At 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant, I finally started getting contractions at around 00.45hrs. I didn’t have a clue they were contractions as they were just mild pains regularly waking me up. I didn’t wake Leon up as I knew he had work in the morning and thought I may be over-thinking! … So what did I go and do? Of course I downloaded a contraction tracker haha!

The pains varied from 7 mins apart, to 4 mins apart and lasted between 2 minutes and 40 seconds. As you can see in my tracker, at 01.24hrs, I had called the Midwife Led Unit at the Hospital who advised me that I wasn’t contracting, as if I was I wouldn’t be able to even speak, so needed to get as much rest as I could and call back when they got more intense and ‘around 2-3 minutes apart’. This was clearly the last thing I wanted to hear, even though I wasn’t in agony, I was very uncomfortable and didn’t want to get stuck at home, ready to give birth! So I had some rest, Leon called work to let them know he wouldn’t be in, as we were near enough guartenteed to have this baby by the end of his shift. So then at 05.00hrs I decided to start tracking the pains again, as I was positive this time that they were contractions, as the pains were more intense and became 3-5 minutes apart, lasting around a minute each time. So although I felt a pest, I called the Midwife Led Unit again, as I was convinced this was it! The Midwife on duty advised me to take a bath and have some toast as I needed as much energy as I could.

This just seemed like a joke by now – I wanted to get to the hospital and have this baby, but instead, I took her advice and went in the bath for about 30 minutes – didn’t seem to make anything slower, or more comfortable. So I got out, got dressed and lay on the bed. It was from around 07.05hrs that I knew this was it – she was right, I couldn’t even talk when I was contracting! WOW, no one mentioned this pain haha! So there I went again, called the hospital, as I was explaining the situation, I had to pause my sentence as I was contracting, then said “I actually can’t talk now” … It’s funny when I look back, but at the time it was soooo real! They finally told me what I wanted to hear … “Make your way to the hospital and have some more toast”.

I called Mum as soon as I came off the phone – she was great, she just knew when I was contracting and had all the patience in the world for me. It’s crazy because as soon as the contraction has gone, you’re back to normal – as though nothing is happening! But all I could think about was how the hell am I going to get from the house to the car when the contractions are so close together?! . In my mind, I was having this baby in the car, it was too late!

But little did I know, baby was still quite comfortable. We got to the hospital at around 08.45hrs after travelling through all the rush hour traffic, taking 25 minutes of what would usually be 15 max (typical) ! We were greeted and asked to take a seat in the kitchen area – which was lovely and warm but all I was thinking was get me in a bath or on a bed and tell me where this baby is! Leon thought it would be a good idea to take a video at the point when the Midwife was fetching me some Bran Flakes!

We finally went into the birthing suite at around 09.30hrs where the bath was already filled for me and everything laid out perfectly – this was my home for the day! The Midwife assesed me, looked up and said “You’re three centimetres dilated”. Oh my goodness, the look on my face must have been a picture. At this point, my waters broke as she was assessing me. I then remember saying “Well, I’m not going home, I am staying here until I have had the baby”.. The Midwife smiled and said okay, I’ll get you some co-codemol and you can try and sleep. At this point, I didn’t care what she said, I was just happy that I wasn’t going back home until I had my baby in my arms!

Did the co-codemol work, erm no not in my opinion. My contractions were still strong and everytime I contracted, more waters were released (sorry for the details, I’m sure someone will appreciate it haha). It was quite groce, but the Midwife came in very regularly and changed my sheets on the sofa I was lay on (On the MLU they don’t have beds, they have a more inviting, home from home approach so have sofas and huge baths in each suite – yep, abit like luxury!).

Leon got plenty of rest, but I didn’t get much. By 11.45hrs I just wanted something to soothe the pain, so hopped into the birthing pool – ahhh it was lush! It made everything so much better. I stayed on all fours in the pool for a good 90 minutes. I remember saying to leon many times that I wanted to be examined again as I felt the urge to push, but the Midwife came in, went through some breathing exercises with me and said if I pushed too early it could damage/harden my cervix and it would prolong my labour. So I continued to control my breathing and by 14.00hrs I KNEW I was right, my instinct told me to push.

Now this time, Leon had to SHOUT for the Midwife. She came in and asked if she could examine me. I got out of the pool, and surprise surprise, she looked up at me and said “Let’s get you back in the pool and get this baby out, you’re fully dilated!”. I actually said to her “I told you so”. Her reply was “Because you were so calm, I didn’t think you were anywhere near”, which made me feel very proud and even more determined to push! This is the time when I had gas and air. OH WOW! II felt like a new woman! I was on cloud nine and MORE THAN capable of getting this baby out.

My Midwife was sat on my right and Leon on my left. I was in a squatting position, holding onto either side of the bath and therefore had no free hands, so each time I had a contraction, Leon was at my instant call with the gas and air and inbetween contractions, my Midwife was giving me sips of Lucozade haha! As daft as it sounds, from this time onwards, we were looking through photos of my Midwife’s Son’s wedding, it was such a bizzare situation! I did not at all think I would feel this relaxed so close to giving birth.

By 14.32hrs, I gave my fifth push and out came our baby’s head. I was lay on my back by now, still in the pool. Leon’s face was a picture – he didn’t realise that the baby doesn’t always come out in one go, the look of panic was priceless, until the Midwife explained that was a normal situation. Now the aim was to completely relax and let my body take control for the remainder of the birth, as and interuptions could cause tears and complications. After about 2 minutes, out came our baby – Leon reached in the pool and caught him, just as we planned!

That was it, it was all over and our little boy was in my arms, in the water, crying his eyes out – just as I imagined. It felt like a dream come true – it couldn’t have been any more perfect! I was shaking from the adrenaline – I didn’t even cry UNTIL Leon called my Mum and she started crying and that was it, tears streamed down my face. I finally knew how it felt to be a Mummy!

Without all the gruesome details, I gave birth to the placenta (which was easy, kind of just fell out when I stood up, whoops, did I say that?. and that was it, Leon cut the cord and we transferred to the freshly made sofa/bed ready for the first visitors.

Contractions and labour were nothing like what I expected, however looking back – I can’t even remember the pain at all!

Thank you for reading my post, even though it may be quite lengthy! Please feel free to ask any questions, especially the expectant parents out there, I will be more than willing to answer the best I can from my experience : )