enjoy my pregnancy

Finally! The birth story…

Well, I had gone overdue again and on Friday went to the hospital for a sweep. What should have been an hours appointment, turned out to be an all day hospital marathon as I spent the day hooked up the monitors as they were not happy with baby’s heartbeat. I was having some minor contractions all day, though nothing that different from what I had been experiencing for a few days. The midwife said I was already 2 cm dilated, which I was pretty pleased about, as I had been in painful labour for about 8 hours with Oren before I was 2 cm!

On Saturday morning I had a very little show, and we spent the day in anticipation of something happening! I got some much stronger contractions, but again they kept stopping, and basically nothing happened.

On Sunday 28th, I woke up and the contractions started again, but given this had been happening for days, I wasn’t that convinced anything would happen. We decided to keep me on my feet to try and get them going. So we went into the city to have a coffee and pick up a couple of things from the shop. It turned out there was a festival happening, so we had a walk around that, went to the shop and then had a lovely coffee in Starbucks. Oren ate some cream from Daddy’s frappacino, and liked it so much we had to get him a little squirt of cream on a plate for him to eat himself!

The contractions were picking up a little bit, and we went to have a look around Mothercare, at which point Dean wanted to start timing them as he thought they were quite close together! I put him off though, and we drove home.

When we got home I had a nap and started getting quite excited as the contractions didn’t go away!! Usually they went away when I had a lie down, so I was beginning to wonder if it was the real thing now too… I was too excited to sleep so I started roughly timing them and they were about 6-7 minutes apart.

I got up, told Dean what was happening and then had a bounce on my birthing ball which Dean had just fixed. Then in a bid to get things really going we went for another long walk around Blatherwycke, and when we got back I jumped in the bath. I sat in the bath for about half an hour and they definitely started to pick up a bit. Dean came up and was shocked to see how frequent they seemed to be, even though I was trying to tell him they didn’t hurt that much and I was sure I had ages to go yet!! Dean timed them and when he saw they were 4 mins apart, he insisted on calling the hospital delivery ward for advice.

The midwife at the hospital seemed quite confused herself, as she agreed that I didn’t sound like I was in full blown labour, but she knew we had an hours drive to the hospital, and she said if my waters were to break that things might suddenly happen very quickly. So she advised us to go in the hospital to be checked over – and then she talked to Dean to get his details because she was suddenly concerned I might deliver in the car and need an ambulance to pick us up!!!

Dean rang our friends Alison & Barry to ask them to meet us at the hospital as they were babysitting Oren. The contractions were fairly strong on the drive, but I felt really in control and they felt manageable, totally different to how I remember the journey for my first labour!

When we got to the hospital we walked up to delivery and were met at the door to be taken to the brand new midwife-led unit on the next ward. Dean had said that we would like to use the birth pool when he initially rang in for advice, and they had done an amazing job getting ready for us!

There was a midwife waiting for us in the unit, and she had already run the birth pool ready for us. The unit was AMAZING, it had only been open for a fortnight and that night we were the only people on it.

Our midwife was called Wei, and she checked me over when I got there and said I was 4cm dilated so I was able to get in the pool straight away. It must have been close to 11.15pm by the time I got in the pool. The pool was lovely at first, but the water soon really stepped up my contractions. I didn’t want to use gas&air until they got unbearable as I hoped it would have more impact for me the longer I held off. I was starting to struggle after a while though, I remember being quite upset and crying and Dean trying to feed me chocolate and juice to keep my energy levels up!!

Once the contractions got too strong I went onto the gas and air. Which was pretty well timed as it was soon after this that I started getting the urge to push, but apparently I wasn’t dilated enough to be allowed to push. So for what felt like an eternity, All I could hear was the midwife telling me ‘DONT PUSH, BREATHE!!!!’ I cannot describe how difficult it was to not push, and a lot of the time I wasn’t successful at it. My body wanted to do it, and it was bloody impossible not too. At the same time I was terrified of tearing my cervix open, and I felt this HUGE pressure down below – because my waters still hadn’t broken. So this part of the labour was more painful than I can ever begin to describe, and as I was going through it I remembered it vividly from the first time with Oren. It really was the part of labour where I couldn’t help but make lots of noise, and I think at about this time I did tell Dean off, because I was getting so anxious, tired and bloody frustrated at being told by everyone not to push!

