(***Please Note: This is very very very long and not very exciting! Im not good with getting to the point quickly.. I hope this isn’t too rambley tho! Well done if you get through it! )

Even though our EDD was only 4 days away I really didn’t think I was going to have my baby for atleast another 2 weeks, it was only the day before I was saying to my Mum that I really wasn’t ready to have the baby.. I was loving being pregnant too much! Right from the start my pregnancy was a breeze, I never got any of the early pregnancy indicators such as sore bbs (they also never grew!) and vomiting. Even at 39 weeks I was still waiting to properly feel pregnant. I really thought my tummy was yet to properly pop out.. I was still waiting for my fingers to swell up so I wld have to remove my rings, I was still waiting to develop that waddle, I was still waiting to get all those aches and pains pregnant ppl are meant to get, I was still waiting to not be able to sleep on my back, there were a billion other pregnancy symptoms I was still waiting for but the main one was... i was still waiting to yell out ‘Get this baby out of me..Im over it!!!!’ I felt so good it wasn’t funny! Gosh it was only a couple days earlier that I spent 3 hrs mowing our big front and back lawn!

My pregnancy was a breeze physically but it doesn’t mean it was emotionally and mentally. It felt like with every passing week I wld develop a new fear... Any negative thing that can happen throughout pregnancy I worried about and basically had myself convinced that it was going to happen to me. That could be part of the reason why I supposedly wasn’t ready to have our baby at 39.5 weeks.. I really didn’t believe I was going to have a baby that was alive and healthy at the end. I only organised the nursery the week before (this includes painting and putting together the cot and change table) My Mum had also only just taken me shopping for all my hospital bag stuff cos she could see that I wasn’t going to get around to it and she was starting to worry! Thank god for that.. if she hadn’t I wldnt have had anything.. no pads, knickers, nighties etc! As I was doing all this stuff to prepare for a baby I felt like the biggest idiot and fake! It was like it was some kind of sick joke and I was wasting time and a lot of money doing it all!

I think this is why 24 hrs into having contractions (which I believe happened cos dh had been away at work for a couple weeks and came home the day before and wanted to use the natural induction method of lots of sex! I truly think that 3 times in 12 hrs did it for us. If I had known it was going to work I don’t think I wld have done it!) I still didn’t believe that i was in labour and was crazily ringing my family at 9pm looking for some panadeine forte so I cld get some sleep and wake up in the morning and realise I was right and that yes this was just normal pregnancy stuff that happens when ur kinda close to having ur baby. (I think I had read about too many ppl on BB having these prelabour pains that went on for days and was convinced this was how it was going to be for me!) Sadly my family cldnt supply me with any drugs so I settled for some neck and back panadol that my dh had stashed away in his bag that he takes away to work with him... half an hour later it hadn’t done anything and I was cursing him cos he didn’t have any normal panadol.. goddammit as if back and neck panadol is going to work when its in my tummy!

We had spent the day at my Mums house for a family Easter lunch and my sisters and Mum had spent the day fascinated with how tight and bulging my tummy wld go during each tightening.. I had been putting up with Braxton hicks since week 10 tho so it was really no big deal to me. Since leaving my Mums she had been ringing me every half an hour telling me to stop being so silly and to get into the hospital.. we almost got into an argument cos I was refusing to even ring them cos i didn’t really believe I had any reason too! (Fully in denial!!) I wanted to show my Mum that there really was nothing happening, I think I also wanted to prove to myself that this was normal prelabour stuff, so I finally called the hospital. After waiting for my last contraction to pass cos I knew then that I wld have atleast 3-4 mins where I cld function and be able to speak clearly (for some stupid reason I also wanted to hide the fact that I was indeed struggling to talk during the contractions) I called and explained to the midwife that I had been getting these tightenings (I still wasn’t calling them contractions cos that wld mean admitting to myself I was possibly in labour!) the midwife asked me how painful they were, I told her I wasn’t sure. She kinda did a smarta** little laugh and said how can i not know how painful they are.. I explained that they were painful for me but probably nothing compared to what labour pains really feel like. I think that was the point that she thought ‘this girl definitely isn’t in labour’ and told me to take a couple of panadeine fortes (yeah i wld if i had some!!) and try and get a good night sleep. I got off the phone, called my Mum and assured her that the midwife told me that i was probably just in prelabour and cld she please stop worrying now! This is the point where she apparently took a sleeping tablet cos she cldnt handle the stress anymore!
At that point I honestly didn’t know how I was going to get through the night being at home, Im not sure why I didn’t just tell the midwife that I was struggling and if I could please come in.. I guess Im not someone that can admit to needing help, I like getting through things on my own.

