My Labour & Birth Story

Isabella Jayne Nicholls 13.11.2016

I'll start by apologising if this post is very long... I was induced over 3 days so of course lots of things happened over those days. I've missed out small bits that don't really matter, but please bare with me!

For a bit of background, after a few complications throughout my pregnancy and mainly towards the end, I was booked to be induced on my due date (15th November), however the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy was the worst and I was in hospital every single day so they decided to bring my induction forward to Friday 11th November. I had been having stretch and sweeps in the last 2 weeks too, I had a total of 3 sweeps however they didn't affect me. I will just also mention here none of this post will be particularly glam, sorry about that.

I had to call the hospital at 8.30am on Friday 11th November to find out what time they wanted me in for. I gave them a ring, and they said to be in between 10.30-11am. This was perfect as it gave me some time to get everything ready, take the dog to a family member and even manage to get a last minute Costa! I made my way to the hospital for around 11am, I ended up being a bit late although it didn't matter. I was shown to my bed, which happened to be by the window thank god and was told to make myself comfortable. I knew that inductions were known for taking a long time so it was well over an hour before the midwife came back to me. When she did come back, she explained to me how everything would be done, step by step and all the processes they would try. She also explained all the bad bits which did scare me a little, but she was just following procedure of course. 

First of all I had the 24 hour pessary. The midwife examined me internally to check how I was getting on. I was really disappointed to hear that I hadn't made any progress from my sweep, I was still 1cm dilated and my cervix wasn't soft. Damn. The pessary was essentially a small tampon (with a string and everything) which is put up you *I did warn you, not glam* behind your cervix. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable. Once she had done this I was told to go for a walk to the car to get my bags. I got my bags and made myself more 'at home' in my little bed on Bay A. As I suspected, nothing was happening so I told K to go home as I wanted a little rest anyway. We had discussed and decided there wasn't any point in him staying over night with me, he could just stay at his mums which was 1 minute down the road and I'd call him if I needed him so I didn't expect to see him until the Saturday. I had a rest Friday afternoon and had my checks every 4 hours; b o r i n g.

Friday evening my mum, nan and auntie came to visit me for some company. We were sat in the cafe just having a drink when some pains started happening. It took me quite a while to notice they were anything - after all I didn't have a clue what I was really waiting to feel as I hadn't suffered with braxton hicks much. After a while of them happening every few minutes, my nan decided to start timing them. They were very random, lasting anything from 20 seconds to 1 minute and coming between 3 minutes to 10 minutes. Although I knew this was nothing, I had hope that it was the start of something at least! I let K know what was happening so he decided to come back as he felt useless sitting at home, bless him. I also started to time them on my app where they were becoming more frequent, lasting a minute at a time and coming every 4-5 minutes. As I was talking, walking and acting totally normal quite a few of the midwifes told me it was nothing except probably braxton hicks. 

I was monitored at about 11pm and thankfully my contractions were showing on the monitor. I felt like I had to prove they were real and not just braxton hicks, so I was relieved they were showing up well. However, they were too far and not consistent enough to be labour and I was informed this was early labour. That night I didn't sleep. I was offered pethedine which is a relaxant, however I'm so petrified of needles I turned it down. I had a bath at about 2am, which helped massively however it really slowed them down which isn't what I wanted so I got out pretty quickly. K went at about 7am to get some sleep and said he would be back for my examination which was to be done 24 hours since the first, around midday on Saturday. I had mild contractions every 10 or so minutes all morning, until they went to every 20 minutes and eventually fizzled out to pretty much nothing. 

My next examination was a bit better. I had dilated a bit more, only to about 2cm but she did inform me she could break my waters if they needed to. I wasn't 100% what she meant, but yay, it sounded like we were heading in the right direction. I had my next pessary, a 6 hour one inserted and once again was told to walk. My mum came up and we got some lunch, did a bit of walking but there is only so many times you can walk the hospital corridors! The contractions were back but again, a bit random and nothing to get excited about. On our last walk around, I felt like I had a lost a bit of fluid however upon telling the midwife when we got back, she basically told me that it wasn't anything and to 'keep an eye on it'. GREAT!

My third examination was at around 11pm, by which point I was having bad contractions lasting up to 2 minutes every 4 minutes or less. She put me on the monitor and came to do my examination to give me another 6 hour pessary however when she done the examination, I could tell by her face something was wrong. She quietly told me that there had been quite a bit of blood loss, and during the examination babies heart rate was going up to 210 (which is crazy high) so I had to have a doctor come out and check me. Babies heart rate base line was much higher than it should have been, the doctor said it could be down to dehydration so they decided I would need a drip of fluid. I had also gone a bit weird at this point, everything was orange tinted, my eyes were rolling and I was swaying. I could barely talk which again could have been down to dehydration. The doctor decided that I was having pethedine as I was so exhausted my body wasn't coping well at all so I had the injection and managed another hours sleep. It was a stressful few hours to say the least! 

During the night, my contractions were getting stronger and stronger, I had 2 baths that night but each time the bath was slowing them down so the midwife was certain it wasn't labour as the bath shouldn't slow them down. At around 6am, I was laying on my side during a contraction and I decided to try and turn over when I felt a pop. It wasn't loud, like I was expecting but I felt it. Followed by water. Lots and lots of warm water - my waters had gone! I made K go and get the midwife, and he returned to tell me she wanted me to put a pad in and she would check in half an hour... check?! Check what! My waters had gone!! After half an hour she came and checked my pad, but as I hadn't lost any more fluid there was nothing to show and she told me my waters hadn't gone. Oh but yes they had, I got up and showed her my bed which to her shock I was sat in a puddle. Yep, they had gone. 

