We went out for Christmas Dinner and a movie on Dec 19th, as our starters arrived I started feeling a cramping in my stomach, little miss wasn't due till Jan 14th so I wasn't too worried and put it down to Braxton Hicks, my husbands response was as long as I get to watch batman 1st I don't mind.
A few days later I lost my plug so knew it was unlikely she would stay in till her due date, we kept joking that she needed to not arrive before Christmas.
Christmas Day arrives and passes, family place bets and everyone tells me that 1st babies always arrive late.
5am Boxing Day morning: I drive my sister up to Heathrow for her flight, as I'm 5 miles from home I start to feel cramping in my back, this isn't a normal feeling. When I get home I get back in to bed with my husband and told him I felt really uncomfortable, he said have some sleep and I'm sure you'll feel better. I didn't sleep and I didn't feel better, in fact my vagina felt like it was on fire 🤦🏻♀️
We rang triage at half 7, I was told to have a bath, time my contractions and wait it out as it was highly likely it would be a while before I needed to head in.
My contractions progressed really quickly, I really wanted a water birth but unfortunately at 10 I started bleeding so knew that was out of the question, called triage again and they told us to come in to monitor the bleeds. When we arrived they told me it was likely I was only 3cm dilated so would be waiting in an assessment room for a while, they were surprised when I was 6cm and they rushed me through to the delivery suite. The nurses were so calming and reassuring as things were progressing at what felt like a very fast rate.
I was told it was likely to be 6 hours from arrival in the room till our little girl was with us so I prepped myself for a long session, but only 2 hours 41 later using gas and air she arrived 2 weeks and 5 days early.
I had a grade 2 tear so needed a number of stitches, the wanted to take me to theatre to stitch me up but I couldn't bare to be parted so had to bite my tongue, try not to flinch and brave it.
Due to having lost so much blood we needed to stay in, this took me by surprise, physically I was prepared and had packed for overnight but mentally I had never thought about needing to stay 1 night never mind the 3 nights we ended up staying in.
SA had jaundice and needed 4 sessions under a photo therapy blanket as well as having feeding difficulties. At the time it broke me that we couldn't be at home with my baby but looking back I am so grateful for the support the midwives were able to give me and my husband during those tricky few days.
