(no prefix) The birth of Eleni Grace :)
I had a very unsettled mornings sleep as I could feel myself cramping in the early hours, and tried my very best to ignore it, as my due date was 6 days away and I had plans to laze around the house for an entire week to finally enjoy some down time before baby arrived. I had only 10 days before finished full time work and up until that day had been running around preparing the nursery, finding a bassinette, washing and generally trying to get everything sorted before our lives were once again turned upside down (in the nicest possible way of course)!
DH was helping me to get DD1 ready for daycare and after I realised that today just might be the day, I asked him if he could stay home with me. I didn’t want to get his hopes up though as I knew pre labour could go on for days etc. Up until this point though I was really unsure if it was just bh contractions. (I never really ever felt a bh or any prelabour pains and my labour with dd was induced so I was kind of expecting contractions there…)
I suggested we go for a walk around 830ish so we did a big block of our area and every cx I had, DH would rub my back as I kind of bent over with my hands on my thighs. They got quite close at around 2-3 mins apart and 37 seconds but were not really too intense. When we got home they dropped off to around 5 mins apart and it was then that I realised I didn’t know at what point I needed to go to the hospital. I didn’t want to go too early as I was happy at home but I remembered the rolling contractions I had with DD1 so didn’t want to be travelling in the car if that was going on. The hospital said I could come in whenever I felt like it because we were only a couple of suburbs away.
DH and I started to slowly pack the car up at about 10 as the cx were getting closer and I think we both were anxious because DD1s birth went quite quickly. I only had one cx on the way to the hossy but as soon as I got out of the car and walking again they started up again. This was the case throughout the whole labour actually, I found later on if I wanted to take a break all I had to do was kind of stop moving around.
I had an examination and was found to be only 3cm dilated so was a bit disappointed that we went in so early but it did give us a good chance to talk to the midwife who was going to be with us. I told her I was not keen on the bed at all and that I’d like to birth on my hands and knees. She helped us set up the bathroom and sort the fit ball out etc but my cx were slowing down so DH and I went for a walk outside to get things moving. Once again the cx ramped up and we spent a fair bit of time in the courtyard laughing and moaning about how yep I remembered this feeling and nope your jokes are really not funny right now DH… He went and got us a snack which I couldn’t eat by then but I really wanted to, but I had a cx every time I took a bite and wanted to spit it out again!
We went inside again at around 11 as we were due to see my OB at 12ish but he was there already. Now this OB had tried to do a s&s on me at 38 and 39 weeks which I had declined and also wanted to prebook me in for induction which I was stalling on, not even being overdue I couldn’t see a reason to lock a date in… Also the mw had mentioned that he would not be able to be at the birth as he had to be out of there at midday. DH and I were stoked and laughed about it. We were so glad to be having to use the on call OB lol.. So I see DR ***** in the suite waiting and he asks if he can sweep the membranes there and I must admit I told him if he could do it while I was standing up he could go for it but he couldn’t get it. He wanted to examine me and I got on the bed after making a bit of a fuss and he BREAKS MY WATERS WITHOUT EVEN ASKING!!!!!! I was so shocked as I knew he would try and get me to do that but to not even ask?! DH had no Idea and when I told him after, he was pretty pi55ed about it. I was in too much pain to really care by that point and knew it would speed things up. Anyway I was waiting for the peth injection my OB had thoughtfully offered me.. (probably wouldn’t have even asked for it if I had been left alone) Oh well I could beat myself up about it but really…..
Anyway we went back to the shower where the fit ball looked so much more attractive as I was leaking everywhere so it was nice for it all to be washed away. We stayed in there for a bit and this is where I realised I could somewhat control the frequency of the cx. I was laying over the ball and would come up onto my knees when the cx started, then kind of flop back down again. The peth started working and I was quite relaxed in between… (Is it bad to say I was comforted by the fuzzy stoned feeling?) DH and I wondered what would happen if I needed to push as we didn’t know where the mw was but it turned out she was just waiting in the suite until we couldn’t handle things on our own.
Out of nowhere I had the urge to push and must’ve said it quite loudly as mw turns up and tells me to come into the suite. I said no way am I laying on that bed lady and she helped me up onto my knees. I pushed a nice big push and felt the head come down into my VJ then in the next cx pushed her head out to a point where the mw said to stop and if I could control this I wouldn’t tear. So you can imagine suddenly I developed superhuman Vaj powers and you never saw someone stop pushing so quickly. Next push I was coached to breathe the head out and the next cx was her body. There was about 3 mws in the room at this point, no OBs and not my OB which was fab!
They passed my daughter through my legs and I held her until they could clean underneath me and I could turn and sit. They surprisingly cut the cord without even asking dh but asked him to cut the end near her belly button later. They sent away her cord for cord blood. (maybe that had something to do with it?)
I don’t know if I had an injection for the 3rd stage but I assume I did. We then got a science lesson from the mw who showed us all the parts of the placenta. I had some skin on skin time with my girl and a little breastfeed until I asked DH if he wanted to hold her before the weighing etc started. He loved it
I went for a shower and cleaned up then they asked if I would hop in the wheelchair. I said no thanks I think I’ll walk, and we went up to the maternity ward. I felt like a hero! (Could have been the peth lol) I had a small internal graze which didn’t require stitches.
Baby Eleni Grace was born at 12:44pm on 12 August 2011
Weight 3250g (7pound 2)
49cm long, head 33.5cm
We went home the next morning to spend the weekend as a family of four <3
Oh and compared to DD1 (who was and continues to be a spirited, noisy lovable PITA)
She is the most serene, quiet, agreeable thing I have ever layed my relieved eyes on!
Talk about polar opposites!
I love my two girls and my fantastic husband who was there for me every step of that day and never left anything undone or unsaid xxx
