Happy Birthday Plum

A birth story

(it seems only fair as I wrote one for Bean)

Women love to tell their birth stories, it must be part of the process I think, or a way of us making sense of it all as much as we can, there really isn't anything else like it on earth and not something that can be wholly explained or described to those who have not had the pleasure (yes, I said pleasure)

Plum was born one year ago today and her arrival was a great relief and joy. She was technically 10 days early, according to the medical profession but arrived just as the good Lord planned on the second of January. I was in a lot of discomfort having suffered with pelvic pain for at least the last three months and was using crutches just to get to the bathroom and generally avoiding moving if I possibly could. Every position hurt, sitting, lying down, standing and especially walking.

Very early the previous morning (about 4.30am) I woke up in the single bed in the spare room in more pain than usual and was secretly hoping that Plum was on her way but it was hard to distinguish at this point as so much hurt in the pelvic area. Bean had woken up early too and came in bed with me for a cuddle and more sleep until morning. By 6.30 I had gone back to sleep truly miserable. I was so uncomfortable for the rest of the day and my mood was generally low. It was a Sunday so we went to church in the morning and I took a nap in the afternoon. By the time I woke up I knew Plum was on her way. No enormous labour pains but definitely frequent niggles that were more than the general discomfort I had. I didn't tell daddy though as I knew he had to take the evening service at church and I'm not one for fast labours so I packed him off with a secret smile that evening as he said, 'don't go into labour whilst I'm gone!'

I put the boys to bed and then got some things ready. There was a lot to get ready in the general sense as all our baby goodies were in the loft still. We had thought of getting them down and washed and in the right places over the Christmas period but I guess the whole idea of nesting had passed us by during the festive season and we hadn't got around to it. We were planning a home birth though so I wanted to make sure I had the room ready and the excercise ball out and I put on the TENS machine.  I, of course, told daddy when he returned. We also rang our friends SGS and SGG to see if the boys good go and sleep at theirs. They came and collected them at 9pm and shortly after we rang the hospital to enquire on the availability of midwives. They consequently sent them out to us, far too early in the proceedings but as it was cold and dark and they had travelled a distance they both choose to stay. We had the pleasure of having Jessie, who had delivered Pumpkin (but that's another story) and Leigh (who was permanently in residence after Bean's birth) so we had the unusual privilege of knowing both midwives.

It was about 10.30pm when they arrived and they did all their protocol examinations and tour of the house and then we settled down with tea and biscuits. A lot of the discussions focussed around possible birthing positions as the pelvic condition was very limiting. Things were very slow and I was having mild to medium contractions on and off for hours with one enormous one which took us all by surprise and put us on a false start for a while. At some point in the middle of the night I was getting tired, mostly from just being awake, and went upstairs for a lie down. One of the midwives followed shortly after to listen to baby's heart and my waters broke...but that was the high drama of the night!

By 4am the midwives were obliged to repeat their examinations and we discovered that I was still 6cm dilated, the same as I had been 6 hours early...very unencouraging. So a plan was devised! it was suggested that I had a sweep, which until that point I had never had before, it was suggested that this might encourage some action. So at just after 4am I had a sweep and at 4.53am we had a baby in the room. My lovely husband was there the whole way through and held on to me tight and supporting my weight as I ended up delivering standing up. 

We are so blessed to have been given Plum into our family and it has been a joy, not only to see her grow, but also to see how her brothers have seamlessly accepted her onto our little family unit. It is also only now that I am truly appreciating my decision to take a photo of her every day for a year. I knew the time would fly by and I didn't want it to go unnoticed.