This time last year . . .

This time last year was my due date for our eagerly awaited baby boy and I still looked like this . . .

This time last year I had woken up thinking “he won’t come today”.

This time last year I had spent the afternoon in the maternity unit hooked up to monitors to listen to baby’s heartbeat and to measure my contractions because my hind waters had gone just before lunch. After being discharged from hospital we headed to my Mother and Father-In-Law’s house to collect Little Bean and to go for a walk to see if we couldn’t move things along a bit.

This time last year we had come home and put Little Bean to bed because it didn’t look like we would be seeing our little  boy anytime soon.

This time last year, I was beginning to get a sense of deja vu as it was all starting to be scarily like my labour with Little Bean. We spent the evening in front of the TV and turned in for the night around 10pm, this baby wasn’t going to say hi tonight. Then around 2am I was rudely awoken by my contractions kicking in. I was keen not to rush to hospital too soon so I paced the house for as long as I could before heading to the maternity unit around 3.30am.

When we arrived at the hospital I overjoyed to be told that I was already 6cm dilated, perfect I could actually have my baby in my arms by breakfast time. They do say second labours are usually quicker don’t they?

My labour seemed to be progressing well, although I did have a couple of panic attacks when I got too hot and couldn’t turn the fan on and then because they needed to monitor me and baby I had to stay laid on my back in bed for 20 minutes which made my contractions excruciating. Once the monitoring was over I was able to get up and move about which made the contractions much easier to handle and everything was moving along nicely until the midwives changed at 7.00am. The new midwife barely spoke to me and seemed reluctant to answer my questions, I felt odd? Within 15 minutes I realised my contractions had stopped, totally! They checked me and said that I was now only 3.5cm dilated, erm, wasn’t that the wrong way??

I went to sleep for about an hour and then my midwives changed again. I was introduced to a lovely Midwife called Lisa who said that our baby would be the first baby she had ever delivered and we immediately we hit it off. I felt comfortable once more and just like that bang, my contractions came back with full force and labour was on again. The contractions were so painful, I didn’t feel the gas and air were helping anymore so I began asking for epidural but the midwives kept trying to talk me out of it. I became quite annoyed to say the least but still I wasn’t given an epidural.

For the next few hours my contractions came harder, faster and closer together, with each one I knew I was a step nearer to meeting my baby boy. Or was I? Again my contractions stopped, the midwives were confused, I was confused! For half an hour, nothing, I was hooked up to the monitors again and they decided that baby had gone to sleep so they pushed him around a little bit and sure enough, he woke up, started moving around and back came the contractions.

Finally, it was time to start pushing and after remembering how pushing didn’t go so well with Little Bean (I had to have an assisted delivery) I was determined it wasn’t to be the case this time so I used every last ounce of energy that I had left (and I drank all the isotonic drinks I could) and pushed with all my might to be rewarded just 18 minutes later with our beautiful Beanie Boy (and a third degree tear but hey what’s a war wound or two between mother and son?).

I would do it all again tomorrow, because he’s worth it!