Gemma & Ben Welcome their first baby, Lola, at home

Our little girl was born on Tuesday - Lola, born at home on 28 Jun at 08.22 weighing 8.2lb. Mary-Anne/ MAC I am so grateful for everything you taught us. I breathed my way through it and did it 🥹😁

THE STORY

On Friday I had a sweep, then had my show around midday on Saturday. I started getting intermittent surges in the early hours of Sunday morning, which became more regular by midday (every 5-10 mins) and had picked up Sunday evening. I couldn’t sleep through them so I had a bath, went downstairs and used my birth ball to try and accelerate things, but this actually seems to slow things down.

We took out dog, Bella for a slooow walk at 10am Monday morning, which helped the surges to pick up again. We had our midwife visit around 2.30pm that day who said I could start using the TENS machine and I took some paracetamol to manage the pain. By 10.30pm the surges were getting very intense and I’d been in early labour for a while (this stage ended up being 35 hours in total) so we called triage and went to pick up some Oramorph (a small dose of liquid morphine) to help manage the surges. I also had an examination and was 1-2cm dilated. We were home by midnight and by this time I was in established labour (3-4 intense surges every 10 mins).

Ben filled the pool and after an hour of established labour we called out the midwife who arrived around 1.30am. My surges intensified and we removed the TENS machine so that I could get into the pool and use gas and air, which was a massive relief. Things ramped up quickly and I was 7cm dilated by 4am. The second midwife was called out. I was already feeling the urge to push during the more intense surges but we needed to empty my bladder via catheter to help things progress.

I had another examination at 6am and was 10cm and ready to start pushing. I tried a few positions in the pool - mainly kneeling and squatting, but also sitting and pushing my feet into the side of the pool which I found really helpful for pain relief. The last part (transition / pushing stage) was a challenge physically and mentally and I was starting to doubt myself and my ability to push the baby out, but Ben (my husband) and our amazing midwives coached me through this with encouraging words and deep breathing. When her head started to crown I got out of the pool and gave birth on my side on the sofa, she was born at 08.22am on 28 June weighing 8.2lb, I just listened to counting over and over… 1 2 3 in 1 2 3 4 5 6 out.