a third birth story {part one}

Anyone who has followed this blog from the beginning, or who as read my previous two birth stories, will know that I like to take my time with it. I just like to pour the whole thing out in words, with as much detail as I can remember (it's amazing how quickly after the details become hazy) and with a little help from the hubby who often remembers different details to me. And this time is no different. I joked soon after our third little treasure came along that anyone expecting a long, multi-part birth story this time around like the previous two, would more than likely be disappointed. This third little one made a pretty swift entry into the world after all. But as it turns out, whether is happens quickly or not, there is still so much that happens and so much to remember. And so today I'm going to begin sharing my third birth story. And it will be in multiple parts (but I promise not as many as the other two). So here goes...

Our due date with this third pregnancy was a closely guarded secret. And this was the case for many reasons; babies rarely arrive on their date anyway, there was much discrepency between what I though my dates were, what the scan said my dates were, and what my bump measured my dates as; and so there just didn't seem much point to me in sharing our official due date. Our little Flump bump would come when she was good and cooked, and that would be sometime in October 2015.

Officially our due date was the 14th, but I figured the due date to be nearer the 22nd (a whole week later) while my bump measured large this pregnancy, and with two previous babies who came a little before due date, my midwives were estimating it to possibly be as early as the 7th-10th. I think most people would agree that that's a fairly big window of time, but actually I found it was really positive for me not to focus on a date, but simply a month. I knew that even if I went two weeks overdue (which seemed highly unlikely given my history) I would still have a baby by the end of October, which was a nice feeling.

I kept my eyes focused on the 22nd (ish) feeling pretty sure that the baby would arrive around then, while Rich took our "October" due date so seriously that from the 1st onwards he asked me daily if I felt it would be any time soon... like I would know. 

From around September time he had decided that I was going to go into labour on October 12th. Quite where this idea came from I am still not sure; I think it was partly because it was a few days before due date which is around when the older two had come, and I think it was partly because the 12th was a Monday, and Monday's are manic in this house, and if anything was going to bring on labour it was a busy Monday. I blew his predictions off as being far to early and kept focused on 'my date' a couple of weeks later.

However Rich was so determined it was going to be the 12th that when the day dawned he decided to work from home, something which I thought was utterly ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to have an extra pair of hands to help on a manic Monday, not least because I was heavily pregnant, but I just didn't feel at all like I was about to go into labour any time soon. 

I joked through the day about how disappointed he was going to be, and I was going to enjoy him being wrong (something which so rarely seems to happen in this house that I like to really relish the moment when it does). We went about our Monday madness; school runs, preschool runs, dance classes, back home for dinner, bed and bath... no signs. I wasn't sure whether I was smug that I was right, or a little disappointed he was wrong; probably a mixture of both. Because as much as I didn't feel like labour was near, I did feel ready to meet our baby girl, and more than anything I felt so so ready to not be pregnant any longer.

After we'd tucked the kids into bed that night, I teased him smugly and he basically admitted defeat. He did point out that there was still a fair bit of day left for things to get started, but I think even he was pretty sure now that I was right and nothing was going to happen that day.

We settled ourselves down to watch a bit of television and generally make the most of a relaxing evening together, which we knew were about to become a thing of the past again. We made plans for the next day; Rich was going to go into work a bit later so he could drop the little man at school on route so that the beautiful girl and I didn't need to rush out. We discussed baby names again for the umpteenth time, and decided that maybe we needed to meet this new baby girl to be 100% sure who she was before we picked.

And then at 9:28 exactly, as I lay on the sofa watching a bit of Homeland, I felt a pop.

If I've given you a taste for a birth story and then left you hanging, you could always check out my first birth story and my second birth story while you wait. Or you can watch our birth story video.