Cont...
Eventually I moved onto the gas and air at about 6pm and I got myself to around 3-4cm. My bladder got quite full
and I couldn't face the walk to the other end of the corridor to go to the loo so Jane brought me a bed pan. I'd
been sat down for a while at this point so the act of emptying my bladder and being vertical really brought his
head onto my cervix and my contractions hotted up. I was really pleased that I was able to avoid the drip and
remain active. A couple of hours later I was in a lot of pain and asked to be examined to see if I wanted an epidural. I was only 6cm so asked for one. The anaesthetist came within 15 mins and after a bit of trouble getting
the cannula in my hand, got the epidural in really quickly. However, again being vertical and also the last examination had really brought baby down well and I felt the urge to push while it was still going in. Amazingly I went
from 6cm to pushing within an hour. I only had time for about a quarter of a dose of anaesthetic, which was great
as it took the edge of things but I still had that guttural urge to push - absolutely no chance of going against it. I
pushed for about 50 minutes. Apparently Jane spent about 15 mins pushing him back in because my perineum
wasn't as stretchy as you might expect for a second timer, I guess because Scarlett was so little. As a result I
only ended up with a couple of stitches, when I think it could have been a whole lot worse.
At 10.55pm, Charles Hector Louis came screaming into the world. He was delivered onto my tummy and I was
able to get him to latch on soon after delivery just as I’d hoped for. He weighed 7lb 3oz and was 55cm long - it
looks like he's destined to be tall. Jane had called Kirsten a couple of hours before he was born so she’d raced
back up to the hospital as she wanted to be there for delivery, and she also stitched me up. I’d baked a cake the
night before, so at about midnight, she wheeled in a big pot of tea and we all had tea and lemon drizzle cake! I
was then lucky enough to be allowed to go to the birth centre postnatally, rather than the main (and very noisy!)
postnatal ward. We went home at tea-time the next day.
I have been lucky enough to have the most phenomenal care over the last three years. All the consultants and
midwives I had contact with during my pregnancy came to visit me the day after and I genuinely could feel how
pleased they were for us. I couldn't have done it without them. They have been a huge inspiration to me, and
having given up my job in the City about a year after Scarlett was born, I am about to start a second degree,
training to be a midwife. I hope that my experiences will arm me with empathy and if I can do half as good a job
as the women who looked after me, then I will be proud. I would also love to work as a research midwife in the
future, working to understand the reasons behind recurrent miscarriage and stillbirth. Personal experiences are
the most powerful driver.
I still can't believe I finally have a beautiful living baby in my arms. I feel so incredibly lucky to have him, although
I’m also very proud of my own resilience and determination through everything, as well as the strength of the relationship my husband and I have. We hope to have another baby in the next few years. We’re prepared for the
fact that I will undoubtedly have more miscarriages along the way, but knowing that we have Charlie will give us
the strength to keep on trying.
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