I still cannot believe my baby boy is here and just how amazing his labour and delivery was. I thought it was finally time to share the story with you (I've filmed a more detailed version which you can
watch too!).
Sunday 2nd August
We had spent the whole weekend walking, cleaning, preparing and enjoying time as a family of 3. Sunday evening I started getting period pains that were coming and going in waves. They got worse throughout the night - the hot water bottle wasn't working, I couldn't sleep and I was sick - I really thought this was the start of something.
Monday 3rd August
After finally getting to sleep Sunday night I woke up and most of the pains were gone, I was just left with a few aches and pains. I spend the whole day doing absolutely nothing (Indiana was at nursery) and catching up on sleep.
Tuesday 4th August
I woke at 5am to my waters trickling. It wasn't much but I knew it wasn't nothing! I put a pad on and got back into bed and told Jack. We called triage around 9am who said if nothing had happened since it was probably nothing; so Jack went to work and we carried on as usual.
Just before 1pm I went to the toilet and I'd had my bloody show - a sign something was happening at least haha - and then not long after, I lost a lot more of my waters (there was no denying it this time)! I got Jack home from work and we went into triage to get things checked over.
I'd not had any pains since so we weren't worried. They offered us a scan while we were there, as there was a group of trainee midwives who needed volunteers haha. They measured my fluid levels and according to the main midwife she didn't think they had gone; it may have been my hind waters. However when I went to get properly checked they went
again all over the bed! As I wasn't in labour they booked me in for an induction and sent us on our way.
By 3pm we were back at Gemma's (my sister who was my second birth partner) and within half an hour my contractions started. They were ALL in my back and never went around to my belly throughout my whole labour. They started around 6/7 minutes apart and by 5pm were every 3-5 minutes lasting around a minute! Indiana was collected by Jack's parents at 6.30pm and that's when they became a lot more intense.
I was now making noises throughout each contraction so I knew things were progressing a lot faster than with Indiana. I got in the bath around 7/7.30pm which did help but not massively. By this point they were coming as close as 1/2 minutes apart and lasting a minute - and bloody painful!! We decided to go into hospital at this point as things were going SO fast.
We arrived at 8.15 and I was checked pretty quickly (after the midwife tried to get me to do a urine sample!). I was 6cm dilated but she said she could stretch me to 8cm! I was given gas and air finally and we were wheeled over to the delivery suite where I got the pool room I wanted. I had to wait for it to fill up though which was the longest wait of my life!
Since arriving at hospital I was getting loads of pressure in my bum; by the time we got to the room I felt like I needed to push. I will admit I was screaming in pain at this point and almost accidental broke Jack's finger haha. I was hanging over the back of the bed where I begged for the epidural - yes I know how dramatic haha - but there really wasn't time.
I finally made it into the pool and within two contractions our baby boy was born. Once in the pool I really got into the zone and was much more focused. The sensation of pushing is the strangest thing I've ever experienced and they don't lie about the 'ring of fire' haha. His arm came out next to his head so I did suffer a 2nd degree tear; but honestly that has felt like nothing compared to the episiotomy I had with Indiana!
Parker was born in the pool at 9.30pm after just 12 minutes of pushing and Jack got to cut the cord. It was the most painful but also the most amazing experience, and I'm so glad I got the birth I wanted. He latched on really well and wasn't the huge boy we were expecting, weighing 8lb 9oz.
He's now 2 weeks old and I can't believe it. It's gone even faster than my pregnancy - if you missed my weekly updates you can find them all
here!
How different were your labours? Parker's birth was completely different to
Indiana's!