I was 40 weeks and 4 days with my first child. We knew from our 10 week scan that it was a she. A girl… we always wanted one. So I had a delightful pregnancy. Getting things ready for our little princess to come home. But by 40 weeks, I started to get worried about birth and labour. For goodness sake, I’m only 23 and my boyfriend is 24!
My older brother came to stay for the night so I was looking forward to seeing him and I was hoping that my girl’s birth wouldn’t interfere with his visit. I stayed up until midnight that night because my boyfriend and my brother are the same age and great friends. I wanted to go to bed but I couldn’t sleep without my boyfriend with me and he wanted to stay up with my brother so I had to stay up.
For my entire pregnancy I had been getting out of bed at night for the bathroom, but on the night of April 5 I slept for 6 hours straight. At 6am, I woke up with a pain “down there” and went to the bathroom for a pee. When I got back, I climbed into bed and shut my eyes, thinking I would now sleep for another 2 or 3 hours. As it was early morning Thursday, my boyfriend had the day off work so I could lie in. After around half an hour, I started having mild contractions. I had had some similar contractions before during my pregnancy, so I thought it was nothing. I once again tried for sleep.
Then around 7am, my boyfriend woke me up as he was worried about why I was groaning and grunting in my sleep. I had been completely unaware of that so it came as a surprise. When I sat up, I realized I was having real, proper, labor, contractions.
I knew instantly I was in labor, and told my boyfriend to wake my brother in the spare room. He did. My brother, who had a daughter of his own at home, and had a girlfriend looking after her while he visited us, told me that when his girlfriend was in labor, she grabbed a snack and it helped so distract her from the pain. So I had a banana and my boyfriend helped me to get dressed.
Then my boyfriend, who’s name is Ollie, asked if we should time contractions. I refused, but my brother, Ben, had already rang his girlfriend, Sophie, who was on her way after finding a sitter for her daughter. He said that when Sophie was on the phone, she had said that timing contractions would be the best we could do. So we timed them, and it turned out they were 5 to 7 mins apart. They were 1 min long each.
When Sophie arrived at around 9am, she rang my midwife, who told us to meet her at the hospital. Ollie, Ben and Sophie were all ready in about two seconds, but I took so long to get ready we left in a hurry at 10am. While in the car, I had a massive contraction, so big that Ben, who was driving, had to pull over. I seriously nearly had the baby in the car!
When we arrived, Ben started yelling for a wheelchair and I felt mountains of relief when Ollie started wheeling me towards the birth center, where I was given a lovely cosy room. Only minutes after arriving, at 11am, my water broke.
I was lucky because the world’s nicest midwife, Lucy, was my midwife. Sophie was also exceptionally helpful, having been though it herself. I am glad she agreed to come over. They checked me, and, as everyone thought, I was ready to start pushing. At my first check! Crazy.
I pushed once. I pushed twice. I pushed three times. Nothing. I pushed one more time and the head came out. Once more and the whole body of Ashley Mae flew gently out. It was 11:37am. I had arrived at the hospital at 10:56am. Once Ollie had cut the cord, Ashley was placed on my chest. I delivered the placenta while she was breastfeeding. Wow! Then she was whisked away to be weighed. My little princess was 8lb and 10in long.
Ashley’s birth changed my life, and I can’t wait to see her grow up as my little queen!
~ Amy
