Ok, finally, here is my birth story! Drafted it out within a couple of days of birth but it was riddled with typos and I'm only just getting round to sorting it out. 
My Lil Fella was born on sunday 16th of september, at 11:07 pm weighing 9lb13!
It all started that morning when I started to notice BH around 10 am that were beginning to be painful. I put a wash on, did some posting on BnB, and mentioned to OH that today would be the day. At around 1 pm, I toddled down the kitchen with my ice spoon to dig some ice out of the back of the fridge...mmmm...and while there, my waters broke (I KNEW they would break while on one of my ice digging missions haha I spent so much time at the fridge freezer during my pregnancy).
I said to OH 'We have waters!'...finished digging the bit of ice I was after, then cleaned up my waters and put in a pad to keep an eye on things. Waters nice and clear! OH decided he needed to finish the washing up! As if the midwives would be bothered by some dirty pots LOL bless him!
OH wanted to call the midwife as soon as my waters went as we planned a home birth, but I managed to put him off a bit because contractions were 10 minutes apart, so I had some raspberry leaf tea and put on some clary sage oil.
OH made some flapjacks at 3 ish, and at 4 ish I gave in and called the midwife, who came out to examine me around 5:30, and I was 2cm. Due to a dare from a cheeky friend, I said Ohhhh Matron! When she checked my cervix and we all had a laugh.
She had a poke about and said things might pick up after that, and off they went for a bit, promising to call me in a couple of hours.
They called back around 8 ish, and I was contracting 5-6 mins apart, with random extra ones thrown in. Put them off a bit longer and had a little nap between contractions as I felt really sleepy.
Things got more intense when I woke up and had more RLT, and I rapidly went to contracting every couple of minutes. Sat on the birth ball and let OH call the midwives back and tell them all systems go. They arrived and felt my tummy while I contracted and were impressed with the strength of the surges, checked baby's HB and were very happy with it. I asked would they need to examine me again and she said she was happy not to. Being my third baby, I apparently was quite easy to read from my behaviour! When I started to feel a little feral with the contractions we decided it best to move into the room I planned to birth in. I wasn't comfy anywhere at that point, except standing bolt upright, and leaning forward onto OH when the contractions came. I felt the 'urge to poop' and knew it was pushing time...I had already pooped earlier, on the toilet, in response to an urge to poop that was genuine!)
I moved slightly so I could lean over the back of my large wicker chair, with OH supporting me, and supporting the chair. I felt the urge to make a lot of noise with contractions so went with it, and thoroughly deafened OH despite trying to aim the sound away from him! I got the shakes in my legs and realised that standing totally on my feet was taking up some energy I would rather put towards pushing and breathing, so we shuffled along abit and I went onto my knees on the sofa but still upright. A cheap shower curtain from wilkos was on the sofa for its own protection!
I felt the start of the 'ring of fire' along with an incredibly productive pushing urge, so I pushed hard but not too hard, and breathed and relaxed in between the surges, it was tempting to just all out full on push, but it felt better for my bits to take the extra few contractions to breath him out slowly, allowing for maximum stretch. When it felt like I was at full stretch, I gave an almighty push and out came the head, and with the following contraction, the body, and I immediately went sideways into a sort of collapsey position while the midwives expertly passed me baby pretty much as I landed he landed on my chest in what felt like quite a graceful movement (it was probably NOT at all graceful from a fly on the wall perspective) and there he was our Lil Fella! Wide awake, he had just enough of a cry to please everyone's ears, then sent some time quietly looking at OH and I, skin to skin with me, and a towel covering us. I totally wrecked the sofa cushions because with my sideways twist at the end I went off the shower curtain and the waters that were hiding behind baby went all over it!
