It's beginning

Just a quick message to let you all know that things here have begun, 6 days past due date.
I was awake in the night with the first contractions from about 5am (don't know if it had anything to do with the tactical lovemaking of last night but if so it would give the pregnancy a nice symettery). I seem to be in a lull at the moment, but before that they were every 12-15 minutes.

I think this is really it. Wish me luck!

Good luck Jenny... submitting posts during labour, now that's journalism!

Let us know how it goes, and here's to a healthy arrival.

Hope things are fine Jenny. All the advice I can give is let family and friends help you out and that rest as much as possible when baby is asleep...(I learnt the hard way by trying to do everything and was absolutely shattered the first few months)Good Luck and fingers crossed that you are a proud mum x

Good Luck Jenny, you must be so excited. Keep us updated and I hope everything goes well.

Take care xx

Anyone heard anything from Jenny? Julie maybe?
It's ages since she posted that labour was starting - hope everything is ok.

Posting during labour is definately very 2005, I was on MSN Messenger informing anyone who would listen that my waters had broken and I was having contractions!

Bit late- but good luck!

Hope everything went well!

Hello all,

Apologies for the long wait, but I've not had a minute spare, well not one that I wanted to spend on the computer anyway! At least I started well!

All is well and we're now the proud parents of Charlotte Grace Carter!

To pick up the thread after I posted once contractions had started I started to get a bit frustrated. The contractions were coming in waves with quite long lulls in-between, so I distracted myself with some last-minute cleaning, suddenly I was seeing dirt everywhere!

oops, too long!


Hubby really hadn't wanted to go to work in the morning when he realised it was happening but he went off eventually tail between legs. I waited until about 11 am to phone the midwife when the contractions seemed to be more regular and I was fairly sure they weren't BH. Still about 15 minutes apart but not really that painful. She advised me to call hubby back from work and get ready to leave for hospital, but said she didn't expect I'd need to leave for a while.

In between contractions I set everything out ready but the less I had to do the more chance I had to feel scared.
Luckily husband was back within 45 minutes which was about when the contractions started to pick up.

We called the midwife again and she said to have a bath if I was in pain and to call back when they were about 7 minutes apart.

Having my husband around then made all the difference, I think I would have been too scared to even get in the bath if he wasn't there for fear I wouldn't be able to get out again and would end up with a different kind of home waterbirth.

By 3 it was time to call again and soon after that we made our way to hospital, which is only a few miles away. Our midwife, Jo, had beaten us to it and it was very reassuring when she appeared by our side before too long.

At first I was a bit disappointed that no-one in the hospital seemed to think anything truly momentous was about to happen, but I really can't complain about the treatment I received, particularly once things got going.


At some point Jo broke my waters and that's when I felt things really started to progress.
I was really surprised to only be four centimetres dilated by 5pm, but the Jo said that it was nearly half-way there and good going!

I tried some gas and air at that point, partly to deal with the pain but also as a bit of distraction and something to do if that makes sense.

things seemed to slow down for a while and then speed up and somewhere around 8.30 pm the midwife said I fully dilated and good to go!

After that it was a real blur. I was really proud of only having gas and air but asked for something else as the real pushing started. Too late I was told, you're almost there! In retrospect I think they were trying to help me stick to my birth plan, which I appreciate, though at the time I wasn't too happy!

I only have hazy recollections of handholding, brow mopping and encouraging noises, but the one thing I do remember is how calm Jo was and that she kept saying that it was going great and I was doing fantastically. It didn't feel like it, needless to say...

the stinging sensation when the head crowned was unbelievable, but the words that came with it helped. Funny how I kept saying 'I can't do this', even as she was on the way out!

a few pushes later and she was out and OH was going nuts about her being a girl (I think he was secretly hoping for a girl all along).

The pain really did seem to evaporate, I can't explain why or how, but all I wanted to do was hold little Charlotte, all 7lb6ounces of her... I have never felt anything like it in my life and even our marriage vows paled in comparison.

I had a small tear and a strange flap of tissue which the nurse dealt with quickly (I recommend a squirty bottle of warm water for loo trips while it's healing!)

In all I couldn't have wished for a better birthing experience and owe such a lot to the hospital staff, my midwife and OH, who were all great.

Since then I've survived on more love than sleep and Lottie and I have been getting the hang of feeding together, harder than it looks!

Sorry about all the separate posts but it wouldn't let me post one long one. I suppose all this really belongs in the birth stories but once I got started...

Being a Mum is wonderful!
I need sleep!

thanks for all the best wishes, it was great to see when I logged on.

Congratulations Jenny fantastic news and lovely name - it's good to hear from you, good luck in your new role as mum xxxxx

Jenny

Waht a fantastic thread. I didn't know whether to say "Oh My God!" or laugh loudly when I first read it.

What a great story.

Make sure you show it to Charlotte's boyfriend 20 years from now to ensure maximum embarrasment.

Now which of us is going to be the first to do a live webcam on ThinkBaby!