I had a sweep on Tuesday 2nd December and started to lose my plug the next couple of days. I had my show Sunday morning and I felt crampy all day on and off but nothing regular enough or close together enough to think it was labour.
By about 6pm I was having contractions but they were quite irregular. We were playing on the XBOX 360 and they started to get more regular and painful at about 9ish, I got on my ball, Andy ran me a clary sage bath and gave me 2 painkillers and we went outside for a walk around the block to get things moving. We tried to go to bed and get some sleep with a film on in the background and the laptop balanced on the bed for me to time the contractions - which did not work at all
lol.
By about 12:30am the pains were so strong we got dressed and went downstairs, called the hospital for advice and called my Mum to come over. I had a bit of a last minute panic and a cry but Andy reassured me and helped me through every contraction. Just after the phone call the contractions started coming every 4 1/2 minutes and lasting a minute each so we went in.
We got to the hospital by about 1:30am. I had a few contractions on the way two in the car and one in the lift at hospital and Andy helped me breathe through them. When we got there the ward was very quiet and Andy had already told them I wanted a water birth so they had prepared the room ready. We went straight there and settled into the room.
The midwife; Lyn was so lovely and reassuring and had a really good read through my notes asked lots of questions to keep my mind off things in between contractions. She read everything in my birth plan and talked it through with me including my SPD and the water birth etc... She asked me what I preferred to be called cuz it says Katherine on my notes, I said Kate and she called me this from then on, she also asked me if I knew what I was having and what her name was and everytime she referred to her from then on she said Isabelle which was lovely.
She offered to check me to see how far along I was and I was 3cm. I said to her is this definitely it? Or might you send us home? and she said Oh this is definitely it now! After one of my contractions I said I feel so stupid How am I going to get through the birth if I cant even cope with these contractions at 3cm She said of course you can do it, we will just take things one contraction at a time and take it from there.
She offered to start running the pool and said I could use it as soon as its full for pain relief. I got dressed in a tankini and hubby helped me in the pool and the water felt sooo good it was right up to my shoulders and was very soothing, I tried a few different positions and eventually found the foetal position on my right was the best, holding on to the side and hubbys hand with my face resting on him arm.
The midwife checked Izzys heartbeat every so often and said it was perfect. She dimmed the lights for us and asked if we wanted our CD on (in our birth plan) and left us on our own for 15 minutes and said to buzz if we needed anything. By this point I was still just breathing through every contraction and squeezing hubbys hand but they were becoming so strong and making me feel so sick, I felt lots of pain in my back too. When she came back in, I said that I needed gas and air now and it was a big help. I used the end to bite down on and afterwards the tingly feeling in my face was comforting. The rest all happened so quickly its a bit of a blur but I remember thinking My God! Theres hardly any space between the contractions anymore I cant take the pain anymore, I need something else.
The midwife said that she could check me out of the pool to see how Ive progressed. I said if she tells me Im only 4cm I want an epidural!! I got out the pool and started having a contraction I said I need gas and air!!!! She said its over here by the bed youll have to come over so I practically ran there to get some. After that I lay on the bed and she checked me and told me Youre full dilated and ready to push!! I couldnt believe it as I had only been in the pool for 2 hours and shouted Oh my God!!!! But I need an epidural!! lol. She said its a bit late for that and I had done so well to get through transition with just gas and air. She said she had a feeling I was progressing nice and quickly because of the strength of my contractions and how close together they were. She asked me if I wanted to deliver in the pool or on the bed. I did not want to get off the bed so I started the pushing stage in the left lateral postion, another midwife came in too and was telling me how to use the G&A and push effectively. I couldnt stay in that position because it hurt my hips stoo much so I moved to on my kees leaning over the head of the bed and holidng Andy.
