Al.exander Jo.hn was born on Tuesday, September 16 at 40 weeks + 6 days. He was 9 lb 3 oz and 20 inches long.
I was woken up just after 4 am with contractions. I started timing them and they were about 5 1/2 minutes apart lasting just over a minute. After about 40 minutes I woke DH and told him to call his sister to come over to watch DS. By 6 am the contractions were down to 3 1/2 minutes apart so I called the hospital and they said to come in so we left as soon as my SIL got there. It was a long walk up to the maternity ward as I had to keep stopping during contractions that were now 2 minutes apart. We got up there around 7:30 and they put me in a room to monitor me for a bit. The midwife checked me and I was 5 cm around 8 am when they checked and decided to bring me downstairs to a birthing suite. Once there I asked for gas and air for pain relief which didn't agree with me. After I took a shower to get cleaned up I got a shot of pethidine to take the edge off the contractions. It made me sleepy and I could barely open my eyes. I got checked again and was already at 8 cm. About 25 minutes later I was feeling the urge to push but was worried I wasn't fully dilated yet so I tried to hold myself back from pushing. I asked them to check again and there was only a tiny lip of cervix left so they told me I could start pushing. My water broke while pushing and it had meconium in it so they called the pediatrician to come and check him out once he was born. Once his head was out they realized he had the cord tight around his neck. The room filled with people after that. Another big push and he was out. I watched him come out and he was blue and floppy. They cut the cord right away and rushed him off to resuscitate him. We had to ask if he was a girl or boy as his legs were closed when they rushed him away. I have never been so scared in my life. His 1 minute apgar was a 2 but the 5 minute was an 8. I had a 2nd degree tear that was stitched up after we had an hour of skin to skin time. From the first contraction to when he was born was about 6 1/2 hours and I pushed for 24 minutes. He is an amazing little boy and DS1 has been a fantastic big brother. He loves him so much and is constantly wanting to kiss and cuddle him. I'll put up a picture later.