Imogen's Arrival

It has been 5 weeks since I gave birth and I am now feeling an urge to share my story. It ended up being quite a lot longer than I thought so I apologize in advance!

About a week before labour began, I had my 'show'. It was exciting because I thought it meant things would be happening soon but I was also nervous since I was only 37 weeks. Well, to my relief and frustration nothing happened for days. Slowly, more 'show' could be seen with every trip to the bathroom but nothing else. On Tuesday, the 17th of March, I woke up earlier than normal and in quite a lot of discomfort. I didn't even think it could be "the day" and rolled onto my other side, trying to get back to sleep. After about an hour of this on and off pain, my brain started to click into action -- could this be it? It was 7am by this time. I got up and had a shower to see if that might settle the pain. It was all new to me as I hadn't experienced any Braxton Hicks so I didn't know if this was different or real or late starting fake ones! The shower was nice but really didn't help so I sat down to start timing the tightening pains.

It seemed fairly irregular, 7 minutes between some and 5minutes between others. Some seemed to last a full minute and others were over in 30 seconds. My excitement started to subside as I thought this was probably just a false alarm. I walked around a bit as I heard this could help calm Braxton Hicks if you had been inactive when they began but it only seemed to make things worse. I decided to start timing again and this time it was more consistent -- about 6 minutes apart and lasting 40 seconds. It was time to call my DP at work. I rang his mobile at first, hoping he would be around to answer it and thankfully, he was! He works in a lab so isn't usually allowed to keep his phone on him and had given me his boss's number to call in an emergency but I wasn't keen on using it. I told him it was time and to make his way home. After we got off the phone I called my Mum but she was in a meeting so I left a disjointed message about it maybe, possibly, could be the day. I was still having niggling feelings that it was all a false alarm.

At about 10am, DP got home and began helping me to time the contractions. They were now 5 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds so we decided to call the hospital. They said to come in whenever we felt ready but not to rush. We got our things together and decided we couldn't hang around any longer so headed in at about 11. We arrived at about 11:30 and I was hooked up to an external monitor -- finally, some confirmation.. I was in labour! I called my Mum back and left a message saying that I was in labour but it could be sometime yet so there was no need to leave work. I was given an internal and told that I was 4cm and probably had about 6hrs to go! My waters still hadn't broken. Our delivery suite was ready so we were taken up there to hang about as we saw fit.

The room was HUGE. Almost bigger than our whole apartment and I was stunned! There was a shower, a bath, an exercise ball, a bed, various chairs, tv, cd player and a million other things scattered around for our use. I decided to sit on the fit ball and DP gave me a massage while we watched the clock in anticipation. During the day, I called various people and various people called me. I was feeling great and completely in control. My Mum didn't even believe I was in labour because I sounded so fantastic.

A few hours later, my waters still hadn't broken so they decided to do another internal to see how things were going. I was 7cm and asked whether I would like my waters broken -- my midwife explained this would intensify the contractions but would also speed things along. I consented and she went about making it happen. It felt weird and funny, gooey and really, really warm as what seemed like a million litres gushed down my legs. The next contraction was intense but still manageable. I was then asked whether I had recently evacuated my bowels, I hadn't. The midwife gave me something to squirt up there and get anything there moving. That was not fun, not fun at all and I wondered why we hadn't done this step before breaking my waters and intensifying the contractions! Sitting on that toilet, I felt like I was dying but once that was sorted, I felt great again but quite exhausted so decided to lay down.

From that point on I began drifting to sleep between contractions but it was only an hour and a half later that I felt the urge to push. The midwife obviously could sense the change and asked me if I need to push. I told her it felt that way and she did an internal before giving me the all clear. I rolled onto my side and the midwife helped me crunch my legs up slightly as I pushed through the contractions. It was painful but I still felt great, slowly breathing and visualising through them. My Obgyn was called and arrived shortly after. He said I was going great and to just keep doing what I was. After a few pushes, I felt the sting -- everyone had warned me to stop pushing when this happened to allow myself time to stretch and that it also meant I would be meeting my little one very soon! My Obgyn confirmed that I should stop and wait for a moment. My midwife said I could feel the top of her head if I liked and although, I wasn't too keen about it I had a quick touch -- slimy. That was the longest wait of my life but soon the stinging began to dull and my Obgyn said it was time to keep going. I pushed hard through the next few contractions and before I knew it, I could feel her slipping completely free and it was over. Relief. I had done it. It was 6:19pm.

