happy first birthday taj!

....and I woke to 4 minute apart contractions, not that I slept all night! How can you sleep knowing that your body is getting ready to have a baby? I was all alone as my husband went home to sleep due to my daughter waking up and crying for her mum : (

By the time my husband was called, and he made it to the hospital it was around 7am. (He did stop for a takeaway coffee; thinking it would be the same as our first labour)! I was in the swing of things and pretty much in full labour, well full enough to be told to hop off the fit ball and waddle up to the delivery suite. I think when a woman is in labour the last thing she wants to do is loose her focus and boy was I focused!

Once I was taken into the delivery room, I was straight back on the ball and to my midwives surprise I was bouncing away. She said to me that she had never seen a woman move like that on a fit ball, they more move their hips around instead of bouncing the baby up and down! She did say to me though that she felt this would push him down better and also how amazing it is when a woman is in full labour and they are doing what comes naturally for their own bodies.

I had the best midwife, one that has delivered many babies. When she told me to hop on the bed, because my groaning had stepped up a level and it was time to push my baby out, I said, "no, I am comfortable here." She then told me that I had no choice as I was about to have him and I couldn't do it on the ball! The transition stage was one that was full of swearing, begging for epidural and any drug they could give me. Of course it was too late for the epidural, but she did keep me believing they were going to get it for me after every contraction. But of course after a contraction, I managed to say, "aah, that's better!" She did offer me the gas and I told her it did nothing for me when I had my daughter. But I gave it a go and ended up throwing it straight back at her, while telling her. "this is shit!"

I had my beautiful boy at 10:22am on October 8th 2008. He was born weighing 7 pounds on the dot. We named him Taj Joan (after my mum). My birth experience was amazing, it was what I call an inner body experience.