Hullo Ladies! I hope the last few days or weeks of pregnancy are treating you all kindly & that you get to meet your babies soon! Massive thanks to all if you that have offered my support throughout- I really appreciate it!

It's taken me a while to settle enough to find time to get on here (albeit briefly!), so my birth announcement is veerrry late :-)

I went into labour with a big Niagra-like gush of waters on Halloween & fully expected (as did the midwife) for the LO to be one of the last sparklers. Early labour was a doddle, we even went shopping to TK Maxx- admittedly we didn't stay in the store long as my contractions were pretty intense.

Oh and I pissed my self. Literally & fully... In the car! Whilst trying to hold a conversation on the phone! Oops!

The midwife called back at around 7.30pm and decided to stay, I'd been dilating well (if not a little slowly)- but there was a pesky lip in the way, which wasn't evening out.

Labour continued & continued. By 11.30pm the second midwife was called as she was sure, given continuous contractions, that birth would be imminent... My super relaxed body had different ideas! The contractions began to stop and start, and I was that exhausted I actually fell asleep for about 10 minutes through them.

At around 3.30am, I became aware of them discussing the possibility of transfering me to hospital. I became very alert and lucid, and remember very calmly talking with them about pain relief & the likelihood of instrument delivery. It was that conversation that gave me strength to work harder then I had ever done before. DH said I became crazy with resolution. I walked & rocked my hips, even through a lot of the contractions. It didn't take long! I began pushing.

The pushing is the easy part! I surprised myself by looking in the mirror when he was crowning. That's a surreal sight!

And then at 5.16am on the 1st November, a beautiful little boy slivered his way onto my chest. He was (and still is) perfect in every way! Incredibly alert after I had no pain relief except a few paractemol, he got 10s on all of his AGPARs!

I had to take a trip down to L&D at that point to be stitched up (first degree tear & superficial muscle tear) as the midwife was knackered & didn't feel comfortable. So an ambulance was called & I couldn't find any shoes to wear! We were home within 40 minutes. DH & our son followed us down- he said he cried at that point.*

This is the still unnamed one on his first trip out, not even an hour old:



I couldn't have done it without his or the support of two amazing midwives!

The last 11 days have been a blur- I've had mastitis twice and am now exclusively feeding him pumped breast milk. It's gruelling & tiring feeding him this way, still taking time after each feed to have skin-to-skin and trying to fit sleep in. I want to do what's best for him though, so it's worth it.

Wow! That turned out long!

Just s few last words from me: when they say walk, walk with all the determination you can. It's not really that painful when you know what to expect- bloody exhausting & extreme hardwork, but so worth it all!

And to any SPD/PGP sufferers, mine came on at 14 weeks and started getting better 2 weeks before he was born. The pain, anger, depression & frustration I felt through the majority of my pregnancy was so much more difficult to handle. In fact, give me the choice, I'd pick to go through labour. My pelvis feels amazing now, I only get a few twinges every now and again.

And some more photos:

1 day old:



1 week old:

Your an inspiration. well done girl! your little one is just so cute. congratulations to you all

well done, glad all went well in the end, and he's lovely! Congratulations!

well done and congratulations xxx

huge congratulations! your bundle is beautiful

Thanks! :-)

I forgot to say that I found the breathing from the hypnobirthing book & CD really helpful. I'm not going to sell it, but if anyone wants it just PM me your address and I'll stick it in the post. There's a proviso though! You must pass it on afterwards too.

X

He's gorgeous! Congratulations

Awww she is gorgeous - and well done on the homebirth, you trooper! x

Well lady - nice cooking job. Congratulations on your beautiful boy. First pic made me cry - can't believe how beautiful he is just one hour into the world. Xxx

Thanks! He makes me cry too :-) Those last hormones & weepiness are pesky, aren't they?!