Here is the tenth in my birth story series. Real birth stories, from real Mums. If you enjoy this I will be posting a different story every Thursday so make sure to pop back each week for a new one. If you would like to share your story please contact me using any of my social media.
This week we have a story containing a huge surprise at the end. Thank you to the Mum who wrote this weeks story and congratulations on your gorgeous baby!
Age of mum: 33
1st/2nd/3rd or more baby: 4th
Gestation born at: 39+2
Pregnancy complications: None
Type of delivery: Vaginal water birth
Length of labour: 4 hrs total, but from 4cm to birth it was 32 mins
Pain relief: None
Any other methods: No
Weight of baby: 7lb 9oz
Who was present: My other half
Complications during labour: None
Did you feel informed of your choices during labour: Yes
Complications after labour: Cord round baby’s neck 3 x
I woke up on the Friday before my due date after having some niggles during the night to nothing. No pains, no pressure, just a snug wriggly baby still firmly on the inside. I went about my daily routine of getting my two eldest girls ready for school and running (waddling) around after my youngest daughter – they were all very excited about meeting their new baby sister. My other half Brian volunteered to do the school run and me and my youngest had a quiet morning at home playing with the birthing ball I’d blown up the day before and pottering around.
At lunch time the niggly pains came back so I started timing them and they were about ten minutes apart. Around an hour later I felt a small trickle when I checked, I was bleeding. Nothing too bad, but like a period so I rang the maternity unit. My labour with my second baby had been very quick so I was keen to get there. The midwife I spoke to didn’t seem concerned and said to ring back if my waters went or when the pain got worse. I went to the loo and pop… a trickle of waters. When I rang back, the midwife said to come in and be checked so my mum came over to watch my youngest daughter and to pick the others up from school. By this point the pain was getting worse and I was still bleeding so we hurried up to the maternity unit. We arrived there at around 2pm.
My usual midwife was on annual leave, however her daughter was the midwife on duty so she took charge of me. The pool room was free so we settled in. I found it easier to cope with the contractions by pacing around to get through them. We chatted for a while and the midwife thought I was coping well and that the contractions weren’t strong enough yet so she left us to it for a little while. After a couple more checks to see how baby was doing I told her how intense the pain was becoming so she examined me at around 3.45pm. She said I was just about 4cm and that the baby’s head needed to come down further so she started to run the pool. I got in about ten minutes later and she left the room for a second. I immediately knew that the baby was coming asap. I felt the pressure and began grunting with every contraction. Brian did his best to rub my shoulders and when the midwife came back she couldn’t believe how quickly I’d progressed from joking while she examined me a few minutes earlier! She called for the second midwife and told me to push when I felt like it. I told the other half between contractions that our baby girl would be out within the next two or three contractions. He seemed reassured by this haha.
I began pushing, and my god I had never had to push so hard with my others! I tried to just breathe the head out but I couldn’t so I pushed and the head was born. On the next contraction I pushed like I’d never pushed before but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. One more monumental push and our baby was born at 4.17pm. I looked down at my newborn laying at the bottom of the pool and the midwife told me to pick her up. As soon as I lifted my baby up out of the water the midwife noticed the cord round the neck which luckily she managed to unloop with no problems. Our baby took their first breath and screamed blue murder!
Whilst all this was happening, my other half was wading through the people as he’d spotted something everyone else had missed… He said, “erm I don’t think that’s a girl!”. Our fourth baby girl was actually our first baby boy!! The sonographer at our 20 week scan had been wrong. It was such an amazing surprise and everyone in the room was stunned as we had been talking about the girls name we’d decided on only half an hour earlier.
I got out of the pool to deliver the placenta while Brian hunted through the hospital bag to find an outfit that wasn’t pink or flowery! Luckily I’d packed one white babygro which became our little man’s first outfit. I quickly phoned my mum to tell her the news and she was over the moon! Brian left the hospital that evening with the proudest smile on his face and I had a chilled out evening with my surprise little man, totally in awe.
Have you had a wrong gender ultrasound? Or know someone who has?