We continued to have our little looking into each others eyes moment while the cord stopped pulsating, then OH cut the cord, and we had more skin to skin then the placenta began to descend so OH took baby while I tried to find a position in which to comfortable deliver the organ that had done such a good job feeding my Lil Fella. I ended up passing it while standing on my feet upright, as that felt the most comfortable. It was pronounced whole, and photographed. (Don't worry I won't post a placenta pic!) Then they checked my bits for tears. The checking of my bits is a part I'm squeamish about, so I opted to get involved, and I basically held myself so that the midwives could peer up there and confirm I was ok. I had a small graze, but no tearing, and my cervix looked right.
The midwives put a pad under me over the sheet that had been written off as a casualty of labour and I took Lil Fella and offered him some boob, he wasn't yet fussed though just happy to be awake and born. Eventually it came time to weigh him, and cloth me as I had started off in a sarong but took it off at some point while pushing. The midwives thought baby looked big but were flabbergasted to see 9lb13! He doesn't look that big to me but he does feel heavy.
Then cam time to check I could pee, which I thought might be difficult as I didn't feel the need to pee at all, but by the time I got to the bathroom I did, and all was well. The midwives congratulated us on baby and labour, apparently they were very impressed with how things went, then OH nipped across the road and fetched the boys who were waiting at my oldest's dads house, so they could meet the lovely ladies who delivered their new little brother. My oldest acted all embarrassed and my 4 year old was so asleep he could not be woken so OH just carried him off to bed. I then got on BnB and updated the ladies on the thread where I live (it could not wait til the morning! We let my 7 year old stay up til 2 am, which pleased him no end, and he has since bragged about how late he stayed up to his mates! When he went to bed OH, baby and I settled down on the sofa and put on a film...and promptly fell asleep. We let the boys have a day off school on monday due to the super late night and the new arrival.
The after pains kicked my butt! But its another one of those productive pains, and very much offset by the pleasure of breastfeeding, which is going well so far.
I am so glad we had a homebirth, it was truly amazing! The gas and air never even made it out of the midwives car! I have had it before and it made me feel drunk so was not keen to have it again!
Thankyou for reading my essay of a birth story
Here is Lil Fella when a few minutes old (great reflexes shut his eyes as the camera flashed!), and again after a couple of days.
My Lil Fella was born on sunday 16th of september, at 11:07 pm weighing 9lb13!
It all started that morning when I started to notice BH around 10 am that were beginning to be painful. I put a wash on, did some posting on BnB, and mentioned to OH that today would be the day. At around 1 pm, I toddled down the kitchen with my ice spoon to dig some ice out of the back of the fridge...mmmm...and while there, my waters broke (I KNEW they would break while on one of my ice digging missions haha I spent so much time at the fridge freezer during my pregnancy).
I said to OH 'We have waters!'...finished digging the bit of ice I was after, then cleaned up my waters and put in a pad to keep an eye on things. Waters nice and clear! OH decided he needed to finish the washing up! As if the midwives would be bothered by some dirty pots LOL bless him!
OH wanted to call the midwife as soon as my waters went as we planned a home birth, but I managed to put him off a bit because contractions were 10 minutes apart, so I had some raspberry leaf tea and put on some clary sage oil.
OH made some flapjacks at 3 ish, and at 4 ish I gave in and called the midwife, who came out to examine me around 5:30, and I was 2cm. Due to a dare from a cheeky friend, I said Ohhhh Matron! When she checked my cervix and we all had a laugh.
She had a poke about and said things might pick up after that, and off they went for a bit, promising to call me in a couple of hours.
They called back around 8 ish, and I was contracting 5-6 mins apart, with random extra ones thrown in. Put them off a bit longer and had a little nap between contractions as I felt really sleepy.
Things got more intense when I woke up and had more RLT, and I rapidly went to contracting every couple of minutes. Sat on the birth ball and let OH call the midwives back and tell them all systems go. They arrived and felt my tummy while I contracted and were impressed with the strength of the surges, checked baby's HB and were very happy with it. I asked would they need to examine me again and she said she was happy not to. Being my third baby, I apparently was quite easy to read from my behaviour! When I started to feel a little feral with the contractions we decided it best to move into the room I planned to birth in. I wasn't comfy anywhere at that point, except standing bolt upright, and leaning forward onto OH when the contractions came. I felt the 'urge to poop' and knew it was pushing time...I had already pooped earlier, on the toilet, in response to an urge to poop that was genuine!)
