“37 weeks pregnant

Waters went at 4 pm, on Wednesday 2nd November! I was somewhat excited that it was going to work out, I reckoned we would be in hospital for 3 nights due to him being a whole 3 weeks early… meaning we should be out in time for me to be home on my birthday on the 7th of November. But that was not meant to be because things went horribly wrong.

The husband and I arrived at the hospital to be greeted by a wonderful midwife and her student. They were bubbly, warm and really friendly and we immediately connected ! The room was spacious and had a birthing pool.

I was asked if I had a birthing plan, to which I laughed and said my only plan was to use a cord tie to clamp the cord. The rest I was going to make it up as I went along!

At that point I was having very mild niggles, they weren’t contractions at all.

Because I tested positive to group B strep we decided to accept antibiotics in labour, the midwife administered the antibiotics while we talked excitedly about our existing kids, baby names and generally just had a friendly chat!
In the middle of it all, the husband, clearly nervous, dropped his iphone on the floor completely smashing his screen 😬 He assured me he wasn’t nervous at all ha ha.

They monitored Isaac’s heartbeat for half an hour, antibiotics were finished and everything was fine. All we needed was to get myself into labour. I took this bump selfie then 

I have a history of very fast labours, so we agreed we would stay within the grounds and go to the hospital canteen for something to eat and try to walk around the hospital to get baby to descend

We sat down to eat but I wasn’t really that hungry, all I could think about was having our rainbow baby soon. By the end of our meal I could feel the niggles turning into tightenings. They were irregular and mild, but definitely there.

The husband and I just couldn’t wait to meet our baby, we talked excitedly about what he would look like, if he would have lots of hair and what colour his eyes would be!

We went into the hospital chapel and prayed together, cried together and I felt such a strong connection with my unborn baby.

We paced the corridors , the husband held my hand as I stopped to breath through each tightening.

We continued to walk around the hospital as I knew the best I could do was to keep active. I took this picture at that point:

At 6 pm, as requested by the midwife, we went back to the room so she could listen to the heartbeat. The lovely student did so and baby sounded happy.

At that point the tightenings suddenly turned into contractions, I sat on the birthing ball as I recognised the strength of real labour and felt a sudden panic wash over me.

Listening to my heavy breathing the husband nodded in recognition and hugged me, he knew too that this was the real deal. He massaged my back and gave me ice cubes to suck on, I am always obsessed with ice cubes when pregnant.

The midwife suggested I got into the pool for pain relief. I quickly told her a big NO, but as I felt another contraction coming I said YES please!

At exactly 6.20 pm I went into the pool and the relief was amazing, I loved the warm water soothing each contraction. The midwife said she thought I was in labour and wanted to start the documentation accordingly.

I was adamant they could just go for a cup of tea and that it would be ages until real labour started. The midwife and student were happy to leave my husband and I to just get on with it. They left the room and pointed out where the buzzer was should we need them.

We dimmed the lights and put some music on. I sang away during contractions while trying to relax and allow baby to descend. The panic disappeared and I felt calm and in control.

This was new to me, the pain of labour always made me terrified but this time I wasn’t scared at all , I felt so relaxed as though I was swimming in the sea with the sun shining down on me.

At 7.05pm I recognised things were now moving and being a midwife I checked my own cervix and I was 4 cm dilated. I buzzed and asked the midwife for some gas and air.
But the gas and air didn’t help me, I felt I was coping better without it, I stopped using it and concentrated on my body instead.

I remember telling the husband, the midwife and the student that I was over reacting and that I wasn’t in labour yet! I also recall giving the student a midwife a lesson on fetal heart monitoring … oh dear!

My instincts just took over at that point

The room was dark and only a small light was on, inside the birthing pool itself, the water was warm, I felt safe and told myself this is it. Next, the midwife said to the student to get her gloves on.

At 19.25 With one single and mighty push I saw this perfect baby covered in vernix at the bottom of the pool!

All I said was: oh my goodness, don’t touch him, don’t touch him, I will get him! over and over again ! I wanted to be the first to touch my baby.

I picked him up gently and brought him to the surface, he had the cord wrapped all over him.
I remember thinking he was tiny and didn’t have much hair. I held him and cried with the husband. He was so perfect, I had the perfect birth, there was not 1 drop of blood in the pool, something that always put me off a water birth before.  The image of being inside a pool full of blood didn’t appeal to me! But that didn’t happen ( the only tiny bit was from cutting the cord).

After a while, we tied the umbilical cord and the husband cut the cord.

At 19.40 I decided to get out the pool and as I did the placenta was delivered naturally. I didn’t need any stitches.

I was elated! Isaac was perfect, so small at 7lb 2oz, only Emily was smaller than him at 6 6lb at birth. He took to the breast straight away.

I had the perfect birth, the kind of labour and birth that only happens in your dreams!

Everything was perfect! Once we had skin to skin I handed him over to the husband while I had a shower and put my comfortable clothes on ready to catch up on some sleep.

I remember the overwhelming happiness at that point, our rainbow baby safe in our arms after our loss. Perfection! ”

TO READ THE REST OF HER STORY CLICK BELOW ON THE LINK:

** Isaac’s Beginning**

Guest Blog @ Relaxed Parenting by Cecilia, Mum to four living in the UK. Follow her at Instagram

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