Amelias Pregnancy and Birth Story

I’d like to take a second to mention a potential “trigger warning” as this post talks about pregnancy, intense induced labour and baby arriving in shock. Please don’t read ahead if you are affected by any of these things.

So let’s rewind back to my pregnancy with Amelia – I’ll try my best to include as much as I can anyway.
Before discovering I was pregnant, we’d just moved into our first flat together and on the night we moved in, I remember going out to a club for a friends birthday. I only had one (alcoholic) drink but found that it tasted funny so left half of it. This wasn’t right! I wasn’t a big drinker anyway, but I’d never just leave a drink.
A couple of weeks passed and hubby and I had got an M&S meal for two in, ready for valentines night. I remember this clearly because it had a bottle of Rosé with it which we still had in the fridge almost 2 years later! Anyway, my period was usually like clockwork, but I assumed due to the stress of moving, that’s why it was late.
On the 12th of February, I decided to take a test. I did tell hubby I was going to take one, but I’d planned to wait until he was home from work – I just couldn’t wait! I took the test and when I read the “positive” result, I dropped to the bathroom floor in shock and called hubby. I remember it that clear that I know it was 8:32am when I called him! We were both in shock, but it was really happening!
A couple of weeks later, before having our first midwife appointment (I think) we actually ended up in A&E as I was having pains in my lower stomach. I was so scared. In A&E they confirmed my pregnancy and gave me morphine for the pain before sending me in an ambulance over to a hospital that had the facilities to check me over correctly due to being pregnant. We waited for hours to be seen. When we were seen, they told me that as the pregnancy was at the very early stages, they couldn’t be sure if it was actually an ectopic pregnancy or not. It was a waiting game really as they couldn’t scan me that early either.
I remember I received a phone call being offered an internal scan, by a trainee, to check to see if the pregnancy was viable. I accepted as I was desperate to know! Luckily, we were told that our little prawn was fine.

7weeks 6days

My appointments after the scare went smoothly and the little one was growing so well and as expected.
We did have a few midwife appointments where my midwife was concerned about the baby’s heartbeat, so we went to the hospital for monitoring. Each time baby was fine though.

When I had the test for Gestational Diabetes at 24 weeks pregnant, the result was positive. I had to start really tracking what I was eating, along with testing my blood sugar levels before and after meals – from what I remember.
After weeks of keeping track of everything, I remember going to an appointment after having a few days of constant high readings. The consultant and I were discussing the potential of controlling the Gestational Diabetes with tables, instead of it being diet controlled. But, as I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, we opted for early induction instead – as I prefer not to take medication unless it’s really necessary.

So there I was, booked in for induction at 39 weeks + 2 days.

My induction went the full three days. It was the longest 3 days I’ve ever experienced!
I had multiple sweeps and pessaries, but nothing changed. I remember walking the full length of the hospital grounds and finally having that feeling the Amelia had dropped. I was waddling so much! But still, no matter how much I was walking around, my waters had to be broken for me on the morning of the third day. Goodness, it was worse than a water balloon – haha.
Later that day, at 39+5, I was put onto the hormone drip to kickstart labour and contractions. They put me on such a high dosage of the hormone that, although I chose not to have pain relief, I desperately wanted it! Luckily, the midwife looking after me knew how much I didn’t want pain relief really, she denied me having it – which I’m so grateful for!
I think we were about 5 hours in when I ended up being prepped for an emergency cesarian section. I was given what I can only imagine being pain killers and after necking them, I threw the paper cup across the room because I was in so much discomfort. This was when they finally checked me again and realised I was nearly ready to push. This was when they sent me to go to the loo. I felt like Amelia was going to fall out of me! The midwives changed the bed and when I eventually got back to it, it was time.

With 3 pushes, Amelia arrived. She was in shock and taken to the incubator. Meanwhile, I was absolutely clueless as to what was going on, I remember turning to my mum and crying “I did it mum, I did it”.