On the 24th August 2017 Paige Kaitlyn Helena Nash came into the world at 1:10am. I am now a mother of two, a mother of girls - my very own girl gang. She is, believe it or not 4 months old already and the birth already seems a million years ago (it's amazing how quick you forget that pain) so the time is right for me to tell you all about Paige's birth story.... all 26 minutes of active labour...
On the 22nd August, a Tuesday, it was like any normal day - me being heavily pregnant and the task of having to attempt to entertain my hyperactive 2 year old whilst not rolling around on the floor with her. It had only occured to me at about 2pm that baby bump had been unusually quiet that day, in fact I think the last time I had felt her move or kick was the previous night. I had visited the hospital with reduced movements previously and everything had been fine so I wasnt overly alarmed. I had been told by many people that nearing my due date the babies movements would slow down, so at 38 weeks I kinda figured this was the cause. After calling the Maternity Assessment unit at my local hospital, Wexham, I was told under no circumstances that I had to come in immediately. I mentioned to the midwife on the phone that obviously it was probably because the babies due date was approaching and she said that absolutel that was the incorrect thing to be thinking. I was shocked. I had been told by SO MANY people that it was totally normal to not feel the baby so close to the due date that I just figured this was it.
I arrived at the hospital and was hooked up to the machines - my blood pressure had already been taken and was thankfully normal (I was on blood pressure tablets at this stage) Anyone that has gone into be checked for reduced movements knows that the second you get hooked up to the mahcines to monitor baby, that the little buggers get moving - this had hapened to me on all my previous occasions so I expected exactly the same however little bubs still remained quiet. After an hour of monitoring it was decided that there was no need to keep me hanging on, and after a swift and rather brutal examination *down there* they informed me that they would like to break my waters and get things moving. I was so excited, finally I would get to meet the newest member of my girl gang, although it came with a down side - I had to be admitted to the ward until I was ready to be taken to the labour ward which would mean leaving Liv.
Leaving Liv is never or has never been an option for me - Liv and I have spent pretty much every day together since the day she was born, shes my right arm and I am hers. The very thought of leaving her made me feel just a little bit sick but I was left with no other option so off to the ward I went. We all know how you never EVER get any sleep in hospitals and let me tell you,this stay was no different. During the night I was getting more and more frequent and stronger contractions but after a night and morning they suddenly stopped. Sitting on that ward was like the worst kind of torture - women coming and going, women in the deep throes of labour and some not even making it to their bed before having to go to the Labour ward!
However at 6pm on the Wednesday it was finally time for me to go.......suddenly I didn't feel all that excited anymore and truth be told, I was crapping it, all of a sudden I actually had to give birth,and well, that's not really something I relish... my foof was already wincing!
My waters were broken for me and despite reading several horror stories about it being really painful it was the opposite. I had a trainee midwife do it and she was amazing. Quick and painless it was all done and dusted so quickly. I barely evenly flinched. I was told by my midwife that they would give me just an hour for my contractions to kick in otherwise they'd have to intervene and put me on the hormone drip, something that I wanted to avoid altogether as I had past experience when I had liv. In an effort to get the ball rolling so to speak in time, I went off on a traipse round the hospital. After a good 20 mins I went back to my room to try and relax but no longer had I sat down on the bed did I start getting some strong surges and that my friends is where it ALL kicked off.
It's amazing how little I remember about the actual labour but things progressed so quickly and before I knew it I was pretty much screaming at the midwife that I wanted to PUSH... unfortunately my very lovely midwife kept telling me that it was too soon and there was no way that I would need to push. She was soon eating her words because just 20 minutes of labour I was ready to push this baby OUT!
6 minutes of pushing and little P came to this world - it was incredible experience: liberating, empowering and well, very quick. I so desperately wanted an epidural - I had it all in my birth plans, but little P had other ideas and came far too early that there was no chance of that, so with a little gas and air I managed to give birth exactly as I had dreamed of but was told I never would be able too.
Pre-birth I had already decided that I wasn't going to have any preconceptions of what type of birth I would like. With Liv, nearly every hope and dream of anything remotely natural got taken away from me and I ended up with having a birth with so many interventions that it lead me into quite a dark place post birth. So obviously this time round I was petrified of the same thing happening again and therefore refused to really even think of labour and what I would and wouldnt like because yknow... it was never going to happen (or so it was drummed into me by various hospital staff) To me, Paige's birth was dreamlike - I've never felt that in control (or in the much pain) and I am absolutely positive this type of birth helped and enabled me to come out of the birth situation somewhat more positive, compared to how depressed and almost scarred I was from Liv's.
So there we have it..... my little P - the missing piece.
