for a short labour this is long (sorry)
After my first pregnancy I knew that the next time round I wanted to spend as little time in hospital as possible, and if possible I would have preferred a home birth. But this year we spent the first half of the year staying with my in'laws whilst we tried to find a house. When we couldn't find a house we decided to find work and a house elsewhere. This ultimately meant that we didn't have the time we needed to track down a midwife and plan a homebirth. (But maybe next time, if there is one!)
So we moved into our new home with just under 3 months before I was due.
My change in hospitals was really uninspiring at the time. We went from being in a wonderful hospital with the most lovely midwive, to a hospital where the midwife clinic was full so we had to see the obs instead. The receptionist was always rude, and rarely answered the phone. The obs were fairly nice except out of the four different ones we saw over our appointments, only one spoke english well enough for us to understand. As a result I spent most of my time after the apointments freaking out because I had not understood a single thing they said to me; thankfully DH seemed to understand and did his best to decipher for me afterwards. Needless to say I want that confident about going to the hospital this time round!
So in the weeks leading up to my due date, DH and I had had many comversations about when would be a 'good time' to go into labour (like I had the choice!). So school holidays were out because he was busy (he's a chef, so holidays are always busy!), then halloween and Melbourne cup (both because of the influx of drunks, fools and what not at the hospital, and the increase of police on the roads).
So my due date comes and goes (which I found to be a little liberating) along with school holidays and halloween.
Melbourne cup day I have my 41 week appointment. At the appoinment everything seems to be rather normal, bub was happy and all that. And the ob decides to book me in to be induced on the friday (6th). I freaked out. I really didnt want to be induced.
Afterwards we came home and spent the afternoon in the cool.
That night in bed DH and I chatted about DTD to help things along. Our consensus was not tonight, but if I hadnt gone by the next night then we would.
We went to bed at 11pm. I was woken at 1:30 with pains. I shrugged them off. 5mins later I had more pains, like the first these pains went when I moved. 5 mins later I was up pacing around the house. I figured it was time, so tried to wake DH. Once he was up I went to have a shower whilst he called the hospital, who said come in now.
During this DD1 woke up, so DH got her a milo whilst I got dressed. When I came into the lounge room, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed my belly.
We gathered everything together, and got in the car, it was 2:40am by then. It is normally a half hour drive to the hospital on skinny bendy country roads. When we left my contractions were 2 mins apart!!
DH drove like a mad man, I spent the whole time looking out for animals and police. Thankfully we saw neither. DD1 chatted the whole way, blowing me kisses.
When we finallly hit a main road and were about 8kms from the hospital I asked DH where my phone was, when he asked why I told him I thought we should call 000. he simply drove faster. We passed a fire truck and I thought, hmm I've seen them deliver babies on tv, surely they can do it in real life?
Finally we get to the hospital, DH lets me out at the front door, he and DD1 go and find somewhere to park. I wander in and am followed by a random who keeps telling me they wont let me in as the hospital is closed. All I think is they are going to let me in regardless.
They let me in. I go straight to the birthing suite, where once through the doors, I am greeted by the most lovely midwife.
All I say is my name is Justine, my contractions are a min apart lasting for at least a min, and I need to push.
Its 3am.
We go straight into a room, I get up on the bed, suddenly there are two others in the room with me. The ob gives me an internal, she says go on and push when I need to.
Next thing DH and DD1 come in, more kisses from both of them, my waters finally break. Immediately bub crowns, and next thing you know DD2 is out on my tummy, crying.
Its 3:07am.
In total labour last for 1 1/2 hrs.
Harper Annabelle Scarlett born 4th November 2009 was 8 pound 3 (3.7kgs), 50cms long, Head circ 35cms.
DD1 watched the whole event. The entire time she blew me kisses and told me she loved me. She fell in love with her sister instantly giving her cuddles whilst we were still in the delivery room. Both DH and I aare so happy she was there to witness her sisters birth!
All 4 of us were home by lunchtime after having a very quick and beautiful birth.
PS: Afterwards, the midwife who meet me when i came in said to me that she had to laugh about me coming in. She said I rambled off everything with a smile on my face, she thought there was no way I was ready to push if I could say all that and smile!
And all my worries were for nothing the hospital was fantastic, the staff were beautiful and it was so positive overall!
If you have got this far than thank you for reading and thank you to everyone that has posted their stories; I find each one to be very empowering.
Justine