I remember the midwife telling me that I had done the hardest bit and lots of women found the pushing not as bad because you are pushing against every contraction, which really gave me a boost. I think I was screaming the hospital down at first and they told me to concentrate that energy on pushing , so when I did that I was pushing much better. I remember apologising for swearing
The next contraction my waters only just broke which felt like a huge pop and gush. The other midwife told me to listen to everything Lyn said and that would make sure I had as little damage as possible. So I pushed and panted as instructed and she told me her head was out! I couldnt believe it! She said the next contraction and she will be out! And so at 05:11am baby Isabelle was born! It said on my notes the total pushing time was 40 minutes but it only felt like about 20 minutes.
She had lots of moucous on herchest at first and was very quiet which was very frightening but they gave her a good rub and she coughed it all up. I kept asking Is she OK? cuz she wasnt crying but she is absolutely perfect
daddy had first cuddles whilst I delivered the placenta the midwife said the cord was really long and wide and the placenta was literally double the size of an average one! When it came out I felt my tummy shrink! It was huge! They didnt weigh her for a little while but they all said she looks like a 10 pounder! Well it was 10lb 8.5oz! I was very lucky and only had one tear but it was 2nd degree so needed stitches. Had to go in stirrups whilst they did it and had a bit of gas and air but the lady who did it was very good. It hurt but I just kept looking over at my daughter and smiling. Once I was all stitched up they cleaned me and my bed up a little bit and let me have some skin to skin contact with her whilst I breastfed and they left us alone just the three of us to bond. They brought us some tea and toast and we started ringing round our friends and family to tell them the good news!
We are so in love with her and she gets more and more beautiful everyday. I still cant believe I did it on just gas and air and Im in shock over how fast it all happened. Andy kept telling me how proud he was of me all the time and how much he loved us. As Im writing this its making me realise how amazing Andy was as my birthing partner, I love him so much We were very fortunate to have a quick discharge from the hospital and were home the same evening. We are our own little family and its the most amazing feeling in the world. We are so in love with her and so happy.
Attached a few pics of our gorgeous princess:
https://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/bambikate3/029-1.jpg
https://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/bambikate3/031-2.jpg
https://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/bambikate3/046-1.jpg
By about 6pm I was having contractions but they were quite irregular. We were playing on the XBOX 360 and they started to get more regular and painful at about 9ish, I got on my ball, Andy ran me a clary sage bath and gave me 2 painkillers and we went outside for a walk around the block to get things moving. We tried to go to bed and get some sleep with a film on in the background and the laptop balanced on the bed for me to time the contractions - which did not work at all
lol. By about 12:30am the pains were so strong we got dressed and went downstairs, called the hospital for advice and called my Mum to come over. I had a bit of a last minute panic and a cry but Andy reassured me and helped me through every contraction. Just after the phone call the contractions started coming every 4 1/2 minutes and lasting a minute each so we went in.
We got to the hospital by about 1:30am. I had a few contractions on the way two in the car and one in the lift at hospital and Andy helped me breathe through them. When we got there the ward was very quiet and Andy had already told them I wanted a water birth so they had prepared the room ready. We went straight there and settled into the room.
The midwife; Lyn was so lovely and reassuring and had a really good read through my notes asked lots of questions to keep my mind off things in between contractions. She read everything in my birth plan and talked it through with me including my SPD and the water birth etc... She asked me what I preferred to be called cuz it says Katherine on my notes, I said Kate and she called me this from then on, she also asked me if I knew what I was having and what her name was and everytime she referred to her from then on she said Isabelle which was lovely.
She offered to check me to see how far along I was and I was 3cm. I said to her is this definitely it? Or might you send us home? and she said Oh this is definitely it now! After one of my contractions I said I feel so stupid How am I going to get through the birth if I cant even cope with these contractions at 3cm She said of course you can do it, we will just take things one contraction at a time and take it from there.
She offered to start running the pool and said I could use it as soon as its full for pain relief. I got dressed in a tankini and hubby helped me in the pool and the water felt sooo good it was right up to my shoulders and was very soothing, I tried a few different positions and eventually found the foetal position on my right was the best, holding on to the side and hubbys hand with my face resting on him arm.
