my birth story, also in due in jan

Well it all started on New Years Eve; I was having mild contractions which were 5 minutes apart. I became very excited and decided to wash my wooden floors in the hope that I might speed things up a little. No luck though as the contractions stopped after 5 hours and did not start again until Monday 4th January, this time with a show. My hubby and I became very excited and rushed to the hospital only to be told that I was not in active labour but I could not leave the hospital as my blood pressure was too high.

I was finally allowed to leave the hospital on the basis that I returned daily to check my blood pressure and monitor the baby's heartbeat. This lasted a whole week with different Dr suggesting different treatments. It was then agreed that if I did not go into labour by the following Friday a C-section would be scheduled as the induction drugs would raise my blood pressure even more. It was also discovered on this day that my fundal height was measuring 30 weeks so a growth scan was booked that afternoon. All was well and estimated weight was 9 pounds, hardly a small baby!

I was seriously downhearted after this advice so my husband suggested going bowling to take my mind off things. This seemed to work as the following morning the contractions started again at 11 am. I phoned my husband at 3pm and explained he needed to come home, though it was not urgent so to finish up for the day first (after all the false alarms I was beginning to doubt myself).

My husband arrived home at 4 and we headed to the hospital as I was starting to really feel the pain. When I arrived at hospital I was examined and told I was only 1cm dilated and still not in active labour, again I could not go home as my blood pressure was now far too high and a Dr would be over to see me asap. The Dr came and was useless, telling me I was definitely not in labour and my husband needed to go home. Luckily my midwife was the midwife in charge and seeing how upset I was agreed to let my husband stay the night with me. We were told we could leave the next day of my blood pressure dropped.

By 10:30 I was in complete agony, my husband left to get the midwife who agreed to examine me again. Once again I was told I was not in labour and was only 1 cm dilated, however the contraction monitor was hitting 99. The midwife gave me a relaxant to help me sleep and left the room.

At 2am I was screaming at my poor husband that I needed to push, he ran to get the midwife once again. When she came in she told me I needed to reconsider my birth plan, that perhaps when I was in labour an epidural would be best as I was not coping with pre labour contractions. She said an external would be a waste of time but at 2.30 she would consider doing a sweep.

2:30 came fast and as the midwife went to do a sweep she shouted for me to push when I felt ready. She then ran out of the room telling my husband not to worry that the baby would not just pop out. The whole time she was out getting the delivery trolley I was pushing away and when she returned the baby's head was crowned. My poor husband! 10 minutes later I had a bouncing baby boy in my arms and a very apologetic midwife!

Arthur was born weighing 8 pounds 9 oz, he loves his food and is now three weeks old weighing 10 pounds 4 oz. I hope all expectant mothers love their birth experience as much as I did, I would do it all again tomorrow!