Ok, here it is, lights back on for the birth story of the very last ?due in September baby?, Arthur who arrived on October 9th. Sorry, it?s going to be a bit long ?
On Wednesday-Thursday night I had totally manageable contractions from 6pm, irregular, sometimes every 10 minutes, sometimes gaps of 20 minutes, not exactly compatible with sleeping. From 5am-7am they were quite painful, but short and I had lots of pain in between the contractions. I ended up phoning the midwife in tears at 7.30am saying I was in pre-labour, not going anywhere and probably had days of this ahead of me, and frankly boo-hoo!
Dp manages the girls and gets dd2 to the childminder and dd1 to school, whilst I weep into my pillow upstairs.
9am midwife arrives like a knight in shining armour to give me a pep talk. She said these contractions are short, but they?re actually quite powerful and when she examined me I was 4cm dilated, easily stretchable to 6cm. Who needs pain relief when you?ve got such a great midwife with such cheering news! From then on I was coping again. She left saying don?t fill the birth pool yet, but you?ll have this baby today.
9.30am midwife phones back saying, ?on second thoughts, fill the birth pool, I reckon this one might not take long?, and instructs me not to feel bad if I need to phone her back very soon to tell her to return.
9.45am I get in a warm bath, whilst dp sets up the pool and gets everything ready. Contractions are every 5 minutes and managable. I am in charge again!
10.15am I get out of the bath and find the contractions are much stronger when I?m standing or moving about. I have to stop to breathe through them, so it takes me quite a while to get dressed.
10.50am I post on here to say I reckon this baby is actually going to put in an appearance!! Though I am still somewhat in denial.
11.10am I realise the contractions are every 2-3 minutes, still completely manageable but intuition says phone the midwife. She says she is on her way immediately and will stay this time. I feel I am probably wasting her time and am a bit embarrassed. I also realise I can stop the contractions for a short time at my will as I don?t have any whilst on the phone to her, and this happens again later when a friend phones and dp disappears to talk to her. Amazing what your body can do.
11.15am I hear dp tell the tiler in our kitchen that the baby is coming today and he should probably pack up and go in the next hour or so, I hear the tiler say ?I?m leaving now? and 2 seconds later the front door bangs and he is off like a streak of lightening!!! Never has he moved so fast.
11.20am Midwife arrives and takes one look at me and says ?get in the pool? and phones for the backup midwife. I think she is being bonkers as we will be all day yet before the baby comes, but she says she did 3 births without a second midwife last week, so I humour her by agreeing the other midwife can come along and always leave when nothing is happening.
Pretty soon the second midwife arrives along with a new recruit to the homebirth team who I have said can observe the birth. I am still doing pretty well in the pool, but my coping doesn?t last long and soon everything becomes a blur. I start complaining that I just want to be at the pushing bit, which on reflection means I was probably already in transition. The contractions are very powerful and I am hanging off dp?s neck and puffing like a steam train through each one. I complain that I don?t know if I want to push or not and the midwife assures me I will know. The next contraction and I am yelling ?this is definitely pushing!?.
There seems to be virtually no let up between contractions and I am scared and want it all to stop and say this loudly over and over. I am not doing this gracefully! I?m also aware that the baby is not budging and I am making no progress. They get me more upright in the pool, but to no avail. I am dimly aware that the baby?s heart beat is decelerating with each contraction (normal at this point), but not recovering in between (not good), They tell me to get out of the pool and have me kneeling on the sofa. I am still complaining and the pushing is going nowhere. I hear mention of getting an ambulance on standby, but am selfishly not concerned for the baby. All I want is for this to stop for my sake!
Next the midwife tells dp to get me standing with him supporting me from behind. My legs have gone and dp has to take my full weight. I am slippy from the birth pool water and shout abuse at him because I feel he is going to drop me. But on the very next push I finally feel the baby?s head move down ? it is still quite high. I know I hardly have any energy and need to get this done. Probably only one more push and I can feel the head crowning, another and the head is out, one more and the body whooshes out and my bloody, beautiful bright pink baby is laid upon me and various hands lift me back on the sofa. It is 12.30pm.
I am ecstatic and also calm as the relief kicks in. Dp is weeping. We have a peek at baby to find out the gender and exclaim BOY! The midwives were convinced I was getting a 3rd girl and chorus ?are you sure??. Dp says ?that is definitely a boy?.
Soon after this I get a massive shaking fit, exactly as I did after dd2. At least this time I am prepared and just know I need to ride it out. Arthur stays on my chest and I gaze at his big dark eyes. He cries lustily ? what a beautiful healthy sound. I shake violently for about 45 minutes, covered in towels and various other layers in a bid to get me warm. But the whole time I am just fixed with looking at my beautiful little boy. There is a wonderful line in one of the birth stories in Ina May Gaskin?s book about being ?in the moment of a miracle? and that is exactly where we are.
Three days on and I am still on a high. Rather short of sleep, bleeding nipples, sore from the second degree tear, but I can?t imagine being happier.
Lights can go out now on the ?due in September? thread ? hasn?t it been great. I will potter over to the postnatal thread to join the rest of you who are old hands at this baby lark by now.