Where to start!  Just like with Tobias’ birth I can only remember parts of the day and feel I must point out that I am completely relying on Gavin and my mothers, versions of events.  However it’s another positive birth story from me, with the best results!  

Following my meeting in June with the specialist it was agreed that from 38 weeks I would have a stretch and sweep on a weekly basis to try for a smaller baby, hoping to reduce my chances of tearing again.  On Monday, 2nd July 2018 I went to the hospital to meet with the specialist who performed a very uncomfortable (and slightly painful) stretch and sweep.  I was told it was a positive membrane sweep, the head of the baby was fully engaged and the doctor even said he could break my waters if we would like (I opted not to as I wanted my waters to break naturally).   I left the hospital that day in discomfort, but thinking the procedure wouldn’t work on the first go.  

That evening whilst watching “love island” I became more uncomfortable in my tummy and I started to have a bloody show.  I didn’t think anything of this however as I had already lost some a few weeks ago.  The timings from here are scary, it seemed that at exactly the same time something happened during Tobias’ labour matched this labour.  

At 6am on Tuesday 3rd July 2018 I awoke to mild contractions.  Tobias started to rouse at 7am so I asked Gavin to take him out onto the farm with him, so I could try to relax.  At 8.30am I phoned Gavin to give him an update on the pain, to which I found out he was having a meeting on the farm, discussing changes to the cows diet!  At 9am I phoned the labour ward to give them my initial details as I was having a contraction every 3 minutes, lasting 45 seconds but was able to handle the pain.  It was agreed I would stay at home a little longer.  Shortly after I went for a shower which eased the back pain I was suffering from. 

By this point the contractions had increased in intensity and by 10am I decided to call the labour ward again who advised me to come in.   The journey into the hospital seemed to take forever and I felt every bump in the road.  What made it worse was the queue for the car park when we got there. So as well as waiting for a parking space for ourselves, we had to wait for my mum to find a space too.  I managed to walk to the ward this time, which I still feel was a huge achievement.  

This time we were asked to go into the maternity assessment unit first to get assessed.  I got the impression that it was a very busy day on delivery suite as there was a lot of waiting around at times.  When I got assessed I was 5cm dilated and was shortly afterwards given the gas and air which was AMAZING!  At 12 noon I was transferred into the delivery suite where I immediately asked for an epidural.  I knew I wasn’t able to have a water birth this time due to my third degree tear so thought I would get some extra pain relief this time.  

The room quickly filled up by different people plugging things onto me, around me and into me.  Once the epidural was in the pain started to subside and within half an hour I could still tell I was having a contraction but it wasn’t painful, more like a chinese burn.  After two hours the pain started to come back so I had a top up of the epidural. At 3.30pm I was re-examined and advised that I was 9cm dilated, my waters had gone and it was nearly time to start pushing.  It felt as soon as the midwife said this the epidural stopped working and the pain became unbearable, but it must have been around 4pm.  The midwife explained that once the baby gets into a certain position and starts to move around the U-Bend the epidural sometimes isn’t able to get to the nerves and stops working.  

I was given the gas and air back and started to push, I remember looking at the clock and thinking, Tobias was born at 4.30pm it’s not long now!  After pushing for an hour in a controlled, slow motion the head appeared, quickly followed by one more contraction and one last push that birthed the rest of the body and we found out we had another little boy.  There were plenty of tears around the bed by this time!  

Hamish David Thomas Clarke was born at 5.05pm on Tuesday 3rd July 2018 weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces (imagine if he had gone full term how much he could have weighed). He came out with a cry but was soon consoled when he heard my voice.   Again, I remember feeling instant relief when he came and I got that same feeling like I was superwoman.  Hamish was immediately cleaned off and handed to me for skin to skin and to try to breast feed, which he wasn’t interested in. The midwives also delayed the clamping of the cord and I was given the injection to be able to deliver the placenta quickly.  

It was then time to have a look if I needed stitches and I received the best news ever.  My third degree tear hadn’t been implicated but I had a new 2nd degree tear that the midwife could stitch up.  Hamish was given an injection for vitamin k and then handed to Gavin to look after.  My mother left around this time and after I was stitched up we had to wait for the epidural to wear off, embarrassingly I fell over when trying to get out of bed too soon, my legs just gave way on me (thankfully I wasn’t holding Hamish at the time).   

Whilst waiting, we ordered a pizza to be delivered to the hospital and we dressed Hamish.  The midwife kept visiting me on a regular basis to check my blood pressure and all my other stats. By 10pm we were moved onto the maternity ward and was able to concentrate on breastfeeding. I stayed in hospital overnight, before coming out on Wednesday 6 July 2018.  

Again, I have moved in with my mother for a few weeks so she can look after me and Tobias, whilst I get to grips of having a newborn again.  I still cant believe it’s all over and he’s here.  Keep looking back for Hamish’ monthly updates, I cant wait to share his milestones with you all. 

Much love
Rebecca