I fell pregnant for the third time in Summer 2011. This was my third pregnancy, following two miscarriages & so I was extremely cautious throughout my pregnancy.
The pregnancy itself was quite 'normal'. No sickness, just queasiness and loss of appetite in the first trimester, which I more than made up for in the following months with cravings for chocolate raisins & strawberry milkshake. My iron levels ended up higher at the end of my pregnancy than the beginning, which I put down to the chocolate raisins!
I remember going on a shopping trip when I was around 40 weeks and being asked by a sales assisting if I was having twins, and when I look back I can see my bump was huge.
At 41 weeks (a Friday lunchtime) my midwife did a sweep. For those who haven't experienced a sweep it's mildly uncomfortable, but worth it! I had mild cramping for the next 24 hours but nothing exciting seemed to be happening.
That evening myself & my hubby (Lee) had a spicy tea, and I went off for a bath. This is where I lost my plug. It was much bigger than I expected. I won't go into detail! Lee came to help me out of the bath (I'd needed assistance from around 39 weeks) and after dressing I went to bounce on my ball whilst watching 'Take me Out'.
My waters started to go, just trickling, Lee suggested I was weeing & couldn't differentiate! So I phoned the delivery ward & they asked me to go in to be checked. On the way to the hospital (40 min drive) I was sat on two huge bath towels to catch my waters, and I'm sure the security guard watching CCTV at the hospital will have chuckled watching me waddle across the car park with a bath towel wedged between my legs. I had a LOT of water!
After being checked we were sent home, I wasn't having contractions, no pain, so we had to return on theMonday morning if labour hadn't started so I could be induced.
Off we trundled home, still leaking waters. Once home (now 11pm) I settled on the couch on a blanket of towels & sent Lee to bed to get some rest. As it happens he got 20 mins sleep because I felt a pop and lost a huge gush of waters followed by contractions starting. They were completely irregular, 5 mins, then 1 min, then 2, all over the place. So off we went back to labour ward.
We arrived around 1am, and were shown to a room & I was attached up to monitors. Then the midwife couldn't find baby's heartbeat. The next ten minutes was horrendous, we had around 8 different people rushing around, scanning machines, gadgets & gizmos, until they found his heartbeat. They then managed to get the monitors in the righ place & left us to it.
My contractions were still irregular, I was still leaking waters, little gushes with every contraction, and was sat on a very wet bed.
At around 8am we were assigned a new midwife & moved to a bigger room. She decided that because the monitor was not picking up a constant trace of baby's heartbeat she would put a clip on his head. When she went to do this she stooped & said that it was baby's nose she could feel, and as baby's trying to come out nose first I'd need a C section. She was brilliant, really reassuring, told us baby was fine, not to worry, and I'd be in theatre soon. She offered me gas & air but I didn't want it (too worried I'd say something awful!).
We went through to theatre around 10.15, Lee in his scrubs which he thought was fab! I maneuvered across from my bed to the theatre bed (not very gracefully), and the anaesthetist waited until a contraction passed before administering the epidural.
I think, had I not been in so much pain with contractions & worried about the baby, I would've been more scared, but as it was I just wanted baby out safely.
The theatre staff were lovely, very reassuring. They had baby & a whole load more water, out quite quickly & Max was born at 10.56am on theSunday morning. I can't describe that immense sense of relief at hearing that first cry, it's the most amazing thing. Our midwife told us we'd always remember the song playing on the radio in theatre. Neither of us can & it's so annoying.
The paediatrician checked him over "yep, definitely a boy" and handed him wrapped in a towel to Lee. Max was so calm, just looked at Lee. He was a chubby cutie with a lot of hair, and of course utterly beautiful.
I was given an anti sickness drug because I'd started to dry heave, which must've made stitching tricky. We were in recovery by 11.45.
This is where the midwife weighed Max, a whopping 10lb, and I told Lee to put away the newborn sized babygrow he'd got out & find the 0-3month sized one instead! I had my first cuddle around 12noon, we just stared at each other. I will never take for granted how fortunate I am to be a Mummy, & couldn't believe he was finally here, looking at me.
Now, the worst bit of the c section, for me, was the 2 night hospital stay. I really struggled, for the first day I had a catheter & couldn't get out of bed to see to Max. The nurses were fabulous, but I wanted to be putting his nappies on & lifting him. Lee was amazing, there as much as he was allowed.
Coming home was wonderful. We were discharged with a set of needles, Lee had to inject me every day with blood thinning drug because of the surgery, and strict instructions to do no heavy lifting. It took me a few weeks to recover from the surgery, the most frustrating thing was not being allowed to push the pram. But everything was soon returning to a whole new, more wonderful, normality.
Max will be two years old next month. The time has absolutely flown by, and been the most amazing two years of my life.
If you're due anytime soon, my advice would be have a birth plan, but don't feel regimented about it, listen to the experts around you & go with your body and the circumstances at the time. And try to remember what songs playing!
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