This part is still a bit fuzzy. I was high on joy and completely spent but my little girl was placed on my chest and she stared at me whilst I stared at her. She was tiny! Then a series of things happened, although I cannot remember in which order -- my partner cut her cord, I breastfed my daughter for the first time, the placenta was delivered and I was inspected for any damage. My Obgyn said there was no tears or grazes so I didn't need any stitches and then Imogen was checked over. 2.9kg and 51cm long, 9 and 9 apgar score -- my perfect angel. My partner then went to find my parents who had arrived sometime in the last couple of hours. They said I looked fantastic and were so proud. They held their first Granddaughter and fussed over me! After about half an hour they said they would leave us be and come back in the morning to see how we were all doing. I told them we had named her Imogen and they asked whether we had known the name all along. I laughed as I answered yes, for quite some time!

I was able to shower whilst my DP looked after Imogen. We were still in the delivery room. It was nice to shower and I was glad there was a chair because I could barely stand. Once I got cleaned up and clothed we were transferred up to our room, together. I got to ride in a wheelchair! When we got to our room, I was asked if I would like some dinner -- I was starving! The first night is a blur of sleeping, feeding and just watching my baby girl. I couldn't believe that had come from me, I felt amazing.

We stayed in the hospital for two and a half days. It was nice having our meals delivered, I still miss that. We were able to check out early as it had been complication free and Imogen was doing so well. In the next few days we had two midwife visits just to make sure my milk was coming in and Imogen was progressing as expected. It was nice to be home and get into our own routine!

I was really happy with my experience and plan to use the same services if there is a next time! Thank-you for taking the time to read our story.

Thanks so much for sharing :)
What a gorgeous, delightful birth!
You must be so proud of yourself - well done!
Take care of you and your newly found family!
:hug:

That is the most amazing first birth experience I have ever read. I hope hope hope y VBAC can go like that. How perfect.

You should be SO proud!

wow what a lovely birth story - I feel all gooey (in a good way ;) )
Congratulations on little Imogens arrival and the amazing job you did. Enjoy your babymoon.

Nae x

You did so well, your story even stirred the feeling of a tear in me :D

Congratulations :D

Congratulations and such a positive birth experience. Something we all hope for.
Welcome to the world Imogen!

that was an absolutely fantastic birth story!! I wish mine was like that!
Congratulations on the birth of your little girl! xx
:clap::clap::clap:

Thanks everyone, it really was fantastic! Hoping all of you with little bumps on the way have the birth experience you are hoping for. I think the most important thing is to feel safe, calm and comfortable so it is imperitive you have people around you that you trust!

Take care!

What a lovely and reassuring birth story - thank you for sharing it with us :clap:

Great birth story!!! Thanks for sharing

great birth story!! Thanks for sharing and Congratulations on the birth of Imogen

What a beautiful birth story.
So calm. Congratulations and welcome to Imogen !

Glad all is well.
xxx

Fantastic birth story! Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful girl!

What an amazing and inspirational story!!

Good for you, honey- you should be so proud of yourself!

Enjoy your little girl...x

WOW!
What an awesome birth story!! So calm, peaceful and beautiful!
I'm so happy for you!
CONGRATULATIONS!! :dance:

oh jitterbug

what a wonderful story that brought a tear to my eye. I had such a similar labour! what a wonderful feeling it is! well done! and yes i believe in being calm, feeling safe and going with what your body needs to do!

i only wish everyone can have labours like us!

What a gorgeous birth story - congrats!

You did so well and should be very proud of yourself. Welcome to the world little Imogen.