Daisy's birth story

The story of the most incredible night of my life...

Tues 25th May was my due date, and I woke up feeling fed up and exhausted, which was strange as I'd been feeling good for the previous 2 weeks since starting maternity leave. I had a midwife appointment at 11am; she said the head was very well down and engaged. She struggled to feel the position of the baby as I was having constant braxton-hicks.

Went home, had lunch and put Jamie to bed for his nap, and then threw up my lunch quite violently! Had a dodgy tummy for the rest of the afternoon and just didn't feel right at all. I think I might have subconsciously known that things were about to start, as when I put Jamie to bed, I remember giving him a huge cuddle and wondering if this was the last time it would be just the three of us. That evening, I couldn't get comfy on the sofa and just felt tired and grumpy...and also suddenly terrified of going into labour...so took myself off to bed at 9pm. I couldn't get to sleep though, and by 10pm I noticed I was having niggly pains in the bottom of my bump that seemed to be around 10 mins apart. Wayne came up to bed and I just lay there, slowly realising that I was having contractions...the pains were starting at the front and moving round to my back. They weren't too bad though and I could easily manage them lying down.

At about 12.30am on Wed 26th, I decided to get up and start timing the contractions. Told Wayne I thought things were starting, and that he should get some sleep and I'd shout him when I needed him. I went on contraction master and the contractions were around 6-7 mins apart and lasting 40 secs or so. I thought it might be labour, but I honestly thought things would probably stop - I didn't quite believe that it was the real thing. Stayed online for a while, surfing the net. In fact, the contractions felt like an annoyance as they stopped me being able to read! After a while, I had to get up and pace around during each one, but they really didn't seem that bad - I thought they were comparable to the early stages of Jamie's labour - which lasted 29 hours - so I was sure I still had ages to go.

At about 2.15am, contractions were now 4-5 mins apart, so I decided to get Wayne up as he was meant to be taking Jamie over to his mum's - about a 20 min drive away. So he got up, packed some clothes for J and got him out of bed, and they set off at 2.25ish. He told me to phone the hospital and we would go in as soon as he got back. Just as he was driving away, I was having a contraction and felt my waters go - it wasn't a huge gush...more of a trickle so I didn't think they had totally gone. I called the delivery unit and they said to come in as soon as Wayne got back. I got myself upstairs and started chucking last minute things into my hospital bag. At that point, the contractions suddenly got a lot more painful and closer together - probably every 2-3 mins. The odd thing though was that they never lasted more than about 30-40 secs, whereas I'm sure with Jamie they were lasting well over a minute...another reason why I thought I still had ages to go.

During one of the contractions while I was upstairs, I suddenly felt things change and felt more pressure in my bum...a bit like the urge to push. I started to feel panicky at this point, as I think it began to hit home that actually I might not have ages to go and things might progress very quickly, and I was currently alone, with no transport. I got myself back downstairs in between contractions, where I'd left my mobile, and called the delivery unit again (looking at my mobile call log, I know that this was at 2.46am). I told them that I was getting the urge to push and that I was on my own, and they said they would call the community midwife and she would be with me as soon as possible. I also called Wayne, at 2.50am, but he didn't answer as he was driving...I'm not sure what I was planning to say - turn back maybe - but actually at that point he'd already dropped J off and had started back. He stopped in a layby and called me back, but I was mid contraction and couldn't answer...in a way I'm very glad I didn't, because it would have been obvious to him that the birth was imminent and there wouldn't have been anything he could have done about it.

At that point, I think I knew I was about to give birth...I could feel the head coming down and round the bend (it really did feel like that!) - all a new experience for me as I'd had an epidural close to the end of labour with Jamie. I was terrified, but also felt almost accepting of it - I knew Wayne wouldn't make it in time, I knew the midwife wouldn't either, and I somehow just knew I had to deal with it. But it also felt very surreal and like it was happening to someone else. I was screaming my head off, but right in the middle of it I remember wondering whether the neighbours could hear me - strange how lucid your thoughts can be even during something like that.

So with the next contraction, I felt the head move down more and I kind of crouched down and looked down and her head popped out, facing away from me so I could only see the back of it. Then her body slid out and I caught her. Saw straight away she was a girl, which just felt right as it's what I'd thought all the way through. I also saw how pink she looked and that she was making crying noises and that the cord wasn't round her neck or anything.

I wrapped her in the towel I'd had wedged between my legs since my waters went and then grabbed my phone and dialled 999. This was at 2.55am. The woman on the phone talked me through what to do - don't pull on the cord, clear her mouth and nose, wrap her up warmly, etc - but I could see she was ok. She told me to look out for the ambulance and about a minute later I saw the blue flashing lights so I edged over to the door still holding Daisy and opened it a crack. Then Wayne walked in with the paramedics - he'd arrived at the same time as them. He was stunned, obviously - I must have looked a real sight, holding a baby between my legs and blood EVERYWHERE!

They sat me on the sofa and Wayne cut the cord and then held Daisy while they got me to lie down. Then the midwife arrived - turned out to be my usual one who I'd seen the day before, it just happened to be her night on call. She helped me to deliver the placenta and then checked me for tears - I just had a 1st degree one which didn't need stitches. The paramedics spent their whole time mopping the floor with various towels!! There wasn't much for them to do as the midwife decided we didn't need to go to hospital, so they left.

Daisy was weighed (7lb 3oz, just an ounce less than her brother) and then I had some skin to skin with her while the midwife wrote up her notes and we all had a cup of tea. She fed straight away for quite a while. Then Wayne ran me a bath and the midwife took me up and helped me get washed and dressed and into bed. Wayne dressed Daisy and brought her up to me. The midwife left at about 4.30am and the three of us lay in bed feeling pretty stunned. Daisy went to sleep and Wayne and I probably had an hour or so, but I was feeling wide awake on the adrenaline of it all.

So that's it! Hasn't really sunk in and I keep thinking about what could have happened if she hadn't been breathing or something. I really wish I'd just planned a homebirth!! She's been an angel so far, has fed well and settled well after feeds in the night, and just slept a lot in the day. I think she's still recovering from it all though. She was weighed on Saturday and has lost a bit of weight but not as much as Jamie had by day 3 so I think the feeding is going better this time...it's less painful anyway. My milk has definitely come in now and she's been feeding more often and for longer.

I’m at the wanting to stop time stage at the moment – I don’t want her to get any bigger! I want to remember every detail as I know how fast she's going to grow and change. I already feel really bonded with her – perhaps because of the dramatic way she was born. For the first 5 minutes of her life, it was just me and her all alone, and I just feel so lucky to have her and that it all turned out so well.