We have a baby!

This was one of the last pictures I took of my bump. Well, one of the last ones that I actually like. This was taken at about 38 weeks.

On the Monday night (the 21st) I had what I thought was a small leak of fluid. I did as I was told and put a pad on to see if it repeated, and it didn't. So I decided to leave it that night. A few hours later, I felt a pop in my belly and more fluid leaking. I was really excited, but since something similar had happened at 37 weeks and no baby had arrived, I decided to wait until morning before deciding what I should do.

The next morning, we went to the Maternal and Foetal Assessment unit to be checked - we decided that it would be better to be checked rather than risk leaving it. They couldn't find any evidence that my waters had gone, and I wasn't contracting so they gave me a sweep and sent me on my merry way.

The next day, I was not feeling any different. Until I stood up to get a drink and a absolutely gushed fluid. I made a huge puddle that sent the dogs running! I was so excited! We went to the midwives to check what was going on, and yet again they said there was no evidence that my waters had gone. They thought I might have just peed myself instead. Since I'd only been to the toilet 5 minutes before it had happened, I didn't think so, but the lack of any pooling liquor made them hesitate to note it as SROM.

However, they decided that they should as it was the second time in as many days that I'd thought my waters had gone, and I was given 24 hours to go into labour myself. I was given an induction date of the following day.

5AM on Thursday (the day of my induction) I woke up to strong and regular contractions at 9 minutes apart. I was so excited! We decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital as planned and I could be checked over . If it looked like spontaneous labour then I could go home and have my home birth.

What they didn't tell us was that once we were checked in, we couldn't leave because of the deemed risk of infection. So once booked in, we were stuck there until I had her. Still, the other girls on the antenatal ward were lovely and we all got on well. Three of us were in for induction (two were 40+14) and I was SROM.

They also didn't tell us that there was a massive influx of women and the labour ward was full. No inductions were being done as there were no beds and no midwives for anything other than spontaneous labours. So I spent the Thursday contracting and stuck in hospital. It wasn't too bad, but the contractions started to pick up and I started to use my TENS machine for pain relief.

The highlight of that Thursday for me was the Baron. He stayed with me for nearly the whole day, only nipping home to pick something up I'd forgotten. In his optimism, he changed into a suit and shaved to ensure that he would look nice and smart for the delivery room photo's!

One of the induction girls went into labour in the early hours of the morning. She woke us up shrieking (her entire labour from start to finish was 41 mins and she was in the bed next to me for most of it - that had me scared!!) and that was when I realised how uncomfortable I was. The contractions weren't any more frequent but they were strong. I needed my TENS machine again to go back to sleep.

I was checked the next morning and was 2cm dilated. There were still no beds and the only pain relief offered was paracetamol. At this point, I'd been contracting fairly hard every 9 mins for 24 hours and I ended up yelling at the midwife to let me go home if there was no chance of anything being done. She ordered a scan to check fluid levels as she didn't believe my waters had gone and then she could send me home (and boot me off the induction list).

Somewhere in the next 15 minutes my contractions went from every 9 minutes to every 2 and really started to hurt. I managed to stay still during my scan, which showed I had no fluid left at all (I felt so vindicated at that point!). I was helped back to my bed, and the midwives ran me a bath to help with the pain.

Frankly, I didn't find the bath helpful at all so I got out and went back. The doctor checked me and said I was still 2cm but she wanted to monitor me. I couldn't cope with being on my back and kept rolling around and messing up the monitors. I kept ripping them off and moving to a more comfy position and ended up fighting with the new midwife (we called her Miss Trunchbull). I also kept running off to the toilet (both to cry and to try (and fail) to crap!)- a clear sign that in retrospect should have told me I was in real labour.

The Baron was great about rubbing my back on demand. I needed really hard counter pressure to even start to deal with the pain, and he was fantastic at providing that.

The doctor came back and checked me after 10 minutes of writhing on the bed and said I was now 4 cm. They rolled me some gas and air in whilst they got me a bed in labour ward. That stuff was fantastic - I was puffing away on it, then I'd fall asleep and forget and then have a massive contraction that I couldn't control! After that happened a few times, I got a bit better about not breathing on it constantly, but since everything hurt it was hard to take the advice to only breath on a pain seriously.

They finally came to take me round to labour ward and asked if I wanted any other pain relief. I yelled I was having an epidural NOW and they just laughed at me. I hadn't planned to have on, but the contractions were so coming so thick and fast that I didn't think I could take hours of them. I remember that I was having a contraction when they came to tell me I had a bed, and I simply couldn't move. I puffed on my gas and air and then I RAN for the labour ward as soon as my contraction ended so I could get to the gas and air in the labour ward in time for the next contraction. Enormously pregnant women can run when the need arises!

I went round to the labour ward and had a drip put in (I needed antibiotics since my waters had been broken more than 24 hours), and the anaethetist was ready and waiting. It took him around 45 minutes to get it in successfully, but I had my trusty gas and air and we made it through. The Baron was really great - he held me still and helped me breath through the pains. Once it was in (it was a mobile one) I told my midwife I was going to the loo. He offered me a catheter, and I told him where to stick it. It wasn't in me. He asked what I wanted to do, and when I said I didn't just need to pee, he said he would have to check me first.

My epidural hadn't even kicked in when he told me I was fully dilated! He said he'd give me an hour of passive so I could rest, but I got the urge to push on the next contraction and there was nothing I could do. It hurt more to fight it. So he checked me and gave me the all clear to start pushing when I wanted to.

Pushing was hard, and according to my notes was 45 minutes long. I had no idea how much time passed but it felt a lot shorter than that. The pressure was just incredible and I retreated into myself whilst pushing to cope. I thought I was fairly noisy, but apparently I barely made a sound until I was crowning. The baby had some decels towards the end and I had to really push to get her out. She also passed meconium.

At 19:39 our beautiful little daughter Emily May was born, weighing in at a diddly little 6 pounds 2 ounces. It was a beautiful moment for all of us.

In the end I ended up with a second degree tear which involved some nifty needle work. And the anaesthetic I had didn't take full effect so I felt most of the repair work. That was probably the worst bit, but I had my beloved gas and air back :) I console myself with the thought that I did just push a baby out and I didn't actually feel the tear (one of my biggest fears).

We had some skin to skin contact as soon as she was born (despite the fact that not only did she pass meconium, she crapped on me as soon as she was passed to me, and of course I may have had a little birth accident!), then the Baron cut her cord. I had the jab to bring on the placenta, and then the new Daddy had a nice long cuddle whilst I was stitched up.

As soon as I was stitched up, I reminded the midwife that I still needed the toilet. He offered a bedpan, but I was desperate to actually get up off the bed and so I decided I'd walk there instead. He was a tad surprised, but he offered me his arm and walked me round. It wasn't as painful as I feared at all, but the amount of blood did scare me.

We walked back, and he took me into the wrong delivery room. Thankfully, the couple in the room I wandered into had also had their baby and I didn't witness what I'd just been through!

The Baron was still holding Emily whilst I had my post birth tea and toast, and continued to hold her when I was wheeled through to have a much needed shower. It did make me laugh, because I'd just walked to and from the same room to use the toilet yet I had to be wheeled for a shower!

Little Lady did not take to the breast in the delivery room. She was very sleepy. I wish we'd tried a little harder at that point, but we were all tired and we were taken off to the post natal ward to get some much needed rest.

We ended up staying in for two nights, since we were under observations due to the meconuim and the length of time my waters were gone. We had some jaundice, feeding problems and temperature regulation problems, but these were resolved enough for us to go home on Sunday.