Every birth is different. We wanted to share some of ours so maybe you have a rough idea of what to expect, or be doubly surprised when your experience is absolutely nothing like this at all.
It was a pretty normal January morning, I wake up my daughter’s and give them breakfast. I had been having contractions for a few days now since they turned little man around from his breach position however today they are definitely feeling stronger. I had a small show the night before so I am pretty certain labour is imminent. I get another show when I go to the toilet and the pains are getting stronger and I’m starting to…
It was about 7:30 on Monday morning, quite normal for me to wake up with painful heartburn. So normal I was quite sure from what people said (that if you have a lot of heartburn you have a hairy baby) that I was going to give birth to a wookie. I get out of bed and head over to my mini fridge to microwave some milk and honey to help relieve me of this nightmare as the white chocolate isn’t…
A lot of people are surprised when they go into labour. Some wake in the middle of the night to find that they are having mild contractions signalling the onset of labour, others are in the middle of a task or event when their waters break and they are rushed into hospital. Whatever the case may be, plans are discarded and events abandoned to be replaced by the special magic of birth. In my case, there was no surprise involved….
I have four kids and have watched three of them being born. Although it’s a magical time, it’s also a stressful time for us fathers. We are on the sidelines watching our first love going through the pains of labour and feeling helpless. All we want is for both mother and baby to be healthy. Personally, I don’t deal well with stress due to severe anxiety, so I felt more than useless and just felt like I wanted to escape….
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…
It was a Thursday in December. A day I will never forget. My little baby girl was due in two weeks time. I had been awake most of the night, which was pretty normal for a heavily pregnant woman, let alone one with pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (or PPGP for short). My husband (you can also read David’s version of this birth story) had a two day conference in London which started that morning. I got up around 7am and…
The fifth surprise came as she looked down at the baby, bewilderment and tiredness in her eyes. “Well, that’s the first time I’ve done that!” She declared. This was the punchline to the rather surreal day we had just had. These words had been uttered by the wrong kind of wife. Whilst it was absolutely true for my wife, it was not my wife saying those words, but the midwife. As the three of us sat and lay there, each…