a third birth story {part six}

If you haven't read the first few parts of my birth story, it might be worth popping over to my third birth story page to catch up on what's happened so far...

Things seemed to simultaneously speed up and slow down from that point on. Rich came back with a midwife very quickly and said they'd better get me over to labour ward quickly and ran off to get a wheelchair. Rich helped me try to get off the bed in between two contractions, which wasn't easy considering how quickly they were coming together now. When the midwife returned I was hunched over the bed, moaning through another strong contraction and fighting, what was without a doubt, a strong urge to push. 

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a third birth story {part four}

Make sure you check our part one, part two and part three of my birth story, so that you know what has happened up to this point. It probably won't make very much sense otherwise. 

In that lovely quiet, dark space I was beginning to breathe my way through contractions; controlling the ebb and flow of the pain by slowing my breathing and really focusing in on slowly filling my lungs and then emptying them again. I continued to monitor the pains, waiting for more consistency and for a clear pattern to emerge, and waiting for that moment when I would just "know" it was time to wake Rich and to go to the hospital.

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a third birth story {part two}

In order to "get" this post you probably need to read part one of my birth story first. I'm sharing the story over a few posts. This is how it continued to unfold...

I gasped really loudly. It was the shock. Genuine really shock. Rich looked at me and asked "What?" like something on the television show had surprised me and he'd missed something. 

And I mumbled; "I think my water just broke" as I headed for the bathroom at high speed. Standing up seemingly confirmed my suspicions because I could feel that telltale warm trickle, but I knew for sure when I got the bathroom and the water just continued to trickle. 

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{flump} the pregnancy diaries - five months

So, I'm back with another monthly pregnancy vlog. Thank-you so much to everybody who was so lovely and enthusiastic about my first foray into vlogging, I am so excited to be keeping a video diary of sorts with all my feelings surrounding this pregnancy. This month I am talking 20 week scans, gender reveals, movements, growing and how the children feel about getting a sister.

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one day and one really big adventure {52 adventures}

When we set ourselves the challenge of having 52 adventures this year, we didn't imagine for a second that we'd be planning this one. We saw ahead of us, a year of exciting days out near and far, an excuse to use our passports for some foreign adventures, and a lot of memory making along the way. Never in our wildest of dreams did we imagine an adventure quite this big and quite this exciting. But this year is clearly shaping up to give us some even more amazing adventures and memories than we could have dreamt up.

It felt like how we broke the news to our children was going to be really important. This really big adventure will be for all of us, and we want them to feel like a part of every step. So this was how we started the adventure for them; with a normal morning, followed by an exciting hospital trip with a new introduction, and an afternoon together celebrating our family.

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a second birth story - part thirteen

The birth story so far is on the birth stories page.

My waters had broken, 

I'd book in as high risk,

I'd had an epidural at 4cm dilated

only to be fully dilated 45 minutes later.

After an hour I had started pushing . . .

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a second birth story - part ten

The story of the beautiful girl's birth so far is on the birth stories page.

Having started out dealing with the labour quite well,

I had gradually started to lose the plot as the pains got more intense.

Booking as high risk meant that constant monitoring

was hampering my attempts at helping myself.

I agreed to an early exam

in hopes that things were speeding ahead,

and that I was closer to active labour

and an epidural.

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a second birth story - part six

You can read all of the beautiful girl's birth story so far

by click on the birth story page.

My waters broke at home

but with meconium present.

I've arrived at the hospital with regular contractions

and have been booked in as high risk.

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a second birth story - part five

The story up to this point 

is on the beautiful girl's birth story page.

My waters had gone two days before my due date
but with what appeared to be meconium in them.
Contractions started kicking in as we made our way to the hospital
to find out what would happen next.

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a second birth story - part four

You can find the story so far here
but in a nutshell . . .

My waters broke just as I had gone to bed,
but with suspected meconium in the waters
the maternity unit had said I needed to make my way straight there
as it may mean the baby is in distress.

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a second birth story - part three

I had gone to bed feeling grumpy and fed up with being pregnant,

only for my waters to go minutes later.

But with no contractions yet

I had decided to go back to bed

while the hubby had decided to get up and catch up on some work.

You can find the first and second parts of this story

on the beautiful girl's birth story page.

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medela breast care set review

Breastfeeding is hard.

I think any one who has breastfed will tell you

that in the early days it hurts

. . . a lot.

And anything that can make those early days a little better has to be a good thing.

4

packed: splodge's hospital bag

I think it's really easy to overpack your baby bag

especially when you have lots of lovely new outfits

that you can't wait to see your newborn in.

And while I don't think overpack for myself

I could be a little guilty of taking too many things for the baby.

10

your nineteenth month

As far as we were concerned,

you were quickly turning into an absolute genius.

1

packed: my hospital bag

My bags are packed

and I can officially say that we are as ready as we'll ever be for Splodge's arrival.

I guess the contents of most mummy-to-be's hospital bags are pretty similar

but they are also really personal too.

This is the bag with all the things you will want

at a time when you are going to be uncomfortable, in pain and quite frankly at your worst.

You want things that will make you feel happy

and anything that makes you feel a bit more comfortable has to be a winner.

22

just a little bit of drama

My beautiful boy is absolutely,

categorically,

without doubt,

and without question,

the most precious and important thing in my entire world.

I would do absolutely anything to protect him from fear and pain.

16

the dating scan

This is the final secret pregnancy post that I wrote privately

before letting you all know our exciting news.

I'm already shocked by how much quicker this pregnancy seems to be flying by.

I guess I have the advantage of having found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks later this time around,

but still,

it's hard to believe that I'm not far of finishing my first trimester

and it all seems to have happened in a heartbeat.

19

booking in

This is another of the posts that I wrote in secret

before our exciting news was common knowledge.

Today was my booking in appointment day.

It's sort of feels like the first day that you are really pregnant I think,

when you can talk really openly with the midwife about your pregnancy,

and you really start to feel like this is actually happening.

It's an exciting day.

12

a birth story - part ten

In my birth story so far:

my waters broke at 6am,

then my contractions started,

after three trips to the hospital,

they finally let me stay,

but 22 hours after it started,

I was starting to feel very alone, scared and unsupported.

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a birth story - part eight

In a birth story so far:

it all kicked off at six in the morning when my water broke,

now it's nearly midnight

and having been to hospital and back twice already,

I'm at home and suddenly have the urge to push.

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