I woke up at about 1.30 with some mild period pains, coming quite infrequently. By 3.30 I decided to get out of bed and watch some tv as I needed some distraction, couldn't sleep and didn't want to just lie there. The pains were getting a bit stronger but just cramps really.
At 5.30 I woke dh to say that i thought labour had started and I wanted to have a bath, partly to ease the pains and partly because my hair needed a wash! At 6.30 I told him to text our friend who was looking after ds1 in the event of labour and wake him to take him there. They left at 7 and I was getting stronger pains but still able to blow dry my hair and be calm enough to say bye to ds1 without letting him know anything was happening. They then started to suddenly get quite strong so I texted dh at 7.36 to say I needed him home immediately, he was on his way back but rush hour traffic started. He got back a couple of minutes later, and I said we needed to set off NOW, he threw the bag in the car and I felt that pressure in your bum that means you want to push!!! I wasn't sure if it was just a poo I needed so rushed to bathroom, but realised it wasn't so I yelled at him to call an ambulance as we wouldn't make it to hospital. He called them at 7.50, the woman on the other end asked him to get me into the bedroom, so I started yelling at him to get the duvet off the bed and get some towels out. Of course the only towels he could find were the cream guest towels!!!!
Anyway I got on bed and we were both quite panicky by this stage, the 999 lady didn't know how long the ambulance would be, I was experiencing the dreaded ring of fire and yelling "this wasn't supposed to happen like this I want some gas and air" (even though it makes me feel sick ) and " where is the bloody ambulance". I was on all fours on the bed, and dh was on the phone and behind me, the 999 lady was asking if he could see the baby's head, when suddenly out he came! Must have just been 2 contractions I think as dh said one minute he could see a tiny bit of head and the next he was on the bed!
The cord was round his neck twice but loosely, so dh unwrapped that and passed him through my legs. He was a good colour and cried almost immediately thankfully. The next thing we heard was the paramedic at the front door calling us, so he came upstairs and clamped the cord. Dh cut it then we wrapped baby and got me a dressing gown (for some reason I'd removed all my clothes). And we sat on the bed waiting for the ambulance and mw (the first paramedic was a first responder in a car). We had made the call at 7.50, he paramedic arrived at 7.58 about 30 secs after ds, so we counted his birth time as 7.58. The ambulance arrived at about 8.15 and I delivered the placenta at 8.45, just before the mw arrived. She checked us all over and ds was absolutely fine but she decided that she wanted someone else to check me over as I had torn a little, but it went close to my bum.
We went to hosp in the ambulance and were there by 9.30, I was lucky to be seen and stitched straight away, it's a superficial tear but a bit close to my bum, but didn't need many stitches. We were all home again by 1.30.
We need a new mattress and the guest towels went in the bin. It all feels completely surreal tbh and I feel a bit silly for not knowing we should have set off for hospital earlier!