Meeting Aylah

My husband and I found out we were expecting our first child, a little girl, due on the 19th of April. I’ll never forget that feeling of looking down to see the two very clear lines on that pee stick! The wave of emotions! I made a cute little “You’re going to be a dad” box for my husband to open when he came home from work. I had told him I had a present for him.


When he arrived home after what felt like years (it was only about 3 hours), I gave him the box. He opened it and smiled. I started crying, so of course, he started crying. We were overwhelmed with many emotions, joy being at the forefront.


My pregnancy was fairly easy-going. I had no complications apart from high blood pressure at times, and thankfully it never developed into anything sinister. I never had much of a birth plan, although I did know that I wanted as little intervention as possible.


I woke up early hours of a Tuesday morning (the 18th of April) with slight contractions, ages apart and not too intense. I couldn’t go back to sleep because of the excitement, is this really it?? All throughout the day on the Tuesday we cleaned up around the house in between my contractions which were slowly becoming stronger and closer together.


About 9 pm that night, I gave the hospital a call to let them know, and we decided it would be best to head up to be checked out to be on the safe side. Sure enough, I was about 3cm (only 3cm after all that time?!) dilated, and the baby was doing well. I decided to go back home where I was more comfortable until the contractions became stronger and closer together.


Back at home, I tried getting some rest which just seemed impossible. By this point, I was already exhausted as I had been awake with contractions since 1:00 am Monday night/Tuesday morning, and it was around 11 pm Tuesday night.


I tried using a TENS machine to assist with the pain so I could rest, but at the time, I felt like it did nothing. I decided to try the shower. It was amazing!! I stood at home in the hot shower while my husband and Mum slept (Mum came over when we came home from the hospital to be another support person for us).


My mum woke up around 2 am and said we should probably go back to the hospital. I agreed with her as the contractions were getting much stronger by this point. So, we got all our gear ready and went to the hospital. Thankfully I lived 2 minutes away at the time because boy being in the car is uncomfortable when you’re having contractions!! I had about four towels on my car seat as the week before that we had brought a brand-new Mazda cx-9 and I didn’t want my waters to break all over the new car!


By the time we got up to the hospital, it was somewhere between 2, and 3 am. I walked in, and they took one look at me and knew straight away that I wasn’t leaving until I had this baby. They took me up and settled me into a birthing suite. I stripped off and got back in the shower almost straight away as I found it to be the best pain relief.


As morning rolled around, the doctor came in to check how far I was. I was about 6 cm dilated. They asked if I would like to try the bath for pain relief. I gave it a go- and hated it! I had started spewing my guts up- I couldn’t even keep a sip of water or apple juice down. By this point, I was well and truly over it. I was absolutely exhausted.


I felt relaxed in the bath but too relaxed that I felt like my contractions started stopping, and I began falling asleep in-between contractions. My husband had to hold me up and keep waking me up. I decided to get out as I was petrified the contractions would stop and I would have to go for a caesarean.


Back in my room and on the bed for a check. They decided to put a catheter in ( I can’t remember why) and wow, I swear that pain was worse than pushing out a watermelon! I hated it. Luckily, I had some gas just as they were going to give it to me. I had no pain relief at all at this point, and they suggested I try gas. I absolutely loved the gas. It didn’t take the pain away but made it manageable! I was able to crack funny jokes with how deep my voice went when I had the gas (I can’t believe no one mentioned that to me, and the fact that you get gas farts afterwards haha).


I was checked over again, and I was about 8cm dilated. The doctor came in and suggested I have the epidural as I had been in labour for hours and hours, and my blood pressure was rising. I remember shaking my head while sucking on the gas. I was adamant I was not having it! My husband also knew I didn’t want it and voiced that for me. Plus, I was 8cm! I was almost ready to push!


Standing in the shower (again) sucking on the gas, this intense feeling washed over me, and my body started pushing! I yelled out to my midwives “I’m pushing”. Well, everyone all of a sudden ran around crazy. Before I knew it, I was back on the bed being checked over. My midwife decided to break my waters to get it moving along. By this point, it was well and truly after lunchtime! Well, breaking my waters sure helped. I began pushing—what a relief after all those hours in labour with the constant pressure.


I put the gas down to focus properly on listening to my midwives and pushing correctly.


I pushed for about an hour or so, and my beautiful girl, Aylah, was finally born at 3.38 pm on the 19th of April. I was lucky enough to have no tears, only a small graze that didn’t need stitches.

 

 

Ayla latched fairly well, and we had a great breastfeeding journey. I breastfed her on demand until she was almost 2.5 years old!

 

Almost four years on, we recently started trying for another baby. We were trying for about six months before I fell pregnant with our second child. I went in for my dating scan around seven weeks to find out that there was no fetal pole. I was experiencing a Blighted Ovum. I was absolutely shattered. A few weeks went on, and after a few more scans and doctors’ appointments, I was scheduled to have an emergency D and C.

 

I had never had surgery before, and being someone who suffers from anxiety, this was a huge deal for me. In the end, everything went really well, and hopefully, we will get back to actively trying for our second baby over the next few months!