Birth story - Emma and baby Ethan

2/6/19:
Woke up with noticeable but easy back/period pains, no pattern and not close together.
10:30am midwife Claire came to my home to give me a sweep of which I had requested (uncomfortable but over quickly). Said baby was engaged.
Regular period and back pains throughout the day but nothing close together and all bearable. Went over to see my parents but hadn't mentioned the sweep. Mum and I went for a dog walk where I felt a few surges but nothing unbearable, again I didn't mention this to her.
Same throughout the night, they woke me up.

3/6/19:
7:10am woken by a surge.
7:30am went to the loo, wiped and noticed a slightly bloody but certainly mucus show. No further surges following this.
9:30am Claire came round again to do another sweep. Said eat a fresh pineapple and potter around.
12:40am woke up from a nap, lost a bit more of my mucus plug and back and period pains have returned.
Surges got worse throughout the day, still irregular but quite intense, causing me to have to stop every time they came on! Alan timed them.
Claire rang at 18:45 to check on my progress, seemed pleased that the surges were intense and advised taking paracetamol before bed.
Had a bath, baby moving nicely and surges still irregular but making me stop and do up breathing.

4/6/19:
0:15am woke up with a strong surge that made me cry, I just wasn't prepared for it. Surges continued approximately every 10 minutes for the next 2 and a half hours, up breathing was my saviour. Too early to take anymore paracetamol. Managed to have a sleep till 5am where surges began again. Got up to go to the loo at 5:50am and wiped away a huge amount of mucus plug.
Decided to get out of bed at 6am and sit downstairs with a hot water bottle to give Alan a break.
7:45 went to the loo and more plug lost.
9am spoke to Claire who advised me to come in and see her in clinic to have a chat.
9:15 more plug lost after a big surge.
9:45 went to see Claire up in clinic. Said I'm 3cms dilated and she could easily break waters if needed. Baby doing well. Had 3 surges whilst in clinic. Claire thinks baby likely to come today if everything progresses.
Bloody mucus discharge when we got back home following a further 2 surges.
Tried to nap but that was difficult as I found it hard to up breathe through surges in that position.
12:10 took 2 paracetamol following a few strong surges.
12:25 had to ring Claire to ask them to come out as surges bringing me to tears. Said they'd be with me in an hour. Moved upstairs, closed the curtains, lit the lavender burner and made the bed my space. Positivity, movement and being upright made all the difference.
Claire arrived at 1:45 and examined me. Cervix remains very soft and she could feel head pushing down during a surge. On the brink of established labour. Became emotional after some back to back surges so she advised me to have a bath. Regained focus and went over and over positive affirmations whilst looking at baby scan picture.
Took an hour long bath then spent until 6pm breathing through regular surges again in the dark in our bedroom.
Got back in the bath at 6pm, surges continued regularly and intense.
Called maternity at 7pm, asking advice as not sure what to expect. Had several surges over the phone so she said she would call the on call midwife and get them to come out as likely in established labour now.
From here it's all just a bit of a blur! I got out of the bath after phone call and continued to labour steadily until the midwife, Zoe, arrived at 7:30pm. She examined me and said I was still only 3cm dilated. Devastated is the only word to describe that news. I had some gas and air but she said she wasn't allowed to leave it with us as it may then not be helpful in later stages labour so I returned to up breathing and got back in the zone of positivity.
Think Zoe left around 9pm, although I was in the zone. Felt really tired so got myself into left side lying on our bed and tried to sleep between surges. Alan joined me with the dogs but at times I was screaming, mooing and generally making the weirdest of noises. They became so intense I felt like my body was pushing but I thought it was too early so kept shouting to myself to stop and just relax.
At 11:45pm I shouted to Alan that I needed the midwife so he rang. I admit during surges I found it difficult to remain positive but remembered the traffic lights from the digital pack so went from amber to green every time.
At 12midnight Alan and I heard a pop and he checked and said my waters had broken, all nice and clear. This was a wonderful feeling and added to my positivity.
I then just felt like I needed to push, or rather I had no choice, my body took over.

Midwife, Lizzie, arrived at 12:30 and told Alan baby was on its way, I was fully dilated and she needed urgent back up. She didn't even think there was time to call Zoe, who lived in Bembridge (45mins away), so rang the hospital (5mins away) to send someone out. Meanwhile I got back on the gas and air and just followed my body. I stopped making noise and used it to push down as I now knew it was safe to push.
The next hour was so empowering, I felt baby coming down and around the "u-bend", felt him slip back up a few times, but because I knew this was normal it made me feel even more empowered. The part of baby coming down can't be described as painful because baby helped guide me the whole way. I got to be the first one to touch his head as he crowned, that was incredible. I let baby guide my surges so that each one was worthwhile.

I was still on my left side but with every surge my body curled in and my top leg lifted of its own accord.
Within the hour babies head was born, followed on the next surge by the body. Midwives didn't coach me, just told me I was doing a fantastic job and telling me what they could see.
My pulse remained low and steady and even baby was calm. The cord was around his neck but not tightly so no concern there. The cord was just very long.
Straight away skin to skin and Alan announced the sex and cut the cord once it stopped pulsing.

My placenta was a little bit less helpful at coming out! Got majority out with 1 push but had a few clots so they were worried about blood loss, so after half an hour they gave me the injection which I happily accepted using BRAIN. Came away fine after that with a little encouragement.
Because Ethan had pooed on the way out they weren't sure if he had swallowed any of it so felt it safer to go into hospital for 12hr monitoring.
I was checked and had a grade 1 tear of my perineum which they felt was easiest to stitch and just grazing on my labia. I'd had 350ml of blood loss.

So however long later we got transferred into hospital by ambulance. Ethan had successfully latched before we travelled and when we got in.
Stitches were horrible, worse than labour as I had no endorphins powering me through and gas & air and local anesthetic didn't fully help. Made me cry and then Ethan cried so I felt worse.
Slept well with Ethan skin to skin the rest of the night.

I am so pleased to have found Hypnobirthing and the digital pack, thank you Siobhan for making it so easily accessible!