I also remember very clearly the point where the midwife was looking ‘down there’ with a rather puzzled expression on her face, and Dean was watching the midwife with a worried expression on his face. I had to ask Dean to look at me at this point because I felt quite lonely and not very much like a person!

I think this must have been about the point which my waters broke, but unlike my first labour, no one noticed them go, they were very discrete!!! Wei told me afterwards that one minute all she could see were my waters bulging out of me, and the next minute she could see the baby’s head! I remember her telling Dean at this point to pull the red cord for assistance, as for a water birth there needs to be 2 midwifes present.

A midwife and a trainee arrived, and finally I was allowed to push. However, typically now I was allowed to push I had totally lost the urge and I couldn’t tell when I was having a contraction. The pushing and feeling that sensation of the baby moving down the birth canal – and it was even more painful than I remembered from Oren!! And just like when I was pushing Oren out, I decided half way through pushing that I couldn’t do it anymore and I wasn’t going to, and had the usual discussion with the midwife and Dean that I wasn’t going to do it! (Apparently the pushing stage only lasted 17 minutes, but it felt like much longer, and if I hadn’t stopped to have this discussion goodness knows how fast it would have been!).

To encourage my pushing, they told me to feel he head, and even told me that she had hair. This time around I did touch her head between contractions, something I didn’t do during labour with Oren.

However, something which I do remember well is the sense of relief once the head had crowned (and god that really hurts!) although this time around, delivering the shoulders hurt more than I thought it would. When she arrived I was so relieved it was all over, I think I even said ‘Thank god that’s over’! It was very strange to be looking at this little person who had all this dark hair and knowing that she was mine.

Dean checked that I still thought our name for her suited her, which I did, and so we agreed then that she would be called Willow Rose. We had some photos of her taken while we were in the pool, and while she was still attached to me by the umbilical cord. Then Dean cut the chord – how lucky he has been to be able to cut both his children’s chords!

After the labour, Wei checked me for tearing and delivered the placenta. She stitched up where I had torn, but reassured me that they were only very minor tears. I was a bit distressed because of how badly I had torn last time, so I was really relieved when all that was finished. This time around I had a 1st degree tear in my perineum and a couple of labial stitches and that was it. During the stitches, through a combination of pure relief and the old gas&air, I was asking Wei if she could give Dean the snip after she had finished stitching me up, as there was no way I wanted to go through that pain again!

Following all of this, I was put onto a nice bed in my own room and then had a shower. The midwife-led unit is so new though that the shower hadn’t been used before, and it turned out there was a fault with it and I ended up flooding my recovery room! Wei and Dean mopped it all up. Willow was weighed and I couldn’t believe it when they told me she was a whopping 8lbs 5oz! She was then given to me for a feed, and it was lovely that this time around I knew what to do and was able to get her latched on straight away – it felt really special and it really helped me bond with her straight away, something which hadn’t really happened with Oren due to the post-labour complications.

Dean went home at about 4am and I was left to get some rest. There wasn’t much chance to rest though as Willow was too excited about coming into the world to sleep! Then 1t 6am, Wei came in to check some details about my discharge, and at 7am the lady arrived to do Willow’s hearing screening. I then was visited by the midwife taking over from Wei, and then was asked to move rooms, so sorted that out and got dressed etc! I texted Dean at 9am to tell him that I would be allowed to go home within the hour, and Dean came to pick us up at about 11am.

So all in all, this was a really positive birth experience. The new facilities and care at Hinchingbrook were amazing, absolutely first class and I could not recommend them more highly.

It really made me realise how badly injured I had been from Oren’s birth, as the post birth pain this time around was so minor compared to last time, and now I realise this is what most women must experience as more normal levels of postnatal pain! It also became really clear to me how important it is to be able to have that time with your baby to hold them and feed them as soon after the birth as possible. I bonded with Willow immediately because I was able to do that this time, and that was fantastic. I feel very lucky to have had two water births, it is unbelievable really.

