Our 9 Day Overdue Gorgeous Girl

My darling daughter. You made me wait 8 days overdue before anything remotely began to happen. In that time, all the other Mums in my coffee group had long had their babies and my jealousy levels were so high because all I wanted to do was meet my baby girl who I had spent my entire life waiting to meet.

Your dad and I spent weeks and weeks watching many episodes of One Born Every Minute on TV because we were so excited about having you and couldn’t get enough information to make sure we knew exactly what to expect once you did come.

Day 9 of being overdue I woke up that morning and my waters had broken, just a little bit, it was more confusing than I thought it was going to be, in the movies its always a lot bigger a moment, but this was very light indeed. We texted the midwife and told her what was happening and she said to come in to the hospital for a check at 1 o’clock to confirm. This was very exciting because we knew that once we left through the front door the next time we came back through it, you would be with us, and that was the best feeling.

We got to the hospital and it was confirmed my waters had broken, we were put into a teeny tiny little room with one tiny window way up high and I was to now spend the night there waiting for contractions to start and monitor you. As you were 9 days overdue I wasn’t sent home like a regular birth because they knew It all needed to start happening today.

That night was the first night I’d spent alone since your Dad moved into my house with me a few years earlier and that was a strange feeling. I spent the night getting sore cramps in my stomach but nothing worrysome. I just couldn’t wait for Dad to come back first thing in the morning (with a much desired coffee) and we would get the induction started at 8am.

I wasn’t allowed to eat anything after 8am so I had a good breakfast to get the day started.

We moved into the ‘birthing room’ and I was given syntocinon (Oxytocin) to get the labour kick started stronger as you were still quite happy staying put in my belly. 

The contractions were light to begin with, and I wasn’t dilated at all for quite a while. But I did start to puke (it must have been from the syntocinon) which made things a bit harder and tired me out more.

The contractions really started to kick in mid/late morning and the pain was quite sore now and Nanna who was also in the room with us, asked for an epidural to be ordered, as we knew we would have to wait a bit to be seen. I’m glad she did because it got very sore. But the pain Is now, years later as I type this, something I can’t remember the feeling of, I think your body has a way of blocking it out which is very handy.

There was then some confusion between the junior nurse and my midwife as to how dilated I got to, 3 or 4 cm and this ended up making us wait a lot longer than we probably should have to go to the next stage of organising a c-section. The epidural arrived and it was like I went back to normal again, it was divine! (Highly recommend if/when you have your own babies one day)

It wasn’t until about 8 o’clock that night that they started talking about a c-section. I hadn’t eaten all day and had been puking a lot so I was tired and a bit emotional by then. Someone gave me a little pack of sugar syrup to suck on as ‘a meal’ but it was not very satisfying.. then I puked that up too. Lol.

By 10pm it was decided and planned that you would be a c-section baby as I never got past 4cm dilated. (4’s my lucky number!) They got us all organised and wheeled us down to theatre, it was very exciting.

They shifted me on to the table (and I puked again) and then I lay back and they started. At first they didn’t get the anaesthetic quite right as I could feel when they were testing my skin for numbness, then the air canister ran out of gas which was a bit annoying. Once they were absolutely certain I wouldn’t feel anything they proceeded.

You were born at 11.55pm!

Everything after that was a bit of a blur for me, I remember Dad getting to see you first, and he was so so so happy, he brought you over to me for a quick moment so I could see your beautiful face for the first time, and my heart was so full it didn’t know how to process this moment. Dad took you over to get checked and then before I knew it we were in recovery with you.

They tried to get me to hold you and put you on my chest, but I was still puking and I was terrified of dropping you if I had to puke and I got a bit upset about that. So Dad took care of you and I kind of accidentally fell asleep a bit as I had had a very long hard day and couldn’t keep my eyes open.

The next 3 hours I don’t remember, perhaps I was asleep? Or I’ve blocked it out, I can’t recall. I do remember waking up, seeing you and then craving a toffee pop biscuit as I hadn’t eaten since 8am.

Your dad was there and Nanna too, and by this time I think it was about 3am, and maybe Dad had already gone home to sleep so he could be awake with lots of energy to help the next morning. I got to finally meet you properly then and you were so beautiful! I was so so happy.

You were 8pd 8oz and a good healthy baby. It felt so normal to be holding you in my arms like I had done it my entire life and you had been in my life forever already. And then the rest is a blur of photos and stories of getting to know you properly and falling madly in love with you more and more each day.

Xxxx

Mummy