The Birth of Aaishah

Hi Abby,

We came home late from a meal and went to bed but I couldn’t sleep. Around 1am I was having what I thought may or may not be surges as they were so irregular. At 3am I woke my husband as they were getting stronger and I was nervous without him. He started timing them but counting down from ten each time I had one to help me breath through it.

By 6am we woke up and showered, prayed and he had me resting while we made a decision on what to do as I had some bleeding. At 11am we went to the hospital with the tens machine on (though it wasn’t doing anything as it wasn’t programmed). It was definitely surges as I was 2cm dilated but luckily the midwife wasn’t concerned by the blood loss. She offered us monitoring but I said it’s best we go home and try to get some sleep. I slept between surges and my husband did a great job of keeping me calm by looking in to my eyes and counting with me. Later I took paracetamol and the tens machine (which was working really well) came off and I got in the bath. It was amazing! Much better than tens even. The warmth and having my husband there holding my hand made me breath calmly and remember that I’d meet my baby soon.

The surges became regular now so at 7.30pm we made our way to the birth unit. the midwife was a bit concerned by my bleeding and monitored my surges. At 11.30pm my mum arrived too and could see how great a job my husband was doing. I wasn’t allowed in the pool (because of the bleeding) though I had my heart set on it so around midnight I started on gas and air.

My surges were strong but I wasn’t dilating as fast as they wanted and the Doctor was concerned about the bleeding so at round 1am they moved me from the midwife unit to a birth suite to monitor me and put me in oxytocin drip.

I’m not going to lie..the Hypno in me got knocked right out for a time. Strapped to a bed, on my back, canula in one arm, blood pressure and pulse monitor in the other I had a little breakdown. It just felt like the opposite of what I wanted and I thought I’d been doing so well up to then. My husband told me how proud he was of me and him and mum reassured me I was doing a great job.

My waters broke naturally and that really got things moving. Once the sensation of pushing started Dr offered pain relief but they thought it may be too late for pethidine by the time it would be sorted. I had a clock right in my eyeline (midwife said the Dr needed it so they couldn’t take it down) so I could see that it had been over an hour of pushing but nothing was coming out. Eventually they gave me pethidine and my husband said it made me sleep between surges so I got to rest. Still counting me through my pushes things sped up when I shifted on to my side and baby Aaishah was born at 7.28am.

The second she came out I was more awake than I’d ever been and my husband announced that we had a girl! I couldn’t believe it! It was the most overwhelmingly beautiful and emotional moment. I felt great and it was all real. She was here! My amazing little miracle! My husband is my world, I couldn’t have done it without him. And I’m glad my mum was there, to reassure him that I was ok when he looked worried for me. It was strangely amazing. An indescribable experience with an unimaginable feeling of love, happiness and accomplishment at the end.

A and S, Batley