I didn’t think I would be posting my birth story for a fair few more weeks but here I am, my little boy couldn’t wait to meet us!

Let me start out by saying this is going to be hellaaaa long as my whole life is just bizarre lol 🙃

So first things first, I have a bicornuate uterus with such a severe dip they have classed it as a septum on several occassions, (heart shaped uterus) it’s fairly common to have this but not so common to have it almost completely split in half as mine is.

It caused a lot of pregnancy problems for my first pregnancy my 3 year old daughter Isla who was born at 37+1 via section (whole other story and that’s a long one too lol) I had hyperemesis, diastasis recti, spd and she was breech, she was a planned section due to being breech and she ran out of room in my uterus so wasn’t putting on weight as she was so squished and actually started suffocating. The planned c section did NOT go well I will explain later on.

Fast forward to May 2018. After 3 miscarriages (6week, 7-8 week&10 week) I got pregnant for the 5th time and was petrified!

We got caught on in sunny beach while extremely drunk and under the drs orders of not getting pregnant due to them wanting to test the reasons for recurrent miscarriages.. well the pill failed me 🙃😬

Got an amazing souvenir though!

I was due on Valentine’s Day 2019!

I was so scared I was going to lose him and each milestone was just indescribable relief, my sickness wasn’t half as bad and neither was the aches and pains I had with isla I hated pregnancy with isla I was miserable and couldn’t work. I also had periods every 4 weeks due to my other side of my uterus not knowing I was pregnant lol 😑

This time around I was in my element I LOVED pregnancy, I worked every day, I had long nails my hair grew thick and shiny and my skin was amazing, I was rarely sick and my aches and pains were next to none!

Apart from 3 haemorrhages at the beginning I had the perfect pregnancy in my eyes.

Until 26 weeks...

Contractions 👌🏼

And again a few days later...

And again an again.

I went to the hospital 4 times and each time the test for pre term labour was negative but contractions were showing up on the monitor and quite strong too.

I kept getting sent home but I knew something wasn’t right.

All this time I was having stress too from my consultant trying to force me to have a VBAC even though he was transverse breech and I have severe PTSD from the miscarriage at 10 week which again is a whole other story but I basically go into shock any time I bleed or anything has to come out that area such as clots and discharge etc. Hence why my 3rd miscarriage had to be d and c as I wasn’t physically and emotionally able to pass naturally.

So I had a lot of arguments and stress on.

Anyway. Tuesday 11th December. I’m wearing shorts and no pants as I had just woken up and they’re baggy pyjama shorts, well I stand up and out pours some liquid... oh... it was just a dribble it’ll be watery discharge I’ve been having loads lately. But every time I stood up or moved out came some more.

I put on a pad and rang my mum she told me to get isla and myself to her ASAP. I had my midwife appointment at 1.40 and it was 12.30 so I said I’ll drop isla off and go to it alone and then my mum can check me out anyway.

As soon as I get there BAM period pains. Low down though mind.

So I mentioned it to my mum she said you’re in labour Ciara. I’ll put £100 on you being in labour.

So I obviously didn’t believe her I was 30 week 5 days she was being over dramatic and how many times can I actually go onto that labour ward without having to pay rent anyway 🙄

Midwife checks me over, no you’re fine if you feel any worse or anything call labour suite.

So every 20 mins these period pains come and go I pack some stuff in case but I am messaging everyone like no I’m fine I’m not going up they’ll laugh at me I’m being a wimp and a hypochondriac.

My partner begged me to go to hospital so 5.30pm off I trot, reluctantly after calling them.

I get there they do an internal and nope not my waters I knew it, now I look an idiot again 🤦🏼‍♀️

Until they say but your preterm labour test is positive.

I’m hooked up to monitor and sure enough tightening cramps everything I was feeling was actual labour but I wasn’t dilating due to him being transverse and no pressure on my cervix.

So I tell my partner to come up to hospital and as I’m so early I get transferred to a hospital over an hour away that I’ve never been to.

All night Tuesday and all day Wednesday just continued with contractions and pain relief but they were coming at 2-3 mins apart they were talking about c section a lot and had made me fast but I never believed I would be going down I thought they were just having things prepared in case I went into labour. Turns out I’d been in labour 33 hours 🤦🏼‍♀️

So I had very little packed and DEFINITELY wasn’t packed for labour or a section. I had all baby’s stuff though, that he doesn’t need 🙃

Then I heard the words okay were ready down in theatre off we go.

Wait. What?!

I thought I had just had the pre discussions and signed the documents in case, but my waters hadn’t gone and although I was having and feeling the contractions I didn’t feel like I was in labour!

I had to text my mum my dad and my partner texted his we seriously had no idea how serious they were about having my baby boy that night 🙈

We get down to theatre I’ve been stabbed 19 times already by magnesium infusion drips, cannulas, steroid shots, diamorphine and a whole lotta other stuff which is top notch when you have a phobia of needles ☺️

I tell them how anaesthetic only worked on my right side with isla which is why I was put to sleep, they lost her heart rate and she needed out so didn’t have time to wait for it to start working.

So she over did it lol, I couldn’t breathe but I didn’t care I was just glad I knew I wouldn’t feel a thing at all 😂

My partner came in all scrubbed up sat beside me and was amazing throughout constantly reassuring me and just being a saint 💕

I feel tugging and pressure and a whole lot of weight relief so I told my partner he’s born I felt it! And sure enough he was here! He wasn’t crying or breathing though..

Surely god hadnt given us our rainbow for this long just to take him away now 😩

The anticipation was too much, Luke went over and took pictures while I got stitched up but still no cry and lots of nurses trying to get him to breathe it was the longest few seconds of my life but I saw his long arm reach up and I knew he was fine, he was breathing but too little to cry 💔😭

They said let him see mum and as they turned him onto his side he opened his eyes for the very first time and stared straight at me 😭😭

My partner was bawling I was bawling and my anaesthetist was amazing cheering me on so much bless her!

He got taken to SCBU weighing 3lb10 no idea of his length even to now as they don’t measure until they leave for home.

Malakai Luke Finney was born at 21.30pm on 12/12/2018 at 30 weeks 6 days gestation.

Labour started at 12.30pm on Tuesday 11th and he was born 21.30pm the next day on Wednesday ☺️

He’s such a fighter and is currently on jaundice treatment and CPAP but he’s amazing and can definitely cry now lol!

I’m so besotted and so is his daddy.

I got to see him 3 hours after my surgery as I was so desperate I was trying to jump out of bed every two minutes to prove I had some feeling in my legs.

I haven’t held him yet or changed his nappy but I’m expressing and he’s taking small amounts of my milk every hour and I couldn’t be prouder of him or my body for being able to pull through all this.

And to top off this amazing start to our journey, my partner proposed to me in the SCBU! I honestly cannot be happier!

I have missed loads out I know (can you believe there’s more to this long ass story 🙈😂)

But I’m still in the hospital recovering and hopefully get to stay with him a little longer before being discharged or being transferred to our local hospital.

I’ll keep giving updates on my beautiful little Malakai but for now thanks for reading if you got this far 🙈😂💕

If you have any questions about the parts where it says another story comment below and I’ll be happy to explain, plus any questions about the labour or having a premature baby I’ll be glad to answer too it’s an overwhelming time for sure! ☺️