My story.

So our perfect little man is 3 weeks old tomorrow and I still can't believe that this perfect little bundle of joy is ours after waiting 3 years to become parents.

On Friday the 9th of November I had a routine midwife appointment which I told my midwife that I was really suffering with my back to the point I would be crippled over in pain and that I had so much pressure down below as if something was going to fall out. My midwife told me it a was just pregnancy and to be prepared for worse and to ride it out. On the Sunday night I felt a massive movement in my stomach which actually hurt. Since that massive movement I couldn't feel our baby move which really worried me as he had always been so active and especially after the painful movement o had concerns. I got asked to go to hospital to be monitored to which his heart rate was fine but I still couldn't feel anything. I got sent home from the hospital and told to phone up by 8 o'clock that evening if I hadn't felt any movements, we then had to go back up that evening to be monitored again to which was the same his heart rate was fine but still no movement. They booked us a biophysical profile ultrasound for the next day to see what was going on with baby. We went for the scan and everything came back fine with us scoring the highest score meaning there was concerns but I still couldn't feel him, we were told to come back if we felt nothing tomorrow. I woke up on the Wednesday with still no movement and thought to myself there's no point going back to the hospital as they will just say come back again if I can't feel him, my husband insisted that we had to go back as he wasn't satisfied as we had no answers as to why we couldn't feel him moving. We went up on the Wednesday and were on the monitor for an hour and half which was the longest I had been kept on it. A doctor came in and said as we were 38+2 they were going to induce me at 4 o'clock so we had to go and get all our stuff. We got to the hospital and around 8 o'clock a midwife came round to check my cervix as she was going to insert the gel to start softening my cervix, we were told that it could be 3-4 days stay as it was our first and I was being induced early. The midwife checked my cervix and looked so surprised which really concerned me as I had no idea what she was going to say but she asked me if I was feeling contractions as I was 3cm dilated which I hadn't been feeling anything. She had to use a lower does of the gel as I was already labouring in my own. They told me it could still take a few days and not to expect anything to happen over night so I sent my husband hime to get some sleep in case it happened the next day. After he left I could definitely feel the contractions but they were bearable around midnight a midwife came round and said that in an hour after one midwife had finished her break they were going to come check me as they said my contractions were getting more regular. At 1:30 she came and checked and said that she was going to break my waters as I was 3 cm still and to ring my husband. My waters were broken at 1:45 and the contractions got so intense automatically. 5 minutes later my midwife came round to get me and I walked to my labour room. I was in the labour room for 5 minutes when I told her that I kept wanting to close my legs as I felt something was going to come out, she told me that it's our body's natural reaction to pain trying to stop it. The monitor couldn't pickup our babies heart rate so she said she needed to put a clip on his head. As she went to put the clip on she asked me how log my husband was going to be which was about 20/30 minutes as I was already 10 cm and my body was naturally trying to push, my husband and sister managed to get there in time and our perfect little boy Arthur William Steven was born on Thursday 15th November at 4:01am weighing 6lb 6oz at 38+3 weeks.

I honestly couldn't believe how quickly it all happened and with just a few puffs of gas and air. I never thought that when I went to the hospital on the Wednesday I would be coming home on the Thursday afternoon with my beautiful baby boy.