I moved slightly so I could lean over the back of my large wicker chair, with OH supporting me, and supporting the chair. I felt the urge to make a lot of noise with contractions so went with it, and thoroughly deafened OH despite trying to aim the sound away from him! I got the shakes in my legs and realised that standing totally on my feet was taking up some energy I would rather put towards pushing and breathing, so we shuffled along abit and I went onto my knees on the sofa but still upright. A cheap shower curtain from wilkos was on the sofa for its own protection!
I felt the start of the 'ring of fire' along with an incredibly productive pushing urge, so I pushed hard but not too hard, and breathed and relaxed in between the surges, it was tempting to just all out full on push, but it felt better for my bits to take the extra few contractions to breath him out slowly, allowing for maximum stretch. When it felt like I was at full stretch, I gave an almighty push and out came the head, and with the following contraction, the body, and I immediately went sideways into a sort of collapsey position while the midwives expertly passed me baby pretty much as I landed he landed on my chest in what felt like quite a graceful movement (it was probably NOT at all graceful from a fly on the wall perspective) and there he was our Lil Fella! Wide awake, he had just enough of a cry to please everyone's ears, then sent some time quietly looking at OH and I, skin to skin with me, and a towel covering us. I totally wrecked the sofa cushions because with my sideways twist at the end I went off the shower curtain and the waters that were hiding behind baby went all over it!
We continued to have our little looking into each others eyes moment while the cord stopped pulsating, then OH cut the cord, and we had more skin to skin then the placenta began to descend so OH took baby while I tried to find a position in which to comfortable deliver the organ that had done such a good job feeding my Lil Fella. I ended up passing it while standing on my feet upright, as that felt the most comfortable. It was pronounced whole, and photographed. (Don't worry I won't post a placenta pic!) Then they checked my bits for tears. The checking of my bits is a part I'm squeamish about, so I opted to get involved, and I basically held myself so that the midwives could peer up there and confirm I was ok. I had a small graze, but no tearing, and my cervix looked right.
The midwives put a pad under me over the sheet that had been written off as a casualty of labour and I took Lil Fella and offered him some boob, he wasn't yet fussed though just happy to be awake and born. Eventually it came time to weigh him, and cloth me as I had started off in a sarong but took it off at some point while pushing. The midwives thought baby looked big but were flabbergasted to see 9lb13! He doesn't look that big to me but he does feel heavy.
Then cam time to check I could pee, which I thought might be difficult as I didn't feel the need to pee at all, but by the time I got to the bathroom I did, and all was well. The midwives congratulated us on baby and labour, apparently they were very impressed with how things went, then OH nipped across the road and fetched the boys who were waiting at my oldest's dads house, so they could meet the lovely ladies who delivered their new little brother. My oldest acted all embarrassed and my 4 year old was so asleep he could not be woken so OH just carried him off to bed. I then got on BnB and updated the ladies on the thread where I live (it could not wait til the morning! We let my 7 year old stay up til 2 am, which pleased him no end, and he has since bragged about how late he stayed up to his mates! When he went to bed OH, baby and I settled down on the sofa and put on a film...and promptly fell asleep. We let the boys have a day off school on monday due to the super late night and the new arrival.
The after pains kicked my butt! But its another one of those productive pains, and very much offset by the pleasure of breastfeeding, which is going well so far.
I am so glad we had a homebirth, it was truly amazing! The gas and air never even made it out of the midwives car! I have had it before and it made me feel drunk so was not keen to have it again!
Thankyou for reading my essay of a birth story
Here is Lil Fella when a few minutes old (great reflexes shut his eyes as the camera flashed!), and again after a couple of days.
thanks for sharing it, and congrats on your boy - he's gorgeous 
Kids... 
Thank you for sharing your story.
