Birth story - Laura and baby boy

I woke up on Thursday 19th July with back ache which lasted all day, it wasnt painful just went about my day but knew it was there. When I got home about 5pm I noticed i lost a bit of clear mucus plug and thought this might be the start of things....had continued back ache all evening/night but managed to sleep on and off.

Friday 20th July (due date) I woke up about 5:30 with back ache, lost some mucus plug around 6:45 and more the next time I went toilet around 7:45. Back ache continued on and off but again manageable was still continuing my day as normal pottering around the house.

I spoke to my husband at 10:30 and we thought it was a good idea that he came home from work.

At 12:35 put tens machine on as back pain was increasing, it took us a while to work it out but it seemed to help as a distraction, this continued throughout the afternoon and I was just timing surges and breathing through but there was no clear pattern as yet. Some would come every few minutes then I might not have one for 15 minutes. By 17:00 I decided to have a bath, contractions stopped for a bit, I was in there 40 mins in the bath had about 3 contractions in the bath. That really helped and was so chilled I felt so relaxed after, little bit more mucus plug came out after and about 15 mins later 1st contraction started again.

Contractions continued until about 9pm but were quite manageable with breathing and tens machine on. I went upstairs to lay down and watch love island and then things started getting more intense, I called my husband upstairs and asked him to call the hospital and explain what was happening. I couldn't speak much by this point but was breathing and leaning over the bed. Being a FTM they were a bit reluctant for me to come in as these things can be slow, but said if I wanted to come in and be checked I could so we decided to go in. I wanted to find out how far along I was if anything.. .It probably took about half an hour to get changed and get into the car as I had to keep stopping for me to breathe through surges, but I think all the extra movement helped. We finally got in the car I couldn't even sit down as I felt like I needed to go to the toilet.

Luckily the hospital is only a 5 minute drive away but it took about 20 minutes to get from the car park to the ward as I kept having to stop and breathe. At this point I started thinking I need pain relief if this is only 3/4cm.... when we got to the MLU the midwife asked me for a urine sample, even trying to do this was really difficult so she asked me to get on the bed to be examined to our amazement she asked me if I felt like I needed to push, I was like yeah a bit. She then said I can see the head you are fully dilated!! I couldn't believe I'd managed to stay at home for that whole part!! I was so happy hearing those words I thought I can do this.

There were no birthing pools available but honestly by this point I didn’t really care! We got to the hospital at 11pm and our beautiful baby boy was born 1 hour and 55 minutes later weighing 8lb 13oz, the pushing part took me a while to get the hang of but I had a fantastic midwife who guided me through. No stitches needed, and baby was back to back. All done with a bit of gas and air! I know for a fact I wouldn't have coped so well if it hadn't of been for the pack! The breathing is the best thing and really does help so much. My husband was amazing too and helped me stay calm and in the zone. I never thought I would be sharing such a positive story, I feel super lucky!! Reading these posts from other FTM got me through so I hope this story can help someone else! You can do it! Thank you so much Siobhan Miller!