Birth Story: Be careful what you google at 40+ weeks
It’s Sunday night around 11:30pm and I’m going to the toilet for what feels like the millionth time, but in reality is probably only the second time since going to bed at 9:30pm.
I wanted to get plenty of sleep with the consultant’s appointment tomorrow and being 40+ weeks pregnant it’s hard to get comfortable. I could have been sleeping on a cloud and I would still have trouble getting comfortable and even if I did get comfortable I almost always needed a wee.
I feel a gooey something as I wipe and it’s kinda sticky. I remember something about a mucus plug but not knowing what that looks like I decided to Google it. Don’t do it girls – trust me it’s not pretty and still haunts me. I Google how long after labour can start and feel reassured and disappointed that it could still be days. So I go back to bed and sleep.
I’m woken by a strong pain in my back and belly around 1am. I look at my husband (Chris) sleeping and decide to leave him. I was quite sure I was going to give birth to a baby pretty soon, so I didn’t need two to deal with! He’s probably worse than a newborn with no sleep. I decide to have a bath and breakfast and repack my hospital bag and put it by the door. I clean the house, properly nesting, and make the cot up.
Around 10am, Chris’ uncle picks us up and takes us to my consultant’s appointment. This man I credit for my rainbow’s survival and he always came across like an excited grandad to me. He does a basic examination and asks me if I’m having contractions and I smile and nod. I still haven’t told my husband yet as we have had two false labours, so I wanted to be sure before I said anything. The nurse examines me and I’m 3cm dilated. The consultant comes back and tells me that there will be a baby today or tomorrow. It’s starting to feel real now.
As the day goes on the pains get stronger and I can feel my baby’s head getting lower and lower. I have another bath as the back pain is intense. By 9:30 that evening I can’t deal with the back pain anymore and I tell the midwife on the phone that I need some pain relief, so they agree I can come in. It was a bit of a drive to the hospital in Oldham and I can’t sit properly since I can feel her head right there. I get to the hospital and I’m wheeled to the labour ward. I’ve bypassed the first part.
I am helped onto the bed and my waters break. I always thought it was an exaggeration how much water comes out in films but the amount that came out was ridiculous. It’s around 10:30pm now and the midwife Claudia examines me. I’m 6cm. She gives me diamorphine for the back pain and I can focus on the contractions now they are coming more regularly and lasting longer. The midwife explained she is going to examine me again at 2am.
2am on that Tuesday morning eventually comes. It has felt like a lifetime as the contractions are intense now and I’m getting really tired. I just want to hold my baby. The midwife examines me and I’m 9cm. She tells me that some of the membrane is still there so she helps my waters break fully.
By 3:50am I tell the midwife that I need to push, she wants to examine me but I’m not waiting. Chris gets up from the chair he’s been napping in. I push with everything I have. The midwife tells me to pant (something about the shoulders). I pant but know that I’m also pushing again – I have to.
And she’s out – my rainbow’s here. I look at my baby on my chest and the overwhelming feeling of love is immense. She is finally here, four days late, but how perfect she is, staring at me with her bright blue eyes. She is tiny but the love I felt was huge. Alyssa Kathleen Hayes born at the end of April 2013 at 3:54am weighing a tiny 5lb 13.
It was nothing like I imagined and after that birth I wondered what all the fuss was about. I was soon to find out.
