Part 2

We arrived at the hospital just as my midwife, C, was pulling up. My sister and I went in while Stephen parked the car. We arranged for Stephen and my sister to register me, because having seen the look on my face, C wanted me upstairs in the labour and delivery ward quickly. She witness a couple of contractions on the way up in the lift and I was crying with the pain.

C showed me to my room and I got changed. In between very intense contractions, I lay down on the bed and C checked my cervix. A good 5 to 6 centimetres, she said, and the cervix is very thin.

Five to 6 centimetres! Hearing that, I felt like I had ages to go yet and I was in such pain! How could that be?!

C sat me on a birthing ball, which was nice, and Stephen and my sister arrived. C showed Stephen how to hold my back and hips firmly and that felt nice too. But when the contractions peaked, I was completely overwhelmed with the pain. I cried and even screamed in shock. It was SO much more intense than it had been with Jake. Everything happened so quickly and with such... sorry to use the word again, but... intensity.

At that moment of great pain and anguish, I was shocked that a technician arrived to take my blood. I had hardly a minute in between bouts of writhing in pain and they chose that time to get me to stay still and poke me with a needle. And take 2 vials of blood! But they got the blood they needed and left.

Twenty minutes later, I was up on my hands and knees pushing. Not a very dignified position, but at least I couldn't see my sister's shocked face. There wasn't a lot of room up near my head, so she was watching the show at the "action" end.

It didn't taken long before I was told that they could see the baby's head. It was rocking back into the birth canal though, so Celine had me lie on my side. With a nurse holding one of my legs in the air, Abby's head crowned quickly (burning like hell!) and the rest of her arrived soon thereafter. She was born exactly an hour after arriving at the hospital. I'm glad we went in when we did!

Like with Jake, I had no epidural. Unlike with Jake, I had no gas and air and no Pethidine. Completely pain relief free labour! And painful it was.

And three hours later, Abby and I were home, having been given a glowing health report each. And she has slept like an angel, pretty much ever since, waking only for food.

Here's Abby: