How I came to understand and accept that today was the day I was to meet our son, and what early labour looked like for me.
This is a day I will never forget. It is one that I re-live on a regular basis as 3 months post partum, I still cannot believe how incredible and strong my body is. I grew a tiny human in there, and managed to get him out all perfect in one piece! So before I get into all the details, here is a little bit background for you all, to put into context how this came about!
I was overdue. 40 weeks plus 3 days. The midwives always tell you how you are officially 'full term' from 37 weeks and how baby could come at any time. As soon as I hit that 37 week mark, I instantly thought the baby would come any day. I had waited this long and as soon as you know in your mind that your baby is ready, you get a sudden feeling of desperation to meet what has been growing inside of you. So we began to try all of the methods that people convince you 'work' to induce labour. Trust me, we tried everything (list below):
Raspberry leaf tea
Curry
Pineapple
Long walks
Bouncing on the birthing ball
Dancing
You name it, we tried it. And the truth is - nothing worked! Your baby and body will tell you when they're ready. In all honesty, after 40 weeks and 3 days, I forgot about all the methods I had been trying and as soon as I felt truly relaxed and unprepared, that is when labour started. The night before, Michael and I were sat in bed and decided to take a night off talking about the potential arrival of our baby, and instead we started messing about and ended up laughing until we were crying. We danced and danced and filmed each other and my bladder was so weak at that point, I had wet myself, which only added to the humour. I remember clearly it was the first night we had gone to bed so late. Pregnancy towards the end had me napping twice a day trying to carry all the extra weight around, and on the evening of the 9th May (Liberation Day) we went to bed around midnight.
During the night I had gone to the toilet around 4 times. At the end of pregnancy they try to encourage you to drink as much water as possible to keep fluids up, so I was consuming around 3 litres a day! On the morning of the 10th, Michael got ready for work and upon kissing me goodbye, we joked how today was another day with no sign of baby. Google can be your worst enemy at this point. I was actively searching how to induce labour, what it would be like if the midwives at the hospital would have to induce me, what reduced movement could mean
for me and my baby, and many other things. On this particular morning - I decided to take a break from that and go and paint my bathroom mirror!
I got up very early, got myself dressed and began to do the housework. My auntie had previously told me that she broke her waters when she lifted the mattress to change her bed - so this was my first mission. Maybe if I 'accidentally' broke them then it would kickstart my labour - right? I had no luck. Between 7.30am and 9.30am I had painted and up-cycled our bathroom mirror, hoovered all the floors, changed the bed, made breakfast, washed, dried and put away the dishes and many more!
Early Labour:
At 9.15am I felt my first twinge. It was a small, sharp pain in my lower back and it was not uncommon at this point during my pregnancy. Was baby lying in a funny position? I was unsure - so I decided to ignore it. At 9.23am I was desperate for the toilet so I popped upstairs for a wee and upon wiping, I noticed a funny coloured type of mucus in my knickers? Could this be my mucus plug? I had heard May and my other midwife from the GP clinic mention that you can lose your mucus plug up to 3 weeks before giving birth, so I was confused about this weirdly coloured discharge so late on in the pregnancy.
I took a photo and sent it to May. Yes, I wiped my vagina and sent a picture to my midwife and hypnobirthing teacher. She's seen it all and it just goes to show how close we had become in a matter of weeks from bonding over my pregnancy. May confirmed that it was my mucus plug and told me that it was likely contractions would start pretty soon. We then discussed if my contractions came today, whether I should go straight into hospital or wait it out, we were on Whatsapp for a matter of 10 minutes or so just discussing my potential plan. She told me to keep myself busy and just remember that the longer I stay in my home comforts, the faster I will dilate.
So that was that. I was unsure how to feel. It was a mixture of excitement, nerves, anxiety, and relief. The day we had been waiting for was finally here. I felt so ready on paper - my hospital bag was packed, I had snacks bagged up and ready to take to the hospital, my birthing plan was in full swing and I was so overly organised that I had nothing to worry about. This being said, being ready on paper sometimes isn't enough. I did not feel ready emotionally to deal with what was to come.
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