However, I have said since (and still believe!) that having one birth without drugs was brave, having two was stupid and if I ever had three without drugs it would be clinically insane. The pain was horrendous – although a part of me really wonders if that was partly because of the massive pressure of my waters ballooning out of me. If we were to ever have another baby, I think I would ask them to break my waters for me this time to make the labour more bearable as not being allowed to push was horrendous and incredibly painful.

I shall just conclude the story by saying I feel very fortunate to have two beautiful children, a very supportive birth partner and to have such a straightforward labour this time around. I have wonderful memories and although I am now so glad the pain is over (!) I am so proud of myself for not giving up and really forcing myself to deal with the pain. It is so amazing to see the babies born and come up through the water, and it seems to have a really calming effect on the babies too, to have been born in that way.

So our family is complete, well for now at least!!

Our daughter Willow Rose was born on the 29th June at 1.57am weighing 8lbs 5oz. She has a head full of dark hair and she is beautiful :o) She was 9 days overdue but to make up for it, made sure that labour was fairly speedy!

I will post the birth story here very soon… it was a good experience, I cant believe how much I had forgotten about how painful labour is! Photo shows us meeting her for the first time, we had another water birth as we did with Oren :o)

Offically baby is a week late today…

Went to the hospital yesterday for a cervical sweep to try and get things moving naturally. Ended up spending the whole day having babys heartbeat monitored as it was a bit fast and they kept umming and ahhing, taking me on and off the machine. Was quite stressful, in itself not knowing if everything was ok was stressful enough, but Oren was with us as the sweep should have been a quick half hour appointment MAX and we ended up spending about 8 hours there :o( Poor Oren was very well behaved, but understandably very bored.

Anyway, thought something might be kicking off last night as had a few contractions which were more uncomfortable than they had been previously, but went to bed and they stopped.

This morning had my show, or a bit of it at least, contractions started again, and then stopped again. Have had a couple on and off this afternoon but nothing seems to be getting going.

Im booked in to be induced on Thursday, when I will be 12 days overdue. Im really hoping that labour starts naturally before then. Especially as we found out that the hospital we are going to has a brand new midwife-led unit, which we would like to use, but we’ll only be able to if I havent been induced.

So if any of you have any labour vibes you can send me please do… we’ve tried ALL the old wives stuff to help bring it on quicker, but none of it has worked…. really have enjoyed being pregnant, but am ready for the next stage now!

Well, it was at this point when I was pregnant with Oren that I had been in labour for 16 hours. I gave birth to Oren in the evening on my 40th week and 4th day of pregnancy. Although it isnt impossible that the same could yet happen with this baby, Im thinking that its almost certain this pregnancy will last longer than my last one did…

The last bump photo I had taken with Oren was when I was in labour at 40 weeks and 3 days, so last night we took a bump photo for comparision which is attached. The left is when I was pregnanct with Oren, the right is from last night (for some reason the captions havent worked).

Ive had some mega twinges these last few days, period pains, infrequent contractions, baby pushing so far ‘south’ that Im convinced she will pop my waters… but nothing has amounted to anything so far. Baby has started moving around inside me in a most extraordinary way though, she will literally stretch out an arm or leg so far, that it looks like she will pop out of my stomach. It really is something very similar to a scene out of Alien in a way I dont remember with Oren!

Am now just really hoping that I go naturally. I really hadnt anticipated that I might need medical help with my second labour, I had pretty much assumed that because I went naturally with Oren, I just would second time around. Particularly as it was so recent and my body should know what it needs to do this time! Cannot do anything but wait now, at least I know there is only a week of pregnancy left at most, which is both fantastic and sad.

Oh I was really hoping that I wouldnt go overdue this time around! And for some reason there is a niggle in my mind that Im going to go all the way overdue and end up in induction, and this will end up being a July baby! I really hope things start by themselves soon. Im fed up, BashfulC is worrying and neither of us are getting much sleep.

Its amazing how horrible being overdue is. For anyone who hasnt been there I know it must seem like making a big deal out of nothing, but its hard to describe how frustrating it is, and why. Plus, at this stage, every day that you are pregnant it seems to get more difficult, more uncomfortable and the nerves about the labour kick in all the more.

