Just thought I would tell you a bit more about dd's birth now she is asleep and ds is in the garden with dh. Sorry if this seems self-indulgent - but I was really pleased with how it all went, and want to encourage particularly homebirthers, and overduers!
I was due on 21st July, so yesterday was officially 2 weeks over - was due to see consultant today (5th August), but yesterday morning, woke up at around 6:00 - had one or two pains which I thought were probably contractions, but didn't want to get my hopes up! So I got up, and by about 7:15 I was more convinced that this was the start of labour - the contractions were getting much closer together and stronger. Something that surprised me was that the spacing very quickly moved together - i.e. contraction2 was after 20 mins, contraction3 after 10 mins, contraction4 after 5. So I woke dh up, and still wasn't totally convinced, so had a bath, and then thought we really ought to call the mw. So we phoned her at about 8:15, and she arrived at about 9:30. (This seems a long time, but the shifts were changing at 9, and we wanted to wait for the mw who I'd seen throughout, since this was an option.)
Ds went off to play with friends, and when mw arrived I was 10 cm! So she instantly called for the other mw. I hadn't really planned to do the whole thing without entonox, but having got that far on my own, and also having a bit of a phobia about feeling sick/whoozy it seemed like a good idea. Having said that, I was being totally pathetic, and to every question such as 'would you like to move/have pain relief' was just whimpering 'I don't know....!' - not very helpful for the midwife! In the end, I managed to move off the bed into the position I'd planned for, which was kneeling by the side of the bed - this really helped with the 2nd stage - moved from no pushing urge to dd being born in 2 pushes. I'd definitely recommend it if you're thinking about what position to labour in. You can also bury your head in the bed, and whimper if you're like me!
Dd was born at 10:10, and just needed a whiff of oxygen , but was otherwise absolutely fine, weighing 10lb 2oz. She fed really quickly, and is very peaceful. I had a little tear, but no stitches needed. I'm really really grateful to our midwives who were so fantastic. And I'm SO glad we went for the homebirth option.
Bizarrely, although she was 2 weeks over, she had the appearance of a slightly early baby - vernix etc. and when examined by the GP, he hadn't realised she was late, and was really surprised. So do hold out for your instincts, if you feel that you don't need to go down the induction road.
Hope this isn't too long and boring - I just thought I would share the experience - I'm so glad it went the way it did, and I hope those of you awaiting births have some good news very soon. Thanks so much for your support!