Ds2 arrived at 2.12am on Sunday 15th, 6 days late and weighing 11lb exactly.
11.40 on Satruday night: I'm really not sure what's going on here, feels nothing like my previous two labours, think I'll call the labour ward for advice. "No, dear, doesn't sound like you're in labour, but you body's clearly gearing up for it and you'll probably go into labour in the next few days."
00.00 Wham! Strong ,full-on contractions every three minutes and getting stronger.
00.20 Call communty midwife (I'm booked for a homebirth), dh starts setting up birthing pool, I start calling round our baby-sitting support people. I know my parents aren't available, as dad is in hospital; db & his dp - hosting a black-tie do in central London, will come immediately, but will take at least 2h to get to us - not a problem because we're staying at home and LOs are asleep.
00.40 Community midwife office call back - there are no midwives available, we have to go to the hospital. So upset by this that I struggle to retain my focus on relaxing through the contractions, which are every two minutes by now. Continue down my list: friend1 - away for the weekend; friend2 - will come as fast as she can. Thank goodness!
But by the time df arrived and we were ready to go, I could feel the baby beginning to move down, and I did not want to end up with dh delivering me on the hard shoulder of the M4, so we called an ambulance.
When we arrived at the hospital they had the pool ready for me, and ds was born in the water about 20min later.
A bit different to my 48h from first regular contractions to holding ds1 experience!
My enormous thanks to the posters on the "To push or not to push" thread, for inspiring me and giving me the confidence to let my body birth this baby with virtually no active pushing from me, despite the midwife's instructions. I'm sure that's what enabled me to birth an 11lb baby with no stitches, just a 1st degree 'graze' tear!
I'm in topsy-tuvy-land. I don't know whether I'm coming or going - but it's wonderful! And I'm re-discovering the art of laying a baby on the study table to bf while MNing one-handed .