We went for a 2 mile walk on Saturday, to the same place where we walked when I was about 37 weeks pregnant with Oren. We even stopped in the same place and recreated the photo I had taken when I was preg with Oren (see attached picture!) We only thought of doing this as we were walking around and we hadnt intended going that way, if I had thought of it before hand I would have attempted wearing the same clothes! I definitely look better the first time around – obviously being a full time mum and being full term has a profound effect on the appearance, lol!

Anyway, am going to try and potter around and get a few more jobs done around the house to keep my mind off things. Is meant to be nice and sunny this week, so may do some sunbathing if I get a chance too.

Our due date is tomorrow… so I literally feel like a bomb about to go off at any moment. Im really hoping that it will be this weekend, as we have a trusted friend ready to take care of Oren, and the weather is meant to be lovely for next week, which would be perfect for BashfulCs first week of paternity leave.

Had a midwife appointment yesterday, everything still fine although my BP was up a little bit. I get the impression the midwives think this baby will be bigger than Oren was… hopefully not too much bigger though!

I just rested yesterday, which was nice. There is a pile of ironing to do, but I think Im going to leave it, and if Im still here and pregnant at the weekend, Ill do it then! House is looking pretty spotless, a few things need tidying up but BashfulC can help me with that tomorrow.

Every ache and pain has me wondering whether it is the start of something… I feel more obsessed this time around than I did last time, and I thought I would be more relaxed about it! However, there is a very real time limit on things now… the longest that I will be allowed to go overdue is 10 days, so in 11 days if the baby isnt here, Ill certainly be in an induced labour. It all still feels so near yet so far…

Well, here I am, due in 5 days…

BashfulC (and a few other people) were convinced I would give birth the weekend just gone, but as you can see, I havent! My personal feelings are that I will go into labour at some point on my due date, with the baby born the day after. But who really knows lol?!

Had some major twinges on Saturday night, but they turned out to be absolutely nothing other than baby girl having a really good rummage in my belly!

Sleeping is proving difficult at the moment – am having some major heartburn, am still very breathless as this baby is not engaged yet, am all bunged up with hayfever, still have the pelvic pain when laid down, and generally just find it hard to get comfortable at all with a belly like a beach ball! Add into this the trepidation I have about labour – given that I now know what to expect and how difficult it can be – sleeping is not that easy at all these days!

I got a fair amount of food cooked and in the freezer last week, so just have a few bits to finish off this week and Ill be happy. I was reflecting how much more relaxed I am about getting it done this time around – I remember when I was pregnant with Oren I felt it essential to have it all done by the time I was 38 weeks, while this time Im just doing it bit by bit and am still quite calm about finishing bits off this week! I cant help but think its because my subconscious knows that I have the time to do it!

and i am so tired. Physically, totally exhausted. Probably not helped by the fact that Oren has been pretty ill for a week now, and he is waking up through the night and being very hard work during the day too.

I dont want the pregnancy to end, because I will miss the special feeling of being pregnant so much, but I would like her to arrive now and give my body chance to recover. If she decided to come this week, I would be overjoyed, albeit nervous of course. Im still not convinced she will be early though, I think she will be a couple of days late.

The bags are packed, the care for Oren rota has been set up… the only thing we havent done is the bump cast, but hopefully we will do that tonight and then we are all ready to go.

BashfulC wants me to rest as much as possible now, I think he realises how much I am struggling, and probably realised it before I did! Its hard though when there are things that need doing, there are things which I just want to do, and I generally feel like a lazy bum just sitting watching the telly all day (although I know thats what lots of women do on their maternity leave! And realistically, I actually spend most of the day caring for Oren).

Im going to make a couple of meals for the freezer this week, but I am also going to cheat and just buy some frozen stuff to have in there ready to eat, as there is no way I can spend hours on my feet cooking. I am also going to try and get Orens website up to scratch, as there are a couple of old entries i need to import onto there, and its important to get on top of it before the new baby arrives and I have to be updating that one too!

Well Im nearly halfway into being 37 weeks pregnant… so am now classed as full term and could go into labour at any time! I still think she will be late, like her brother was, though BashfulC thinks she will be early.

