Birth Story Part 2

When we left off, Ross and I were on our way to the Birth Centre.

The last bump shot I have.  From Feb. 25th

Tuesday February 28, 2012


We arrived at about 7:15PM and (after some comical searching due to poor signage) were shown to a room.  The midwife on duty was very nice and asked what had happened.  She examined the pad I was wearing and asked me to disrobe from the waist down so I could be examined.  As I stood up I was leaving puddles of amniotic fluid on the floor (nice!).  She returned to the room and declared that it was convincingly amniotic and expressed that she was impressed with my puddles.  I joked that I'd had our special effects department whip it up.  She seemed confused.  I got the feeling she wasn't used to women cracking jokes about amniotic fluid.

She said it was pretty obvious that, while my waters had definitely broken, I wasn't really in labour as I wasn't having contractions.  She didn't even do an internal exam, saying that there was no reason to do one and it was better to skip it to keep infection risks down. She did take my temperature and blood pressure and listen to the baby's heartbeat, as well as examining 2 seperate pads.  Since that was all fine, we were sent home with orders to return in 24 hours or if my contractions started coming regularly.

We went home by way of Asda (the UK equivalent of Walmart) where we picked up sheets for the crib, a blanket (We didn't have a single baby blanket!) and food for dinner.  I was suddenly STARVING so I selected  a hearty beef ravioli and garlic bread.  I decided that my plan was to let the night pass normally and then do some kick-starting exercises in the morning if we needed things to get going.  I ate dinner,washed the sheets and blanket, and sent an email update to my parents to let them know what was happening.  Ross did a bit more tidying up and we headed to bed, hoping to get some rest.

At around 10pm I was having some rippling feelings down low, but nothing with an identifiable start and finish, but during the night things definitely got more intense.  I remember at some point in the night getting up on all fours and rocking.  We made it through the night and even got a fair amount of sleep, though Ross said in the morning that he was surprised we were still at home.  Based on my behavior, he could tell things had gotten going and he thought I'd be ready to head back to the hospital.

Wednesday February 29, 2012

We slept a bit late and had an extended cuddle as we laid in bed together and discussed our imminent arrival. We got up and spent some time puttering around, making final preparations. My contractions continued, but still weren't very regular.  I was managing them fine by employing some things I'd read about in my hypnobirthing book and from my prenatal yoga class. The only way I can describe it is that I went very still and quiet, closed my eyes, slowed my breathing, and focused in pushing my mind through the center of the contraction. I don't really know how to describe it better than that, but it was a feeling of focusing my consciousness into the very center of the pain until it dissipated.  I say pain because I'm sure it hurt, but I couldn't describe how contractions felt now if I tried.  I have absolutely no memory of the sensation.  Also, the concept of time became pretty hazy around this point.  I've had to refer back to chats and ask Ross about timing of things because I just find that my memory of large parts of the labour is fairly blurry.

Belly and Birth Ball back in late November

I know I spent time on the birth ball, but other than that I'm not sure what I did until it was time to head back to the hospital.  Ross was a great support and put to use his skill of relaxing me and finding the places that were most helpful to rub.  We updated my immediate family and some close friends and existed in a strange bubble of excitement and anticipation.  At around 3:30PM we headed to the car with all our gear, ready to welcome our baby.  I remember running into a neighbour as we got in the car.  She made some comment about me being nearly ready to pop.  I replied, "It's time!  We're going now."  We got in the car and drove back to the hospital and headed for the antenatal ward to be checked over.  By this time my contractions were pretty regular and coming in about 5 minute intervals, but were still totally manageable.  I was really proud of how I was coping.

It was a good thing we'd slept late because we were in for a LONG night!
To be continued...