Jacobs Birth Story

So I know I'm a little behind on time considering Jacob turned 21 weeks old today, but I feel the need to post this. Mostly as a little memory for me, I plan to print it out and put in our memory box for Jacob, and just to humour others.


It all started on the 5th of may 2012. The day of my joint 20th birthday party and baby shower. The day before and that morning I had been huffing and puffing and carrying my heavy bump around scrubbing the house to within an inch of its life to prepare for the 50 odd guests that would descend upon my house! Flowers were planted in the garden and it weeded for the first time since we'd moved in, the BBQ shined up and ready to go, food prepared and set out, and decorations put up with much help from my lovely friend Sophie, aka auntie fifi to Jake ;)

Friends and family started to arrive from around half 12. My lovely Grandad asked for me to grab him a burger, so off i waddled through the kitchen, with little Rubee in hand to introduce her to my cousins children. And then it bloody happened didn't it. Right by our back door. I was mortified, I genuinely thought i'd wee'd myself! Until it carried on...and carried on... Tears just poured from my eyes and I looked up - no-one had even noticed until I said "what happens when your waters break?" Sophies mum looked down, saw the flood and ushered me upstairs to the loo. My waters had only gone and bloody broken! Jacob just had to be the centre of attention, my boy :)

I was stuck on the loo losing my waters with lots of well meaning visitors in my house. I wasn't in any pain, So I put on my 12th pair of trousers hoping I wouldn't soak them through too, and toddled downstairs to open my baby shower & birthday gifts. I sat on a plastic morrisons bag (now thats recycling and reusing!!) so I wouldn't ruin my sofa or floor. Opened all my gifts of nappies and cute baby clothes :) Then I flooded again!!

Most of our guests left us to get on with it then, and with well wishes shouted upstairs as I was still stuck on the toilet with my waters gushing off they went. I came downstairs and got to it on my birthing ball. Then the pain started!

It was time to go to the hospital with my Nan, my chosen birth partner. Dear god I remember going over bumps in the car and feeling as if my insides were about to fall out. Waited in the hospital and I was a mere 1-2cm - gutted!

I was sent to the ante-natal ward, my poor nan had to wait in the hospital halls. Bloody stupid rules! I begged them to make the pain go away. I tried a bath, and eventually got given diamorphine. I went a bit woozy, the midwife told me Jacob was back to back, now THAT is real pain. I was a bit different to what I was fearing I'd be like - a screaming swearing growling lady in labour! The pain was unreal and I demanded to be checked again. The midwife was hesitant but I knew something was happening. I was all of a sudden 7-8cm dilated.

I was sent over to labour ward, room 7 with the lovely pink tiles, where I demanded my much wanted water birth. They were running the bath and I demanded they ran it faster as I knew the warm water would ease my pain. I was on the gas and air, sat in a wheelchair but I couldn't sit down properly because Jacob literally felt as if he was almost out! (If only). My nan was laughing at me because I was so drugged up I was practically falling out of the wheelchair. I clambered into the birth pool. Not long after my body started pushing. The midwife just told me to go with it so I did.
Apparently I was telling the midwife I didn't want forceps and I was scared I wasn't doing it right. To be honest I really don't remember much at all. My nan took a backseat. I couldn't be doing with all this "breath through it baby" rubbish. I just growled my way through it huffing on my gas and air.

It took a long hour or so of pushing and my little Jacob just fell out between my legs. I can't really remember the pain, I think my brains blocked it out. I grabbed him up and cuddled him in. My little boy Jacob James arrived at 5.34am on the 6th of May 2012. Midwife told me to put him under the water so stupid me dunked him in. Must of been the drugs! She wrapped a towel round him while I cuddled my newborn beauty :) I was so proud! I know millions of people have given birth but after you've just done it, you feel amazing and like the only person who could ever do that! We cut the cord and the midwife told me I had to push the placenta out. Took a good half an hour, was more work than pushing Jacob out because my legs had gone to jelly!

I finally got out of the water and had a cuddle with my water babe and had to have those bloody evil stitches. He weighed 6lb 4oz, but for some reason they never got his height. He was my perfect healthy baby boy :)
They moved me up to the postnatal ward pretty quickly, which was cramped, noisy and just downright awful. Horrible food, impossible to sleep, screaming babies (my little angel just slept 24/7, I had to wake him to try breastfeed!). I insisted on coming home that night, very stupid of me in hindsight but I wasn't thinking right. Don't think the hospital should have let me go but all I wanted was to see my doggys, get some sleep and some food. Didn't get any of that as we arrived home around 10pm to a messy house from the baby shower, nothing set out for Jacob as he'd arrived 3 weeks early and pretty much no clue on breast feeding.

My instinct kicked in, and I am a born organized person so we got sorted pretty quick. I moved to bottle feeding as Jacob hated the boob, and had to rush to buy tiny baby clothes as everything was too big!
We had a tough first few weeks with colic and my rash, but after around 14 weeks I am fully comfortable and happy in my new job as a full time mummy to my little boy :)