The pounds seem to have found me this week (although I havent been eating more than usual) as I suddenly gained 3 pounds and am now at 9st 11lbs. So looks like I will be hitting at least that 10st mark before the end of this pregancy after all.

I was having some mild Braxton Hicks at the weekend, although yesterday I got some REALLY painful ones. They didnt turn into anything else though thankfully (I dont feel ready just yet!) With all the excitement of Sunday, I was suddenly worried that BabyB2 wasnt moving, but she started kicking around on Sunday evening, and was very active on Monday, so Ive stopped panicing about that – I was obviously just too distracted on Sunday to notice!

At the party, we took a photo of myself and my friend who is also pregnant – photo attached to entry. She is about 24 weeks, and is adamant there will be no more babies, so it is likely to be the only time we will ever both have bumps at the same time! I really had subscribed to the view (of many strangers who feel compelled to come up to me) that my bump isnt that big, however, after the reaction of people at the weekend and the many jokes about whether it was a beach ball shoved up my dress, I am changing my mind about that! Especially as I think I look ridiculously big in the bump photo!

BashfulC and I tried to spend some time in the garden yesterday and I was getting frustrated at how hard I am finding it to get around now. It is difficult because I dont want to wish this pregnancy away, as it is likely to be the last and I know I am going to miss the bump. But on the other hand, Im so uncomfortable, Im fed up of not being able to lie down without being in huge pain (SPD is much worse when Im laid down), my baby brain is REALLY bad this time around, and generally Im so easily exhasuted.

But there isnt long left now… which is exciting and scary in equal measure. I really dont want to have to go through labour again (!!!), I dont want to be apart from Oren for that long either, but I am looking forward to meeting this little lady and finding out what she looks like and what she is like.

Reached 36 weeks on Saturday, so now have less than a month to my due date! Photo shows comparision of bump between this time and last time.

Weight is about 9st 8lbs, I havent gained any in the last couple of weeks, and Im notably less than I was when pregnant with Oren. I cant remember what my exact weight was in the end, but I know I was over 10 stone. Im not trying to keep my weight down this time around, I just dont have ‘the hunger’ (as BashfulC coined it) which I had when I was pregnant with Oren. I know BashfulC is a little worried, especially as Im still (just) within my MBI range of healthy wieght, even though Im 9 month pregnant! As long as the baby is healthy thats all that really matters though, and she looks and feels good according to all my antenatal appointments.

We finished the nursery for BabyB2 at the weekend, and it is gorgeous and very pink! Will post photos as soon as get chance. We also now have a changing station set up in the downstairs wc, so that will be really handy when she arrives too. It looks like we have spent a fortune on getting ready for her, but we have done it at a really good price. She has all of Orens old furniture (repainted by BashfulC) as it was more appropriate for a newborn, and Oren has new furniture which we got through ebay and netmums – and probably came to less than £200. We once again have gotten most of BabyB2s clothes through ebay, and she has some gorgeous dresses and things which are originally from Next, Monsoon etc, but we have paid a fraction of the original price. I had been saving up our tesco clubcard vouchers to use on deals, but then we saw the ‘double-up’ deal which tesco were doing, so we converted our £80 of saved vouchers into £160 of baby and toddler vouchers and spent that stocking up on nappies, wipes, bibs, and everything else we needed to buy! At the weekend, we also managed to get some beautiful curtains at half price, plus 15% off from B&Q – a bargain as there are 2 windows in her room, and they are quite large. And one of our friends has lent us her daughters old (but in immaculate condition) sleeping bags and swimming wetsuits. Downstairs, our changing table came from ebay (a lovely Mothercare one for £10) and our carseat is also borrowed from our friend. The only thing we have really spent more on than we needed to was our bedding set – we bought co-ordinating cotbumper, quilt, pictures, laundry hamper and nappy stacker – which were probably our biggest spend, but even still, not outrageously expensive. Oh and we have a beautiful HUGE pink plush unicorn in the nursery which BashfulC got from ebay for £10 too – and it is in mint condition.

Im so pleased at how wonderful it all looks and Im finally finding sleep a little easier now that I feel more prepared for her arrival. Bags will be packed this week, as this Saturday I am officiall full-term, and although I expect to go a little overdue with this baby too, I want to be totally prepared :o)