Birth story - Amelia and baby girl

I woke at 2:17am to the first signs of period cramps which were not as intense as my first labour so thought to try and sleep and see when the next cramps would come over the next hour. I had cramps roughly every 15 minutes so went downstairs to watch a movie, had another surge and thought it was a little quicker. I considered whether to wait an hour or call my mum to come over to be there for our 2 year old. I actually went to relieve my bowels which wasn't loose like first labour and had another surge so decided to call my mum (~3:30am) knowing it would be about an hour until she arrived.

Sometime after 4:30am my mum came and she asked if I was timing my surges so I used the Freya app. It said that I was in established labour after the third recorded surge but I decided to track for longer as I didn't want to go to MLU too early in case my dilation wasn't far along enough (I was 3cm with first bit lucky MLU was empty so they let me stay) I also considered a bath but decided against it thinking I didn't have as much time since it was my second labour.

Not too long after I told my husband I thought we should call the mamas line and we should leave as surges were every 4 minutes apart.

Unfortunately we couldn't get through but we stayed on the phone until we got to the hospital at about 5:30am. I definitely needed a wheelchair after walking a few steps and went straight to MLU into an examination room. I went down to the floor where there was a bean bag and stayed on all fours leaning on the bean bag. Within about 10 minutes I was examined on a reclined single bed and was told I was 9cm dilated! I couldn't believe it!

I asked if it were possible to use the pool and the midwife said she could fill it up but it would take 25 minutes and she wasn't sure if I'd make it in. She went to do something and came back, within that time the surges were really strong and fast and I said I definitely wouldn't make it to the pool 😅

The midwife said that the hot water was out so I wouldn't have been able to use it anyway. She said upright is a good position and I knew from the PBC course from the first time to turn and kneel with my arms resting on the top of the back of the reclined bed so I was upright and leaning over.

She asked if I wanted gas and air or if I was fine without as I was doing so well. I asked for gas and air to give me something to focus on as well as the Freya breathing times and stayed in this position for the rest of labour. The midwife also asked if I wanted to move into the bigger deliver room with the double bed but I didn't want to move. I was definitely mooing and the midwife just told me to go with my body and to not tense/hold baby in if I felt pushy. I didn't use much gas and air because the mask had a weird smell and didn't like feeling light headed, whereas I really relied on it the first time.

The pressure was really building and knew I had to down breathe during the surges. My waters then broke and I felt it trickle down my leg which gave a bit of relief but I knew baby's head would come. I remembered to bear down during the surge and use my down breathing and the head crowned with the ring of fire, on the next surge I really bore down and the head was out. I had to wait for another surge before pushing out the body and had instant relief when she was out. I could have waited for the placenta to come out since it was a short labour and had the energy but as my cord was a little short and I don't like the feeling of it (like a tampon that hasn't been inserted properly), I asked for the injection and the placenta came out not too long after and only a first degree tear that needed stitches as it was bleeding (second in first labour and did a bit of perineal massage for both but not religiously).

I still can't believe how quick labour was and I was able to go to 9cm. Thank you to the PBC for making me not worry about labour with both my children, especially feeling super relaxed about this second one.