I started getting very mild contractions at around 2:15am.
They weren’t really painful and i was easily able to carry on with what i was
doing. Once everything was ready, Adam went and scooped Izzy out of bed. We
managed to put her coat on, and get her bundled into the car without her even
waking up. We nipped briefly to Adams mums, i waited in the car while he nipped
to get a card for the hospital car park.
We then headed straight to Abi’s to drop Izzy off, at around 2:35am. I shed a
little tear knowing that it was the last time i would see her before she became
a big sister. It was weird to think she knew absolutely nothing of what was
going on. She’d gone to bed after a lovely family day, and would be waking up
in a different house on the day her baby sister came into the world, and her
life would change forever.
After giving her an extra special squeeze, we headed back to
the car. My contractions seemed to get stronger really quite quickly. We were
both quite hungry as we hadn’t had much to eat the previous day so we decided
to nip through the Mcdonalds drive through before going to the hospital, in
attempt to gather some energy for the hours ahead. We sat in the Mcdonalds car
park eating, but i barely managed to eat anything, my tummy was in knots. I remember sitting there in the car park, and
telling Adam he should hurry up as the contractions were starting to get pretty
strong. By about 3am they were starting to take my breath away a bit, just 45
minutes after they had started.
We then drove round to the hospital, as soon as i set foot
out of the car i felt a huge gush. This was a lot more like my experience with
Isabelle’s birth. I was absolutely wet through, my jeans were so heavy with
water i could hardly keep them up. I waddled my way into the hospital, i was
having to concentrate on breathing through contractions, but still managed to
walk through them at this point.
After trailing water all the way through the hospital, we
finally got up to the reception area and told them who we were. I headed
straight for the bathroom. Stupidly, we hadn’t grabbed any of the bags out of
the car as we’d just been concentrating on getting inside.
The midwife brought me a load of really thick pads, and i
asked her to send Adam to the car to get me a change of clothes, as there was
no way i could have put those jeans back on. She said that they should get me
in, and checked and that he could go out and get me something clean to wear
before we went home again. So they wrapped me in sheets and i waddled my way to
the bed.
They wired me to the monitors again, and the midwife
commented on what good contractions i was having. They had told me all along
that we were only going in to check that my waters had definitely gone, which
of course by now, we knew. She explained that her shift finished at 8am, but
she was pretty sure judging by the strength of my contractions, we’d be back
before then. I remember telling Adam i thought the baby would be here by the
time he needed to ring and inform work that he wouldn’t be going in, at 8:30!
So Adam nipped out to the car to fetch me some leggings, and
we set off home again. I remember the car journey home, i just concentrated on
the thought of getting into a nice warm bath. We got home at around 4:10am and
i went straight to the bathroom. I asked Adam to fetch me a notebook and pen, a
glass of water and some paracetamol, then i told him he should attempt to get
some sleep. He went down to the living room and went back to sleep and i sunk
into an amazingly warm bath.
I began to write down each contraction. They were about 5-6
minutes apart and lasting for about 25 seconds at this point. I still have the
notebook with them all written down! I put some relaxing music on my phone, and
also listened to a few birth affirmations. With each contraction i poured warm
water over my bump, and took deep breaths, as i remembered this helping to ease
them last time. I stayed in the bath for about an hour and a half, just
occasionally topping up the warm water. I then got out, went down into the
lounge where Adam was fast asleep, i dimmed the lights, put my music back on
and bounced on my ball. After about 15 minutes i was desperate to get back in
the bath, so headed back upstairs.
I remember laying in the bath, feeling really emotional,
knowing that i was going to bring my baby into the world on the day that Miss
Cook was laid to rest. At around 6:15am, i shouted Adam. The contractions were
now getting pretty strong and i wanted him to come and help me concentrate
through them. He helped me with my
breathing and took over with pouring the water and writing down the
contractions. At around 6:55am i decided
i was getting ready for some gas and air, so i rang the hospital and told them
i was ready to come back in. Contractions were now around 4 minutes apart.
Adam helped me out of the bath, and got me dried and
dressed, we grabbed a few extra supplies and headed downstairs. I scrambled
around for some shoes that would fit my swollen feet, as i had filled my
comfortable ones with water.
At about 7:20am, we were on our way back to the hospital.
The car journey was far from fun. I had
about 9 contractions in the car, and i was still
leaking water with each one! By this point i was grabbing hold of Adam each
time and having to really concentrate on my breathing through them. I was
convinced Squishy would be with us by lunch time.
We arrived at the hospital at around 7:45am.
I had about 4 contractions from getting out of the car to reaching the labour
ward. With each one, i stopped and clung to Adam. The hospital was considerably
busier now, and i was still pouring with water every time i contracted. I
remember one contraction, just outside the hospital entrance. There was a group
of four men stood a couple of metres away as i hung around adam, breathing and
drenching the floor. I burst into tears through embarrassment at this stage.
It was awful, walking through a reasonable busy public place
leaving a trail of water behind me for all to see. Between each contraction i
was walking as fast as i possibly could, all i could think about now was getting
that gas and air!
We got to the reception desk and booked in once again, we
were informed that there weren’t any beds! This was not exactly what i wanted
to hear. So we were left sitting in the reception area for about half an hour.
I asked Adam to ring my mum and tell her to start making her way to us. I was
sent into the toilet to do a urine sample, then we were taken into the triage
area where i was offered a bed, they examined me at 8:15 and i was 3cm, which
was a bit of a disappointment. I was then offered gas and air at around 8:50am.
At around 9am we found out that Kate Middleton was also in
labour. I became quite excited about the thought of Squishy sharing her
birthday with royalty! My mum arrived at around 9:05 and i was already supping
hard on the gas and air.
Once again, its ended up pretty late, so i’ll continue with
a third part tomorrow night J
x x x
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