Madeleine

My birth story with Leo is probably quite a bit shorter than with Noah - which you can read here. 

 

Like I said in my previous post, the mucous plug came loose on September 17th, my due date. Google kindly told me to expect labour to start shortly after the plug and gone so I started to feel both excited and a little sad. This pregnancy was coming to an end. Pregnancy is such a strange thing. The discomfort, pains and aches it causes at the end makes you wish for it to be over with, and you are longing to see your baby. At the same time it is such a special feeling to have a baby in your belly, to feel it kick, hickup, move and stir. You know it won't last and it's not someting you'll experience loads of times in your life (unless you're one of those people who gets lots of kids). 

 

I must also mention the slight sadness and melancholy of knowing that your one on one time with your first born is coming to an end. I felt really sad and worried about the fact that Noah wasn't going to be the only one anymore. I still do in a way. I miss sleeping next to him and I sort of feel like I have abandoned him.

 

Anyway, back to my birth story.

 

Chris decided to stay at home from work the next day because it might just start anytime. I woke up with a sensation that it wasn't going to be long at all. I took Noah to play-school at 9 am and then I came home and told Chris: I think it will happentonight. 

 

As Chris and Micke worked in the garden, I did some paperwork and book keeping to make sure it was all up to date in case it would happen soon. Then I mowed the lawn for a little bit but had to stop because my pelvic was too uncomfortable and I was feeling quite tired.

 

I picked Noah up at 2 pm and came home and sat in the garden watching everyone work ;-) Around 4 pm Chris decided to take down a tree on the slope and expected it to fall across the garden, so he asked me to keep Noah away. Not so easy with a chainsaw loving boy... I stood by the apple tree with him in my arms, and watched how Chris cut the tree. Unfortunately the tree didn't fall....it swayed towards the houses (!) and swayed back and then just stopped. And then....sharp pain in my belly. "ok" I thought to myself, that was a contraction. So I took Noah inside and locked the doors so he wouldn't get out and I did some housework. 10 minutes between contractions and they weren't extremely strong. I could still walk around and talk normally, although they hurt. I told mum it had started and that she should probably come that evening.

 

Thankfully Chris and Micke J managed to get the tree down safely and at 6 pm we ordered pizza (which I wasn't at all in the mood for - but noone was in the mood for cooking, haha). I struggled to eat as my contractions got closer together and stronger. Shortly after dinner, mum and Micke arrived and my struggles were quickly getting real. I sat quietly on the sofa, breathing through my contractions and timing them on my phone. At 8.15 I call the delivery ward and the midwife didn't even suggest to me to stay at home any longer, it was me who said I could wait a little more. At 8.45 I said to Chris that we needed to go because my contractions were getting really strong and painful, with only 2-3 minutes apart. 

 

We arrived at the hospital at 9.40 but it took me a good 10 minutes to walk all the way to the delivery ward. Unlike last time I didn't have to wait for an examination and the midwife stated that I was 4 cms open..."hm" I thought, "not more than that?". She asked if I wanted gas and air and yes yes yes, of course I did because these contractions were ruthless. Lying there with that mask against my face and hardly any rest between each contraction I started to feel like I wanted an epidural. Because if I was only open 4 cms, to me all I knew from before was that with Noah I opened about 1 cm per hours, which meant I had quite a few hours left to go!

 

The midwife told me that she could prepare the intravenous needle, but she had a feeling my contractions were so intense because labourwas moving forward fast. She examined me again and this time I was 6 cms open....only about 45 minutes later than the first examination. I thought to myself that I could do this without epidural if it was going to be fast. I trusted the midwife, but damn it hurt alot! I even broke the gas and air mask at one point because I pushed it to hard at my face!

 

At 23.40 I was open 8 cms, and at 00.09 I was open 10 cms and started to feel the need to push. It was so strange and different from when I had Noah. That time I really felt the transition between the different types of contractions, but this time the need to push just sort of crept up on me. Sneaky.

 

During the second or third push my water broke (and literally splashed everywhere, hahaha) and a push later the head was coming through....yay, the famous ring of fire, and yes it does feel exactly like that. Two more pushes and at 00.22 he was lying on my tummy.

 

Born on September 19th. He cried for ages, unlike Noah who only just squeeked a bit, and he lied on my chest looking straight to my face for a long time before bothering about finding the breast. I had to have a few stitches but nothing too drastic and I was given anaestatic so it wasn't too bad. The placenta was also delivered as it should and it was all over with so fast! 

 

I really didn't expect it to be so "easy", since last time I struggled with pushing for like an hour and all. It was more painful, but it was easier and less straining.