On the 11th March, I woke up needing the loo at 4am, and as I stood up felt a lot of pressure followed by a definite contraction, very mild, but enough to be uncomfortable. Went to the loo and had a couple of jelly like bits when I wiped, which I thought could be a little bit of plug. Went back to bed feeling hopeful as I was 41 weeks so was quite ready to have a baby!
Definite but mild contractions carried on all through that day and night and then all through the day on Monday. They were totally random and sporadic and certainly not in any pattern. A few of them on the Monday (12th) felt a bit stronger and like they might be actually doing something, but I knew I wasn't in labour. OH got home from work at 11pm on the Monday night . The contractions had completely stopped again by then, and I was soooo frustrated. I had a total meltdown at that point and just sobbed my heart out to OH for about an hour about how miserable and uncomfortable I was feeling, he ran me a bath and made me a cup of RLT and the we cuddled up in bed . I couldn't sleep, even though it was about 1.30am at this point, but I think I dozed for a bit.
At 2.20am I suddenly came out of my doze realising I was having a strong contraction. Properly strong! I checked the time quickly and then sat up in bed dead still and waited. Exactly 5 minutes later, another one, just as strong! They were seriously painful, and if they hadn't hurt so much I could have cheered! I timed them for about 20 minutes and they were pretty consistent at 4-5 minutes apart, so decided to wake OH up and tell him that I was finally in labour. We sat and timed a few more contractions, and I realised they were getting even stronger, so I called delivery suite to get them to send the midwife out. Apparently delivery suite were busy, and so the receptionist had a midwife call me back. After about 5 minutes I got a call back and the midwife asked me all the standard questions. I had a couple of contractions whilst on the phone, which she decided to talk me through (anyone who wants to know....never do this! She's so lucky you can't punch people down the phone!) Anyway, she decided she'd call the community midwife, and that I should expect another call from her shortly. I then laid a towel and some maternity bed pads on the bed incase my waters broke.
At about 3.15am the community midwife called and asked all the questions again. I warned her i'd had a quick labour last time, so she decided to call the second midwife to come right away, and also asked if she could bring a student with her (it would be the student's first birth she'd attended). I agreed. She then said she was on the other side of the city, and that it was really foggy, but she'd be there as soon as she could.
After making all the calls, which felt a bit stressful, I settled down lying on my left side in bed, which is how i'd laboured last time, and got OH to rub my lower back with some of the massage oils i'd made up whilst I just zoned out and did some visualisations. I felt really good and relaxed and totally lost all concept of time. The contractions were getting stronger all the time, and I couldn't get through them without moaning. OH kept reminding me to do my slow breathing, which was great because its easy to forget! I put my iPod on to have something to focus on, but the contractions just kept getting stronger and stronger, and I was lying there wishing the midwife would hurry the hell up, because i'd have really liked some gas & air at that point! I managed to control myself though and kept working with the contractions. Suddenly I started feeling a lot of pressure with the contractions and was slightly worried, as it was very soon, and I was concerned i'd get the urge to push. I knew that it could be pressure on a nerve or something similar that might make me feel like pushing. After a couple more contractions like that (they were coming about every 2 minutes by then), with more and more pressure I did get the urge to push, and said to OH its all getting a bit pushy, I don't want to push at the wrong time, but there is so much pressure, can you have a look and see if its ok to push or not?
So OH put my leg on his shoulder and had a look, he said its ok, I can see your waters bulging out, so that's what the pressure is, I think its fine! So, great, I though, I can relax a bit, and I relaxed with the next contraction, rather than trying to fight the pressure, hoping my waters would break and it would be a bit more comfortable pressure-wise. Then OH suddenly said Oh wait I can see hair, there's hair! Oh, the head is coming now! I think then we both suddenly realised we were going to have to do this alone, so I changed my position a bit and OH got my leg well up on his shoulder, and I said to him just tell me exactly what is happening, so I know when to push I spent 2 contractions pushing as gently as I could to get the head out, with OH telling me how I was doing, then had a good rest when he said the head was out. A few more gentle and one big push and he said the shoulders were out! As soon as I heard him say that, I pushed as hard as I could and she popped out, fully in her waters, which had never broken! Freyja Lynn was born at about 3.56am she weighed 7lb 15oz. Time of birth is a guess, as neither of us thought to look at the clock when she was actually born!
OH said afterwards he could see her struggling inside the membranes so he tore them open by her face and then pulled them away from her head and handed her to me, and I took the rest of the membranes off her and got OH to hand me the nearest towel to wrap over her. I knew she was basically ok, because she was already crying, so I just gave her a good rub and kept her close against my chest and covered with the towel.
I said to OH that he better call an ambulance because I didn't fancy doing the 3rd stage alone when there was a chance of heavy bleeding, and we didn't know how long the midwives would be. The 999 operator told him to go and open the front door ready for the ambulance crew, and as he got to the front door, the midwives were just arriving. The first thing they did was find a hat for Freyja, which I had totally forgotten about in the moment, and take the towel i'd put on the heater to warm and cover her in that too. Then they took a photo of the 3 of us!
They asked how long it had been since the birth, and we reckoned about 5 minutes. Anyway, they felt my tummy and after about another 5-10 minutes I delivered the placenta with a couple of pushes. Then they spent a while trying to find the cord clamps etc. (the midwife's delivery pack was apparently missing a load of stuff!
) So eventually OH cut the cord, well after i'd delivered the placenta. Freyja was a little on the cold side after not being wrapped up enough right after the birth, but I stayed snuggled with her for about an hour and she had a good feed, and after that warmed up quickly.
The midwives checked me over (small 1st degree tear, no stitching needed, woohoo!) and then made us a cup of tea, ran me a bath and cleared up the mess and changed the (totally trashed) bedsheets for us and then went off to make up some notes and left us to it!
Apart from being slightly alarming when we realised that we were having the baby unattended, the whole experience was fantastic and really relaxed. Everything that my first labour wasn't! Plus OH gets to be super smug about the whole thing, and is the talk of the midwives clinic!
if you dont mind me asking - did they tell you that they were inducing you regardless of what you wanted... or were you asked if you wanted to be? xxx
wellllll it STILL may happen naturally hunni 
