"I am 26 and my partner is 34. We started trying for a baby in September 2009 and I fell pregnant on Boxing Day! My due date was Sep 25th and I was due to have a stretch and sweep on Oct 4th which I wasn't too keen on but I tried to stay as calm as I could and just let things happen naturally especially as it was our first baby.
On October 3rd 2010 I went for a wee after waking up and felt some strong period pain type twinges in my stomach. I got washed and dressed into my specially chosen most comfortable outfit for travelling to the hospital in (not that I'm over organised you understand!) and went downstairs to get some breakfast. We already knew we were having a boy and had already chosen a name so I spent all morning talking to 'Ollie' and asking him if he was ready to come and meet us yet.
I managed to eat 2 crumpets and have a cup of tea before being completely shattered and then had to have a lie down on my sofa - how glad am I now that I bought a wipe clean faux leather sofa!! At around 11am I called the maternity ward to see if this was the start of labour!
They advised me it quite possibly was but that it could all calm down again and not progress so there was little point going into the ward and being bored. I decided to just stay put and ring again if I felt that I was getting anywhere.
During parenting classes it had been often mentioned that the more mobile you can be the easier labour may be, so I duly paced the lounge and hall, pressing my forehead against my fists on a wall and leaning to get me through each contraction. My best friend was due over for coffee and she duly arrived, she said I was eerily quiet, the staying mobile was sapping all my energy and seeing her laughing at the red marks on my face from leaning was enough for me to give up and lie down again. She said I was the quietest she has ever known me she left soon after - I think she was a little spooked. I'm never quiet!
My partner was cooking a roast and I decided I wasn't going to be able to eat it. We rang my friend and asked her to come back to eat the lamb dinner. She came back and her and my partner sat down in our dining room for a lovely Sunday roast whilst I massaged my stomach cramps and then started to be sick! After they had eaten and spent the WHOLE time popping in and out checking on me, why I do not know as I was still flat out on the sofa, she decided to go again and left us with strict instructions to call if we needed ferrying to hospital.
At 3pm my partner decided I should put my TENS machine on otherwise I'd get no benefit from it. I cannot stress how much I believe this did for me; I found this a really effective pain relief. At 5.30pm I was still being quite sick and thought I may be going into full blown labour, so after speaking to the ward again they also agreed and asked me to make my way in.
It took around 30 minutes to leave the house as my contractions were quite strong so I had to keep stopping to breathe through them and press the boost button on my TENS. I rested on the gates at the bottom of our drive for around 10 mins, the neighbours must have been having a field day!
I found it hard to sit properly in the car as I felt like I was pushing the baby back in in a sense and so I had to sit on one hip but still clutching my TENS boost button! We made the 20 minute journey to the hospital and I again had a long wait outside to let a contraction pass before making it up to the ward and being buzzed in.
I was settled into a delivery suite and pretty much left too it, which was lovely - I envisaged nurses running around and Drs bugging me and instead they were there but only in the background and the whole experience was very calm and tranquil and it almost felt like only my partner and I were there. At about 7pm they told me that the TENS would no longer really be having an effect as I was so far into labour now and they wanted to check me out. They announced I was 8-10cm dilated and I should get into a top or gown to birth in. Around this time they gave me Entinox and we prepared to start concentrating on getting our baby out.
I hadn't felt my waters go and suddenly I felt something going on, apparently my baby had meconium-ed prior to delivery - this now meant rather than birthing on one side I would have to be on my back with a monitor attached, as sometimes this can be a sign of the baby being in stress. STRESS! I was about to stress... I had read a book which had described labour as 'popping a large watermelon out of your bum whilst simultaneously poking yourself with hot pokers, then times it by a thousand'. Quite why I decided to read this just before my due date I'll never know, however this was the only phrase I could bring to mind and now I was about to start bearing down!
The midwife stayed with us now and my friend had left after having the unfortunate front seat for my 'check' and seeing more than she had bargained for. My mother had arrived and was delighted when we said she could stay for the labour - this would be her first grandchild. After deciding I was concentrating too much on the Entinox the midwife took it away again... I had done 3 pushes by now.
The midwife said she wanted me to work with her so I woudn't tear, to do this she would tell me when to stop pushing. For anyone who has given birth I am sure you will agree half way through a push it is nigh impossible to stop pushing, anyhow I tried. I ended up spending about 5 minutes apologising for not being able to stop pushing. I asked for the Entinox back as I was finding the pushing quiet painful which they couldn't understand as I had already birthed the head, but I was struggling with the shoulders. One last push and all I could see were 2 white/grey hands in between my legs and some beautiful long fingers wriggling around!!!
I started with tummy ache at 9am and gave birth at 20.53pm to a 7lb 9oz little boy. I must admit on the whole it was an uncomfortable experience - the actual labour but not excruciating, hence women have more than one baby! I found the cramping/contractions uncomfortable as no matter how hard I massaged they still came strong and hard. And for me it didn't all get forgotten about as soon as I was holding him. My mother cut the cord and they gave me a injection to deliver the placenta. They checked over Ollie and did all the necessary little tests and then disappeared again.
Once we had Oliver we were left again to bond as a family which was lovely. We took photos, I got comfortable, my brother came in to see him and then I was bought tea and toast. Unfortunately after eating one piece I was violently sick which again is apparently normal. My little boy had very long fingernails and although I had not torn I was scratched internally and they could do nothing about that so when I was told to have a bath I found this very painful and had to get straight back out.
When I went up to the ward around 1am and my partner was sent home I finally had an overwhelming feeling of just how responsible I was for this tiny little bundle.I was checked out by the nurses and advised if I didn't have a wee that they could see I would have to have a catheter fitted. I soon managed to have a wee although the cardboard jug given to me to do the deed in so they could measure it had sprung a leak so I ran/waddled back to the ward to get a nurse to come and see before it leaked all over the bathroom floor in the fear that if it all leaked away I'd be made to have a catheter anyway!! A night of no sleep and staring at the beautiful bundle beside me then began. By 10am the next morning my partner was back and we were off home.
As this was my first baby I had no understanding of an easy labour, I still don't really as I have nothing to compare it too however I have heard other birth stories and can see how easy I did have it. I think everyone's different and ordinarily I have a very low pain threshold but something took over in me and I was wonder woman for a small part of one day and for me that was all I needed!"
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