Ethan's Birth Story

On the 1st of June, DS1 woke up around 4am in the morning and I got up to get him back to sleep. I was 11 days overdue and the next day I was supposed to visit the hospital for a sweep and to book induction...of course, I was not looking forward to any of that. However as I went back to bed I noticed that, yet again, I was feeling crampy. Out of no where, I had an urge to squat...so I squatted on the floor for a few minutes, wondering where the strange urge came from and if it'd help get baby here any sooner. After I got up I sat leaning forward on the bed for a few minutes and noticed I felt even more crampy. I figured it was probably nothing since I'd had crampiness on and off for weeks. So I climbed back into bed and as I did so felt a contraction. I didn't think much of that either as I'd had some earlier in the evening that just disappeared after an hour. I decided to sit for a few minutes and see what happened but felt I'd just be laying down and going back to sleep disappointed.

Except, five minutes later there was another one...and then another five minutes after that...and another...

Not wanting to disturb DH at 5am when he had to go to work the next day, I sat for an hour making sure they were coming regularly. I tried changing positions and standing up...still contractions came. So I woke up DH and then spent a couple hours timing contractions on an ipod app and eating toast. When DS woke for the morning, DH got him breakfast and took him to my parents house whilst I sat in our bedroom breathing through contractions. Once DH came back, I moved downstairs and sat on the birth ball and DH got my TENS machine hooked up. A couple more hours passed whilst I bounced on the ball, ate toast and zapped myself with the TENS boost and moaned through contractions.

I started worrying a little that they weren't getting any longer or more frequent. I'd had a show so was sure they were doing something but I wasn't sure if it was too early to make our way to the hospital. It'd been about 6-7 hours of labour by this point and I didn't want the disappointment I'd had with DS1 (got to the hospital after hours of pain to find I was only 1cm dilated and sent home). I told DH my worries and mentioned that leaning forwards during a contraction makes it far more intense...he suggested I lean forwards during a few if I was worried things weren't progressing. So I did...and then suddenly every contraction was lots more intense and I was getting very shouty and bursting into tears with each one. That's when we realised it was definitely time to go the the hospital..so DH phoned them to let them know and they agreed it was time to come in. I went upstairs and got dressed and then came back down to put my shoes on...another contraction came and as I moaned and cried through it I felt babies head moving down low. I have to get to the hospital NOW I thought to myself. Shortly after that we were on our way and on arriving we're taken to the midwife led unit (I was so glad they had a room free in the MLU, I desperately wanted to give birth in a more hands off environment than I had with DS1 and possibly wanted to try the birth pool).

The midwife checked me and found I was 4cm dilated. I was disappointed. I thought I'd be further along than that and didn't know how I'd cope with hours and hours of these really intense contractions ahead of me. The midwife checked babys position and found his back on my right but that he might be slightly back to back. She asked if I wanted to use the pool and I said I did but not yet...they started to fill it ready for when I wanted it. I didn't want to get in too soon and slow things down. I got off the bed and settled myself leaning forwards over a bean bag on the floor...TENS machine clutched in one hand...gas and air in the other. The midwife checked baby with a doppler and he was doing ok, she put her hand on my tummy to feel the strength on the contractions...a much different and more relaxed experience than I had with DS1 (the midwife broke my waters and once she saw there was meconium, I was stuck on the bed being continuously monitored). I heard her saying that she thought the contractions were coming thick and fast and said that we might have a baby soon. I thought she was off her rocker...no way could baby possibly arrive any time soon I thought...I'm only 4cm, I've been at the hospital for less than an hour, surely I must have hours and hours of this yet.

The midwife and the student midwife who was with her left the room for a few minutes...making sure we knew where the alarm was in case we needed anything. Shortly after she left, I had the contraction from hell and as it tailed off I felt something go pop and warm liquid from between my legs. I said to DH I thought my waters had gone but we looked down and instead saw drops of blood. DH pressed the alarm and the midwife came back in and said baby was on his way. She asked if I was getting any pressure...I'd had none, until the next contraction when I started feeling a little pushy. Even so I still thought the midwife was nuts. Until the next contraction came and I found myself throwing myself over the bean bag, bearing down and pushing hard. Out of no where, my body just started pushing baby out. A few pushes later and I'm panting through a contraction as baby is crowning, another push and his head is out, another push and his body follows.

