I never expected labour to be as intense as it was!

At 10am on 20/7 I started having cramps that came every 5 minutes lasting around a minute, I thought nothing of them as they were bearable, I hadn’t dropped or had any bloody show, I didn’t think they were contractions or that I might be going in to labour.

I rang the hospital at half 12 and they didn’t seem concerned until I said I couldn’t feel any movement, so asked me to come in. It took them awhile to see to me, but at 2pm they hooked me up to monitors and explained my contractions were the latent phase and could last a few days. I was disappointed and in a lot of pain at that point. They decided to see if I was dilated and got a student midwife to check me, I was only 3cm and they were going to send me home with pain killers 😭 but they got a 2nd opinion from a doctor 5 minutes later and told me I was actually 5cm and was gonna go to the labour ward, this was around 3pm.

OH BOY as soon as I stood up my waters broke and all hell broke loose! They had to wheel me to the labour room. They tried me get me to have gas and air, which was useless and just made my mouth dry and I was in so much pain. I told them I needed to push and couldn’t stop myself. I was told they baby was in distress and her heartbeat dropped, I just couldn’t seem to push her out, so the doctors intervened and had to use vacuum, she was finally here at 3:42pm. 7.7lb and just absolutely perfect.

So far it’s been an absolute dream, she’s amazing. I haven’t quite got the hang of breastfeeding sitting up yet, so I lay down with her to feed, it works a treat. I’d love any tips, I’ve had so many midwives show me different ways but none of them seem to work.

I never expected my labour to be so quick, I’m still in shock over it and how fast it all progressed.