At about 9pm on Sunday 27th April 2008, I started to have painful contractions, about 20 mins apart. After two weeks of regular Braxton hicks and stop/start contractions, I wasn’t sure if it was the real thing as all the pain was in my back and I knew the baby was in a good position so thought maybe he was just messing about again!
The contractions became stronger and more regular and by midnight, I was having to breathe through them. I still worried it was a false alarm so didn’t phone my mum until 1.30am – she then drove down to be with my daughter, upstairs, which was lucky as she woke up at about 3am and didn’t go back to sleep! I rang the on-call Midwife who advised me to rest and call her back if things picked up. By 2am, contractions were about 2-3mins apart - my husband, Phil, was filling the birth pool and rubbing my back through the pains – so I phoned the Midwife again, to be told she was busy and would ring back in 5 mins. An hour later, she hadn’t phoned. I rang back as really wanted to use the pool for pain relief by then and was told again that she’d call in 5 mins.
My mum arrived (with a travel kettle so she didn’t disturb us by coming downstairs!) and Chloe woke up soon afterwards. I went up to reassure her that everything was ok and she was so excited she just kept asking ‘is it really happening?’ She wanted to have long conversations with me about where she was going to have breakfast, which wasn’t easy with contractions a minute apart, but she was very happy to cuddle up and read stories with Grandma so I left them to it.
After 45 mins, the MW finally rang back – she said she’d be here in 20 mins so we didn't expect her to show up until about a week after the birth - we weren’t convinced about her timekeeping by now! She arrived at 5am and promptly told me I was only 3cms dilated – I could have cried!
I couldn’t believe how painful my back was and couldn’t bear the thought of another 7 hours of it getting worse. I got into the pool anyway, and listened to a relaxation CD. An hour later she checked me again – I’d been moving around and squatting a lot in the pool so was hoping for quick progress, but she told me I was 4cms – then added ‘and a half’ when she saw my face! I was really upset and wasn’t sure what to do – she suggested trying gas and air but I didn’t want to use it as I thought I still had such a long way to go, so I carried on moving in the pool or getting Phil to rub my back while breathing.
The Midwife was actually asking questions about our holidays while I was trying to concentrate, and checking things like my temperature during contractions, so I was delighted at 7.30am when it was the end of her shift! She helpfully told the new Midwife and the student with her that it would be ages before anything happened, and left at 8am.
Almost as soon as she shut the door I had a huge show and a couple of really intense contractions on top of each other. I had a few minutes on my own in the bathroom which really helped me to get my head together. I began talking to my baby boy, asking him to work with me and telling him I couldn't wait to meet him. Then I got back in the pool and asked for the gas and air. I was totally spaced out, which wasn't what I'd wanted and I'd hoped to manage without the gas and air at all, but as it was such an intense labour, it really helped me to calm down and stop panicking.
Suddenly I had a really strange feeling, like my head cleared and I knew exactly what was going on. I told the Midwife it wouldn’t be long, and started feeling my body pushing – the Midwife and student were brilliant – really positive and supportive but hands-off, exactly as we’d asked. The Midwife was on the phone requesting a second Midwife for the delivery when I suddenly felt his head crowning – so she said ‘nevermind!’ and hung up!
Then I just had this overwhelming sense that my body knew what to do and that things would be fine – I felt him crowning but it didn’t hurt, it was just an awareness of what was happening. At 8.39am I delivered him into my hands under the water. I lifted him up to the surface and couldn’t believe how tiny and how loud he was!
I stayed in the pool, both the baby and I were crying our eyes out! Then I sat on the edge of the pool to deliver the placenta while our little boy had his first breastfeed and finally got out so we could snuggle up for a bit. Phil and I sat with him for ages deciding on his name and counting his fingers and toes, while the Midwives filled in their notes. Then he was weighed (8lbs 5oz!) and I was examined – I had two 2nd degree tears but they decided I didn’t really need stitches – and then we went upstairs to bed.
Phil emptied the pool with a hose siphon and buckets in about half an hour and by the time his parents arrived in the afternoon, the house was totally back to normal! It was so lovely being at home and feeling so in control of the whole thing – if we’re lucky enough to have anymore babies I think we’d definitely opt for another homebirth, it was just so relaxing!
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