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Husband delivered our baby girl at home!
I've copied and pasted my birth story from Sept 10 - be wanred to be prepared if you're expecting your second!
Annabel Eve May XXXX, 8lb 5 oz, arrived on Thursday 9th September at 6.10am.
We had the homebirth and waterbirth as planned, but the rest of the story was nuts!
Woke at 4.15am having pains. I woke my hubby 10 minutes later and said "I think this is the real thing". Rang for a midwife to come to our home at about 5am and we were told that they were so busy we'd have to abandon our plans and go to hospital as there were no midwifes available. I was gutted and asked when the new shift was starting. The lady on the phone said "the next lots of midwifes come in at 8am but I don't think your wife will last that long". How could she tell?
So we rang my Mum to come over and look after our 2-year old son, and she lives 40 miles away so it took her an hour to get here. By which time I'd moved downstairs to the living room and was grunting through the contractions which were so strong. I had no pain relief so said to hubby "I've got to get in that pool and climbed in, although the water was really hot so I was dancing around in this super hot water. He whacked up the cold quickly and I could actually submege myself under the water after a few minutes. During which time my son woke up with all the noise and was shouting "What's the matter Mummy" so I told hubby to bring him down as he'd be scared otherwise.
Almost as soon as I got in the water I felt more downward pressure and put my hand between my legs and shouted to my hubby "I can feel the head!".
He thought I was joking at first but quickly rang 999 while my son very cutely took it all in his stride and said "Don't worry Mummy!" and handed me some Lucozade Sport
. Then he tried to climb in the pool with me which we managed to stop 
.
Samuel was taking instructions from a brilliant guy on the end of the phone for things to do, but In a couple of minutes, Annabel "came shooting out" (according to my husband). He couldn't find her in the water so I just turned around and picked her up. It was so surreal but really amazing.
My Mum turned up 5 mins later, then the ambulance another 5 mins later. The paramedics were both women and were brilliant and gave me gas and air. Midwife turned up about 10 minutes later with no equpiment whatsoever (we didn't even get her weighed until 10 hours later), but she had brought the injection so we could finally cut the cord I could stop attempting to deliver the placenta on my own. I'm glad we didn't cut the cord for 30 mins or so, but I was so shocked that there was no way I wanted to deliver the placenta on my own.
I needed stitches for 2nd degree tears but they really aren't that bad TBH and I'm so glad we didn't need to go to hospital at all.
By late morning we were all sitting around the dinner table having a fry up. I couldn't stop saying "I can't believe I've just had a baby this morning". Unreal but it all worked out so brilliantly.
Annabel is lovely. She was very mucusy (which is common after short labours apparently) but it's clearing now. Few minor latching on probs but we're getting there and I'll get help from the experts of the next couple of days. Nipples are a bit sore though! She's sleeping most of the day and waking loads at night, but it's early days.
Hope you're all well anyway and good luck if you haven't popped yet!
P.S. Still can't believe I have a little girl! I was so convinced we were having another boy
Annabel Eve May XXXX, 8lb 5 oz, arrived on Thursday 9th September at 6.10am.
We had the homebirth and waterbirth as planned, but the rest of the story was nuts!
Woke at 4.15am having pains. I woke my hubby 10 minutes later and said "I think this is the real thing". Rang for a midwife to come to our home at about 5am and we were told that they were so busy we'd have to abandon our plans and go to hospital as there were no midwifes available. I was gutted and asked when the new shift was starting. The lady on the phone said "the next lots of midwifes come in at 8am but I don't think your wife will last that long". How could she tell?
So we rang my Mum to come over and look after our 2-year old son, and she lives 40 miles away so it took her an hour to get here. By which time I'd moved downstairs to the living room and was grunting through the contractions which were so strong. I had no pain relief so said to hubby "I've got to get in that pool and climbed in, although the water was really hot so I was dancing around in this super hot water. He whacked up the cold quickly and I could actually submege myself under the water after a few minutes. During which time my son woke up with all the noise and was shouting "What's the matter Mummy" so I told hubby to bring him down as he'd be scared otherwise.
Almost as soon as I got in the water I felt more downward pressure and put my hand between my legs and shouted to my hubby "I can feel the head!".
He thought I was joking at first but quickly rang 999 while my son very cutely took it all in his stride and said "Don't worry Mummy!" and handed me some Lucozade Sport
. Then he tried to climb in the pool with me which we managed to stop .Samuel was taking instructions from a brilliant guy on the end of the phone for things to do, but In a couple of minutes, Annabel "came shooting out" (according to my husband). He couldn't find her in the water so I just turned around and picked her up. It was so surreal but really amazing.
My Mum turned up 5 mins later, then the ambulance another 5 mins later. The paramedics were both women and were brilliant and gave me gas and air. Midwife turned up about 10 minutes later with no equpiment whatsoever (we didn't even get her weighed until 10 hours later), but she had brought the injection so we could finally cut the cord I could stop attempting to deliver the placenta on my own. I'm glad we didn't cut the cord for 30 mins or so, but I was so shocked that there was no way I wanted to deliver the placenta on my own.
I needed stitches for 2nd degree tears but they really aren't that bad TBH and I'm so glad we didn't need to go to hospital at all.
By late morning we were all sitting around the dinner table having a fry up. I couldn't stop saying "I can't believe I've just had a baby this morning". Unreal but it all worked out so brilliantly.
Annabel is lovely. She was very mucusy (which is common after short labours apparently) but it's clearing now. Few minor latching on probs but we're getting there and I'll get help from the experts of the next couple of days. Nipples are a bit sore though! She's sleeping most of the day and waking loads at night, but it's early days.
Hope you're all well anyway and good luck if you haven't popped yet!
P.S. Still can't believe I have a little girl! I was so convinced we were having another boy
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Replies
xx
Scary without a midwife present though!
Congratulations to you all.
xx
But, glad you got it anyway!!
Im planning my 2nd home waterbirth in Jan (my 2nd baby). My first labour was 6hrs 20min and Im figuring my next will be shorter. Can I ask how quick was your first labour for this one to be only 2hrs? I have an independent mw booked and she lives 40-60mins away (presuming she would be at home!) but I intend to call her straight away and she will make her way to me.
You must feel so proud doing it on your own! But why did your mw turn up empty handed (except the injection)?! Did she expect you to do the rest on your own ?
I hope you are becoming more settled now with Annabel.
i looked for your announcement for a while but when i saw did it didnt get chance to reply sorry its a bit late!!
well done
jane xxx