Bee's Birth Story

My last bump pic 36+5

The Story starts in the 36th week when I visited my registrar after my second growth scan. Bumble was measuring big, but we already knew that and following in Rockets footsteps we weren't surprised. I'm pretty sure I saw his head measured at 39 weeks!

I waited and finally saw the registrar, who was new to me as my own consultant was on holiday - something I got upset about as I was sure they wouldn't induce me like what had been discussed earlier in the pregnancy.

My SPD and hypermobility had got so bad, I could hardly walk and once on a sofa would need help to get up and the pain... The pain was very bad.

Luck was on my side though as the registrar who saw me agreed that inducing me slightly early (38 weeks) would be the best for me and baby. They had booked the induction but they decided to do a sweep to see if things would get going naturally. Oh my god was that painful.. I was writhing around on that bed! She stretched me to 2cm and said my cervix was favourable (which only one week ago was hidden so high they almost had their hand out my mouth! Or so it felt ;-) )

 I had period like pains and irregular contractions for the rest of the day which made walking around Sainsburys with my mum an interesting task!

The plan was that I would have 2 sweeps a week until the induction, at home with my midwives.

The next day all signs of contractions had stopped so I arranged to have some reflexology to get things going and after an intense session my contractions started up once again but annoyingly by the evening they had stopped again! I was dreading the next sweep which was booked for Friday!

Thursday morning I woke up with a horrendous backache and contractions and I just knew something was up. I had a really bad tummy and after calling my dad to come collect me I walked back into my bedroom and part of my waters went, then some more but not enough to soak through clothes, although it felt really strange!

When I got to the hospital, mum had caught up and both she and dad were with me as my birth partners.
I got checked in the labour ward but was only 2cm and the contractions were irregular so they sent me to walk around the hospital to try encourage them to get stronger and regular.

I spent the next couple of hours walking around and contracting, it was quite painful but bearable, then we headed back to the maternity ward so I could get checked for progress (which was OK... but still very slow)

Disappointingly the doctor wanted me to go home again for a few hours, which seemed silly to me as by the time I would have got home I would have been back again! Plus with how Rockets birth panned out, there was a chance I could have had the baby at home. Though after agreeing and gathering my stuff, I walked towards the ends of the bay in the ward and the rest of my waters went. The doctor followed me into the toilet to check and then suggested I stayed in hospital as my contractions could get stronger now the waters had gone and we agreed I would go for a further walk around the hospital to get them picking up.

My gosh did they start getting stronger, the contraction pain detracted from the SPD pain very well and I was walking for what seems like an eternity as I was desperate not to let the slow down and stop again. When they got too strong I asked my parents to take me back up to the Ward and on being checked (I believe i was 5-6cm at this point) they walked me over to the labour and delivery ward (with stops against the wall during contractions!)

When we got to the labour ward they discussed things with me like did I want the baby placed on my chest (yes), did I want delayed cord clamping (yes) etc and then they said I could have an epidural which was previously discussed but I stupidly said 'no, lets see how the next few contractions are' (seeing as I coped without when I had Rocket) - I never got my epidural!!

The contractions wernt doing as they should have been really and s they were pushing his head down my cervix wasn't moving out of the way properly and baby was back to back and at an awkward angle which was making it even more painful and that was BEFORE they hooked me up on Pitocin to force the contractions more!

I already had an IV in s i was hooked up to antibiotics as a precaution as when I had Rocket I had the infection Group B Strep and he was poorly when Born so it was always the plan to have them just in case here.

I remember the conversation about Bee being born on the 7th, I would have been 36+6 and he would be classed as premature and need all the checks and paperwork done.. It was so important to me to have a 'normal' birth experience and to be able to hold my child for more than 2 minutes and actually have him with me and take him home after having to leave Rocket in special care for 10 days. Bee certainly wanted to be with mummy as he waited.. 19 whole minutes past midnight, entering the world on the 8th November 2013 (and not premature!!!).

I wasn't able to see what was going on (although thanks so my lovely mum I have the entire birth filmed, crowning, coming out, the lot! so now I can see what happened and didn't have to miss out on memories like I had done with Rocket). Bee was in shock though and although he was screwing his face up, he was a grey colour and floppy and not breathing properly so not only did the placing of baby straight away on chest not happen, the delayed cord clamping didn't either as she needed to whisk him to the table to wake him up.. which worked fine and he pinked up straight away.

After that he was placed on my chest and all was right with the world, I'd done it, he was here safely.


The actual birth was physically alot harder than Rockets, the crowning was super intense and the entinox and Pethadine didn't seem to help much! I tore again, but not quite as much as i did with Rocket although I still had to be stitched up like a quilt! I grazed too, not nice!

Mum went home and picked my husband up and brought him to meet his newest son but as the hours were very antisocial and my mum had to work the next day, he couldn't stay long and when he went I was left to get the stitches.

Bee was weighed at 7lb 3oz at exactly 37 weeks and had a head circumference of 35.5cm.

One incredibly negative thing that happened to me was after I had been stitched up the midwife took me for a shower .. on my own.. they were short staffed and my mum had gone home so it was me alone, still wobbly from pethidine and the shock and exhaustion from birth and I managed to slip and do the actual splits landing pretty hard on my bum. I didn't cry out but couldn't reach the emergency bell either as someone had wrapped it around a support handle.. I had to shimmy on my bum then get up on my knees to reach the cord and when the midwife came in she said she could hear a bang but didn't know what it was! They got me checked by the doctor when I got back to the ward but all she did was press my spine and say I was fine.. It was only around day 3 I realised I had really hurt my pelvis.

That night (what was left of it) I couldn't sleep and just sat on the end of the bed staring at Bee.. I was terrified he would cry and wake the other ladies and babies up! silly hey! but that's me lol.

We were allowed to go home the same day, at 8pm after all the newborn checks, hearing etc was done and daddy took some lovely photos of Rocket meeting Bee for the first time, it was heartwarming!



 That's basically my birth story in a nutshell! Its now 4 weeks on and it's all been a complete blur but I Will get on and post as much as I can to catch up!