Niall's birth story

I went into labour with Rio at 39 weeks, so when that came and went this time around I kind of gave up with all the 'wives tales', and got prepared to either be overdue or induced. I'd been told at my last app that he was 'bigger' than Rio and my bump measurement was literally off our chart. An 8lb baby was mentioned and I literally thought.."thats why i'm having false starts..he cant come down..im too small!"

On the 2nd I had intense groin pain, that gradually radiated up into my bottom bump and then upwards like a constant contraction. I had a bath but it was still there, along with Braxton hicks every so often. As I was told to watch out for "constant pain", I rang triage and went in to get checked. Little One was back to back (which is what Rio was but instead of the constant back pain I was getting a constant bump pain). I was given a sweep which took me from 2cm to 2-3. The pains gradually got abit nippy throughout the day and I went on all fours to try and rotate my hips to encourage him to turn.

At 7:45pm I sat back from all fours to watch abit of corrie and got a contraction that lasted about 2 minutes, I was just thinking "gosh this ones going on for ages" when I felt something and then there was 'a flood'. I went to be checked out but went back home to try and snooze in between pains. No luck. I was talking to myself "in my head" to get me through the back pains until it got to about 2:30 and I got pressure with every pain. Well...anyone who has read Rio's birth story will know that I got this urge to push in bed with Rio too and hardly made it to the hospital in time. So off we went.

I was only 5cm and was given gas and air to help resist the urge to push for a while..she said "there will come a point when you cant resist anymore, then go with it". That came two contractions later so she took the gas & air off me, pulled my nighty high enough for skin to skin and said "lets meet your baby"..pushing was a lot more controlled this time so I didn't tear but it was still fairly fast at 17 minutes..the longest part was after the head was out..the last contraction seemed to take so long and Craig passed the time by telling me how much hair he had :) With the next push Niall was born, sideways..not quite back to back but not quite the usual way haha. Craig cut the cord again. And Niall latched for the first time :)

It was great to be able to go straight home too. It was the first time that id ever left Rio overnight, and I couldn't wait for him to meet his brother! Their births were so alike, with the back to back labour and urge to push in bed its scary!

Baby Niall - 03/07/2014 - 3:47am - 7lb4/6 depending on the midwife - 54 1/2cm
So a 'bigger baby' but more so in length!

6lb6oz of perfection

Thought id write my birthstory while its still fresh in my mind. Little Rio Stoddart was born on the 10th at 7.19am weighing 6lb6oz. He's perfect, i know everyone says it but he is.. simples :)

WARNING LONGGGGGGGG!!

Rightyo.. where to start. My waters went on easter sunday (8th) at 2.30pm. Felt a little pop, but only had little trickles so was unsure, told craig we'd better go for carvery now just incase (haha thinking of food).. so i put on a pad and we went.. had trickles every so often & kept giggling that i couldnt stop. Then the flooding started.. literally!! I had two hugeee pads on, and a bath towel between my legs and it was still going everywhere. Rang and went to the labour ward and they said "oooh when a women walks in with a bath towel in between her legs you know her waters have without a doubt gone".. so i got hooked up to the machine to check everything was fine and sent home as i wasnt feeling contractions.

Went back the next morning (9th) to be checked again. Everything was fine, again contractions on the monitor but wasnt really feeling them.. just abit of period pains. So was told to come back in the morning at 6am for induction as that would then be 48 hours of waters going. The period pains carried on all day.. timed them here and there but they wasnt too painful so expected induction. That evening the back pain started.. oh my god!! Back to back labour is painful. I was having nothing in my stomach that i 'could feel' but my back was hell. Went to the hospital and because my waters had gone they couldnt internally examine me because the risk of infection..got a bath and was having contractions every 2 mintutes, but the pains still wasnt in my stomach so they told me i wasnt in active labour & to come back when it was in my tummy and i couldnt talk through it. (i was so upset then how could i be in that much pain and not in active labour??.. how would i cope?)

Got home and got a bath.. couldnt cope in the bath any more and really had to angry breathe the pains away. My neighbours apparently could hear me at this point (didnt know i was pregnant but worked out i was in labour.. oopsie hahaa). Craig got me a hot water bottle and we got in bed to try and sleep. The pains and angry breathing continued and i had to tell myself 'resist it' just to stop myself from tensing and screaming ouch ouch ouch. Then....

I rolled over and the pains hit with the URGE TO PUSH. Yesssss i needed to push at home.. i couldnt stop it, everytime a back pain come, my body involuntary pushed!! SCARYYYY. Rang labour and delivery they asked if i wanted to stay at home or come in.. WTF?? i bet they just thought i was a drama queen.. well.. i wasnt having my baby at home so i rushed to the car, and jumped out at the hospital. I didnt even bother getting my hospital bag out the car.. this baby was coming!!

Got on the bed and she started talking about induction as i wasnt getting belly pain, again i think they thought i was being a drama queen about my back..but she agreed to do a internal examination though to see where i was and said.. "oooh no wonder your in pain, your a good 7cm".. to which my body got another pain and stared pushing.. and i couldnt stop.. no matter how hard i tried or how much she told me to try not to.. my body was just doing it. She looked down there and yess indeed.. i was having the baby (craig said by the time i was actually told it was okay to push, and tried to myself his head was almost out) .. from the point i was told okay long pushes, keep it coming to him being in my arms was 7 minutes. Craig cut the cord. Placenta came away fine. Apparently i 'made it look easy'. Little Rio looked tiny, they thought he was only about 5lb but nope :) little bit more. Had a little second degree tear and nick on my labia but thats because i couldnt stop my body. And it feels fine now.

Had to stay in overnight as i didnt have time for drip antibiotics.. oopsie again.

Got my natural birth after all :)

Will insert pictures in the next post :)