Birth Story

The full version with more videos and pictures is on my pregnancy blog.

"The" day had arrived. Mum was nice and early which was great. I showed her a few things, ran through some lists etc and then I had to hassle Rob to get ready as he was taking ages!

Rob and I packed the car up, said our goodbyes and left for the hospital.

There was a little bit of traffic and we had left a little later than planned but there were tons of free parking spaces and we only arrived 15 minutes late.

We signed in and went straight to the day assessment unit. On our way there we passed through the delivery suite and saw Anna who was my midwife the day we went in for ECV. She waved which was nice but she had just worked the night shift so went home shortly after.

At the DAU I apologised for being late but they were fine with it and set me up on bed V5 in the corner by the window opposite another couple who were in for a planned c-section too. I was still quietly hoping that I would be sent home but was also pretty sure that the little bugger hadn't moved.

I had some blood taken for some tests and I met with Beth who said she would be in the surgery with me. I instantly recognised her, and her me so we said hi etc. We discussed my birth plan and I said about Mr Grant doing the surgery which she didn't think would happen so I asked her to check.

I was put on a trace and Nugget's heart rate was monitored. They palpated my tummy and said they thought he was still breech but would check with a scan. Then a doctor came in to discuss what was going to happen and what I should expect etc. I was asked the usual medical history questions and asked to sign something. I was also told that I would have to inject myself with blood thinners at home! Didn't have to do that with Ellis as I was in for 7 days so they just did it for me.

I was taken in for a scan and we saw that Nugget was in exactly the same position. Boo!

Beth came back to put my identity bands on and then we were left for a while. I was very nervous, anxious, excited and tons more emotions so of course I had a nervous sweat on and I couldn't stop going to the toilet! Back and forth I went to the loo. I text Mum quite a lot to check on her and the boys but I didn't say if I was definitely going in for surgery or not as I didn't want to worry her, plus she probably already knew anyway.

Beth said that Mr Grant would be doing the surgery but he was a bit busy at the moment so Kath (the couple opposite) was going to go in before me, which meant that Beth wouldn't be my midwife any more.

I was soon brought my hospital gown and long socks, which I had to be re-measured for as they couldn't find the original size done by Anna. It made it a little bit more real once I was in the gown. We took some final bump pictures while I was wearing them.

My new midwife turned out to be male. His name was Ricky and he had only been a midwife for 15 months so hadn't heard of some of the things that I wanted on my birth plan. One of them being about clamping the cord as far away from the baby as possible and the fact that I wanted the screen down. I think he thought I was bit strange with that one. He checked with Mr Grant about the screen and it was a definite NO! Ah well, at least I tried. It's because the screen is there to stop infections so I conceded on that one.

I tried to do an interview of Robert but as usual he wouldn't play along.

Ricky came back to get us and I put my dressing gown on and stuffed my pockets with a camera, hat for baby and a nappy. Rob carried all the bags and I carried my blue V pillow that goes everywhere with me.

It was very strange walking down to the theatre. When we arrived we were directed into surgery 1 (where Ellis was born) and there were bright lights and people everywhere. The scrub nurses were cleaning up and Mr Grant was there scrubbing in. His assistant asked me to sit up on the table with my gown up, so basically my arse was out. It all felt very strange and I felt rather exposed, not a nice feeling although everyone was trying very hard to keep me calm. There was a lot of banter and messing around and at one point Mr Grant told me not to encourage them! It was quite funny.

They wrote my information up on this big dry wipe board, which they would continue to add to throughout the surgery, information like who was there, doing what, times, Apgar score and when they put something in my belly they noted it on the board and wiped it off once it was removed, like a piece of gauze or something like that.

Anyway, I was sat up on the table and given a pillow to lean over. Rob was sat right by me. Ben, one of the anesthetists numbed the back of my hand then said to me I might want to look away as he was about to put the cannula in. I said I was quite happy to watch which they were quite surprised about. It went in first time which was nice.

Then it was time for the spinal block. I wasn't looking forward to this bit at all. I leaned over the pillow as far as I could and Ben prodded my back bones with his finger to see if he could find the gap to put the needle in but he was having trouble and said I had an awkward back. He then started injecting me to numb the area which did sting a bit but then when he put the big needle in I had a sharp pain on one side that was really hurting. I was told to sit really still and he just kept pressing really hard on the area that was hurting, and continued to inject me with stuff. I was not happy, I went quiet and started doing very big deep breaths (fear squashing breath) to try and help. It didn't help and Rob held my hand as I sat crying, scared and in pain. They said that everything was fine though, that the needle had been situated correctly etc and that they had probably just hit a nerve. Great! Again! It happened with Ellis too.

They laid me down, checked my blood pressure etc and then we waited for a bit before they started spraying me with very cold spray to see if I was numb. I said I wasn't and that I could still lift my legs. I was still doing really high leg lifts 20 minutes after the spinal block had gone in. Not what they were expecting. So they put me on my left side and put an epidural in and topped up the spinal block. By this time I was really really scared and crying and telling Rob that I was scared I was going to die. He did his best to reassure me and wiped away my tears.

I was then put back on my back and sprayed again. After being on the table for over an hour, it eventually started to work and soon my legs were like lead weights and I couldn't feel anything up to my boobs. You can feel it like pins and needles but not really. Very hard to explain.