I spent the next hour in the shower until all the hot water ran out, I then moved to the couch where I was on all 4s rocking, by this stage the pains were about every 4 mins although I still wasn’t absolutely certain they were regular cos I hadn’t bothered timing them. I think not bothering to try and time them was just another little thing my subconscious did to try and convince me that i wasn’t really in labour. By 11pm I was basically crawling around the kitchen during the contractions and shivering really badly afterwards. It was at this stage I woke my Dh up.. he had gone to sleep a couple hrs earlier after I had done a great job at convincing him that this was all normal very pre-labour stuff and that it was going to go on for days... if not weeks! (I know Im making myself sound really stupid cos honestly.. how much more obvious does actually being in labour have to get?! But i really was in denial) I think he got a bit of a shock when he saw me and the pain i was in.
I called the hospital again and asked if I cld please come in for monitoring, I told them that I really didn’t believe that i was in full blown labour but I cldnt handle the pain at home any longer and if I got in there and there really wasn’t much happening if they wld be happy to send me home with some panadeine forte cos I didn’t have any. The midwife said that they normally like to keep ppl in for the night but if nothing really was happening then they wld most likely be able to send me home. I got off the phone and realised that i better pack my hospital bag just in case I was going to have to stay there.. And yes at almost 40 weeks I still hadn’t packed my bag... (i did have my list written tho of things i wld need to pack.. its always so much easier to write lists then actually do stuff!) I slowly slowly ticked everything off on my list in between contractions, dh also grabbed a few clothes just in case since he wld be staying at the hospital with me.
By 11.45pm we were ready to leave, the drive was horrible, dh went over a few bumps too fast and god it hurt! 12am we got to the hospital, this is when i said to dh that maybe things were starting cos i had had 5 contractions since leaving home. We did the maths and realised that they must be around 3 mins apart.

We got upstairs and met the lovely midwife that wld be looking after me. I once again said sorry that I was probably wasting their time by coming in and that these ‘tightenings’ really were probably nothing. She strapped me onto the contraction monitor (no idea what it is really called!) and announced that these were definitely contractions and they were quite close together and intense and there was no way I was leaving to go back home tonight! YAY!!

Its at that stage that all the denial inside me must have disappeared cos a couple minutes later I felt a little wet down there and asked her for a tissue so I cld clean myself up before she did the internal. She said ‘oh your probably losing your plug’ I replied rather embarrassed that nah I think its just normal pregnancy discharge cos I've had a lot throughout the whole pregnancy. But alas! I wiped and the stuff was clear with a tinge of blood through it!

OMG I WAS ACTUALLY IN LABOUR! IT WAS REALLY HAPPENING!!!

