Birth story - Clare and baby Lucas

The few days leading up to it I had a couple of tightenings here and there but nothing really to talk about, so on Halloween I had a tikka massala for tea (spicy for me) and had a couple of cups of raspberry leaf tea during the day. I put sweets in a tub outside so I wouldn’t have the door knocked by trick or treaters as the dog goes crazy and I watched twilight with some goodies while hubby was at football. When Danny came back we watched Making a Murderer and I was convinced labour wouldn’t start because I was so wound up by it 😂 but felt really content and happy going to bed.

I woke up about 2am on the 1/11/18 to go to the toilet and felt uncomfortable straight away with mild period like cramping. Tried to get back to sleep but felt an urge to get up and have a bit of clean downstairs so did that and had a cup of tea. Then at 3am felt something trickle down my leg and knew straight away it was my waters so went to the loo put a pad on and instantly the surges ramped up a bit, about 2 in 10mins lasting 45 secs. At 3:30 my mucus plug was coming away and more waters trickling. I used my up-breathing the whole time and the surges were very manageable.

I went up to tell hubby I was definitely in labour at 4am but to stay in bed and get some more sleep as it could be a while yet and I would wake him if needed. At 4.30 I had some paracetamol then got in the bath but only lasted 15 minutes in there and decided to wake hubby up at 05:30 as the surges were lasting around 50secs every 3/4minutes now. I got him to put my tens machine on and this was amazing! I used the boost button during the surges and it helped massively alongside my upbreathing.

I decided to call the hospital at 06.15 as I wanted a water birth at the birth centre attached to the hospital and wanted advice on when to come in. I told them everything and they asked if I was sure my waters were leaking and I said I think so and my mucus plug was coming away but was clear, the midwife said to make sure I had a pad on and phone back in 1 hour to confirm if my waters were definitely leaking. She also said that as I was managing so well and FTM at 39+2 she didn’t think I was in established labour yet (I knew I was!!). I Put the phone down and almost instantly everything ramped up! I got a big bloody show and lot more waters and the surges were coming strong and fast but all manageable with my tens and breathing but I couldn’t talk through them. I rang the hospital back half an hour later and said we were coming in! I told hubby to go and get my mum as she lives over the road and we needed to get going!

We arrived at the hospital at 07:40am and went straight to a room on delivery suite and I kept feeling like I needed to just sit on the toilet. I then consented to a vaginal exam on the bed and was worried they would say I wasn’t far along but she said there was only a tiny rim on my cervix so I was practically fully dilated and there was no time to send me to the birth centre and fill up the pool. I was more than happy staying where I was- I didn’t fancy a move at all and I was just so happy I’d managed so well, I actually fist pumped my hubby 😂

I then moved into various positions and by about half 9 was ready to push, the most comfortable position was knelt on the bed holding on to the back of it with hubby stood there and holding onto him! I was pushing for about 40 minutes in total and he was born calmly and slowly at 10:10 and it was the most amazing feeling in the world! I had skin on skin contact, delayed cord clamping and at this point was happy for the injection for the placenta, it took a little time to come and I had to move to the toilet to deliver it but it came away soon enough, I also only had a minor tear that required 2 stitches and was up and about an hour later.

Although I had my heart set on a water birth at the birth centre I couldn’t have asked for a better or more calm labour and I truly believe it was because of the videos and knowing all about the science behind labour and birth! Thankyou so much positive birth company for helping me have the most amazing start to becoming a mum 💕