They started pretty quickly and Ben and the other anesthetist stood by Rob and I and started to talk to me. I said please just keep talking to me as I needed to be occupied. Rob then chirped up saying he could see everything in the light above me. He said he could see a foot, then a leg, then a bum and then he was half way out for a while. I felt lots of pulling and pushing at this stage as I think they struggled to get him out. Then he was out and they lowered the screen so I could see. They kept him held right down by the opening and I could see him all curled up but a good colour and well filled out. Instant love and protection kicks in! That's my baby, don't you hurt him, give him to me now!!! I looked at Rob and he had this huge grin on his face and tears in his eyes, lush!

I was handed my little bundle and we started the process of getting to know him.

Rob had cuddles too.

Then they took him off to get weighed and they were all guessing his weight. It was quite fun and light hearted in the theatre. He was 8lbs 3.4oz to be exact.

I then had him back for some cuddles while they were still faffing about in my tummy. They really did take a long time and there was a lot of pulling and pushing.

I forgot to mention that by this point most of the people had left the room as an emergency c-section had come in so they split the team up.

We spent the time chatting, laughing, and waiting for them to finish stitching me up.

At one point I had a very sudden urge to be sick. It was overwhelming and not very nice, they quickly put a bowl under my chin but there was nothing to come up as I hadn't had anything for hours! They gave me some anti sickness stuff in my cannula and I felt better quite quickly.

Rob and Ricky took baby into recovery to wait for me and I remained on the table being stitched up. It seemed like forever. Mr Grant eventually left, not even saying goodbye.

I had to be transferred to another bed which they did for me as obviously I couldn't move, and I was wheeled into the recovery room where Kath was next to me with her new little girl. She was constantly being sick and didn't sound too good. Beth, the other midwife was there too and I was situated right by the midwife desk.

I had a blood pressure cuff on which constantly took readings and I read the figures out to Ricky and Beth so they could write them in my notes.

Rob and I phoned our Mums and then he said he was going home. I was given another band with a number for Baba.

We did the text message to everyone and I really didn't like that we didn't have a name to put in it but we just couldn't agree.

I attempted to give Baba his first feed with the help of Ricky, which felt a bit strange to start with but he was pretty cool. Baba did well.

Rob left and I had skin on skin time and snoozed a bit.

I noticed Baba was doing a small amount of grunting, the same thing Leo did when he was born and I was just hoping that it would go on its own.

I stayed in recovery for a couple of hours and it was actually quite relaxing. It was quiet and I was well looked after, apart from the fact that I wasn't brought a cuppa or toast! I was quite miffed about that. One of the scrub nurses popped in and I told her to have a cuddle of baby, which she did for ages, I thought she would never give him back!

My bags were packed up and I was eventually wheeled down to the ward with the help of a lady called Sue. I was put in the exact same bed as I had been with Leo. But on entering the room I immediately moaned about feeling like I was in a tomb and Sue said that her mate was working today so she would see if I could get moved. Within 5 minutes I was moved over by one bed which put me right by the window, opposite the bed I had been in with Leo. Very strange feeling.

They wanted me to move over to the new bed on my own. I was supposed to have an electric bed but none of them were available. I really had no feeling still in my legs so I had to use my arms to drag myself across. Ricky helped me quite a lot as I don't think he was supposed to let me leave recovery until I had more feeling in my legs. I managed it, but it wasn't easy.

I text Rob to say where I was and he said he would be in with the boys. I was really looking forward to them meeting Baba but was a bit worried too about how I would cope with it as I was feeling very sore and tired.

I wasn't brought a cup of tea, I was just left with a jug of water and told to beep the buzzer if I needed anything. I couldn't move so I couldn't really do a lot.

Rob arrived with the boys and it was hectic to say the least. They got there just as I was about to feed Baba and I immediately asked the midwife to keep hold of him until I had seen the boys first. She handed him to Rob.

Ellis took pictures, Leo ran riot and Rob wanted to go after 10 minutes. Ellis was really upset as he didn't want to go. They really weren't there long. I wanted to take pictures and videos and I wanted them to have cuddles, especially Ellis as he is old enough to appreciate it. I was sad too but it just wasn't working as I couldn't control Leo.

Above 2 pictures taken by Ellis.

I spent the afternoon trying to feed Baba which was a bit hit and miss really. He was quite unsettled and hadn't done any poo yet.

Roxanne, a snotty midwife was just doing my 1st checks since being on the ward when Mum and Dad arrived for their visit at about 6:45pm ish. They had cuddles while I was checked out.

Anne finally brought me some sandwiches and Mum changed Baba's first nappy as I couldn't get up to do it.

We sat chatting, reading cards etc and they were allowed to stay until 8pm as Rob wasn't around. It was nice to have the company just before my first night alone with Baba was about to commence.

I had skin on skin time from 8-9:15pm and then just chilled out looking at my new baby.

I spoke to Rob briefly and then tried to get some sleep.

I took pain medication and some cough medicine as I was still trying very hard not to cough and I was shown how to inject myself for when I got home.

Baba fed on and off from 10:39pm to 3am. I was totally exhausted and eventually a midwife came to take him off into the office for a bit and I tried to get some rest.

Day 2 coming soon!