I wanted to write up Lilah's birth story as quickly as possible after she arrived. I didn't want to forget any details, and have an incomplete story. But I'm typing this now, with Lilah snuggled up in my arms at 11 days old. And honestly? I still don't think her birth has sunk in!

After being sure I'd be overdue this time, I accepted a sweep from my midwife. On Friday 12th January, at 39+5 my lovely midwife popped over to our house. She did all of her regular checks, and performed the sweep - my very first despite this being my third pregnancy!

Baby girl was 3/5ths engaged and in prime position, but my cervix was still long and not really 'labour ready'. My midwife left with the intention of coming back on the Monday, sure that the sweep wasn't really going to do much. I had slight bleeding the rest of the day, but just as I thought, no labour signs.

Saturday 13th January arrived, and just as expected I was still pregnant. We decided to have a relaxed family day - snuggling on the sofa, a walk around a local NT property (followed by hot chocolates and cake of course), and I did the bedtime routine just in case. It was the perfect last day as a family of four.

That evening I noticed a few more cramps, and getting ready for bed around 10.30pm I noticed I had had my bloody show... something was happening! Slight back cramps soon followed, although as my waters hadn't broken I didn't think anything serious was happening.

I managed to doze in and out until around 4am, when I thought I'd starting timing my tightenings. From very early on they were around 5-6 minutes apart lasting around a minute. They were completely bearable though; I could breathe through them and once one passed I felt completely normal too. During this time I did go to the loo a couple of times as well (I think they officially call it a 'clear out').

As time passed I noticed the pains becoming increasingly more painful. Always in my back. Standing made them more intense. They were building in waves... These were definitely contractions! But still my waters hadn't gone, so I thought I had a looong way to go yet.

The whole night I let Jack sleep - why wake him when I was managing okay? But at 6am something felt different, and I thought it was time to let him know the situation. I told him to call his parents too, as they were having the littles while we were at hospital. He was completely calm, and didn't seem in a rush to get his parents over.

The time between this call and Lilah being born are all a bit of a blur. Things picked up SO fast, and it wasn't long before I was crying from the pain and begging Jack to call the hospital. He put the Tens machine on, but honestly it was probably waaay too late for it to have any effect. The contractions were basically on top of each other by now!

Finally Jack's parents (and my sister, who was my second birth partner) arrived, and we made our way to the hospital. Looking back I was definitely in the transition stage at this point. I refused to get in the car, cried saying goodbye to my big babies, and shouted how "I couldn't do this!" a number of times.

Thankfully they managed to get me in the car, and we made the short 5 minute journey to the hospital - where I had about 3 contractions - so you can imagine how intense things were by now. The pressure down below was building too, so baby girl wasn't far away.

Arriving at the hospital around 7.30am, I somehow made it up to the antenatal ward. The nurse wanted to check my blood pressure. I shouted at her to stop. The midwife wanted to check my progress. I refused to get on the bed. Three back to back contractions later, I think they realised how close I was and decided to send me straight to delivery instead!

I couldn't walk, so they got me on the bed and practically ran us down the corridor. It was on this journey that my waters finally broke too - such a strange experience, as they had always gone so much earlier in my previous labours.

Hanging over the bed, I had absolutely no idea who the midwife was delivering our baby girl. I was handed the gas and air, and immediately went into a world of my own. My body was in control, and it was pushing! And just a few minutes later, at 7.59am on the 14th January (my due date), our beautiful little Lilah was born.

Still in complete shock I turned around to see our littlest lady; Jack cut her cord, and we had a blissful hour of skin to skin. I was so pleased to only have a minimal 2nd degree tear, especially considering she weighed an impressive 9lbs 7oz of chunky perfection!

After a quick newborn check and no problems with me, we were discharged straight from the delivery ward. And we were home having snuggles by lunchtime.

It was the most perfect labour. But the speed and intensity of that last hour was something else... they say third labours are unpredictable, and they were't wrong! If I hadn't have got in the car when we did, there is no doubt I would have had the home birth we originally planned. Our beautiful baby girl wasn't hanging around!

Indiana's Assisted Birth {First Baby}

Parker's Water Birth {Second Baby}

My Birth Story | Parker John

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!