This is likely to be long, so basically Oliver George Murray was born two days early on the 1st of February at 6am exactly. He weighed 8lbs 9.5oz & was 53cm long, a little podger! Now here is the long version;
28th January
Started feeling a couple twinges when I was at my friends, nothing big but we realised they were coming every ten minutes. Not exactly painful but you could feel them. I went home & slept fine.
29th January
Went shopping, started loosing my plug but didn't think anything of it. Got lots of braxton hicks & constantly feeling I needed to pee. Had a lot of pressure & my muscles all felt very weak but completely bearable.
30th January
Woke up at 9 & felt normal. Had no twinges at all, but at 11am I started feeling them again, like period pain. After a while of them coming I decided to time how far apart they were. Some were coming every seven minutes, then wouldnt come for eighteen. Where as others were five minutes apart. I bounced on my birthing ball hoping to speed it up a bit & take away the back pain. They started coming closer together, the longest apart would be seven minutes. My mum said to phone the hospital to get advice because I live about seventy miles away we didnt want to leave it too late; but I decided it wasnt labour & didnt want to phone & feel like a fool.. But by 10pm I decided I should, they said to phone back when the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart! The pains started getting a bit worse so I went to bed with a hot water bottle, didnt work much. Around 11pm they started getting very sore & came two minutes apart. I texted my mum (even though she was only downstairs) she came up to my room & said to pack my stuff because it was time to go! I grabbed my pillow & went down the stairs, but a few steps from the bottom I slipped & fell down them. Luckily it was my back I hit, but it hurt. I took two paracetamol ready for the journey down, seeing as I would be stuck in a car for the best part of two hours. I kept timing the contractions & they were getting worse. I squeezed my Mummys hand
. We got let in the Emergency Exit & went to the Labour Ward. This was about 1am. The midwife put me on the machine measuring my contractions & his heart beat because of the fall. My contractions got further apart & more bearable. She then gave me an internal & I was just 2cm dilated. (Internals are not as bad as I was expecting!) By this time it was 3am & she said I should go to the Maternity Ward, so my mum left & went to stay at my Aunties 15 minutes away (not allowed back until 11am).. I couldn't sleep because of the contractions & nerves so sat up all night in the day room on the birthing ball.
31st January
My mum came back at 11am, we went a walk to Tescos. I was still getting contractions but I wanted to keep moving to hopefully speed up my labour. We also went on lots of walks around the hospital. It was pretty boring, I did buy pineapple though, hoping it would speed things up.
My mum kept timing my contractions and I bounced on the ball. They started to get to a stable 5 minutes apart, this was at around 7pm. The midwife said she was going to give me an internal, yay. So at 8 o clock she came back & I was 4cm. At half 10 I went up to the labour ward (waited for the shift to change over) & met Carrie. The midwife who was going to deliver my little one! They got me a birthing ball & gas & air. I took the gas & air but on the first puff I felt so sick but I kept using it. Ended up loving it The midwife said she would check how far I was in 4 hours. So I just bounced & bounced. Had a few trips to the toilet thinking I needed to pee, but I didn't.
I had a show & she thought it might have been my waters bursting, but they were coloured so she thought the baby had pooped! She then gave me an internal after only 3 hours to check my waters (1am), but they were intact & bulging so she decided to burst them & I went straight to 7cm dilated!
The gas & air then started taking its effect, I kept laughing after every contraction because of the gush of amniotic fluid that would come out. The whole floor was soaking including my mums shoes from me walking around. At the time it was hilarious, the midwife said she loved how I coped with pain. She was running around after me with a towel cleaning up my waters..
At around 1.30am we started guessing when I would have the baby, I said 3.10am, my mum said 2.45am & the midwife said 3.30am.. But after another 3 hours of labour I still didnt have him! So I got another internal at about 4.30am & I was 9cm, almost 10. It wasnt time to start pushing but I decided it was. Stupid idea. I kept drifting in & out of reality & not knowing what was going on. At one point I was imagining I was watching Toy Story 3 Ive never even seen it. I was just so tired after being in pain for days, & not sleeping. I kept wondering whether my mum was actually saying half the things I thought she was. At this point it was pretty painful. I started saying I was sick of it & couldnt do it anymore. The midwife realised he wasnt coming out right, so told me so sit up straight on my knees. I couldnt hold myself up so ended up with my arm around my mum & another midwife. I could feel him & they kept making me change position. Finally it was proper time to push. The bed was tipped up at one side & I was facing it, I pushed & pushed & out he came hands first! This was now 6am, bang on the dot. I started shouting because I couldnt see him as he was on the bed & I was stuck facing the other way. But then they passed him to me & I got skin to skin. It was amazing. I can't even put it into words how happy I was.
Then they checked me & I needed 4 stitches due to him coming out hands first, they gave me gas & air for getting them. It wasnt fun. Oliver weighed 8lbs 9.5oz & was 53cm long. He had a head of brown hair (now turning more blonde) & beautiful blue eyes
I did it all on just gas & air so he came out very alert. The midwife said him coming out hands first made it an awful lot harder on me & the contractions were not as bad as I had anticipated, especially for two days without sleep! So for all you pregnant girls, chin up. Its not that bad & definitely worth it.
My advice would be to plan ahead what pain relief you want, I was so against getting an epidural & felt so relieved when I managed the whole labour without one.. Peeing hurts a lot afterwards, so drink lots of water to dilute it & sometimes pouring warm water over yourself while you go helps.. There is no point worrying about labour, cause at the end of the day you're going to have to go through it, I used to panic the whole time but it was just so worth it. The birthing ball definitely helped keep my contractions come frequently & took some pressure off my back.. I love my little guy so much.
