My Pregnancy Was An Absolute Dream

It had been over 18 months of trying, including 6 rounds of clomid, before I got my very first positive test in April 2020. I called my husband Daniel into the bathroom to show him the test and the first thing I said was "It's going to be a boy, and he will be born on your birthday!"

From there, my pregnancy was an absolute dream. I was one of the lucky ones who only had a day here and there of morning nausea, occasional fatigue, pelvis pain and some light heartburn towards the end.

My due date of December 27th, 2020 came and went and during our last pre booked hospital appointment the midwife decided she would like to book me in for an induction on the following Tuesday, as by then I would have been 41+2. Baby must have heard about the pending eviction notice because they decided they had other plans.

Saturday morning I woke to find that I had finally lost my mucus plug, I was excited and hopeful it would be the start of something soon, even though I had absolutely no other signs or symptoms of labour.

I continued with my day like I would any other Saturday; walked the dog, did the groceries, tidied the house and then around lunch time I began having what I would describe as "period pains". I didn't think much of them as they were mild and infrequent, but again, hoped this was a sign that baby would be on the move soon.

By 5pm that evening, I noticed that the "cramps" were becoming slightly more intense and also more frequent, coming around every 30 minutes or so. At this stage the cramps were painful but still nothing extreme. I could talk through them or continue with whatever activity I was doing when they came, but I thought this might be a great chance to try out the TENS machine. I got it out, popped it on and Daniel and I continued with our Saturday afternoon NETFLIX binge session. 

By 7pm the cramps were closer together, coming every 8-10 minutes and although they weren't excruciating or unbearable, they were definitely more intense than anything I had ever felt before. I decided to ring the hospital and speak to a midwife just to get some feedback and advice.

The midwives explained that it sounded like my body was getting ready for labour and in the early stages but to settle in for a long night. They suggested taking some Panadol, keep using my TENS and try to get some rest. If at any stage I was worried, in too much pain, my waters broke etc to come in immediately, but I was happy to continue at home at this stage, so I popped some Panadol and hopped into bed to sleep.

The bath was lovely. Daniel sat next to me in the dimly lit bathroom, held my hand and between contractions we joked and laughed about how drastically our life was going to change over the next 24 hours. I must have been in there for 90ish minutes before all of a sudden, I got the biggest sense that I was going to be sick. I quickly told Dan to get me a bucket and decided then and there I needed out of the bath.

In what felt like seconds I got all this pressure down low, I felt like I needed to push immediately, and I had a wave of anxiety set in. I started getting very nervous and saying I couldn't do it, and that I wasn't going to be able to do it. 

Daniel rang Sarah back who said come in ASAP, so he dried me off and we rushed to the hospital. 

We arrived just after 3:30am. I was taken to an examination room to see how dilated I was, but at this stage my contractions were every minute, so it was hard to find the time to do a proper exam. The midwife managed to do the exam, she looked at Daniel and said, "I'll get the wheelchair she needs to go straight to the delivery room".

I was wheeled into the delivery room and as soon as I stood up from the wheelchair my waters broke like in the movies. I looked at the midwife and said, "Can I PLEASE have some drugs?" When she replied, "Oh Chloe you're fully dilated the baby is going to be here so soon."

As soon as she said that Sarah, the midwife we had spoken to on the phone, popped her head in to check how we were when her colleague said "She's about to push this baby out" Sarah asked if she could stay and deliver the baby.

She helped me maneuverer myself around to find the best position for me and it ended up being me on my side with Daniel holding my left leg up and her supporting my right foot. I pushed for roughly 30 minutes before she mentioned that the baby was getting tired, and the heart rate was getting a little low. She explained that with the next contraction, I needed to push harder than I had before to get the baby out otherwise they would need to give me an incision to help.