I never thought my birth story would be interesting enough to share on here... but it sure was in the end!! 

I was due March 15, had strong signs of labour from about 38.5 weeks. Cramping, lots of braxton hicks, back pain, period like pain, diarrhoea ... the lot! This was looking good as hubby was groomsmen at a wedding on the 11th March and we wanted bub out by then! 

On the Monday before the Saturday wedding, Midwife checked me and I was 2cm dialated, did a stretch and sweep to get things moving. Had some contractions that night then... nada! Did acupuncture, another stretch and sweep and trialled just about every old wives tale under the sun. By the Thursday I had given up and stopped everything as I didn't want to go into labour while by husband was out of town. The wedding was 7.5 hours drive away!!! 

Anyhow, after much debating on the Saturday morning, we both decided that Dan should go to the wedding as all those labour signs / symptoms I'd had earlier in the week had gone and I was feeling fine. Also, our midwife was confident that being a FTM my labour was likely to go for much longer than 12 hours at the least, so there'd be enough time for Dan to come back if need be!

At about 9pm on the Saturday night we decided Dan should stay overnight rather than drive back through the night as again, I wasn't having any symptoms. 

Cue 2am... my waters break in spectacular style all through the bed. I am home alone, my family lives in another city 9 hours away, and my close friends are also at this wedding. Great! Call Dan, he is in the car within 30 seconds on his way home. 

Call the midwife, at this stage I am not having contractions so she is confident that we will have plenty of time before labour starts... I might even need to be induced. Phew. Call hubby and parents and say that I'm going back to bed to try and get some rest. Hubby due in at 10am...

At 3am I feel quite uncomfortable so have a bath, in the bath the contractions start coming through about 4-5 mins apart straight away. Decide that I better head into hospital while I still can (as my only other mode of transport is an ambulance!). Finish packing my bags, feed the dog, and drive in. Mind you, in a manual car with contractions getting stronger by the minute!! 

Arrive by 4am, can barely talk getting admitted... am sent to admissions, get checked over and offered paracetamol... !!! Ummmmm not going to cut it. While the midwife checks me I am 3cm dilated and contractions are every few minutes. But getting so so strong! The crazy lady also does a stretch and sweep to 'get things moving' after I had already told her hubby was hours away 😳😳😳😳😳. Great. 

5am I go upstairs into L&D and the contractions are pretty much on top of each other by now. Ever since I got to the hospital I was asking for an epidural and continue to do so... apparently he was in theatre and then seeing to other people! I knew this was my only chance of slowing labour down as by 6/6:30 I could feel baby's head right down there and my body was involuntarily pushing her out. I was sure she was coming any minute with or without my hubby!! 

Meanwhile, he and my family think I'm still resting! Until he calls at 6:30am and I answer mid contraction... then he got the idea! Apparently he started bawling after that, he was so so upset 😔 

Luckily the epidural was given by about 6:45am and I could feel the pressure and pain start to wear off by 7:30am. Midwife was an absolute gem and decided not to check where bubs head was or how dilated I was until 8:30am as she knew the hospital would only let me go 2 hours without pushing if she was fully engaged / dilated. But she was monitoring bubs pulse etc and could see she was quite happy regardless. At 8:30 she confirmed bub was right there and ready to go when Dan arrived. By this stage the epidural was just bloody amazing and I was able to phone Dan and family and let them know what was happening... it looked like eh would make it after all!

At 10am Dan walks in the door, and we start pushing ten mins later after a little cuddle. Sophia was born 44 mins later - daddy cut the cord and watched the whole thing. 

Thankfully it all worked out ... my advice... don't mess with Mother Nature! She's the boss 😂 You cannot control when your little one wants to come into this world!!!