Well, what can I say - she's here! Florence Marja Chalmers was born at 00:05 on Friday 11th September, after what can only be described as a dream labour - absolutely awesome!
We are so happy with our beautiful little girl, and have settled down to family life rather nicely already, with nappy changes, feeds, tiny outfits, singing and playing all coming rather naturally to us and little Florrie.
Without going into too much detail, I'll give you a near blow-by-blow account of Florence's entrance into this amazing world... Warning, there will be mention of blood, lady bits and stitches...
Wednesday 9th September was my birthday, so Scott and I went for a curry at Forest Spice in Hythe - nothing too spicy, just our favourite curry place at the moment. We got home, watched a dvd then went to bed.
Thursday 10th September
4am - I woke up with low down contractions, which I put down to Braxton Hicks (practise) contractions.
4:30 - starting to time contractions - very regular, 8 minutes apart, lasting 50 seconds. Phoned Ashurst to ask if this could be it - "Quite possibly - stay at home and keep us updated of how regular the contractions are. When they are less than 5 minutes apart, you'll need to call us again."
8:00 - relatively normal day begins, with a definite air of expectation - would she arrive today or tomorrow? First time labour can last days, so not pinning hopes on a quick delivery. Checked and rechecked labour and birth bags.
16:00 - called Ashurst birth centre to update - now 5minutes between contractions. Advised to stay home until contractions get really strong. "How will I know that they're really strong?" "Oh, you'll know!!!"
18:00 - walked into Hythe with Scott to buy something for dinner, plus various baby websites said that walking can help speed things up a bit.
19:00 - home from Hythe, dinner in the oven (steak and kidney pie with chunky chips).
19:00 - Ok. She was right. I KNOW I'm in labour for real now - much stronger contractions. Called Ashurst and said contractions were 3 minutes apart, lasting a minute. "Can I stay home to have my dinner and then come in?" (Been told it's helpful to have a meal so that energy levels remain high through the labour)
20:00 - Arrived at Ashurst with all bags and baby carrier in place. Met the midwife - Happy Hannah, who encouraged us to make ourselves comfortable in the green labour room (they have two labour rooms at the birth centre).
20:30 - Warning - lady bits alert... I had an internal examination to see how dilated my cervix was - 4cm. To deliver you need to be 10cm, but normally women turn up who are only 1 or 2cm dilated, so I have been a very good girl to stay at home so long, apparently! During contractions, Scott rubbed my back and helped me through the pain - he was awesome, running out to the car to get bags etc, dashing back for massages (me, not him!)
22:00 - Hurrah for Entonox (gas and air) - makes your face numb, and you get really light headed. Good for pain relief.
23:00 - Into the pool. Water is a fantastic natural pain killer, but it is also known to slow down labour if you get in the water too soon. Clearly, I got in at the right time, as my contractions did not slow down, my waters soon broke (with a palpable "pop!") and I very quickly got the urge to push.
23:30 - The pushing bit - this is a very weird experience, because your body completely takes over, and you really can't do a thing to stop what your body wants to do. The contractions actually slow down, but become stronger, so that you push the baby further down the birth canal with each push, having a break in between. This stage of labour can take upwards of an hour for a first time mum, but I actually ended up very lucky, and within 35 minutes, Florence's head was born, followed within a minute or two by her shoulders and body - like a cork from a champagne bottle, if you'll pardon the expression!
00:05 - All done! Florence is on my chest having a cuddle, while the cord that has loosely wrapped itself round her neck is gently unhooked prior to clamping and cutting.
Phew!
Immediately after she was born, Florence gave a little cry and was taken to daddy to be cleaned up and dressed (and photographed!!). In the meantime, Happy Hannah helped me out of the pool on seriously shaky legs so that I could shower and get into a nightie. I was rather mucky, covered
in my own blood, plus vernix from Florence's skin - a greasy white waterproofing substance that protects the baby from the constant submersion in fluid while they are growing inside.
Florence had her first feed within half an hour of being born, after which she had an injection of Vitamin K to guard against a particular blood disorder. The midwife noted that Florence had a tongue tie (an extra bit of skin restricting the tongue's movement which could potentially make feeding difficult) This has now been cut, with minimal fuss from Florrie (I was more upset than she was to be honest!) and she is feeding brilliantly!
I ended up having 3 stitches (more painful than giving birth, as local anaesthetics don't work on me). I won't offer to show you the scars, I promise :P
All in all, a fantastically quick delivery, with everything going as per our birth plan. The team at Ashurst were incredible, and looked after us brilliantly for the short time we were there. We left for home at 3.30pm on Saturday 12th September.
Technical bit:
The APGAR criteria for assessing a baby at birth is a point scale from 0-10 with a maximum of 2 points available for each of the following (with Florence's scores in brackets).
Appearance - Colour - Body pink, extremities blue (1)
Pulse - Heartrate - over 100bpm (2)
Grimace - Reflex irritability - Vigorous withdrawal of leg, strong cry (2)
Activity - Muscle tone in all limbs - Active resistance, strong movement (2)
Respiration - Respiratory effort - Lusty cry, good chest movement (2)
Total: 9/10 - woop woop!
Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, cards and gifts - we have been very spoilt. Thank you for sharing this journey with us, and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Give us a buzz if you want to come visit - We're really happy to have visitors.
Hugs a-plenty,
Jeanie, Scott and Florence.
