On Tuesday, everything seemed to be miles away - I wasn't even getting any BH contractions (although I'd had some on other days) and went about my day exactly as usual.

Imagine my surprise when my waters broke at 1:30 Wednesday morning (October 19th) - a little over a week before my EDD!

I stayed in bed until about 5, but didn't really get any more sleep... DH did though, and I think it was really worthwhile having the rest for me too. We got everything ready and arrived at the hospital at about 7, half-expecting to be told to go home (even though I knew I had to have antibiotics for GBS). I was getting period-like cramping but nothing much, so had a sleep for an hour or so after the first shot. After that I got up and walked around the room for a while, and noted my contractions were about every 4-5 minutes, although they still weren't bad at all.

By about 10:30 I was getting stronger contractions, but just bouncing on a fit ball I could easily breathe through them. At this point we thought I had ages to go, so DH went out to pick up a few supplies we'd forgotten to bring. He got back about an hour later to find me having very intense contractions, on all fours and totally uninterested in what he'd brought 8-[

I had no idea how long I had to go, but being my first labour I assumed it would be several more hours at least. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and really starting to think I couldn't cope without pain relief (which I had been hoping to do). I was also swearing a bit and moaning "ow, ow, ow" a *lot* at this point. I hung in there for a bit longer, I think mainly because I hated to admit I didn't think I could do it! DH was a great support, offering me things to suck and cold drinks (which I didn't want, but he was great at knowing when to offer and when to be quiet) and also just encouraging me to keep going.

At about 12:30 the midwife managed to convince me to move to a spot where she could examine me, and I was incredibly happy to hear that I was ready to push any minute! I did so (still on all fours) for about an hour, and after getting her about halfway down moved to a squat as each contraction came through. This brought her down the rest of the way much faster. Again, DH was an incredible help, just gently encouraging me and offering me cool drinks (which I sometimes accepted). He also let me crush his hand through some of the contractions as I was really feeling the pressure. I was interested (and relieved) to discover that the pushing, although hard work, seemed much less intensely painful than the dilation stage had been.

Not too much later, after some more contractions which made me feel like I was going to split (and where I tried really hard not to push too strongly, as I was terrified of tearing badly), our beautiful baby Tamsin was out in the world! The midwife passed her up to me and I moved to a sitting position so she could rest against me and nuzzle for my breasts if she wanted to. I held her this way for a while, then DH pulled his top off so he too could have a skin-to-skin cuddle with her. The midwife told us that the cord had stopped pulsing, so she clamped it and then DH cut it (while I was holding Tamsin). We were both amazed with our baby girl and just sat there cuddling her for a while

I was still waiting for the placenta delivery, so DH cuddled Tamsin while I squatted again to push it out. This only took a couple of minutes and I barely felt it happen (although of course I knew it was going on!). Something like half an hour to an hour later the midwife examined me and I had a little tear, so she put in 3 stitches using a local anaesthetic. I was a bit of a wimp about having them - you'd think after going through labour a couple of stitches would be nothing, but I guess it's all in the context :-$

Anyway, to finish off a long story, I was incredibly happy (and mildly astonished) to have achieved the drug-free birth I had hoped for. Every major detail of my birth plan was met, the only exceptions being that I got to the hospital earlier than I'd wanted to (because I needed the antibiotics) and that I had to have an internal examination (which as it turned out I was really grateful for anyway!). DH was the most incredible support person I could have asked for, and the midwives at the birth centre really helped me too. I really don't think it would have been possible for me to have a better delivery than Tamsin's.

Thanks for reading