I was planning to write a long version of the birth, but so far haven't had the time, so here are the edited highlights I posted on my ante-natal thread on Wednesday:
It was a really good birth. On monday afternoon as was starting to think that the fairly painful, regular contractions I was having may be more than BHs! Still went for supper at MIL's and then later sent dh to Tesco. I went for a bath at about 10, and that took a lot of the pain away so I thought perhaps it was a false alarm. When I got out of the bath I the pains started to get stronger again, so when dh came back from Tesco he phoned his mum to come and look after ds and dd. She arrived just before 1, and we headed to the hospital. We arrived at 1:15 ish and by the time I was examined 30 mins later I was 5 cm dilated. The midwife ran the pool, and not long before I got in I decided it was time to start using gas and air! That and the pool combined to make things more comfy. Not long after I got in the pool, I started feeling a lot of pressure. My midwife had told me that she had never done a waterbirth, so she would need to call the midwife in charge when the time came to deliver. Suddenly I was pushing and the head was half out and she had to dash from the room yelling for the other midwife, who then delivered the baby onto me He was born only 90 minutes after arriving at the hospital. I must have been pushing for less than 10 minutes - I pushed for hours with the first two!
He was 8 pounds 4, 57cm long, and really gorgeous with brown hair.