Jo's Birth Story

I started getting mild contractions at 2.00am which gradually built up and became more painful at around 5.00am, so we rang through to the hospital and on arrival were taken to one of the 'home from home' rooms which was a lot nicer and less clinical than the room that I gave birth to Morgan in. My midwife was lovely lady called ruth who put me straight at ease by encouraging me to breathe and telling me to listen to my body which by this point was already telling me to push,so i just went with it and after about six contractions with me pushing as

well, I began to feel the baby's head crown. Ruth at this point told me to blow short sharp breaths without pushing until i could feel the next contraction,then push along with it,your words 'ring of fire' came to mind at this point! It was then that his head was born and after another contraction the rest of him,along with a big gush of water.

Ruth gave him straight to me for a cuddle and after few minutes he began to feed. It was lovely!

It was so much more relaxed than last time, Mathew got to cut the cord, and after about 10 minutes Ruth asked me to push out the placenta, which she then showed to us both and explained which side was which etc. I also had a student midwife present who was also really lovely and helpful, it was the first birth she'd seen for real so she was a little choked too!

The whole feel in the room was very chilled and just what we'd hoped for. I managed to cope with out any pain relief, only my TENS machine, and also got away without having to have stitches, which has been fantastic and a lot more comfortable than last time.

After the birth I did feel quite weak,and nearly passed out of couple of times so they advised me to stay a night in hospital until I was stronger,but that was fine, I was unable to rest tho' due to other babies crying, excitment,etc

We took Francisco ( 'Fran' for short) home to meet Morgan the next day, which was sweet but Morgan had a really bad cold, bad timing!

I'm really enjoying the breast feeding and Fran seems to have taken to it really well, in fact I'm enjoying the whole experience of having a new baby about the house again, both Mat and I seem a lot more relaxed parents 2nd time around. The hardest part is making sure that Morgan's ok really and still gets plenty of mummy time. He seems to get used to the idea more every day. I can't wait till Fran gives him a big smile.

Oh,and Fran's health's fine, no problems with his bottom,which was great news.

The breathing was great through the painful contractions, I didn't 'moo' my baby out, but I certainly made a few unearthly noises!

I forgot to say that I gave birth in a kneeling position on the bed clutching onto the head rest for support, the bed was central in the room so Mat could mop my head,give me water,etc. It was a great position and my knees were really comfortable,gravity definately gave me a hand!