And Rex was 17 days late
17 days late. I cannot believe it. My daughter was 10 days late and I had wrongly assumed that this baby would not keep me waiting as long. Over the course of those 17 days I tried to keep it together and not to get hung up on it starting but ever day someone asked when I was due and when they got an answer that was more than 10 days there was a look of a shock and the question ‘do they let you go that long'.
Having Melody meant that I knew it was about personal choice and as long as the baby was happy and I was healthy we could carry on. At 2 weeks I was given a post date's scan and the hospital told me the baby was fine and I was OK to carry on although they wanted to monitor me every 2 days for 30 minutes to check the baby again. I agreed because I desperately wanted to have the baby at home and knew and going into labour spontaneously was my only way of doing this. They also told me the baby was ‘back to back' so those extra days gave me some time to crawl/swim/sob into getting the baby in the right position.
Once I got past 2 weeks Melody very regularly checked us both and gave me a sweeps to try and encourage the labour and told me each time that we would carry on as long as I wanted too and the baby was happy. Each day she came and went and I prayed the next time I saw her I would be in labour. In total I probably had 5 sweeps and by the 17th day I was at my wits end. I knew I had the labour to get through so tried not to get down but it was hard.
The only bit of good news was at this point was that with each sweep Melody would tell me I was further dilated. I think 4cm before the labour had even started!
It was about 1.00am when I got a twinge, a very mild dull ache that came and went; nothing as clear as my previous labour so for a few hours I concentrated on whether I was imagining it. At around 5.00am I woke my husband, Will and told him I had some ache that was coming and going, he told me to go back to sleep and rolled over. Quite quickly I found myself on all fours with each ache and slowly the sensation became pronounced enough for me to be sure it had started.
I called Melody at around 5.30am and really felt very calm and as if I was just starting on the journey. I assured Melody that I would be fine for a few hours and would call her back when I needed her but she sped right over. She later told me that was because I was 17 days overdue. I woke my 15 month daughter up and told her she was off to the childminders, trying to discreetly hold onto the cot with each contraction and not worry her. I said goodbye to her as Melody arrived and quickly checked me and told me I was 7cm. Amazing! How did that happen?
I got into the pool and just went through each contraction one at a time and by the time Will got back I was having an urge to push. My waters broke and within minutes my babies head was born. Melody very carefully touched my leg and with another push he was born. I later found out that the cord was wrapped round his neck and what I thought was her touching my leg was actually her unwrapping the cord from around him. I thanked Melody for dealing with this in such a calm way. Rex was born at 8.15am.
This labour, although incredibly late, was quick (perhaps some justice in there) and I think I was in slight shock at how quickly he had come. After a slow start breathing (perhaps because of the cord) I sat in the pool for 45 minutes and waited for the placenta to come. It went in a flash and I got on my knees and with a gentle tug from Melody and one push it was done.
A really incredible empowering experience and one I am so thankful for. I needed the support to give me the confidence to go that overdue, it is not something I would suggest everyone doing but if you have the right care and people around you to give you and the baby the monitoring you need you don't have to follow procedure and be induced. Who knows what the labour would have been like if I had. After a soak in the bath we all went to bed and after Rex had fed went straight to sleep. Bliss. I can't wait to do it again!
