Our littlest Z – Zayah Autumn was born on 29th September 2017 at exactly 8am. She is now two years old. I thought I’d write down our birth story. It’s amazing how years can go by and I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Zayah was a huge surprise to us all, I thought my period was delayed as we’d been suffering with a terrible stomach bug but alas when I took a test those two pink lines showed up pretty much immediately.
I was under consultant and midwife care, just like when we had our daughter Zara which gave me a sense of security but never the less was still nervous as hell as we know from experience all too well that some babies never make it home. We had experienced baby loss and it was the worst thing that’s ever happened to us. Our first born son was born sleeping 13 days after his due date. The consultant we saw was the same consultant who broke the news to us that Zachary had died. It was emotional to be under her care again but knew we were in good hands. We agreed to see how I was feeling towards the end of the pregnancy and I originally wanted an induction at 37 weeks which was the same with Zara. Obviously the longer I managed to hold on the more “ready” our baby would be and so as we got closer I decided I could go on until 38 weeks and I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t have been able to carry on being pregnant past that though as I would have been ridden with anxiety plus it would be too risky.
28th September was my induction date. My mum drove us to the hospital and I said goodbye to Zara. I’d never been away from her before and I cried all the way to the maternity ward. She looked so confused as mummy and daddy started walking off. Reuben assured me that she would be okay.
Our last photo together before baby sissy arrived!
We arrived at the ward and they took my blue maternity notes and sat me down so they could take my blood pressure ect. We were then shown to the bed. I’d overpacked my things as I was expecting to be here for a good few days! I stayed 3 nights and 4 days when we had Zara.
I made myself comfortable and they explained the induction process to me while hooking my bump up to the monitors. They chose to give me the gel pessary and I thought oh Jesus we are gunna be here a while aren’t we. It felt like it was burning down there once they’d put it in so I thought maybe it will work. I bounced on the ball for a while and they allowed us to go for a walk around the hospital. I had loads of family messaging me looking for updates. I FaceTimed my mum who had Zara and also my big sister who was also on FaceTime to my eldest niece she we chatted away for a while before Reuben and I went for a walk.
I’d started to feel some period like pains when we were walking around and then we went back to the ward. The pain slowly got more intense and I was gutted that I’d not been able to get the replacement pads for my tens machine in time. If you know me in real life you’ll know I’m not the most organised of people but I really do try! I started googling to see where we could get the replacement pads at such short notice and even called a few pharmacies in the area but they didn’t have any as it was quite an old tens machine. I ended up sending Reuben to camberley on the bus to pick up a brand new one from Argos!
The pain was getting more and more intense and oh my god I was so excited when he arrived with the new tens machine! We’d forgotten which part of the back to stick them on so we asked the midwife who helped us. Oh the relief! If you’ve never used a tens machine during labour or birth then you really should. You can hire them too.
It wasn’t long before the pain was increasing and I was changing the settings on the tens higher and higher. We’d brought the laptop with us so we could watch a few things as we weren’t expecting things to progress quite so quickly. Reuben put one of our favourites on “The American Race” but I couldn’t concentrate as the pain was getting really unbearable. They’d come to check me but said I wasn’t ready to move up the labour ward just yet. I really wanted gas and air as I knew this would help with the pain but they only offer ibruprofen, paracetamol and cocodamol on the ward.
It was quite late at this point and holy wow the pain was unreal. I decided I needed to go to the toilet and ended up making such a racket getting out of bed and into the corridor towards the toilet. I could barely walk it hurt so much. Got into the toilet and sat down to pee but I couldn’t and just burst into tears. Got out of the toilet and just sobbed in the corridor because I was fed up. Must have been around 3-4am.
The midwife came to check and see if my cervix was dilated enough and it actually was! Thank god for that. They said I could make my way to the labour ward which was just down the corridor so she and Reuben grabbed our things so we could start walking.
It makes me laugh thinking about it now but I was so dramatic on that walk down. I was in an unbelievable amount of pain and I was crying and holding onto the walls saying I can’t do it and stopping every 2-4 steps the whole way there. When we finally got to the labour ward I was so relieved when they offered me gas and air. I even took a few selfies in between contractions as I felt like I was “with it” again but as soon as another contraction came I’d be on that gas and air like my life depended on it!
The contractions became more and more stronger and closer together and I just wanted them to stop because I’d never felt a pain like it in my life (I have but you forget about these things when you have your baby in your arms).
Always time for a selfie!
I soon felt the urge to push. I didn’t even need to push it was so strange, my body was doing it for me automatically. I don’t remember this happening with Zachary or Zara and I was on the hormone drip for both of those births. Oh it hurt but was also a relief as I knew that our baby would be born soon. My body kept pushing and pushing and it wasn’t long until she was born. She was placed on my chest and then she cried a beautiful little cry. 
Reuben got to have a little cuddle with her and then she latched on for about 3 hours! (My little booby monster right from the start) I was so tired my eyes kept closing so I asked him to take her.
I don’t know if I slept or not but soon it was time to get up and have a shower. One of the maternity carers came in to help me wash. From having all three babies this is such an uncomfortable part. Standing up for the first time after giving birth when it feels like all of your insides are going to fall out. I managed to shower and came back in to feed Zayah. Reuben has called family and I’d spoken to my mum and sister who were arranging for us to come back home. I spoke to Zara on the phone and asked if she wanted to meet her baby sister and she said no and hung up the phone HAHA!
We were picked up around 12pm and home before 12.30 just over 24 hours since we’d left the house. I couldn’t believe we were at home so soon but relieved as it meant we could settle at home. My sister picked us up and my mum had tidied around the flat with my niece Amy and they were there when we got home and they were excited to meet Zayah.
..and just like that we became a family of 5!
