MY BIRTH STORY

My birth story…

 Birth photography Hampshire

 

 

It’s been just over three weeks, but it is still fresh in my mind.

If you aren’t into honest, sub par writing and a bit of graphic detail….simply don’t read 🙂

My two previous births had been water births, one in hospital and one at home. Both births were different, both beautiful. I had planned for my third child to be born at home, in water. Just like the other two. It turned out that this was not meant to be….she had other ideas!

I was about a week overdue (if you have ever been overdue, you know how DONE your are with being pregnant!) and I ended up taking myself into hospital, after a day of low movement from my baby. The doctor offered me an induction, because of this and being overdue. The dilemma for me I was do I wait, get my home birth but risk going very VERY overdue, or do I get induced and have the baby in hospital? We decided it was the safest option for baby at that point, to stay in hospital.  I wasn’t too disappointed, more relived actually that we would be finally meeting out little one!

It was a loooooooooooong wait until the induction was to start though. I had to wait from 11am until 5am the next morning to have my waters broken. That wait was the worst. Women would come in the room, go into labour, then get taken to delivery suite. I was like that episode of friends, when Rachel has to watch 8 women go into labour before her haha. It also happened that one of my friends was in labour next to me. Small world. And yes, she had her baby before me. It got to the point I was convinced I was never going to have the baby!

Finally at 5am the midwife woke me up and said there was space for me to go into the birthing suite, and have my waters broken. I called sam (he had popped home for a few hours sleep) and began to gather my things.  It was then that the midwife dropped the maive bomb shell.

If you are induced, you can’t have a water birth.

The words rang in my ears and hung in the air. I wasn’t prepared for this. Water had always been my only source of pain relief. It was what I thought of as my ‘safe place’ during labour. I had never imagined I would be without it.

We if you know me, you know I don’t like to take something at face value. So I began to question the midwife (in a slightly heated manor) I requested several times for a water birth…..but with no luck. She was extremely experienced, and insisted that I needed to be on the bed where they could monitor me. Well, at this point I was tired and wanted the baby out, so I agreed.

Turns out, having your waters broken isn’t actually that bad. I thought it would hurt, but it’s like the waters aren’t actually a part of your body. Like having your hair cut. I was 3cm already, which was a bonus!

Within 3 minutes of having my waters broken, I welcomed my old friends back, the contractions.

It’s funny because each time I’ve had a baby, I have genuinely forgotten what they feel like. Then when they come again I think ‘what the hell have you done to yourself again you idiot!’

This time around, I really missed the water. In fact, during a pretty strong contraction I turned to Sam and said ‘I miss my water, I miss the pool’…but as it turned out I didn’t have long to miss it.

Instead of the water though, I had the gas and air. And it was goooooooooooooooood!

After just under 2 hours of back to back contractions, and about 3 pushes, our third baby was born. 6:59am on the 10th may 2017. Baby Ophelia. weighting 10lbs 3ounces.

Yes. TEN. POUNDS. THREE. OUNCES.

Where the hell that weight came from I have no idea. But she was our little chunker and still is!

It doesn’t end there. In fact, I fee like post birth is something women never really talk about. Like the are embarrassed about placenta’s, tearing and being stitched up. I guess it is a little bit. You are at your most vulnerable after birth, completely in the hands of the medical professionals. I have to say though, as it turns out the midwife was right. I shouldn’t have had a water birth and I was much better off being on the bed, where she could help and control Ophelia coming out.

As a result, my stiches were minimal and I was only being ‘sewn up’ for about 10 minutes. Compared to over an hour for my previous births, this was bliss…..plus you get more gas and air 😉

I held my baby for what felt like not long enough, but it was infact quite a long time. I was able to give her to my best friend Amy, whilst Sam helped me to the shower. Emerging afterwards fully dressed, fresh and ready to sniff my neworn baby to death! It’s amazing how good a shower can make you feel.

It was a while until we could go home, because she was so big she had to be tested for diabetes. I was grateful for this time though, to sit a just be.

My heart just wasn’t ready for when my other children came to meet her .As they rounded the corner and I saw their smiles I couldn’t help but cry. That moment was when my family became complete. In that moment I realised my heart had grown another size to fit this new love of mine, and I still loved the others the same. Maybe more then I did before.

We are so happy. Life with a new baby again has been an adjustment, but she has jus slotted into our family, like she has always been there.

I will let these images tell the short story of Ophelia’s birth. They were taken by my oldest friend Amy, who has been at two of my births now. These images are so very important to me, they capture one of the greatest moments of my life. I actually find it slightly odd that more people don’t have their births documented in some way. But hey, that’s just me.

I have kept the more personal images for myself, but in any case these are very special images to our family. I share them with you all, as if I am sharing a little piece of my soul. I hope you can connect through these images, with me. This is my hope every time I create and share an image.

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