I Wonder If I’ll Ever Post This.. I’m In Labour!!

Wow! I found this this morning and forgot I’d started it )fair enough as it was followed by another 30 hours of labour!) Heres an insight into my early labour:

Written Tuesday 1 December 2015 (Josh was born 2 December at 17.01)

Hi Everyone,

This is a random post, one that I’m not sure I’ll ever post because if I’m wrong and I’m not in labour I’ll look like a right idiot!!

So I couldn’t get to sleep last night – restless legs were playing up. But I also started to feel as though I had a sore tummy. I gave up in the end and got up to go and lie on the sofa with a cup of tea as I was worried I’d wake up my hubby. But as the time went on I could feel my bump getting tight and really starting to hurt! At first it hurt cause I could feel babies head lower and lower so it was short sharp pains very low down. But then I started to realise I was having cramps and a lot of lower back pain.  At about 3am I decided to go back up to bed and try and sleep.I think I got about 4 hours and I woke up as my husband was leaving for work. I decided not to bother him just yet and tell him that I thought something was happening in case I was wrong and these pains went away.

So I got up at about 8 and had tea and some cereal. Still I was feeling cramps and back pain and every now and then it would intensify. I wasn’t timing anything at this point and decided to go to the supermarket to see if being active made a difference. It didn’t! I must have looked like I was in some pain because I had one chap in Tescos ask if I was ok and to tell him if I needed a chair or anything; what a sweetheart. But I knew in my head it was best to just go home. So I got back and I’ve spent the morning putting up my Christmas tree and trying to keep busy. But still I’m having these cramps and back ache. Around lunch time I started to feel really rubbish and shaky so I sat and had a decent lunch and decided I wanted a bath. I have heard before baths can slow down labour, and if this is labour I didn’t want to slow it down – bring it on (along with the pain killing drugs that I am so going to need), so I decided to ring one of the wonderful midwives and get some advice. Having explained how I felt since about 2am, she agreed it sounded like promising early labour signs, and that a bath was a good idea; apparently it’s a bit of a myth that a bath will slow it down. She told me if it was early labour I’d still have these pains when I got out the bath.

After a lovely hour in the bath, I’m now on my sofa. And yes, I’ve still got the pains and cramps so I’ve started to time them. They are still few and far between; maybe two every half an hour. I decided to write to keep myself distracted although they are getting a bit tougher to ignore. It’s funny the things that are going through my head. When I got out the bath, I noticed my toenail varnish was all chipped. All I could think was “I can’t go to hospital with those looking like that”! I was determined to try and paint them so I wouldn’t look like a total mess. Then as soon as I started to do it I just thought, what the hell am I doing – I can barely reach my feet and if anything I look even more of a mess now! So I gave up on that.

Right now (it’s 15.50 so I’ve been having these cramps for a good long while now) I am feeling fairly (!) calm, it’s almost as if I don’t want to get my hopes up. Ironically last night when I did get a couple of hours sleep, I had a dream I was holding my baby; I can’t remember if it was a girl or a boy but it was all chubby and cute. I am thinking maybe I’ll meet my baby in the next day or two. I’ve got the midwife tomorrow so, assuming this doesn’t progress too much over night, perhaps she’ll tell me I’m on my way. I hope so…..!  I’m calm, relaxed but also a bit scared and overwhelmed! I hope that I get to add to this post and I really hope one day I post it – I like to think you guys would enjoy the read. Xxx