2 days old
28th January
Started feeling a couple twinges when I was at my friends, nothing big but we realised they were coming every ten minutes. Not exactly painful but you could feel them. I went home & slept fine.
29th January
Went shopping, started loosing my plug but didn't think anything of it. Got lots of braxton hicks & constantly feeling I needed to pee. Had a lot of pressure & my muscles all felt very weak but completely bearable.
30th January
Woke up at 9 & felt normal. Had no twinges at all, but at 11am I started feeling them again, like period pain. After a while of them coming I decided to time how far apart they were. Some were coming every seven minutes, then wouldnt come for eighteen. Where as others were five minutes apart. I bounced on my birthing ball hoping to speed it up a bit & take away the back pain. They started coming closer together, the longest apart would be seven minutes. My mum said to phone the hospital to get advice because I live about seventy miles away we didnt want to leave it too late; but I decided it wasnt labour & didnt want to phone & feel like a fool.. But by 10pm I decided I should, they said to phone back when the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart! The pains started getting a bit worse so I went to bed with a hot water bottle, didnt work much. Around 11pm they started getting very sore & came two minutes apart. I texted my mum (even though she was only downstairs) she came up to my room & said to pack my stuff because it was time to go! I grabbed my pillow & went down the stairs, but a few steps from the bottom I slipped & fell down them. Luckily it was my back I hit, but it hurt. I took two paracetamol ready for the journey down, seeing as I would be stuck in a car for the best part of two hours. I kept timing the contractions & they were getting worse. I squeezed my Mummys hand
. We got let in the Emergency Exit & went to the Labour Ward. This was about 1am. The midwife put me on the machine measuring my contractions & his heart beat because of the fall. My contractions got further apart & more bearable. She then gave me an internal & I was just 2cm dilated. (Internals are not as bad as I was expecting!) By this time it was 3am & she said I should go to the Maternity Ward, so my mum left & went to stay at my Aunties 15 minutes away (not allowed back until 11am).. I couldn't sleep because of the contractions & nerves so sat up all night in the day room on the birthing ball.31st January
My mum came back at 11am, we went a walk to Tescos. I was still getting contractions but I wanted to keep moving to hopefully speed up my labour. We also went on lots of walks around the hospital. It was pretty boring, I did buy pineapple though, hoping it would speed things up.
My mum kept timing my contractions and I bounced on the ball. They started to get to a stable 5 minutes apart, this was at around 7pm. The midwife said she was going to give me an internal, yay. So at 8 o clock she came back & I was 4cm. At half 10 I went up to the labour ward (waited for the shift to change over) & met Carrie. The midwife who was going to deliver my little one! They got me a birthing ball & gas & air. I took the gas & air but on the first puff I felt so sick but I kept using it. Ended up loving it
The midwife said she would check how far I was in 4 hours. So I just bounced & bounced. Had a few trips to the toilet thinking I needed to pee, but I didn't.I had a show & she thought it might have been my waters bursting, but they were coloured so she thought the baby had pooped! She then gave me an internal after only 3 hours to check my waters (1am), but they were intact & bulging so she decided to burst them & I went straight to 7cm dilated!
The gas & air then started taking its effect, I kept laughing after every contraction because of the gush of amniotic fluid that would come out. The whole floor was soaking including my mums shoes from me walking around. At the time it was hilarious, the midwife said she loved how I coped with pain. She was running around after me with a towel cleaning up my waters..
At around 1.30am we started guessing when I would have the baby, I said 3.10am, my mum said 2.45am & the midwife said 3.30am.. But after another 3 hours of labour I still didnt have him! So I got another internal at about 4.30am & I was 9cm, almost 10. It wasnt time to start pushing but I decided it was. Stupid idea. I kept drifting in & out of reality & not knowing what was going on. At one point I was imagining I was watching Toy Story 3 Ive never even seen it. I was just so tired after being in pain for days, & not sleeping. I kept wondering whether my mum was actually saying half the things I thought she was. At this point it was pretty painful. I started saying I was sick of it & couldnt do it anymore. The midwife realised he wasnt coming out right, so told me so sit up straight on my knees. I couldnt hold myself up so ended up with my arm around my mum & another midwife. I could feel him & they kept making me change position. Finally it was proper time to push. The bed was tipped up at one side & I was facing it, I pushed & pushed & out he came hands first! This was now 6am, bang on the dot. I started shouting because I couldnt see him as he was on the bed & I was stuck facing the other way. But then they passed him to me & I got skin to skin. It was amazing. I can't even put it into words how happy I was.
Then they checked me & I needed 4 stitches due to him coming out hands first, they gave me gas & air for getting them. It wasnt fun. Oliver weighed 8lbs 9.5oz & was 53cm long. He had a head of brown hair (now turning more blonde) & beautiful blue eyes
I did it all on just gas & air so he came out very alert. The midwife said him coming out hands first made it an awful lot harder on me & the contractions were not as bad as I had anticipated, especially for two days without sleep! So for all you pregnant girls, chin up. Its not that bad & definitely worth it.
My advice would be to plan ahead what pain relief you want, I was so against getting an epidural & felt so relieved when I managed the whole labour without one.. Peeing hurts a lot afterwards, so drink lots of water to dilute it & sometimes pouring warm water over yourself while you go helps.. There is no point worrying about labour, cause at the end of the day you're going to have to go through it, I used to panic the whole time but it was just so worth it. The birthing ball definitely helped keep my contractions come frequently & took some pressure off my back.. I love my little guy so much.
2 days old
