Hurrah - babe III has landed!
After quite a few days of niggling backache, nausea, constant emptying of bowels (TMI I know!) and contractions on and off, woke last night at 2.10am convinced this was it. Called Mum who came round straight away and I was at the front door ready to dash when she arrived (desperate not to have the baby in the car after babe II arrived so quick!).
Got to hospital about 3am and contractions really speeding up. Managing Ok without any pain relief but not getting much in the way of breaks inbetween. Was offered the 'ball' to sit on and was a bit sceptical about it's contribution but I have to tell you - I was AMAZED. What a difference it makes - absolutely brilliant. Sat on here with DH supporting me from behind and fantastic midwife sitting by my side. I used the end of the bed to pull myself backwards and forward on it and by now using some gas and air too - the great thing is, it seemed to me that I only really felt desperate pain right at the top of the contraction so I didn't have to take so much G&A that I was out of it.
Very quickly, the pressure (OMG isn't it horrible?) mounted up and before long I was up on the bed, kneeling and hanging over the back of it pushing (eek - this is so fresh in my mind and the flashbacks are a bit scarey!). I'm afraid after my impressive performance for 99% of the labour I lost it a bit here and really was just begging for mercy! Waters sploshed everywhere and a few mins later, at 4.55am, baby James arrived. THE RELIEF!!!!
So a labour of only about 3 hours - v. quick and thank goodness!! I have to say, I'm very proud of myself as I was determined to try and have as much control as possible, relax as much as possible and have as little pain relief as possible (I'm not dissing pain relief girls - had an epidural for babe 1) and I did it!!! I don't know how people go through hours of that much pain.
DH looked shattered so while I was being stitched (yuk!) he was practically falling asleep on the sofa and once all was done, I sat on the sofa and he slept on the bed!!! Had tea, toast and shower and left for home at 10.30am!
DS1 and DS2 are besotted already and are taking a keen interest!! I've still not been to bed but DH has slept from 11am to 6pm - I've actually felt fine all day so no problem with this at all as I know I'll get the whole night to sleep soundly while DH attends to his majesty!
Glad it's all over and I won't have to go through pregnancy and birth again, amazing though it is! DH will be off to the docs in the near future to do his duty!!! It's only fair!
Thanks to everyone for their support, advice and for asking how I am - it's so nice to have people interested and I was feeling a bit low when things were slow over the preceding days so it was nice to know people were out there listening!