I look up and DH is in tears, leaning towards me and telling me I did it as baby is passed between my legs and laid on the bean bag in front of me. I'm still in shock that my baby is here so quickly and easily. He starts to cry and I pick him up. Ethan James is here :)

Rough

Yesterday, I had even more nausea...so much so that I was munching on a ginger biscuit at bedtime to try and stop myself hurling. Right now I'm nauseous and I have a headache. I POAS again today, a darker line than last time (when period was due...about a week ago). Things are looking good. Got first midwife appointment booked, that's on 30th September.

Starting to feel pregnant

I was so tired yesterday...too tired for it to be passed off as just from playing with DS. We went to Tescos today, a place I hated going during early pregnancy last time because all the sights and smells of food made me want to hurl. Sure enough, I ended up feeling nauseous. So it looks like some symptoms are starting to kick in.

Can't believe I haven't done this yet...

...so the "could be" in my last post, was that we were TTC again and I could have been pregnant. Turns out I wasn't, that cycle was a BFN. So my next cycle started August 15th and on 10th September (10DPO) I got...



and...



BFP!!!

So now I'm 4wks 4 days and I've been stressing a bit because there seems to be less symptoms this time (every pregnancy is different so I really shouldn't compare, it's hard not too though). But AF was officially a no show yesterday and I POAS again and got a lovely dark line, much darker than the BFP above so at least that's reassuring me. So far I'm bloated (I look 3 months pregnant at times), have some round ligament pain and occasional waves of nausea. I did have cramping but that's eased off now. I'll be making my first midwife appointment tomorrow.

A case of the "could be's"...

There's a big could be again. Unlikely at this stage but still a "could be"...I like this feeling.

Loves it!

I'm loving BLW and there's so much info in the book. So far he's had pasta with cheese sauce, honeydew melon, banana, chips, brocolli and today he had some of my cheese panini whilst we were out.

Most of it goes down his front (or round the kitchen) as he doesn't have the ability to swallow proper food yet...it's too early, it'll come with time...like the ability to roll over, sit, stand, walk. But he loves being included...able to copy mummy and daddy and have what we're having. And mummy an daddy love seeing him so curious about real food...working out what stuff tastes like, different textures, how to handle it and ultimately what it's for. And it's so much easier...don't have to buy any baby food jars, don't have to make our own purees, don't have to spoon-feed him whilst my dinner goes cold, don't have him refusing the spoon, no need to work out whether he's full or wants more...he does it himself with food we were cooking anyway and stops when he's done with it.

Sometimes he does get a bit frustrated...like if he can't quite do whatever he wants to do with a slippery slice of melon...or drops a bit of pasta whilst he was in the middle of gumming...or when the brocolli he was studying and tasting starts coming to bits (he looked very confused "huh...my toys don't do that..waahh mummy I think I broke it!"). But this is all stuff he needs to learn or get better at with practice at some point in his life...so why not give him the opportunity now. There's no reason not to give him control of food (what he eats, how much, how fast, etc) right from the start.

Ditching purees

I think we're definitely going to go for a baby-led weaning approach. Monday was horrible. I gave him a jar of baby food at lunch...to make a change from fruit and veggies (even the veggie ones he likes have fruit in) I gave him a meat and veg one. It was one he'd had before and didn't seem too keen...though the first time around I thought it was the texture as it was much thicker than other stuff he'd had. So Monday he tried it again, gagged and threw up. Later that day, I watered it down and tried again to rule out the thickness of it as a problem...he'd have a couple spoons then sit there with his mouth hanging open as if to say "What the hell am I supposed to do with this crap?" and then look as though he wanted to throw up again. Fair enough, I thought...I don't like beef either. So dinner time comes and we try something new...this time a bit of our dinner (baked potato and beans) blizted up in the blender. I don't know if it was just because of earlier on but he was not impressed. He took a tiny bit off the spoon and then "WAAAHHHHHH!!!!" He then cried and shouted all through our dinner...something which is a common occurence whether we give him any puree or not. The one place he's happy at dinner time is on our laps, playing with our dinner plates. Fair enough...he's curious, though it is a PITA when I need two hands to eat.

So last night, we had pizza for dinner and I forgot all about spoon feeding and just plonked him in his high chair with a rusk. He loved it! Now, he's had rusks before so I know he likes them...what I mean is, it was the quietest, calmest dinner we've had in a while...he happily munched his rusk by himself whilst watching mummy and daddy eating.

So I'm thinking now that'll I'll only spoonfeed stuff that's meant to be eaten with a spoon (he loves yoghurt). But otherwise, he can have proper food (from 6 months and within reason of course...got to keep an eye on salt levels for example) and work it out at his own pace.