Today my little girl turns 4 months and I thought I’d share her birth story with you.

She was due on Sunday the 27th of July so naturally I stopped working two weeks prior to get ready for her arrival. I packed my hospital bag. Bought apple juice, mini water bottles, some nut bars and fruit and nut mixes. We had our birth plan ready. I wanted to have her all natural. I even bought the Hypnobirthing book and downloaded birthing meditations. The plan was to breathe through the pain and only gas if neccessary.

Come week 40 and I was patiently waiting for my contractions to start….

By Wednesday she still hasn’t arrived. I then opted for sweeping. Still nothing. I did the sweep 3 times. When asked whether I wanted to be induced I declined, hoping that my little girl would make her appearance all in her own. But no…

Towards the end of 41 I was induced. I was admitted to hospital at 7pm on Friday night. At 10pm I was inducted with the gel. At 11pm, the contractions started. I had 1 every 10 minutes. I didn’t sleep a wink. Luckily I was able to walk around and sitting on this big leather chair was my saving grace. The chair was nice and low and I could pull my knees up to my chest, this helped a lot

At 11 am I only dialated 3 cm and the nurse broke my waters. Unfortunately there was meconium in the water which meant that now, labour had to be hurried along and I was immediately put on an oxytocin drip. Hazel did not like that at all, and her heart rate dropped. I was taken off the drip for an hour. After being examined again, I was still only dialated 3cm and there was talk of a C-section, which was honestly the last thing I wanted.

After an hour I was put back on oxytocin. Hazel’s heart rate was constantly monitored. Since she was posterior, I had to lie on my side the whole time, and let me tell you, that’s the most uncomfortable position to be in when dealing with contractions. After about an hour of this I asked for an epidural, baring in mind that I’ve tried the gas but it made me extremely sick

At around 5pm my midwife arrived. She turned on a diffuser and it calmed me right down. At around 6:40pm I could start to feel my contractions again and asked for a top up on the epidural. My midwife suggested that we check the contractions first. I have dialated 10cm. She said we shouls start to push. At 6:58 I started to push and by 7:19 our little Hazel was born.

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It has been the best moment in my life even with all the ups and downs leading up to the birth. I had amazing support from my husband and my midwife was just fantastic. Even though I wasn’t able to Hypnobirth, I’m still happy about the outcome…a beautiful healthy little girl