Finally got 2 minutes to write this blog post....
Maisy Rose Fitzgerald finally entered the world.
It was a somewhat unusual labour, pleasant in fact for part of it...I called hubby at 3.30pm to come home from work, being only 10 mins walk away he ran back and was with us in 5 mins. We're about half an hour's drive away from the hospital on a good day, but this was Friday 13th afternoon at just about rush hour in central London so we decided not to chance it and over-excited I called a cab and we were whisked off to hospital - I called them on the way and told them I was every 10 minutes. You need to be every 5 -7 minutes before you come in they said. That's ok I thought, should be about that by the time we get there especially as everyone kept telling me No 3 will come quickly.
Well we arrived at the hospital and they were still 10 minutes apart so being in central London we popped into a hotel for a few drinks (non-alco obviously for me!) and a bite to eat. The concierge took away our empty car seat and my overnight bag without blinking. Enjoying the ambiance of a lovely hotel bar, we checked out all the ladies in their posh frocks all glammed up for a big night out and the business men coming in for a few beers learing at the lovely ladies. I was amused as we sat quietly in a corner discretely chatting away then going quiet as each contraction rose & passed on. The tempura vegetables were delicious and my classic caesar salad went down a treat, although I did laugh when the Maitre D came over to check we were ok right in the middle of a contraction. I'm not sure he knew what was happening but he looked a little perplexed.
Finally they moved to every 5 minutes so we made our departure, on the way out the doorman on the bar asked how long I had to go, about 2 hours probably I replied, his face was a picture, oh gosh he replied, you are so small I thought you had months to go. So we laughed and crossed over to the hospital.
I had been scared about giving birth in England as both my other 2 had been in our local hospital in France and on one of my antenatal clinic appointments the midwife told me they are often full. Luckily for me on Friday 13th the Birth Centre was quiet but I was told the labour ward was full, it's a good job I wanted a natural birth then as I had the pleasure of a private room and chose a water birth.
All progressed well, I plugged in my tens machine (another new thing for this labour, I hadn't tried it before but it worked very well up to about half an hour before Maisy was born) and sat listening to my IPOD (they had a docking station in the birth room) and chatting to Darren about our plans for the new house. I remembered my sage femme in France who taught me to visualise positive future images to get through each contraction so for this birth it was images of kitchen taps, raspberry canes in the garden and playroooms.
About 10pm I'd had enough and asked for pain relief at which point the midwife told me the ward was full downstairs so I couldn't transfer and anyway it would be here soon. I didn't believe her but by now I started on gas & air and wasn't moving anywhere for anybody. She started to run the water bath in preparation but then pop! out came Maisy. I credit the Raspberry leaf tea & the homeopathic medicines from my French midwife, I'd been taking these throughout the last period of my pregnancy and they are supposed to speed up the second stage - well it couldn't have been any faster!
Suddenly I had a new baby, a little girl and she's absolutely gorgeous - a trio of filles under 3. Now I have no excuse not to buy lots of pink - Darren is totally outnumbered and fearing the days when this little trio hit their teens.
The question everyone is now asking is 'are you having any more?' You'll have to wait and see...