Category Archives: birth story

I was keen to write up my birth story after Oliver’s birth so that I wouldn’t forget a single second … but then the sleep deprivation hit and that went out of the window.


So I thought I would skip that and go straight for a month 1 update, but who was I kidding, it was almost Christmas, life was still crazy and we even ended up in the hospital (more on that later!).


So, finally, here we are and now Oli is 2 months! It’s gone by in a FLASH. Sleepless nights, emotional breakdowns, first smiles and a whole lot more. I’m already forgetting precious moments so thought I would take advantage of nap time (or several) and write up everything I can so far. This will be wordy..

A Mini Birth Story.

I’m so lucky to say that for Oliver’s birth I got everything I wanted and it was all I could have hoped for. There were some less than pleasant parts, sure, but I had been terrified from the very start, so even I shocked myself with how well I managed to cope.


My contractions started very late Tuesday night, just mild twinges at the time. I luckily had a midwife appointment on Wednesday morning and was due for a sweep as I was 4 days overdue. Once I described the feelings my midwife got very excited and I decided to pass on the sweep to let things progress naturally. She advised me to go home and rest so I did just that, napping, taking regular doses of paracetamol and eating pasta, lush. We went to bed that evening and I tried really hard to rest but the pain was increasing so I had my first bath at about 2am, I think. The warm water helped a lot and I had another bath at about 8 or 9am. I had to call the birth centre on Thursday morning and was advised to take some co-codamol to help with the pain as my contractions were now about 7 minutes apart. The co-codamol was actually really strong and my contractions totally stopped which freaked me out and I called the birth centre again in a panic. The midwife said this was fine, and my body was resting and testing the waters for the pain it can cope with. I had a 2-hour nap (bliss after no sleep) and woke to the pains kicking in again and needing to get in the bath asap. Once out of the bath I think it was around 4 or 5pm and I was struggling with the contractions once again, which were all over the place from 2 minutes to 6 minutes, so I called the birth centre, I think this was when I cried on the phone because they were asking me to stay home until the contractions were more predictable. There was no way I was staying home at this point I was DONE, so she told me to eat and then pack up and come in.


It’s a bloody good job because in the car my contractions were 1-2 minutes apart and it all felt very surreal. We got to the birth centre and were shown to a room and left there for far too long when in pain in my opinion. Finally, my midwife for the evening, Julie, a total star, came to check on me, gave me some gas and air FINALLY YES! and checked me to see I was about 8cm dilated! She asked if I wanted to get into a pool and because I really wanted a water birth I practically bit her hand off saying yes. So we swapped rooms to one with a pool, the lighting was nice and cosy, the water was warm and I was in the pool by 8pm. I don’t remember much of the next few hours. I had my gas and air and the contractions got very intense until it was pushing time! at around 10pm. (Everyone commented on how calm I was afterwards). I did NOT like the feeling one bit, it overtakes your whole body and the pressure feels like your ears will pop. I don’t even want to talk about the last few minutes, the pain! After remaining so calm I do remember having to shout, scream and cry at that bit haaaaha! I was in that final labour stage for about 2 hours until little Oliver arrived at 12:03am on Friday the 17th weighing 6lb 11oz.


Oliver was born in his amniotic sac, which is why my waters never broke. Thanks to being protected in his little bubble he was totally perfect and so soft and small and didn’t cry at all. I barely remember any of those moments in the pool but I think we sat there for a few minutes until Mikey cut his cord.


Then I very shakily got out and we had some skin to skin for a good long while before he was weighed and I had to have some stitches. (honestly, this was worse than labour  birth combined absolutely horrific, would not want to go through that again, not to scare anyone or anything but I must remember this if the crazy idea of more kids ever pops into my head).


We stayed in the birth centre overnight before I was transferred to the birth suite in the morning after my heart rate was very high and I felt dizzy when standing up. They monitored me for 4 hours and all was fine – it was just the blood loss being a bit much for me, but my iron levels were great! hurrah! We could have moved back to the birth centre but I just wanted to go home at this point so we bundled ourselves up and were home by around 4pm Friday afternoon.

Oliver at 1-month-old.

Our 1st month

Those first few days were intense. I remember on day 3 at home I just burst into tears in front of the midwife but I don’t remember why. I think it was the sleep deprivation and coping with the pain of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding in the first few weeks was all kinds of hard, it hurt like hell and I would gasp with the pain every time I had to feed Oli. But it really did get easier thank god. Newborns really do sleep a lot but somehow we managed to get nothing done and it was so hard when you already start off so exhausted from labour. I slept whenever I could and we ended up taking it in turns to sleep with him on our chests for the first week as he wouldn’t settle anywhere else. Netflix and a good sky movie selection were vital for staying up whilst the other slept. 

I think we ventured out just once or twice in the first two weeks, just a walk around Tesco wiped me out and I did push myself too far once or twice and ended up not feeling so great. 

Michael took his full two weeks off to be at home and then used a week of his holidays to work half days for two weeks which was amazing for that first month, even if it did zip by in a flash. 

Oliver at 2 months old, staring at his BFF Freaky Frank.

Oliver at 2 months

Month 2 was a lot easier and so much harder, too. Oli caught a cold a few days before Christmas, which by Christmas day had escalated and he was breathing very quickly and wheezing and was getting quite upset and stressed. We called 111 and they decided paramedics were needed, who arrived, checked him over and decided we needed to go to the hospital. They were worried about how fast he was breathing and if his little body got tired from it. Honestly that ambulance trip was the scariest thing. When we got there a nurse quickly picked him up and literally ran off with him to A&E and by the time I’d caught up he was in the baby incubator machine thingy, crying his little heart out whilst having wires and all sorts attached to him. A paediatrician came to see us and told us he knew straight away it was bronchiolitis, a very common illness for children under 2. We were eventually moved to the children’s ward and he was put on oxygen and given fluids to help him breath easier. We stayed for 2 nights until he had no longer needed oxygen for a full 24 hours and was feeding well. What a first Christmas we’ll never forget!

Aside from that trauma, month 2 has been one full of smiles! He gives me a full beaming grin every morning and loves laughing when we chatter to him or show him his baby books. He hates having his nappy changed and has quite the temper when not having all the attention. His sleep could be better, we don’t have much of a schedule yet – he sleeps for about 4 hours at most at night time, then wakes every 2-3 hours. Daytime naps are hit and miss, either 40 minutes and fussing for hours or a mega 2 hours. Those are my favourite obviously. 

He is just starting to try to control his limbs with lots of repetitive movements and excited thrashing about when he is happy. He quite enjoys a bath and we’re looking forward to taking him swimming soon! I still haven’t got much confidence in taking him out on my own, but that’s something I want to work on soon!