Friday 18th March
I was due on Friday the 18th of March. My midwife, Mandy, came over and gave me an examination at my request - I felt that changes were happening and I was curious to know what state my cervix was in! She found I was 50% effaced and about 2cm dilated, and she could feel the bag of waters and feel that the baby had hair! So she was on her way but I wasn't yet in active labour. I didn't have a sweep at this time but baby was very active and I had lots of engaging/effacing feelings later that evening so I was optimistic.
Sunday 19th March
I went out into town and walked around for a few hours with my Mum and met some friends for lunch. I felt a couple of twinges as I walked around that made me stop in my tracks. After shopping I was exhausted and really, really emotional and spent the whole evening blubbing! Still more engagement and effacing feelings but not as many as the night before.
Monday 21st March
The uncomfy feeling I had soon turned into actual tightenings. They weren't painful for the first hour really. They became regular quite quickly and I used breathing techniques during them once they got more intense. They were very easy to manage and I rocked in my glider chair, bounced on my ball and danced about as James filled up the pool. I listened to The Doors and danced about and rubbed my belly. I was really excited! I had a few more clear outs and a little bit of bloody show before I got in the pool at about 2am.
I listened to my Hypnobirthing music (Comfort Zone by Stephen Halpern) for a couple of hours in the pool. I got out of the pool a couple of times to have a walk around, a rock and a dance. I spent a lot of surges hanging off the banister and the sink! I abandoned the bikini bottoms at some point before Mandy arrived. James phoned my Mum to let her know we were in full swing.
Now I'm going by my labour notes for timings as I lost all sense of time from about 4am! Mandy arrived at 4.10am; her notes say I was having surges every 2-3 minutes lasting 60 seconds each. So I went from first contraction to established labour in about 5 hours. I commented that I felt a lot of pressure. I remember not being able to sit down or lie down, I had to be active through them for a while. My Mum arrived at 4.30am. I was back in the pool by 5.30 when Nicky, the second midwife arrived. At this point I was entering transition and really feeling intense surges which seemed to roll into one. The water was a great help, very supportive.
While I was in the pool I listened to Brian Eno which was really good and fitted the scenario perfectly. James and Mum took turns being near me and talking me through relaxation. I managed to eat a little bit of banana and kept drinking weak squash. I often felt like I was going to be sick but never actually was. I just had massive belches coming up! I alternated between floating on my back hanging from the pool handles, and leaning over the edge of the pool on my knees. I was making some moaning noises which helped. I started asking for entonox so Nicky (who is also a hypnobirthing practitioner) talked me through some visualisations which really calmed me down. I really didn't feel like I was doing it and thought I was losing control of the pain, but everyone assures me that between surges I was quite still and relaxed. I guess I only remember the surges!
There was loads of bloody show coming away into the water. The midwives listened to the baby about every half an hour and her heartbeat was always fine. They recorded my first honest 'push' as 7.46am. I can't believe this amount of time had passed! Hypnobirthing really helps you to distort time. The urge to push was getting a lot stronger and felt like I needed a giant poo. I could feel the waters bulging and the baby moving down with my fingers and this was really encouraging, my baby was coming!
I did some pushing floating on my back, and some on my knees hanging over the pool. James was encouraging me to breathe but I found that I couldn't while I was pushing her out, only between pushes. When I stopped pushing to breathe, it was intensely painful so I just gulped in a huge breath and pushed again. I was getting about 3 good pushes with each surge and soon I could feel the bulging waters on the outside! It was amazing, like a little water balloon.
At 9.13 her head started to be born. I was on my knees leaning over the pool. I was feeling her head most of the time and smiling to myself as I could feel her hair through the membranes, and it wasn't long before I could feel her ears too! This is when I knew I was nearly done birthing my baby and soon she would be here, and I had a massive surge of energy. At 9.17am my waters finally ruptured and she was born at 9.21am. James had to put a foot in the pool to get close enough to catch her!
He brought her to the surface and I heard her cry before I saw her, and James told me she was a girl (we didn't know this but it was always my gut feeling!) I turned around and James and Mandy passed her to me for cuddles, I was elated and crying, it was the most exhilarating emotional experience of my life, the best 10 hours work I ever did!
The cord stopped pulsing about 20 mins later and my Mum cut it. We had decided on her name - Poppy Alice - during these 20 mins. James took Poppy to get dry and warm and have some Daddy skin-to-skin while I stood up and spontaneously birthed the placenta which made a big splash and covered Mandy's trousers in some lovely pool water, ha! I got out of the pool and sat in my chair, I had some peanut butter on toast and some squash and Poppy had a little go at the boob but didn't suckle very much. I got up and went upstairs for a shower and made the mistake of looking in the mirror - I looked like a ghost!
The midwives checked me for damage and I had a second degree tear which we decided not to stitch as it was quite a clean tear. Afterwards they told me she was born with her hand up by her face which is probably why I tore, naughty monkey eh?
The summary in my notes says that the first stage was 7hrs 20 mins, the second stage was 1hr 30 mins and the third stage was 23 minutes. So 9hrs 14 minutes in total! I had 2 paracetamol at 4am and that's it.
The midwives cleared everything up while we were upstairs in bed with our new baby, and they even managed to send the rubbish (read: placenta!) out in time for the bin men, heh heh.
Poppy weighed 8lb 10.5oz.
Lastly, I have to say that the homebirth was an amazing experience, and being able to relax and enjoy my labour (she says, in retrospect!) was amazing. I can't even imagine how I would have coped if I had been confined to a bed for my labour. I didn't have any examinations apart from the two I requested before I went into labour and the midwives were very unintrusive and calm. Also it was amazing to have my gorgeous hubby with me every step of the way. Everything was as perfect as I'd hoped and I can't wait to do it again someday