Hi everyone,
Thank you for all of the lovely messages 
and sorry for the delay! We are now home from hospital, we got discharged last night at about 7:30.
Last week was lovely, my Mum was over and we had a great time - with no indications the labour was so imminent! Actually had a bit of drama as went to the MW for 38 week appt & although there was good news in that baby was 2/5 engaged, my blood pressure was a bit high so had to go back and forth to the doctor on Wed, Thurs & Fri...as DH says, no wonder it was high seeng as (unbeknownst to us!) labour was approaching!
On Friday I had no signs whatsoever, no tightenings, no increased BHs, in fact, I had a really busy day. Went to the beautician & got my bikini line done - all the while fretting that it wouldn't "last" until my due date on 10th Dec! Baby went mental during the waxing...probably because I was tensing what remains of my stomach muscles! After that I walked another half mile or so & then went to meet DH for his little leaving party (Fri was his last day of work) in a pub with some good friends. We were chatting when suddenly I felt (TMI alert) quite wet down below, and I thought "Oh fabulous, more discharge" but then I felt some more & decided I should go to the loo, stood up and there was quite a gush. On the way to the loo it continued to flow and by the time I got upstairs(!) to the ladies my leggings were pretty much soaked through (I did warn you about TMI!) I pretty much knew it was my waters at that stage - clear and sweetish smelling. I went back downstairs after a few minutes & pulled DH aside & said, "Um, we might want to think about going home, my waters have just gone" His wee face was a picture! He was SO excited! At this stage though, I felt perfectly fine and had no pains whatsoever so I urged him to drink the beer he'd just been bought & we stayed & chatted for another 15 minutes or so with our friends - who were all ridiculously excited 
This was at about 6:30 on Friday evening. Ironically we had planned to go for spicy food after the leaving drinks were over that evening!!
We got a taxi home, during which I started to get a few pains, but nothing more painful than period style cramps. When we got in I started to throw the last few things in my hospital bag, though I was pretty certain we'd be waiting the 24 hours & then going in to stop the risk of infection. Didn't quite turn out that way though! I started to have proper contractions at about 8 o'clock (maybe a bit before) which became quite painful. I found sitting on the loo the only thing that eased them (also, more of my waters were continuing to go). By 8:30 we had to call the hospital as he contractions were every few minutes. At this stage I was also bleeding a bit. They told me to come in straight away.
The taxi journey to the hospital was really bloody painful (speed bumps are the creation of the DEVIL). And by the time we got there I could only really walk a few paces before I had to stop with the pain. We got up to the birth centre though & the little room was lovely and relaxing. We had our own double bed, birth pool, chair for labouring in, pulley system(!) beanbag, etc. We also had Cheryl, our AMAZING midwife without whom I could not have got through it.
She examined me quite quickly and let me know I was already 4 cm which she said was great as my contractions had only started (at that point) about an hour an a half before. She ran the pool for me and I got in - the relief was immense. Unfortunately for me though, the pool slowed things down a lot so I got out at about 11 (I think). When she examined me she discovered the baby was slightly back to back, which explained why my contractions were so painful in my lower back. Up untilthis point I had been using gas & air which helped a bit but not loads - just sort of helped me relax rather than really change the pain. At 11 ish I asked for a painkilling injection (our hospital gives diamorphine) but was told I was pretty much fully dilated and it probably wasn't a good idea as baby would be along very shortly. I was very disappointed about this as I was so exhausted at this point.
Especially as our baby didn't arrive for another 3 ish hours after that! At about 2 o'clock or so we transferred up to the labour ward as baby's heart rate looked like it had dropped a bit after each contraction. I was also pushing so hard with each contraction I had given myself a rather major nosebleed & didn't seem to be getting anywhere with them, in so far as the baby was right on the verge of crowning but we couldn't get her that last little bit. We went upstairs & they got me into the bed and put me in the stirrups (which was NOT what I thought I wanted) but it made all the difference! My pushes became more effective. However, I still required an episiotomy to get the head out. When she gave that to me, I think the baby's head was out in the next push. Next contraction after that, her wee body came out too (which, does hurt a little bit, contrary to what people say I definitely noticed it!)
Our beautiful baby girl was put on my chest & started crying straight away which is the most amazing sound in the world My wonderful, supportive, fantastic husband cut the cord and we were a three :) We have named her Claudia.
For the after bit - I had the injection & the placenta came out very quickly (they offered me gas and air for that too, which I took and it was marvellous!) They then said that I needed to go to theatre as I had a third degree tear, so had an epidural & was fixed up, which is why we had to stay in hospital until last night. All in all from arriving at the hospital until delivery was 6 hours, although I think I would count my labour as 7 hours as that's when the contractions really got painful at home.
As I type this Claudia is snoozing in her Moses basket and has been for the past hour or so. Breastfeeding is going not too badly, well, nappies are being filled so that's a good thing! I will try and put a photo on later.
I'm really sorry for the mammoth, MAMMOTH post, but it's the first chance I've got and she is dozing beautifully just now so I thought I would take advantage!!
Congratulations to secondsop, ISpy and Bella And thank you all for the lovely, lovely messages :)
Jo x