Some back story - With Rosie I had held out against huge pressure to finally go into spontaneous labour at 43+1 weeks, so at the outset this time I 'bought' myself a week by adjusting my dates and refusing the early 'dating' scan. I figured that second babies usually come a little earlier, and that hopefully that would keep me out of the woods in terms of people freaking out/ being denied a homebirth etc. Was I wrong!!
Got to 41+3 by their count (42+3 by mine) and had to start going to the hospital for non-stress tests twice-weekly. Was really fortunate to have been put in contact with the head midwife (MW) by my doula - he was fantastically supportive of my desire to wait it out, and also very understanding of my fears surrounding induction. As time ticked by, and particularly when I hit the 43+1 week mark, I started to get really anxious. I had kind of decided that 44 weeks was about as late as I was comfortable waiting before inducing (not that I hadn't been trying natural induction methods myself - I must be a walking compendium of natural induction methods!). Got to 43+5 weeks - another NST at the hospital. I had allowed them to 'book me in for an induction' that Friday (44+1 by my count) but was now totally freaking out about it. Baby was still doing great on the tests and I spoke to the head MW again - he reassured me that no one was going to force me into anything, and if I didn't want to go through with the induction on Friday that was fine - I could just do another test to check the baby and make up my mind then. He told me to go home and have a couple of glasses of wine and try to forget about the whole thing for a while. Well, it must have worked!!
Oh, a funny little thing. The whole time when I was getting stressed out, and talking to 'teeny-tiny' asking it to come on out now please, Rosie would keep saying 'She's not ready yet mama'. (She was convinced all along that it was a girl, even though everyone else except Andy thought it was a boy). One day, half-joking I said in frustration, "So when will she be ready?" DD promptly said 'The first day of September'. Which I dismissed because I really didn't think I could possibly go that long (my own EDD was 5th August!!).
So, went to bed on 31st August, slightly tipsy from a nice glass of wine, and feeling a bit more relaxed knowing that I didn't have to consent to the induction unless I chose to (though I knew I wouldn't be able to call the MWs out after the 43 week mark by their count). Was having some mild contractions, but they were exactly the same as the ones I'd been having for nearly a couple of months by now, so I ignored them.
Woke up a couple of times during the night with 'cramps' - I hadn't had a poo for a couple of days, so I figured it was that. Woke in the morning about 6.30 with Andy as he was getting ready to go to work. Had a few 'cramps' while he was there - they were mildly uncomfortable, enough that he noticed them. He asked if anything was going on, and I dismissed the idea. Secretly I was half-hoping that it might be early labour, but didn't want to get my hopes up, and definitely didn't want to get Andy's hopes up, only to have him stay home from work to watch me all day, only to discover that, in fact, I really just needed a poo!! Told him this, sent him to work and promised I'd call him if anything more interesting happened. Because of Rosie's birth we were all expecting another long hard labour, so assumed we'd have plenty of time.
About 8 Rosie woke and I read her a couple of books and chatted for a bit, but my cramps were still bothering me and I decided I need to sit on the loo for a bit. Woke my mum up (she was staying with us for a while, to act as Rosie's support person for the labour) and asked her to take her for a bit. Sat on the loo and finally managed to do my poo! Cramps continued to come, so I started to think that maybe something might be happening, but as it was still only mildly uncomfortable I thought it was very early days yet.
Decided to hop in the shower, wash my hair, and see how I felt after that - whether I wanted to call Andy or my doula, or just wait a bit. Hopped in and immediately things got much more intense. I was trying to wash my hair, but kept being dropped to my knees by these hugely powerful waves/cramps. Started using my Hypnobabies cues of 'Peace' and 'Open' - got a bit annoyed because the 'Peace' cue wasn't really working! At some point I started growling through them and my mom heard me and came in to see if I was okay. She suggested that I might be in labour - I dismissed this idea - was still half-convinced that it was just some kind of diarrhea-crampiness or something! She timed a few 'cramps' and they were coming every 45 seconds on/off - which didn't make any sense to me at all. She asked if she could call Andy - I said no, but then a few minutes later said she could. She went off to call him and started vacuuming and pulling out the birth pool to blow up.
Meanwhile I was still growling through the cramps/contractions upstairs in between washing my hair. Then I suddenly got a really sharp pain running up my left side - this was the only thing I can remember being really painful about the whole thing - I started cursing it, and wondering whether it might be a burst appendix or something (wrong side of course but I couldn't remember!). Still don't know what it was, but it made me realise that I couldn't stay in the shower any more - I knew I needed to get back on the loo. Managed to climb out of the shower, made it to the loo, and as soon as I sat down my body gave a huge push, and I could feel baby's head right there!!
I shouted down for my mum, as I realised there was no way I could get off the loo, and I didn't think I could manage to catch baby myself. She came up closely followed by Rosie, and was so shocked when I managed to explain what was going on! Another couple of completely involuntary pushes and her head was out - I was sort of leaning back, bracing myself with my hands on the seat - half-standing, half-squatting. Mum was brilliant - very encouraging, and Rosie stood next to me patting my leg and telling me it was okay. Then one last push and baby slid out into mum's hands.
I got in the shower about 8.30, and we figure from phone call times that she was born about 9.05 or 9.10 am, which I figure makes it about a 40 minute labour - compared with 21 hours of horrific back labour and nonstop contractions with Rosie!!
Saoirse was covered in thick meconium when she came out - but I knew this was likely due to the fact that she was post-dates. We figure she probably pooed on the way out due to the speed of the delivery, as mum said she didn't really have any on her head when that was born, but as the shoulders were born it all kind of gushed out after her. I took her from my mum - she wasn't crying but her eyes were open and she was looking around. I opened her mouth and checked her airway, but it was completely clear. She started crying then anyway. Mum went off to call the MWs then, when I asked her to.
I sat there for another minute or two, just looking at Saoirse in awe, with Rosie - a lovely moment with my two girls. Then stood up and the placenta came right out and plopped on the floor, giving Rosie a bit of a shock. I was glad I'd read a couple of homebirth books for kids with her, because one of them had talked about the placenta, so I was able to just remind her that that's what it was, and she was reassured by that.
A few minutes later Andy arrived home, and said he was confused when he came in because he could hear a baby crying and wondered whose baby it was!! (We really weren't expecting this labour to go so quickly!) He and Mum took Saoirse into the bedroom while I had a quick shower, then I hopped into bed too and we tried to clean her up a bit and get nursing started. The MWs arrived then and checked us both over - fine, no problems, but they did want us to bring Saoirse in to the hospital for observation because of the meconium she'd passed. I didn't really feel there was any need, but also knew Andy would be nervous about it, so I agreed to go in.
In a way it was kind of nice because it was a lovely sunny day, and the sun poured in the window of the room we were in. I was able to just sit on the bed in the sunshine, staring at my beautiful new baby for hours!! We finally got home again about 12 hours after Saoirse had been born and settled in for our first night together as a family of 4.
Wow - such a lot has happened since then, and we've gotten to know so much about Saoirse and her own personality as the year has gone by, though there's still so much more left to find out. I'm really looking forward to it :)
