So after 3 attempts they finally broke my waters. It’s true what they say you leave your dignity at the door when you go into give birth, in the last 3 days I’ve literally had my vagina poked and prodded by about 10 different people.

It was an uncomfortable feeling but made better by the fact I could have gas and air however I didn’t feel that gush that people talk about, to be honest I felt nothing and still wonder to this day what it feels like when your waters break.

Now time for the hormone drip so they need to insert a cannula. First attempt “I’ve hit a valve” great what does that mean? “I’m going to try the other arm. Oh no I’ve done it again!” Third time lucky they have to get an anaesthetist in to find a good enough vein to insert the cannula. I’m finally up and running with the hormone drip and labour is starting!

It’s 8.30pm change of shift and Laura the midwife from the day before is back, it’s nice to have a familiar face again and I’m convinced she is the midwife who will deliver my baby.

The hormone drip is making my contractions really strong now, it should be 4-5 in 10 minutes but I was having between 6-8 in 10 minutes and they were intense. I am now crying and begging for an epidural, it’s been a long couple of days I feel exhausted and I can’t physically move as I’m strapped up to a heart rate monitor.

There must be a thing about 3rd time lucky as the first 2 times they inserted the epidural they hit a nerve, the whole left side of my body twitched violently, I almost felt like giving up with getting an epidural but I’m so glad she managed to do it right 3rd time. It’s a strange feeling not being able to feel anything waist down but the pain was finally gone!

Every time the hormone drip is put up the baby’s heart rate started dropping, the doctors came in to discuss it with us. They wanted caesarean to be a last case scenario as the time was going on I almost wanted them to just do it already.

5th April – It got to 8.30am and Laura’s shift was over, I was gutted I really thought he would come on her shift. The next midwife was Sian who was also AMAZING, she was due to examine me at 9.30am, I didn’t have high hopes for this as the last 2 times I hadn’t progressed from 4cm but I thought the end is near after this examination they would have to take me to surgery. “Do you want the good news or bad news?” Might aswell start with the bad and finish on a high. “Bad news is your going to have to start pushing, good news is your 10cm”. I honestly thought she was joking, finally this baby was on his way after 17 hours of labour and even better I didn’t need a c-section!

At 10.41am our beautiful Romeo was born weighing 4lb5oz, he screamed as soon as he came out and they managed to put him straight on my chest, Jimmy even got to cut the cord. I wasn’t expecting any of this I honestly thought he would be put on oxygen straight away and whisked off to NICU but after a quick check by the paediatricians he was all okay, already exceeding everyone’s expectations, our little fighter ❤️