1 week old

Ex turned up at hospital for the birth was going to tell him to leave but then ended up holding onto him for the 7 hours….

Everybody told me to make sure I ate before the birth to keep my strength up after all I could be in labour for 36 hours or more and its not called labour for nothing. So with that in mind I eat a baked potato and beans….! I feel constipated they give me a laxative. Kinda regret that…. The 7 hours of labour were unglamourously acoompained by bowel movemnst. .

By time ex turns up I’ve started labour and I grab onto his strong arms (good jobe he is there I would have broken little lisa ex looks a little werired out I have a male midwife..tell me about it! I refuse pain relief determined to just use the hypnotherapy techniques of counting an dbretahing I’ve learnt. I get in the birthing pool, its so lovely and warm, I bury my head in ex’s arms as he leans over the pool, lisa talks me through each contractation. Did you know in between each contraction you can speak and theres no pain? At 6pm the male midwife goes home as his shift ends and I get a proper midwife ie a woman. :) with nice small hands…which for checking how dilated you are that’s er handy.

I’m 7 cm dilated only 3 left to go. I can hear other women’s screams down the hallway. It’s medieval. I’ve been shitting constantly for 5 hours (I’m later told the baby was posterier an dpushing against my bowels). Not exactly the dumping I wanted ex to expereince after he dumped me… At some point I start begging for an epidural saying ‘CUT IT OUT OF ME NOW!’ As it happens they had to anyway the baby’s heartbeat rapidly went down very low and I was later told the cord had been round her neck. When they put that anathesia in my spine it was one of the best moments of my life ahhh completely numb from ribcage down, Lisa and EX appeared wearing plastic operating theratre shoes and ex looked really scared. So much so that even in my state of confusion I told him not to worry that that everything would be okay…sure it was susposed to be other way round… I lay there getting all 7 layers of stomach tissue stitched up. I was given tea and toast and everybody left (it was midnight and you can’t have visitors to stay) I sat there in the hospital bed bit confused. It’s amazing how much your core stomach muscles are used for every single movement, I couldn’t pick up the baby and had to buzz for help every time she cried. Felt helpless. Some chav mum is talks loudly on her mobile at 2am in the ward and everyone’s babies in the ward are taking turns to cry. Welcome to the world baby!