Welcome to the world Niema Rose Ivy!
Ahhhhhh...
she is finally here! 42 weeks of being pregnant and for 2 of those
weeks we have been very cross indeed that she preferred squashing down
on my pelvis instead of hanging out with us letting us see her gorgeous
little face. All is forgiven now... ish (daddy is still a bit cross
about her birth... as I'll explain) but she is here and we are very much
in love!
The
last 2 weeks were really hard work. Having had a baby who as born the
day after the due date I was not expecting the 3rd would be late at all -
let alone 2 weeks and all set for induction. Week 41 was spent
complaining and googling reasons why my body would not go into labor. I
found through doing that that there are probably some 'hormonal
ridiculousnesses' that can be associated with overdue pregnant ladies. I
found some of the angriest, most upset and melodramatic posts on
numerous different forums from ladies from 38 weeks onwards. It made me
realise that it was just me going irrationally crazy, it was quite silly
and that I should get a grip and get some perspective...2 weeks late is
not a big deal and I should ignore all the text messages and people
asking me why I was still here and what I should be eating and doing to
make her come out. Everyone who's ever had a baby, or knows someone who
has ever had a baby has some story about how they ate a piece of
pineapple after a long walk and then sat on a birthing ball and out it
came - well that is all lovely - but not helpful really. The second week
I kept busy at Holly and Elijah's school and kept my sights on the
induction booked for Thursday. Easter egg competitions, sports day,
parents evening school trips on coaches to Yorvick etc kept it
ridiculously busy that there was really no time to fit a birth in anyway
and we got to Thursday.
I
knew she would come out quick. The midwife who welcomed me at my
induction didn't win me over by telling me to forget I was having a baby
and settle in... 'You might be here for 5 days" wasn't the right thing
to say to me. The pessary went in at 2.30pm and I got myself ready for
the long night ahead. How completely boring to be sat on a hospital ward
with lots of other bored overdue ladies. Joel and I watched the hobbit
(just out on DVD in time) then he had to leave as visiting hours were
over. He'd downloaded me 7 and 8 of Sewing Bee so I got ready for bed
and watched Sewing Bee 7 and then put my head down to go to sleep. I was
told I may expect some tightenings - like contractions but would just
be the pessary starting to move things around. I woke up at 12 as they
were starting to get a little more uncomfortable. My midwife had said if
they got bad to ask for some paracetamol so at this point I buzzed and
asked for those. By 1am they'd still not arrived and I was quite
uncomfortable now so I buzzed again (not something I like to have to do)
and asked again. At 1.30 I was biting down on my thumb to handle the
pain and they still hadn't arrived. This time I was more assertive and
demanded my painkillers. Beng told they would probably take an hour to
kick in and working out that would be at least another 12 of these
pains, I said I thought that I was in for a painful hour and was there
anything else, like gas and air, I could take in the meantime?! She said
that gas and air would then be ineffective if I needed to take it when I
was actually in labor (maybe tomorrow) so instead the best she could
offer me was a cup of tea. Well everything is slightly better with a cup
of tea so I took her up on the offer. At 2am she offered to examine me
to see if the pessary was doing anything even though we should really
wait until 2pm the next day and on doing so she told me I was actually
4cm dilated and was allowed gas and air now as I was actually in labor. I
cried and asked if that meant I could have my husband back in now and
called him at 2.05. She went off to sort me a labor room. Yay! Well 2.15
my waters went and I knew a baby was about to come out. JUST managing
to find the buzzer I was able to shout a nurse who asked me if I thought
I could walk down to labor ward - I said "No. I can't move and I'm
about to push" and in the next 3 minutes there was a lot of stress vibes
buzzing around me as the only ward midwife tried to evacuate the poor 3
sleeping ladies on my ward with their pessaries in, locate a birthing
pack from a dusty cupboard somewhere and remain calm when they really
weren't. 3 pushes on from my waters and she was out! 2.21am on Friday
11th April. Amazing!! It was so strange. All pregnancy I'd been
anticipating the nerve wracking few moments after birth where your baby
is whisked away onto be checked, weighed and the moment you wait for the
cry. This didn't happen - well, thank goodness, the cry did - but there
was no place like that to take her to so she just got handed to me to
cuddle, check, see if she was indeed my little girl. She was :-) And she
was perfect.
Then
I realised my poor Joel had no idea and he'd missed it! He would have
gone to find me on labor ward anyway if he had got here in that 15
minutes. I called him. He'd just pulled up outside. I had to say "I've
done it! She's already here!" He was gutted to have missed it but also
so relieved for me that it was over. He knew how nervous I had been. I
do feel so bad though - to miss such an amazing moment when he cares so
much about his babies. I think he felt bad for me as well that I'd had
to do labor on my own, biting on my own hand to keep quiet and not wake
the other ladies and coping with paracetamol and a cup of tea!
But wow. Meeting that
little person. That little wriggly thing that has been inside your
tummy all that time who you can only stroke through your skin and try to
work out which bits are which. She was just how I imagined her and it
is the most amazing feeling that words just can't describe. Niema Rose
Ivy is here now and its taken 4 days to write this blog because we are
all just too busy looking at her. (and not sleeping, constantly washing,
feeding etc!) I'm besotted and looking forward to many more posts she
inspires me to write as I go through a new journey with a brand new
little person as well as the very precious other two I have been blessed
with. Being a Mummy rocks.
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