The midwife then performed an internal and we discovered that I was 4cm dilated and my waters were pretty close to breaking!!! She said that it was going to be probably another 8 hrs.. 6 hrs to full dilation and then maybe a couple hrs of pushing. She also had a feel and said that the baby wasn’t engaged yet.. It was funny, I had spent the last few weeks stressing cos the baby still wasn’t engaged only to find out that now in full blown labour the baby still wasn’t! Goes to show it really can happen at the last minute!
I asked if I cld possibly have a couple of panadeine forte to try and dull the pain a bit (ok get over the whole panadeine forte thing Reet!) She suggested I get a pethidine injection instead, it would give much better pain relief and I cld get a bit of rest. No no no! That was NOT going to happen!! By this stage I was quite open to the idea of having an epidural cos I cldnt imagine being in more pain then i was already in plus I wanted some shut-eye.. but there was no way I was going anywhere near pethidine! The midwife tried to convince me by saying that by the time I have my baby it will be all out of my and the babies systems etc etc. My dh even tried for a second to convince me to have it (even tho i had had heaps of conversations over the past few weeks about how bad it is!!) I stayed very strong tho and said NO THANKU! And thank god I did or I really don’t believe I wld have had anything like the experience I ended up having. It feels so good to know that I knew best in that situation!
I don’t think the midwife cld quite believe that i had said no to pethidine (not many women must) and said she wld go and ask the other midwife if i shld have a couple of panadeine fortes and a sleeping tablet. She came back a couple mins later and said that there really wldnt be any point in having anything if i didn’t want the pethidine cos nothing else wld do the trick. Ok looks like Im doing it naturally til i can get an epidural!!

We moved to the birthing suite where I jumped straight into the big lovely hot bath. It was about 1am by that stage. 45 mins later I felt a pop... my waters had broken!!! The only evidence in the bath was a few little bits of gunky blood. It was the ideal place for it to happen! The midwife said that I had to get out since I was at risk of infection being in the water now. I hopped out and spent the next half an hour or so walking around the birth suite. By this stage I was really really struggling thru each contraction, I cldnt find any position to get into that was comfy. Dh was suggesting a billion different positions such as sitting on the fit ball but I found that the only thing that worked for me was standing up quite straight leaning my hands on something and moving my hips around in circles. I asked the midwife if she could please please please look into letting me have an epidural, she somehow said no in a roundabout way but how bout I try some gas?? I sucked on it for about 5 seconds and threw it away in a bit of anger.. Are you kidding??! As if THAT is going to do anything when i’m in this much pain! She attempted to turn it up a bit but I wasn’t going to even bother wasting my time sucking on it.
Suddenly I felt the urge to vomit, I raced into the toilet and did 4 HUGE big power spews into the toilet, well not just in the toilet.. also on the floors and walls surrounding the toilet! (bless my beautiful dh for cleaning it all up!) This is when I started bleeding quite a bit too (not sure if this is normal???! Apparently it was part of my waters?) I remember constantly getting clumps of toilet paper and wiping away heaps of blood. The midwife suggested I get into the shower. Thank god she did cos I was not in a good way, I stunk of vomit and was leaking alot of blood! (poor dh! I was not looking or smelling pretty at all!) I stayed in the shower for ages, it was just the best relief ever! I was moving my hips in circles leaning against the hand rail in there, i remember just concentrating on the water that wld hit my back every couple of seconds.. it was the best relief! Oh and keeping my mind focused on the epidural I was going to get helped also!
By now the contractions were basically on top of each other and I was really really really struggling! Looking back on it now I can just remember it felt like my world was spinning, like i was on some crazy drug. The midwife came in at some point and I was begging her to let me get that bloody epidural, she told me to just hold off for a bit longer til 3am. It was actually really good cos she left us alone a lot of the time (probably so I cldnt hassle her!) during the whole labour and just gave me a time to try and get too. I remember just focusing on that clock on the wall thinking hurry up hurry up!
Suddenly I felt the urge to do a poo.. I jumped out of the shower and ran to the toilet and sat on it pushing.. but nope nothing came out (At this stage I thought i still had another 3-4 hrs of labour, it didn’t cross my mind that the pressure was actually my baby starting to make its way out! Thank god it didn’t!) This happened about 3 more times.

