"My first baby was due on 26th January 2010 but showed no signs of wanting to make his/her move so I was booked in for an induction on 6th February. Since the day I found out I was pregnant my husband maintained that the baby would be born on 6th February, a year to the day since I had an ERPC after losing my last baby.
On the 5th February I checked, double checked and triple checked my bags then had a minor meltdown that family would be coming to visit as soon as we returned home with the baby and so I ran around - well waddled around - cleaning as much as I could before my husband sheparded me to bed.
At 3am I woke to go to the toilet, in itself not remarkable, however when I got back into bed I noticed a small wet patch on my sheet. I sat on the side of the bed, slightly embarrassed, contemplating the wet patch, was it my waters or had I wet myself?? Thankfully at this point I noticed a small tightening. Success, I hadn't wet the bed! I rushed to get some paper and wrote down the time, 3.23am. Seven minutes later I felt another tightening, noted down the time and smugly congratulated myself at how well I was coping with this labour lark, I thought contractions were supposed to be painful?
After half an hour I woke up my husband and rang the labour ward mentioning the wet patch, she told me I clearly wasn't in labour but to come in and be checked over anyway. During the car journey I received a birth announcement message from one of the ladies from our NCT group, baby Isaac was here, BUT THAT'S OUR NAME!!!!
A short trip to Sainsbury's later and we arrived at the hospital by which time I wasn't finding these contractions fun, 4 minutes apart and lasting almost a minute I was convinced I was going to be at least 5 cm dilated.
The midwife who met me at the door showed me my room and left us to get comfortable, there was soon to be a shift change so they didn't bother doing exams etc only for the new midwife to need to do it all again.
Finally the new midwife and her student - the woman who was to bring our child into the world - arrived mid-contraction and said, "Oooh, that's sounds like a gooden!"
Rachel, my student midwife, performed the examination and then asked the midwife to do it again and check for her, my little monkey was lying back to back and wasn't fully descended. His position was causing strong and irregular contractions but I wasn't even in labour. This meant no drugs!!!
I had all along wanted a water birth but my love for all things food put paid to that, fat chicks are not allowed to wallow like hippos in the birthing pool sadly!! A bath was offered as an alternative but I wasn't allowed to lie back as this wouldn't help baby to turn. After 20 minutes or so on all fours in the bath I was freezing, in agony and wanted to get out.
I spent the next undefined amount of time wandering the halls with my husband stopping for contractions, my coping mechanism was leaning on him with my arms around his shoulders bouncing up and down.
Around 1pm I was examined again and then came my favourite moment in life ever... I was given gas and air!
The best way to describe gas and air is that at the peak of a contraction when you think you are about to die gas and air kicks in and saves your life!!
The next few hours passed by in a haze, at some point after drinking my body weight in water but totally unable to remove it at the other end, I was given a catheter although I have no idea when. I also have it on good authority from my husband that they took blood but I have no recollection of this.
Around 5pm I started getting the urge to push but my cervix wasn't evenly dilated and a lip was trapping baby's head. I was told to breath through the urge which is like being told not to sneeze - impossible. I tried my hardest and ended each contraction with a grunt when the urge took over.
In reality this period lasted less than an hour but at the time it felt like a lifetime.
Finally the midwife manually pushed the lip of cervix off baby's head and I was allowed to push.
By this time I had given up on the gas and air and was leaning over the back of the upright bed and burying my face into the mattress, pushing with all my might. I felt like I was getting nowhere and between every contraction I could feel baby slipping back. The midwife was monitoring baby's heart rate and it wasn't recovering enough between contractions, I was told to get the baby out now or they would have to intervene. They hooked me up to a heartbeat monitor and rolled me onto my back.
With every bit of energy I had I pushed a mammoth head out to a shocked, "Oh" from the midwife. She was fully convinced the baby was no longer lying back to back and it was a great shock to find a face staring up at her.
At the NCT classes I had been told that there can sometimes be a gap in contractions after the head is born, with this thought in mind I pushed without a contraction to get the body out, a move I regretted when it came to having stitches! The midwife jumped to catch in time and our baby boy was in the world weighing 8lb 6oz.
There was no sound for over a minute as they cleaned him up and my husband tried to cut the cord with the clamps they provided, a quick equipment change and he was handed to me as he started gasping and making a very odd noise.
The lip on my cervix, his position and my inability to resist pushing had squashed his head, he had a rather unattractive cone on his head and a large red line across his forehead. His face was squashed and he had a flat nose and swollen lips, the result left him looking exactly like my brother!!
We took it in turns to cuddle and marvel at our little miracle and after a short discussion we decided to name him Felix.
As a result of him being born sunny side up, for the first 24 hours he was choking up blood and mucus which resulted in no appetite and no sleep. After a good feed and sleep the next day we were released home to start our new life together as a family.
1 year on and we are getting ready to celebrate the best year of our lives. Every day we are amazed by the miracle that we brought into the world and amazed at how far we have come in an incredibly fast moving year."
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