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I was one week overdue, hadn’t had any labour signs and was feeling very fed up waiting for baby to arrive so H took me for a drive out to somewhere we could have an amble around and take our minds off the lack of action. On the way there I started to feel stronger BH. They didn’t last long but I noticed from the car clock that they were coming exactly 20 minutes apart. This continued all day, but then at 10pm while sat watching a film I noticed that they began coming exactly 10 minutes apart. By the end of the film they were 7 minutes and I started to get excited thinking that labour was imminent, however, by the next morning they had vanished.
The midwife came at lunch time and carried out the sweep I had been booked in for and told me I was 1cm dilated. A couple of hours later my Mum came over and did a treatment on me to try and bring on the contractions and help with the pain (she’s an acupuncturist) and more or less straight after, the contractions returned, stronger and now every 5 minutes. I don’t know whether it was the sweep or the acupuncture that did the trick but I had reached the magic 5 minute interval that they had drummed into us at the Parentcraft evening and the contractions were now getting really uncomfortable so I phoned the hospital. They suggested I hang on for as long as possible at home, so I had a bath then put my tens machine on and had a bounce on my birthing ball. By midnight I felt the time was right to go to hospital so off we went with all my bags and a huge ball, only to find out that I was just 2cm dilated and to go home and wait until the contractions were coming every 2-3minutes.
That night was horrible - the contractions were every 5 minutes and quite intense, I was absolutely shattered from not sleeping the night before but there was no way I could sleep so I spent the rest of the night pacing the house.
The next day was much of the same, the contractions were still coming every 5 minutes and I was knackered. There was no sign of the contractions speeding up but I started getting shows so felt I must be getting closer. By this point I wasn’t using the tens correctly as I kept forgetting to switch it back down between contractions so I decided to take it off.
Mum came and did another treatment on me that afternoon and sure enough the contractions speeded up to every 3-4 minutes. They were really intense now and I was having to lean on H and do my breathing exercises with him holding a hot water bottle on my lower back to get through each contraction. I had another bath, with H and my mum splashing water over my bump and my back during each contraction. It took a lot of convincing to get me out, but Mum thought things might speed up if I got out and walked about a bit. It worked and by midnight we were heading back to the hospital with my contractions coming at 2 minute intervals.
The MW examined me and I was amazed when she said that 3 days after my first contraction I was only 3cm dilated! I asked if the delivery room with the birthing pool was free and was really chuffed when they took me straight there - I hadn’t wanted to set my heart on a water birth as there was only one room with a pool. Thinking I had ages to go, I got into the normal bath first and continued like we had done at home with H and Mum splashing me and getting bad backs from spending so long leaning over baths! After about an hour I got out and lay on my side on the bed - my yoga positions had gone out the window by this point. I found the only way to get through each contraction was to control my breathing. I must have sounded like a steam train but it seemed to be working so I didn’t really care. After only a few contractions on the bed I started to get a strong urge to push. The MW had said she was leaving me for 2 hours and wasn’t due back for a while so we called her back in. She examined me and found I’d got to 7cm in about an hour and a half!
They filled the pool up quite quickly and it was such a relief getting into lovely deep water, much warmer than I had expected too. It helped so much with the pain, and the depth really did make me feel weightless. It took just 1 hour for me to become fully dilated and during that time it felt as though my body was pushing even though I was desperately trying not to, with contractions coming one after another and hardly any time in between. Then the MW said I could start pushing properly on the next contraction. Hearing those words was a bit scary and I noticed the contractions slowed right down, but I started pushing and can honestly say I didn’t find it painful.
I tried the kneeling position, leaning forward onto the edge of the pool as I had planned to do and practised in my yoga classes but actually found I was able to push with more force lying more on my back with my legs braced against the foot of the pool and my shoulders pushing against the other end of the pool.
I had been pushing for almost 2 hours when the Sonicaid picked up that the babies heart rate was dropping after each contraction. The MW asked if I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t give birth in the water, to which I said I really didn’t care as long as the baby was ok. So I clambered onto the bed, legs in stirrups, which was my biggest fear but when it actually happened I didn’t bat an eyelid! Another half an hour of pushing and still no baby. The time was flying, it didn't feel like I'd been pushing that long, but I was getting really frustrated waiting ages in between contractions for the next urge to push. The MW said things weren’t progressing and asked if I’d mind having an episiotomy so I said to go for it. I felt a very slight sting when the local anaesthetic was injected but then didn’t feel a thing. With the next push Ed’s head was out, and the second push got his body out. I’d got my eyes closed at this point and was a bit concerned when I heard H and the MW discussing a large lump. It turned out that Ed had been turning into a back to back position as he came out which had put pressure on his head and given him a big swelling - which explained why it had been so difficult to get him out. The MW seemed to think that if I hadn’t had the episiotomy I would have torn quite badly due to Ed’s position.
They quickly rubbed him down, and he was placed on me while H cut the cord. Thinking back I was completely starkers at this point which I’d had a real hang up about whilst I was pregnant, but again, when it was actually happening I really didn’t care.
I hadn’t noticed being given the injection to speed up delivery of the placenta, and I hardly noticed passing the placenta - one little push and it was out. Then the MW put Ed on my boob for his first feed but he wasn’t interested (he wasn’t for the first day and night but made up for it on the second day!), so Ed was given to H to hold while I was stitched up. TBH, I found this to be the worst part of the whole birth and would have used the Entonox if they’d have let me but they said I was inexperienced with it as I hadn’t used it during labour so wouldn’t let me have any!
Although I was contracting for ages beforehand, officially my labour from 3cm onwards was only 5 and a half hours and it really was a great experience - I was on a high for days afterwards.
Ironically, Ed really isn't good with water, he absolutely hates being bathed.