The midwife came in just before 3 and said she was ready to do the internal, I really struggled to get out of the shower, I attempted to once and had to turn the water back on cos the contraction was too full on. I remember whinging/crying to dh and the midwife that I just cldnt catch my breath.. there was no break between the contractions.. I really needed that epidural quicksmart! I somehow got myself onto the bed (I don’t know how the hell ppl labour laying down, it is the WORST position to be in!) The midwife did the internal and OMG SURPRISE! Are you ready to have ur baby???! Were the next words that came out of her mouth. I was shocked! I had been relatively calm up until this point but I went into freak out mode when I heard those words! This actually having a baby thing suddenly became REAL! ‘Um No Im not ready to have the baby yet! U told me I wld have it at 8am, its only 3am! I want an epidural!’ Gosh seems really stupid thinking about it now to still be obsessing about getting an epi when the hard bit was all over but i was!
I am grateful that the midwife had me thinking all along that I wld be getting one, i really think its what kept me focused! I knew there wld be relief and sleep coming soon!
The midwife left the room to ring my obstetrician at home and tell him to get himself in quicksmart. She came back in and was really excited that she was most likely going to deliver our baby! It must be a thrill for the midwives in the private hospital since the obs normally deliver the babies.

The next second I am getting told to push when I get a contraction. With each contraction I feel the baby move down. They warn me that it will sting when I push next and OMG it does! And what?! I have to hold it there and wait for the next contraction?! It hurts!!!! My dh gets really excited and tells me he can see the head and tries grabbing my hand to feel it. I know a lot of ppl love reaching down and feeling their babies head but not me! Im not sure why the idea freaked me out so much.. I think it was cos I didn’t really want to feel what was happening to my poor vajayjay! I yelled out no and pulled my hand away! The poor midwives looked a bit stunned at my reaction!
It felt like forever between contractions, I remember begging them to just pull the baby out cos the next contraction was never going to come and the baby wld be stuck in me forever. (Drama queen!) They assured me that my body was doing exactly what it needed too and the baby wld be out soon. FINALLY the next contraction came, I did one last big push and at 3.25am our little baby gushed out!
It was placed straight on my chest just as the ob. walked in (lucky he came in then and reminded us to get our camera out to take some pics!)

We hadn’t found out at scans if it was a girl or boy but we were positive that it was a boy. Everyone had told me thats what I was having by the way I was carrying.. really what wld they know.. But silly me believed them! We had even referred to it in my tummy as our little man the whole time. We were so sure that we hadn’t bothered to check when the baby first came out.. the midwife came over to have a look..yep dh and I both saw the little willy and ballbags.. Um no have a closer look guys! Thats the cord and girls are quite puffy when their born! OMG A GIRL!! We were absolutely shocked!

Dh cut the cord whilst I gazed at our beautiful little baby. I had always thought that babies got whisked off to get suctioned and weighed etc straight away (maybe too much tv watching?!) and I was a bit worried that they weren’t doing all that with ours.. what happens if something was wrong with her I asked! The midwife said have a look at her, she looks pretty perfect to us!
I delivered the placenta after a few little pushes. I cldnt believe how big it was! The ob. examined me for tears, thank goodness I didn’t have any.. just the thought of getting stitches down there makes me cringe!
After a few more minutes of cuddling I jumped up (literally! I was so energised and full of life!) and dh had cuddles with her while I had a shower. We had her weighed and measured and realised that she was just a littlie and weighed only just over 6 pounds. The whole pregnancy everyone (mainly my mum) was worried that something was wrong with our baby cos my tummy was so little.. It made me feel so crappy and I was constantly feeling like I had to justify that our baby was fine and that it was measuring spot on in the u/s’s which i had all the time at my ob.appointments.. it was so nice to see that she was infact small but everything was fine!
We then went back to our lovely private room in the maternity ward where I spent the next 3 days absolutely wide awake 24/7 not being able to believe that we had made such a beautiful little girl!

Every part of this journey has been absolutely perfect in my eyes.
Perfect pregnancy, perfect labour and now I have the most perfect little girl. Every day is pure bliss!

Sienna Rose was born at 3.25am on the 24th April 2011 (Easter Sunday)
Weight: 2995 grams
Length: 48.5cms
HC: 33cm