New motherhood blogger – Lucy

I am so pleased to welcome my new blogger Lucy. I love working with new mums/parents and sharing their different experiences and stories.

Over to the lovely Lucy …

At 17:36 on the 27th March 2024 we welcomed our beautiful little girl Aubrey Talbot-Hart to the world. At 41 weeks, she was a healthy 8lbs 5oz (or as we thought, this was later corrected by the midwife to an even healthier 8lbs 9oz).

Being our first baby both myself and my partner were so excited to finally meet our little bundle of joy. We hadn’t found out if we were having a baby boy or girl at any scans so the anticipation was growing. However, the anticipation also grew with the imminent stages of labour and birth on the horizon.

I had made no dream plans for the birth, of course hoping for a text book, minimal pain relief, water birth. My partner is a planner and had found it hard to take my laid back approach towards this. Working in healthcare myself I knew the reality was, that it was out of my hands.

I worked till 38 weeks, and was keen to get in my self care before the big day came. Nails done, pedicure complete, and several brunches with family and friends, our due date came and went. We had been told throughout that our baby was likely to be big, although gestational diabetes was ruled out, I became increasingly anxious whether a big baby would make things complicated.

At 40+2, a Friday, I experienced my first sweep, hoping by the end of the weekend perhaps we would be a family of three. We walked a lot and on the Sunday spent the day in the cold and wind at Cly coast. Monday morning arrived and still no signs. At this point I needed to decide whether to elect for a C-section or induction at 41 weeks. Conversations with a consultant the previous week had left this in the air and I really wasn’t sure what I wanted. Monday morning was another sweep, another lunch with my Mum and a walk round the village.

That evening the signs began and I was so excited, but also terrified. My partner arrived home from work and he started packing bags in to the car, excited to think soon we may be at the hospital. Little did he expect to have to wait a further 48 hours.

My contractions came steadily overnight, about every 8-10 minutes apart. With some concerns about my waters, we were checked at the hospital Tuesday morning but sent home to continue, as both myself and baby were all ok and labour needed to progress further. Several hot baths later, my contractions were now 3-4 in 10 minutes.

We returned to the hospital and started to prepare for a normal labour and got in the water. I was now 24 hours gone and I was now in active labour. Unfortunately things were slow for us but the care we received was outstanding. The next 24 hours were tough, with decisions taken out of our hands but eventually with some help from the incredible medical team our little ones cries filled the room and my partner was able to tell me ‘it’s a girl!’.

Lucy