Hi Ann, I hope you’ve had a wonderful december with some quality family time, you were in my thoughts. Here, as promised is my magical birth story, I say magical because I’m still unsure how it happened.
First of all, MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy New Year you lovely lot! I hope you had an awesome day full of food and can now attack the sales as they should be done, online! I know I’m late with the wishes but there’s good reason. Take a look at the cutie attached, all 6lbs10oz of his adorable self arrived at 12:08 on 12.12.18 and we’ve been in the best little festive bubble you could ask for. I want to share with you all how he arrived with us, I’ll spare you the start of the story (we all know how that happens) and skip right to the exciting part. It’s a lengthy one folks.
About 2:30 in the morning I needed to pee, we all know how it goes, I hefted myself up and waddled down the hallway and made it to the bathroom door before I felt like I’d missed the boat on this one… but hadn’t felt it happen, really?! Checked myself out and, with the realisation that my waters had started to break 2 weeks before my “due date”, I stood up with a massive grin on my face, changed into dry clothes and put myself back to bed. The excitement kept me up in all honesty, so I ended up going downstairs having a boogie in the living room (swirly hips were winning), playing with the cat and having a full blown hair care wash sesh in the shower; all the while breathing through what felt like sliiightly more intense period cramps. I felt epic, then realised I should probably try and rest up a bit to conserve some energy for the further excitement I knew was coming. I felt like a child at Christmas time, which unsurprisingly was made easier by the time of year!
I took myself to bed again and by this time, about 7am ish, Andy was up and about and I was so confident that my labour was progressing slowly that I told him to go to work. Luckily he knows me a little better than I do and he didn’t go. He made me some toast and filled the bath up, timing the surges and checking in about when we needed to get to the hospital. The confidence I had about not yet being in active labour was still high and who wants to deal with morning work traffic anyway!
In the next hour that confidence slowwwly unravelled as I realised I was surging really regularly close together for 45-60 secs each time and that is near enough the definition of active labour. It was time to call the midwife. She didn’t take long to arrive at all but in that time I had come to the conclusion that the bath was where I wanted to be and I wasn’t making it to the hospital. We were prepared for a hosp birth and actually had an induction date booked in too, due to a low protein in my blood the advice was given that I shouldn’t go over term, so the hosp was where we had resigned ourselves to be for the birth. Looks like our little bubs had their own plan anyway.
So back to it, I was halfway there (dilated) when Morgan arrived and she said there was still time to get there (hosp). I knew I wasn’t going anywhere! All I wanted was to get back in the bath, and be with Andy who had been helping me through each surge by putting pressure on my lower back and breathing with me. Bumble bee breath helped but the Ujaya (spelling is awful, sorry) breath was epic. In the next 1.5hrs the pressure changed, downward breaths and humming noises were winning here, and it was time to see Baby Bubbles into the world.
I had entirely forgotten about pain relief by this point, so was oh natural, breathing and pressure through the surges were what kept me going and knowing I had support around me. Their faith that I could do this was that extra little kick I needed for the moments where I thought, oh s*** I can’t do this. At those moments, drawing on the positive energy and feeling of Andy, Morgan and by this point Jess was all I needed, plus being at home in my own safe space, the pressure on my back and for some reason Andy’s jeans! I was holding onto his denim covered leg for all it was worth and wow did denim feel solid! He may have lost some feeling below the knee though!
It didn’t feel like long before my wonderful midwives were saying that I had to tell them when Bubbles was coming. I was at the most awkward angle in the bath but it worked for me and I wasn’t shifting for anything. The yoga and stretching had helped enormously in preventing cramp! Then, whilst I was still feeling like I couldn’t move, experience broke through in the form of Morgan and Jess saying I had to sit back to catch my baby. How on earth was I going to do that! The next surge was indescribable, the sense of separation but sheer joy was so overwhelming I just don’t remember how I did it, but I shifted back and he was there, in my arms up on my chest and beautiful.
I felt like I had been two people throughout this journey up until that point and then he was there in front of me and WOW! Then the relief settled in, we had done it! I say we because I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Andy being there the whole way through; without the calming supportiveness of Morgan and Jess who knew what to do, when to be there, when to leave us to it.
We got the birth we wanted, but least expected. It was the most magical, incredible experience and the most badass thing I will ever do, until I do it again, hopefully. I have been humbled by the whole journey, pregnancy and birth.
My body throughout has shown me we are MADE to do this, embrace it, we are strong and capable and ready for it all and anyone who tells you different, you just tell them to shush. Cue a sassy Beyoncé moment please.
I wish all of you the very best, for the New Year and more importantly for your birth. It’s a wonderful time of year made all the more so by these magnificent little arrivals. However they arrive with you, be positive, have faith and know you can do it, always!
Much love to all you amazing people 💜
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