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Lucas Sex: boy Born: 23 March, 2008 Age: 3 years & 330 days Birthday in: 35 days Starsign: Aries Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

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Caleb Sex: boy Born: 21 October, 2009 Age: 2 years & 118 days Birthday in: 247 days Starsign: Libra Development: See the 27 months page. Biggest achievement so far: -

Birth details

Original due date: October 21 2009
Type of delivery: Vaginal (without pain relief)
Duration of labor: 5 hrs (active labour)
Weight @ birth: 7 lb 4
Length @ birth: 48cm

Caleb`s birthstory

I had been struggling to sleep because I`d pulled a muscle in my shoulder, but an hour after I finally went to bed on Tuesday night, I started to get contractions. All I could think was oh great, no rest for the wicked. After I had shipped number one son off to my parents house, done all the housework and kept my hubby up for most of the night, I realized the contractions weren`t getting anywhere and I might as well lay down and try and get some sleep. When I woke up the contractions were still going, so I had some breakfast and called the hospital. At first the midwife told me just to stick it out at home, and when I was consistently getting two contractions every ten minutes, then I should head in. 20 minutes later she called me back and said that I should probably go in, because I have a history of progressing quite quickly.

I got DH out of bed, and we went to the hospital after breakfast. I still wasn`t getting regular contractions, and they were quite mild, so I didn`t really think there was much point in sitting around the hospital waiting. In the end we decided to go to my parents house to see Lucas, and then go for a really long walk. Finally things really started to get moving by about 5:00pm that afternoon. I rang the hospital to let them know that I would definitely be back that day, and a half hour later we were watching tv in a maternity suite while I was getting my blood pressure checked and bub`s heart rate monitored.

Everything was going fairly peachy until about 7:30 when the contractions started to get really hard to breathe through. They seemed so much worse than my labour with Lucas. The midwife decided we should move to the delivery room, just in case, and she suggested it`d be a good idea to check my progress. I was only dilated (?) to a 3. That didn`t seem like a lot compared to the severity of the contractions. I tried having a hot shower, and it did help with the pain a little, but the contractions also slowed down, and I was scared that they would stop altogether again, so I got out.

By 9pm I was really struggling. DH was massaging my back through each contraction and I was doing everything I could to breathe properly otherwise I knew I would panic. I was offered the gas, but I really didn`t want to take it because I was feeling sick already, and I didn`t know how it would effect me - I thought it might make me worse.

The midwife saw that I was struggling so she suggested that they might check progress again in an hour. I told her I didn`t think I could wait that long so she pretty much checked me again straight away. By this time it was 9:30, and when she went to do the exam, she unintentionally broke my membranes. In two hours I`d gone from a 3 to a 10, but there was still a lip of cervix, so they wanted me to wait for it to thin before I started pushing. It was so painful. I wasn`t allowed to get back off the bed, and walking around had been the only way I was coping. Aargh. lol.

Anyway, by about 10 to 10 I told them I had to push, there was no way I could put up with the pain otherwise. And by 10 past 10, little Caleb was born. I was pretty amazed at how much more aware I was after the birth. We think it might be because the worst part of the process, whilst it was more intense, was actually a lot shorter than the last time. And I guess it didn`t take as long for the placenta to come out, and I didn`t need any stitches (yay!), so I got to enjoy holding my little boy straight away, and for a longer period.

Half an hour later, we were still in the delivery room when DH heard voices in the corridor. It was my girlfriend and her husband. They came in for a quick visit before she got shown to her own room - they had a baby girl 6 hrs later. Pretty crazy, but really nice that we got to be neighbours on the ward.

PS Found out on the Wednesday that my ultrasound had my due date at the 21st October, so while we thought it was the 16th, we were out just a little. It also means that both of my boys were born on the day they were due!

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