The midwife checked Izzys heartbeat every so often and said it was perfect. She dimmed the lights for us and asked if we wanted our CD on (in our birth plan) and left us on our own for 15 minutes and said to buzz if we needed anything. By this point I was still just breathing through every contraction and squeezing hubbys hand but they were becoming so strong and making me feel so sick, I felt lots of pain in my back too. When she came back in, I said that I needed gas and air now and it was a big help. I used the end to bite down on and afterwards the tingly feeling in my face was comforting. The rest all happened so quickly its a bit of a blur but I remember thinking My God! Theres hardly any space between the contractions anymore I cant take the pain anymore, I need something else.
The midwife said that she could check me out of the pool to see how Ive progressed. I said if she tells me Im only 4cm I want an epidural!! I got out the pool and started having a contraction I said I need gas and air!!!! She said its over here by the bed youll have to come over so I practically ran there to get some. After that I lay on the bed and she checked me and told me Youre full dilated and ready to push!! I couldnt believe it as I had only been in the pool for 2 hours and shouted Oh my God!!!! But I need an epidural!! lol. She said its a bit late for that and I had done so well to get through transition with just gas and air. She said she had a feeling I was progressing nice and quickly because of the strength of my contractions and how close together they were. She asked me if I wanted to deliver in the pool or on the bed. I did not want to get off the bed so I started the pushing stage in the left lateral postion, another midwife came in too and was telling me how to use the G&A and push effectively. I couldnt stay in that position because it hurt my hips stoo much so I moved to on my kees leaning over the head of the bed and holidng Andy.
I remember the midwife telling me that I had done the hardest bit and lots of women found the pushing not as bad because you are pushing against every contraction, which really gave me a boost. I think I was screaming the hospital down at first and they told me to concentrate that energy on pushing , so when I did that I was pushing much better. I remember apologising for swearing
The next contraction my waters only just broke which felt like a huge pop and gush. The other midwife told me to listen to everything Lyn said and that would make sure I had as little damage as possible. So I pushed and panted as instructed and she told me her head was out! I couldnt believe it! She said the next contraction and she will be out! And so at 05:11am baby Isabelle was born! It said on my notes the total pushing time was 40 minutes but it only felt like about 20 minutes. She had lots of moucous on herchest at first and was very quiet which was very frightening but they gave her a good rub and she coughed it all up. I kept asking Is she OK? cuz she wasnt crying but she is absolutely perfect
daddy had first cuddles whilst I delivered the placenta the midwife said the cord was really long and wide and the placenta was literally double the size of an average one! When it came out I felt my tummy shrink! It was huge! They didnt weigh her for a little while but they all said she looks like a 10 pounder! Well it was 10lb 8.5oz! I was very lucky and only had one tear but it was 2nd degree so needed stitches. Had to go in stirrups whilst they did it and had a bit of gas and air but the lady who did it was very good. It hurt but I just kept looking over at my daughter and smiling. Once I was all stitched up they cleaned me and my bed up a little bit and let me have some skin to skin contact with her whilst I breastfed and they left us alone just the three of us to bond. They brought us some tea and toast and we started ringing round our friends and family to tell them the good news! We are so in love with her and she gets more and more beautiful everyday. I still cant believe I did it on just gas and air and Im in shock over how fast it all happened. Andy kept telling me how proud he was of me all the time and how much he loved us. As Im writing this its making me realise how amazing Andy was as my birthing partner, I love him so much
We were very fortunate to have a quick discharge from the hospital and were home the same evening. We are our own little family and its the most amazing feeling in the world. We are so in love with her and so happy.Attached a few pics of our gorgeous princess:
https://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/bambikate3/029-1.jpg
https://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/bambikate3/031-2.jpg
https://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s13/bambikate3/046-1.jpg
Your little princess is gorgeous!!! 
adorable!
