Norwich Mumbler Birth Story

Norwich Mumbler is back with her final guest blog and birth story . …

Bathroom Floor Baby…

Baby number 2 was an accidental bathroom floor baby and it was actually such a lovely experience (I would absolutely recommend considering a homebirth, if you can!), that when I found out I was pregnant with number 3 I immediately knew I wanted to do it again…but planned this time!

The plan was to stay at home and give birth in the bathroom again (wipe clean).  My dad even bought some Galaxy ripples so I could have one afterwards, just like I’d had the time before.

The meeting with the midwife at 36-weeks went well and she went through the checklist of things I should get ready.  I figured I had plenty of time and still didn’t have anything ready when the day came. Typical that I went into labour early!

The Best Laid Plans…

But as with all the greatest plans, you have to be ready for them to change.  Two weeks and a day before my due date, I woke in the early hours of the 14^th June with some ouchy twinges, but went back to sleep.  Then when I went to the toilet at 5am I realised I was wet.  I’ve never had pelvic floor problems during or after pregnancy, so I felt a bit annoyed that it had randomly started now…or had it? I didn’t feel like I’d wet myself as I still needed a wee.  It was then it came to me that it could possibly be something else…ah crap, I was going to have to push out a baby today!

I told my sleepy husband I suspected I may be in labour and went back to bed to see if I had any twinges that indicated I was right.  I then started to bleed, which told me something was definitely starting, so I rang Medicom at around 6am.  They said a midwife wouldn’t be able to get to me until 8am (something they hadn’t mentioned at my homebirth appointment), but as I was bleeding they would prefer me to go to N&N to be monitored.

Cue very mild panic that I a) hadn’t sorted any form of childcare plan for child 1 and child 2 b) hadn’t packed any kind of hospital/labour bag c) could potentially give birth in the car if things move as fast as they did with baby number 2.

My eldest’s ex-childminder thankfully said she’d come round straight away to look after the girls.  My husband sorted out breakfast for them as they were now awake, and I threw some basics in a bag.

The Main Event…

I needn’t have worried about giving birth in the car as everything slowed down en route to the hospital (a good job because there were roadworks stopping us going the way we would normally and we had to queue for a bit!) and were still going slow when we got there.  I was hooked up onto the monitors in Delivery Suite by a lovely midwife, Wendy, and student, Shauna.

We chatted about Dougs.  Wendy’s husband is called Doug and loves talking to everyone, my dad is called Doug and loves talking to everyone…all of this in between contractions that were quite mild, but a bit ouchy, and not lasting very long.  I told Wendy of my birth experience with baby number 2 and she agreed that when things started properly she thought it would go fast.

After around 15 minutes of monitoring everyone was happy that baby was fine and I was fine, so I was unhooked and could stand up again.  And that is when it happened.

You know that picture of different foods that represent a dilating cervix, cheerio size to bagel?  I literally felt like I went from cheerio to bagel in an instant.  Bam.  I’d gone from chatting Dougs to suddenly only being able to say ‘mat’ (as in I wanted a mat to get down on the floor) and ‘Gas and air’.

20 minutes and I think two pushes later out popped baby number 3…’It’s a boy!’

Fast forward…

I didn’t mind having to go into hospital in the end as I’m so pleased I got to have support from Midwife Wendy, who just kept telling me to trust my body, which I did.  The tea and toast afterwards on Delivery suite always tastes amazing and I was so well looked after!

Now it’s 8-weeks later and I’ve so far learned that having three children is HARD, but seeing how much the girls absolutely dote on him and start to get smiles from him in return makes all the sleepless nights, crying (me!!) and constant plate spinning worth it.

Katrin aka Norwich Mumbler 

Below are images from Remy’s newborn shoot, Katrin wasnt keen on having her photo but i think you will all agree she looks great! to book a shoot click here to get in touch.