My birth story

So here it is. The greatest story I will ever tell.

Saturday 2nd January at 23.30 is when it all started.

After a lovely evening of takeaway curry (a Korma so I didn’t bust the spicy food myth), watching Notting Hill (maybe Oxytocin inducing Hugh Grant is what triggered labour) and bouncing on my birth ball I lay in bed feeling bloated and gassy.

My waters broke in true Hollywood style. I heard a pop and suddenly they flooded out soaking our sheets and mattress. I ran into the shower (for some reason thought that was best!) and panicked that there was meconium in my waters. So we rang the hospital and they asked us to come in. After some careful monitoring and checking of baby’s movements and heartbeat they sent us back home (around 2am) and encouraged us to sleep.

SLEEP! Umm hello my adrenaline levels were through the roof and I was SO excited!

Instead I lay on the sofa, watched TV and messaged my friends in Australia who were luckily awake!

I laboured at home for almost 15 hours. I had baths with calming music and essential oils, I ate dry toast and Twister ice lollies, I watched countless episodes of Friday Night Dinner with my partner, I tried to remember to do my Up Breathing and I repeated ‘I can do anything for a minute’ and ‘Soft face, soft jaw, breathe’ over and over to myself. It was tough and as the afternoon drew in I was begging my partner to take me to hospital.

We finally drove to hospital at 5pm. By this point I was making very guttural mooing sounds with every contraction! I was so loud that when we walked from the car to the hospital entrance people came to their hospital windows to see what the noise was all about! This was a surprise to me. I thought I would be quiet, calm, meditative and that my Yogi soul would shine through. But my body took over and had different plans!

I took some pain relief and settled in. From here it’s all a bit of a blur; I was absolutely exhausted, I think I even half slept between contractions. I used my tens machine and the gas and air. I placed a scan picture of baby in front of me and tried to focus on meeting my little one.

Suddenly I was being told to push. I had no urge to push and I was so tired. But I tried. And tried. And tried. 2 hours later we hadn’t gotten anywhere so I was taken to the labour ward. We tried pushing again with no luck and I was then prepped for an emergency C-Section.

A huge wave of relief washed over me. The pain was going to stop. I was going to meet my baby. I babbled on about Grey’s Anatomy as they pushed me into theatre. In theatre, after numbing me, the team attempted ventouse and forceps to deliver - but he still wouldn’t come! So, they proceeded with the C Section.

The wonderful, kind, caring theatre team reassured me and chatted to me and helped deliver my beautiful boy at 2.42am on 4th January 2021.

My partner cut the cord and got the first hold which was very special and then my perfect baby boy was placed on my chest and time stood still.

Thank you to my partner for being my voice and my teammate during those 27 hours! Thank you to the midwives and theatre team especially at Kingston Hospital. Thank you to Birth Ed for giving me the tools to make it through some of the hardest hours of labour. Thank you to Friday Night Dinner for making me laugh. Thank you to my friends in Australia for talking to me when everyone else in the UK was asleep. Thank you to my family for silently supporting me from afar. Thank you to my amazing baby boy for choosing me to be your mama.