so, this is going to be REALLY long!!!! so i'm sorry, but I don't mind if you turn back now.... I just want to get it down before I forget what happened... oh and this is two years on!

So I guess ill start right from the beginning...

My pregnancy was beautiful, no morning sickness, lots of movement, a lot of leg cramps in the middle of the night and alot of excitement. My dates were
conceived 14/01/07
EDD: 21/10/07

we didn't find out the sex as we wanted a surprise, I felt like it was a girl for about 8 months, then I had a dream it was a boy and was thrown. I worked during my pregnancy and always just said I would work until I felt uncomfortable, well that didn't happen and I decided I should probably take some "me" time before the birth so I gave up work on the 14/10/07, exactly one week before my EDD.

My edd came, I had an appt at the hospital on that day where we discussed induction in 10 days, I was happy as either way, I would see my baby in the next 10 or 11 days. So days went on and nothing happened, I was used to getting up in the morning still intact now.

On Monday the 29/10/07(2 days before induction) I woke up at about 5ish to wee(which I had practiced so much I could stay asleep and just do it with one eye open) and I was at the end of my wee and had a massive pain for a few seconds... what the heck was that?? but being half asleep I just cruised back to bed... at about 6 I woke with another funny pain, and there was no going back to sleep so I watched the clock and sure enough 10 minutes later another one, I was so excited I woke Craig up to tell him that 'I think the baby is coming' and then told him to 'go back to bed' not that he could. the rest of the day was fairly much the same with contractions all over the shop from once every 5 minutes to once every 25 minutes....
Later in the day my sister arrived from the sunny coast and we went for a bit of a walk around the shops... when we got home Craig and I went for a walk, where a woman passed us and asked us how long to go hehe, and when we got home I noticed some fluid in my underwear, I know now it was probably a bit of mucus, I rang the hospital and they asked me to come in to get checked out, so after dinner and a shower off we went to the hospital to be told NOTHING has happened, I have not started dilating and I have not had my waters ruptured so here is some sleeping pills and pain relief and you can go home.

TUESDAY 30/10/07

I laboured very well all day on Tuesday. I also took up rocking out my contractions, I was rocking my hips side to side whenever I had a contraction. I didn't get much food into me all day so I was drinking juice or cordial to keep up my energy. My MIL got concerned about my blood pressure late in the afternoon so at about 8ish I rang the hospital and asked if I could come in to get checked on. They weren't concerned with me at all whilst they talked to me on the phone, sometimes through contractions, and were trying to convince me to not come in as they didn't think much had happened all day. In the end I insisted I come in even for just a check on my blood pressure, so after a shower and a bit of a rest I went into the hospital with my partner(it was about 10pm).

When we got there they didn't take much notice of me and took there time a bit, at about 11pm I was ushered into a tiny little room that actually more looked like a broom closet(hehe), was strapped to the monitoring system and left for about half an hour or so, when the midwife came in she did an internal and was very surprised and excited for us that I was 4cm dilated!!! I was so excited that I had done this all on my own without any drugs(other than the night before sleeping pills and pain relief). So the midwife asked us what we would like to do and explained that if I stayed in the hospital, Craig would have to leave, so I guess I had already made my mind up when the doctor came in and told me that 'in her medical opinion, after fronting up to the hospital twice in 24hours and being 4 cm, that I should stay in hospital' I explained I was not interested in labouring on my own and wished to go home with my partner. so, more sleeping tablets and more pain relief and off I go home, slightly more excited with my progress....

WEDNESDAY 31/10/07 the day I am meant to be at the hospital at 8am for induction

At approx 9:30am, the hospital rang, asking 'are you still coming in?' I let them know that I was just having a cup of tea and I would come in when I felt that I was ready. Well, I didn't even finish that cup of tea as quite a big contraction hit and I was ready to go. So off to the hospital we got there at about 10/10:15 and were in a birthing suite by 10:30. They asked me to lay down to be put on the monitor and I said no, I want an internal so I can have the epidural.

The internal examination revealed that I was a MASSIVE 8cm DILATED!!!!! I was SO happy with myself for having got this far that the epidural idea went straight out of the window... I laboured well for the next little bit, I had a try of the shower but because they are temp controlled and I was right under an air con vent, that idea didn't last too long, so I hopped out and had a bit of a walk around the suite, still rocking out contractions. At about 12 my contractions settled down and my body started to settle enough to have a bit of a sleep between them, so I hopped in bed with the lights dimmed, a bean bag which I was resting my arms and, and rested my head on my arms. I started using the gas at this stage. My lovely midwife was being very supportive with me, she was telling me I was going really well through each contraction and anyone who came in the room, was given a glowing report on how I was going.
At 1pm, a young male doctor came in to assess how I was going. He came in for ten minutes, bossed everyone around, told me he was going to come back in ten minutes to pop my waters and left. The midwife(who I should have listened to) told us that I was going so well, and that I didn't need it, but she could not directly say, don't do it, and we ended up allowing it when he came back in. When he came back he did another internal, I was 8cm at 10:30am, and now it is 1:15pm, and I was..... 8.5cm, I was a bit upset that I hadn't been able to do too much so I let him pop my waters and he left. I continued to labour on the bean bag as I couldn't stand being on my back, and my contractions started to speed up again. My midwifes shift finished at 2pm, so I got a new one, but the first one stayed as she thought it wouldn't be too long.
The first midwife left at 3:30pm as nothing new had happened.

I was labouring well, using the gas and the rocking hips, and all of a sudden the contractions changed, I started feeling the need to push. So at 4.20pm, I yelled out to the midwife 'margerate, check it' She did another internal and found that I was '9.. no... 9.5, ooohh, its moving as I'm touching it, and 10cm, ready to push!!!'
I didn't feel comfortable birthing on my back and I wasn't keen on moving too much so we decided I would give birthing on my side a try with Craig holding my leg and my sister rubbing my back.

I started pushing and birthed the head when they started FREAKING out, the cord was around his neck, tight, 3 times. So they had to cut the cord then, they then started rubbing my belly between contractions trying to hurry them along, when I said, 'no, don't' she said to me that we needed to get this baby out now as it was having trouble, so as soon as I birthed the shoulders, it was pulled out from under its arms. They gave it a bit of a rub as I rolled back onto my back, and then passed it up to me on my chest. This tiny little thing was just staring at me making little whimpering noises as if it was confused, it felt like ages before Craig told me it was a boy.

So, my beautiful, quiet little boy was born at 4:42pm, 31/10/07. 10 days late, weighing 3550g(7pd13oz)49cm long, 33cm head circ, with an Apgar of 7 at 1min and 9 at 5mins.

I was so happy that I had done it all by myself and didn't need the epidural. I did incur a tear which the stitched up and I was able to have a shower about 1 hr after the birth which is exactly what I wanted.

thanks for reading my birth story, I know it is really long but I wanted to get it down....