sideways position on the bed and breathed through each contraction on entinox. I was getting a lot of pain by 7o’clock and was asking to transfer to the main hospital for an epidural, but I had briefed Ian not to let me go unless it was a medical emergency. I think my problem was I thought I hadn’t progressed with all the contractions, so the midwife offered to examine me again and I was 8.5cms, I couldn’t believe it and I think that spurred me on. Things from that point on are a bit blurred. I remember feeling immense pressure and pushing hard and the shouting “I’ve pooed!” but when they checked I had delivered my waters intact in a bag. I was asked if I wanted to look and I shouted no because I was in the middle of a contraction. It wasn’t long before there were two midwives in the room and I was being asked to roll onto my back but I just couldn’t so Ian held my top leg up and I just screamed with every contraction. The sensation was so odd, as I didn’t feel any of that with Alastair. I couldn’t believe how quick the time seemed to go and all of a sudden I just needed to push and Out popped Erin’s head followed very quickly by the rest of her. She came out so quick they laid her on my chest and commented upon how short her cord was. In all the commotion of her coming out so fast no-one checked her sex until five minutes after she was born. I tore slightly so needed one stitch but all I felt was a great elation that I had given birth naturally and I just wanted to share it with everyone. Erin was healthy apart from swallowing a load of mucous in her rush to come out and she fed for two hours on the breast after being born. I am so proud of my achievement and Ian’s fantastic support throughout the labour and birth.
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