Benjamin William Sex: boy Born: 01 March, 2009 Age: 2 years & 351 days Birthday in: 14 days Starsign: Pisces Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Benjamin-William`s birthstory

Ok - hopefully I can remember everything that happened a week and 1 day ago! I think I gave birth to my brain at the same time as having Ben - so forgetful!

Well Saturday (28th Feb) evening I was online, complaining in the week 38 forum about how I would end up in week 42 alone and very very sad.. Little did I know that Benjamin William would be making an appearance less than a day later!!

I was having some mild back cramping + a few braxton hicks by about 10pm. I didn't think much of it to be honest and went to bed as normal. I noticed that these began to get very regular + even though I managed to sleep, I was aware of the tightenings. By 11.30pm I knew that something was happening - I woke James up + told him that I thought I had been having regular contractions for an hour..He mumbled something, turned over + went back to sleep - obviously thinking that babies NEVER arrive before their due date!! So I began timing the contractions and breathing through the strong ones. I couldn't sit still so was constantly pacing my bedroom, logging on here + giving updates, just to take my mind off of things! By about 1.30am they were 2-3 minutes apart but I waited until 3am before phoning the City Maternity Hospital. The Midwife said that it sounded like I was managing well at home + I could stay put for as long as I could take the pain. I couldn't go back to sleep so had a shower, shaved my legs (very important!) + did my hair + make-up, before carrying on pacing! At about 6.30am I lost my mucus plug. At 9am I was in a lot of pain but the contractions had gone to 5 minutes apart. Even so, I phoned the Hospital + they told me to come in. We arrived at about 10am + the baby's heartrate was monitored, my BP + temp were taken + that was it..no internal- they sent me home saying that this stage of labour could last for up to 3 days!! They did, however, feel that I should be allowed to have the baby at the Midwife-led Unit as I had originally planned but had been told I couldn't because of my iron levels. They decided to do a repeat full blood count with the hope that I could deliver at the Unit. I was discharged at about 11.30am + told to phone at 1pm to see if my iron levels had gone up.

By the time we got home, my contractions were very painful but I still managed to stuff my face with a big bowl of pasta bake!! At 1pm James phoned the Hospital + they said my iron levels had risen to 10.9 - I COULD have my baby at the Midwife-led Unit..I was overjoyed!! I tried to rest in bed but the contractions were getting worse + worse. We were watching Shipwrecked on T4 at about 1.30pm ish when I felt a pop..I told James that I thought my waters had broken so he went + put a towel on the bed. When I stood up I felt a tiny trickle, but nothing major. When I checked the pad it just had a pinky coloured tinge so I thought that maybe it was more plug. Then the contractions REALLY kicked in! Bloody hell..I couldn't even talk! James was straight on the phone to the Midwife-led Unit + they told us to come on in.

Driving to the Unit, James had a Kings of Leon CD playing + the first song is 'Knocked Up' - I will forever link that song to the impending arrival of our baby! It has made me cry everytime I have listened to it since! I really recommend it as a labour song to those who haven't yet popped - When it really kicks in during a contraction..it's great!

We arrived at 2.43pm (James kept the parking ticket!) + made our way upstairs. We didn't bother taking all the bags with us - Just my labour bag because we thought James would have time to pick it up later on. How wrong we were! I got on to the Unit + was having to stop walking to breathe through contractions. I was taken to the assessment room at 3.05pm where I was finally given an internal check - 9+ CM DILATED!!!! I had done pretty much all of the labouring at home + without any medication. I needed to push straight away so I walked down the corridor (with a lot of stops in between) to the delivery room. My clothes were whisked off (very dignified) but I still yelled at James to get out the Asda XXXL shirt that I had been so excited to wear! I just about managed to put it on before I jumped on the bed, sucked up some gas + air + started to push push push!

Baby Benjamin arrived at 3.55pm! He practically surfed out because the backwaters were still behind him when he was delivered! He made quite a messy entrance! It was all very quick but truly amazing. I had skin to skin with Ben straight away + the little porker went to the boob for 30 minutes!!

I think I have managed to remember everything. So sorry if you're still reading + very bored - I do tend to blab, as most of you are aware!