My Birth Story- Part 3 - Harper Rose, welcome to the world
"Shall we go and walk the puppies?" I asked my partner in the lift, shortly before I was on the ground trying to get through a strong contraction...
"Are you sure you want to do that" he laughed, seeing that I could barely walk.
"Maybe not..." I replied, half laughing, half trying not to make loud groaning noises with the contraction pains...
Once home, I took myself to the bathroom and ran a nice deep, bubbly bath. It helped, a lot! But of course, the bath went cold... I manouvred myself out of the bath (throughout this whole home labouring period, my partner kept asking how he could help, there honestly was nothing for him to do! It must be so horrible for the dads to see their partners in pain!), let out all of the water and migrated downstairs to the shower.
Another top tip: Learn from my mistakes, when the bath goes cold, get out and re-run it! The shower is so not the same!
The shower helped a little, but no where near the relief of the bath, so again, I moved... This time to the lounge area. Like a gymnast, I stretched around the sofa, holding various positions. Elliott (my partner) put on The Lion King, which we watched for a bit, but I called time about 15 minutes in.
So round 3 of thinking baby is coming (luckily this was the third and final time), we made our way to the hospital, about 2 hours after being discharged. In and out of the pain filled zone, I slammed the passenger seat back to get more leg room, knocking into the car seat (oops, at least there was no baby in it yet!) The drive felt like an eternity! I was just 35+2 weeks, but the baby was coming... Today!
Squirming outside the ward, the doors finally opened, letting us in. I was laid on a bed to be assessed... The Speculum was put in and out so quick, followed by fingers, I was 5cm already! "Epidural, I need an epidural!" A cannula was put into my hand/wrist in a timely fashion (although, nothing seemed timely through the pain).
Once again, we were taken through to the labour ward. I had to wait for the "epidural man" (I had no clue if it was a man or a woman, I was just desperate for pain relief) for about 15 minutes (I think). The midwife checked to see how far a long I was... 8cm... 8cm already, no wonder it hurt so bad!
THANKFULLY I COULD STILL HAVE THE EPIDURAL, although, this posed a problem. A man was about to stick a needle into my spine... I had to sit still... As easy as balancing a tray of champagne flutes during an earthquake.
Once the epidural started working, WOW, HEAVEN! I felt like I was back in the room. I barely knew who was in the room beforehand. I finally met my lovely midwife, and Elliott and I decided to watch the Lion King again, well, he humoured me! Once the end credits started rolling, I could feel the pain starting again, as well as an urge to push. The midwife checked and confirmed that I was ready to go.
"The wa..." she began, but was stopped mid word, when a waterfall fell from me. Yep... Waters broke again!
After waiting a short while for baby to descend, the pushing period commenced. The contraction pain was returning stronger, so I knew that I needed to get this baby out of me ASAP. The midwife called for the doctor- as bubba was premature, he or she needed to be checked over after birth.
8 minutes... Just 8 minutes it took to push our angel into the world. The doctor didn't even manage to arrive in time! The baby was lifted up and there was a moment of awe in the room. I was stunned but hastily moved the umbilical cord, out of the way, to see if baby was a boy or a girl.
IT'S A GIRL!
My dreams came true, I had a mini me! Although, she looked the spitting image of Elliott (typical). She was just perfect. We were beaming, it felt like it was just our little family in the room. My baby girl was placed on my chest, to allow for skin to skin. I guided her towards my boob so that she could get he first feed. The midwife went to grab her head, trying to show me how to do it, but I objected (quite loudly), as NCT had advised against that. Her head had just been squeezed through my downstairs after all!
Harper Rose
6lb 8oz
Born at 18:59 on 1st June 2018
Luckily I didn't need to be stitched up, but I was losing a fair amount of blood, so they injected the umbilical cord, so that the placenta came out cleanly. All of the pain was worth it!
As she was so early, she was taken to be checked over, but she had no problems! After a short stay in hospital (she didn't need to go into the NICU, she stayed with us), for antibiotics and to be monitored, the three of us headed home to continue our adventures as a family!
Francesca
What was your birth story like? Who else's waters broke early? Would anyone like to have their birth story featured in my blog? - get in touch! Email me at: francescaweeksphotography@yahoo.com
