40 weeks, 3 days

Oh I'm so nervous, this is my first blog!

So I got married on the hottest day of last year in August. To my very best friend, Benjamin.

This is a picture of my husband and I on our wedding day.

Then that November we happily discovered that we were expecting.

 

Two weeks after taking the pregnancy test, morning sickness kicked in...hard! I was really struggling to pull myself away from the toilet, let alone get ready for work. When I was 8 weeks pregnant I spoke to my family and my doctor, they all said the same thing

"Your pregnant! What do you expect?"

Oh how I cried when people told me this, I really thought at that point that there was no way I could make the whole pregnancy.

At 10 weeks pregnant I could barely sit up, the room was spinning and I was living in the bathroom. Benjamin decided enough was enough and took me to A&E. They found that I was severely dehydrated and that I had Hyperemesis' Gravidarum (HG). I was admitted for 4 days, put on hydration intravenous drips and given anti-sickness injections.

I was discharged with anti-sickness tablets.

3 weeks later at 13 weeks I was admitted again for 2 days and the same treatment.

Then four weeks after that I was admitted again for 9 days after throwing up blood and ripping my stomach. That was the worst time ever.

HG is horrible, nothing can relieve the pain of never ending sickness...not even ginger biscuits! HG is worst then just morning sickness, even a small glass of water is unable to touch your lips without you throwing up. It got so bad for me that I ended up having my husband bath, dress and generally wait on me. I didn't enjoy my pregnancy it felt never ending.

The Birth Story:

40 weeks and 2 days I went in to labour naturally. My waters broke at 5 in the morning in bed and the contractions started straight away. I was so excited! After changing the bed sheets I attempted to get some more sleep, as I knew I would need the energy...But I was just too excited. I just wanted to help hurry it along, so all day I bounced on the yoga ball, I went for a walk and even went shopping. (Did I mention I was a self confessed shopaholic?!).

At 6.30pm I asked my mum to come round as my contractions were so irregular but were so painful. She said we should make our way to maternity day care at the hospital to get checked out to see how far along I was. When I got there the midwife on duty, believe it or not, told me I didn't look like I was in labour and refused to check me out. How rude!

So I went back to my parents house. The thought of being with my husband and my other loved ones help make me relax.

My dad brought us fish and chips, which was great because I was so hungry and they did taste good.

They didn't stay down for long though...I do not recommend fatty foods when you are in labour! :)

At 10.30pm I made my way to the midwifery led unit in the hospital. It was such a beautiful relaxing room and the midwives were great! I went to school with one of the midwives and she was excellent, she even stayed past her end of work time to watch my birth; she was great at making me feel comforted and cared for.

 Me in the birthing pool.

 

I was 5cm dilated when we arrived and I got to go in to birthing pool for about 4 hours and so did Benjamin. It was such a lovely experience. I was looking forward to giving birth in the water. There we were, in the pool listening to Bob Marley when suddenly, I had about 8 contractions in a row; they barely came down from the peek. I asked for gas and air for the first time, I was so proud of myself.

They soon asked me to get out of the pool so they could hook me up to the monitor. It confirmed the continuous contractions I was having, it also made us all aware that my baby's heartbeat was stopping when a contraction was at it's peek...which was very often. So off I was wheeled to the labour ward.

I was told that I NEEDED to push him out now otherwise I was to have a C-section. So I did as I was told and after 42 minutes of pushing and a tear. At 8.13am I gave birth to a very beautiful, very little boy.

 

The moment when we became a family of three.

 

Giving birth was amazing. I would do it all over again. Especially for this outcome : 

Welcome to the world Thaine.

Thank you for reading,

love Paige x