Five Months After The Event, Here Is Tully's Birth Story

Those of you who were here for the lead up to Tullys birth would remember that, in the last few weeks before she arrived, I was well and truly over being pregnant. I loved the ' I'm having a baby! ' part of being pregnant, but by the end I wasn't so much a fan of the ' this baby is killing my back/thighs/lady bits ' part of the whole pregnancy journey. I had an appointment with the obstetrician on a Wednesday and spoke to him about the aches and pains and whatever else was happening, and he told me that, although bubs head wasn't fully engaged, because my first labour was relatively short - at a grand total of 6 hrs from first contraction to birth - that I should go straight to the hospital when I started noticing contractions. After all, he said ' Second labours are usually much shorter than firsts'.

So, when I started noticing contractions around midday on Friday, I told Flynn Mummy had to go see the nurse and off we went to the local hospital. The nurse put the monitor on and confirmed that yes, they were real contractions, though they weren't very close together yet and they were still very mild. A doctor did an examination and told me nothing was opening up down there yet despite the contractions, so the best bet was just go home ( a 5 min drive away ) and potter around for a while til they came on stronger.

Me being all kinds of bumpy about 2 weeks before Tully was born

Skip the next 16 hrs - where I had dropped Flynn to my parents for the night, walked the dog, rocked on a fitball, watched two movies, and managed a fitfull nights sleep. I headed back to the hospital at 5am, not because the contractions were stronger, but because they were still just 'there ' and I wanted to know what the hell was going on and I was beginning to get very anxious. I had a tiny bit of a show when getting a urine sample for the nurse but other than that, still no real dilation to speak of. A wonderful visiting doctor came in to see me to have a chat..... Where I promptly burst into tears and had a full scale panic attack. We discussed my anxieties and after a phone call to Mick we decided the best course of action for me and my family was to come back at 7pm that night to be induced ( even though the baby wasn't technically due for another 10 days ).

I had one lot of gels put in and was left to sleep the night. A nurse checked on me at 6am and, surprise surprise, no more dilation. The contractions were still present, just super mild. I wasn't really even noticing them anymore but the monitor could still detect them. The nurse, whom I knew through my work, seeing me on the verge of tears again, patted my leg and told me the doctor would be back soon, and to give her buzz if I needed anything else. 'Soon ' turned out to be 4 hrs later - he apologized and said that the nurse should have called for him at 6am for the second lot of gel , which he then gave and put me on the monitor, and went off on his rounds....

.... Which is when the contractions ramped up. It had been explained to me that the gels used in induction are just to soften the cervix and don't actually bring on contractions, so I was very much excited..... It was all happening! However, the nurses told me the doctor wouldn't be back for another 5 hours so I'd just have to work my way through the contractions upstairs in my room. Which I did, by pacing the hallways, rocking my hips and playing countless games of 'Words with Friends ' against random opponents. By 1:30pm I was starting to be in some serious discomfort and I was bored by myself so called my Mum to keep me company. By 3pm, half an hr before the doctor was due back, I was beginning to have to stifle my moans of pain because I didn't want to disturb all the mums and bubs on the ward. Luckily when my mum went down to the nurses desk to ask for some help the doc had just come in, so he whisked me straight down to a delivery suite.

After half an hour of monitoring and the confirmation that my cervix had opened enough, the doctor broke my waters.... And then it was really on! The contractions intensified quickly - I had barely had enough time to strip off, jump in the spa  ( and out again! ) and have my mum rub my back before I felt like I was ready to push. Mum said I couldn't possibly be ready - the same as she did with Flynn! - but called a midwife anyway. I was already back on the bed ready to push, so sure was I that my baby girl was ready... And again, like with Flynn, I was right. I started pushing before the midwife was ready, and sucked on the gas for dear life. It may have felt like ring-of-fire agony in the moment, but even so, I felt much more in control than I did birthing Flynn. The midwife had enough time to yell our for a second midwife to help and, after just 5 minutes of active pushing, there she was, our gorgeous baby girl. She had a burst blood vessel in one eye because I'd got her out of there so fast but,other than that, she was magnificently perfect.

And there you be - an epically long post for what turned out to be an epically long 'labour' .... 53 hours of contractions before Miss Tully arrived. And, seeing as today is Tuesday, this epically long post is linked up over at EssentiallyJess for ' I Blog On Tuesdays '!