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Birth Story of Robert Cyril Ball - Born 25th January 2005 at 8.22pm weight 7lb 14oz.
This time around the birth was a really positive experience – calm and I felt in control and almost enjoyed it strange though it may sound.
Woke at 5am with contractions which were every 15 minutes at this point. Rang my mum about 8am and asked her to come round to take Daniel to playgroup in case things speeded up and Mike & I decided to go to hospital to see if I was dilating at all. When we got there we were told 3cm and to go home & come back when they were 5 mins apart and “toe-curlingly painful”!!
Spent the afternoon timing them and resting ready for the marathon I half expected as Daniel was born after 24 hours of labour. Around 6pm we decided they were coming about 7 mins apart and rang the hospital who said to come in to be assessed. On the journey to hospital (rush hour!) things started to speed up and the contractions were getting more painful.
On admission I was examined and found to be 5cm dilated and was offered a shot of pethadine which I said would be great as the contractions were getting pretty painful by now. I was dealing with them by deep breathing & visualising a beach in Portugal which we love and was taking myself there with a large cool beer each time the pain bit. Also crunching down hard on Mike’s hand then holding it lovingly to my face in between times – I did feel really reassured to have him there even though he felt pretty helpless but we were chatting about Portugal in between pains and things were actually really calm and relaxed as we thought we were in for a long haul.
About 7.45 I got my shot of pethadine which I was told would take about 20 mins to kick in but by now I was getting wave after wave of really strong contractions. The midwife kept leaving the room and really we were just left to get on with it. All of a sudden I felt this urge in my bottom to push really hard and let out this almighty scream – Mike said he panicked a bit cos he thought I’d gone to this new place of pain & was going to be like this for ages. The midwife came running in & I said I need to push and screamed again – she examined me & said go for it and actually my body really took over. I remember her saying “you can just breathe this baby out” and said to her can I push then? She said yes so I gave a push and the head was out – then I panted as instructed she said oh yet it’s turning nicely – one more push and my lovely pink & squally baby was born at 8.22pm!!
There was a little tiny tear which took longer for them to stitch than the birth I think as it was internal – in the end they got a doctor to do it who undid the midwife’s work & stitched it up another way.
And that was it - Mike said afterwards to me that he was dreading the birth after last time but it turned out fine and our son is absolutely perfect. He has taken to breastfeeding like a little angel and is feeding every 2 hours and sleeping in between times at the moment. His temparament at the moment seems lovely – when he is awake he is alert but he seems to like his new home already and seems very settled.
His big brother has been a complete star – very gentle very loving not at all jealous and he has been helping me change him & get all his little clothes ready. He has been telling everyone about his new baby brother – who he calls “Wittle Yogurt”!!! I think that is going to have to be Robert’s nickname from now onwards!