After my waters went I felt like the contractions had ramped up massively. It was like as soon as they went, it started. I was in massive amounts of pain and felt like I was pushing already. The midwife that didn't believe me finished her shift at 8.30am and it felt like she was holding off checking me for some reason. I'm glad she did though, as I didn't like her! The next midwife to come on shift came straight to me and I explained everything that happened. She told me a doctor was coming straight away to check me, had a feel of my tummy and confirmed I was in labour. The doctor came out pretty quickly and sat down with me to tell me I'd probably need another pessary as I wasn't going to be far enough along to be taken to the labour suite. She examined me, and to her amazement I was actually 5-6cm dilated and this baby was coming soon. I was rushed to the labour suite within about 5 minutes of her examination! K made a panic call to my mum to get her to the hospital, as none of us were expecting it to move this fast! Kayne didn't even get a chance to tell anyone I was in labour it was all so quick.

I was taken to my room, room G and given gas and air. I was being told to breath through my contractions, however these weren't just contractions like before, I felt like I was pushing. I can't even describe the feeling, it was horrendous. The delivery midwife told me I'd probably be monitored for 2 hours then I might need a hormone drip if they werent strong enough, because I was still able to talk they thought I was still all okay. I'm not sure how long I was on gas and air, it wasn't very long at all, but I was laid on my side when they asked if I had any pressure in my back and felt like I needed to push. I had needed to push since my waters went! Little did I know my body was already doing the pushing. Yikes!! 

The doctor had to come in and quickly change the plan, as I was giving birth and she was coming!!! I started pushing near enough straight away. If you know me, I can't even have an injection without having a panic attack, I had planned to 'take all the drugs they offered' (as everyone told me to), I was also desperate for some time in the birthing pool during labour but sadly, I had no choice. I was actually falling asleep during pushing, my mum kept having to wake me up and talk to me to keep my eyes open! It's so strange how your body deals with certain pains. It was a pain like I couldn't even describe, but it really is true when they say something takes over and you just forget it all.

I could write about my story for ages and ages. After everything I went through during my pregnancy, I had the most amazing labour and birth which I am SO thankful for. Well done body! I requested an early discharge and was released home the same day! I was in Tesco the next day doing the food shop... I just can't believe it is all real and my baby girl is now here with us. Isabella was born on her daddy's birthday and is now the 5th generation of ladies on my mums side. She is my whole world.

xxx

My Baby Shower

When I found out I was pregnant, a baby shower was (I hate to admit) one of the first things I thought about. The thought of having all my family and friends around to celebrate my baby was an exciting thought. I'm not sure when you usually have a baby shower, I have seen anything from about 28 weeks but I was pushing it fine being nearly 38 weeks pregnant at my baby shower.

Initially it was all going to be a surprise, all organised by one of my best friends Dani, however she knows I'm a complete control freak and I love things like this, so when she asked if I would prefer to help arrange it of course I said yes. Although I would have loved a surprise, I'm glad I got to be bossy as it was all exactly how I wanted it. 

The venue was my mums house, which was never even a question as they've just had a huge kitchen renovation and it was the perfect place to host it. I have several large families, as well as a large friend/family friend base as I have my parents, step parents and then K's family too so the space was perfect. 

I had been pinning tonnes of baby shower ideas and decided to try and make some of the DIY treats I had seen so many times on there. I made oreos, marshmallows, pink wafers and doughnut cake pops. They all looked so lovely and actually didn't taste too bad either! 

My mum put on a huge spread which was enjoyed by everyone. There was so much food! 

We had a pink and gold theme, of course. The lovely people at www.talkingtables.co.uk SO kindly sent me over loads of things, including these hat props, loads of plates, cups & straws, bunting, and the gorgeous pineapples. I am so grateful as honestly it wouldn't have looked at pretty without having all the extra bits there! 

We had a few games like guess my waist size, which one of my childhood friends won. We also had baby shower bingo, which was really fun. We had a 'guess the babies arrival date', which I am excited to see who wins that. Somebody had guessed today, but I'm afraid there hasn't been any signs yet!

I am SO grateful for everybody that came to my baby shower, I received some gorgeous gifts (which I'm thinking of doing a separate post on?) and generally had a lovely day. Little baby Nicholls is super spoilt already, what a little madame! 

Have you had a baby shower? Did you choose not to have one?

Daisy xxx

The WORST Things To Say To A Pregnant Person

When you become pregnant, one thing I wasn't warned about was the amount of unwanted questions and comments you would get. Don't get me wrong, most the time they are completely unharmful and the person saying it doesn't mean anything by it but everyone seems to think they know what your pregnancy is going to be like, and everything you will go through. Every person is very different and no two pregnancies are the same (please, take note!). I wanted to share a few of the worst things you could possibly say to a pregnant person, and probably even worse, a heavily pregnant lady counting down the hours.

Have you not had that baby yet?!
Nope, you caught me! I'm still huge, complaining every day about symptoms but yep, she is sat at home without me! Ooops.

Wow, your huge, are you sure your not having twins?
Strangely, I've had this one quite a lot. I think I look 'big' because I'm quite small naturally, I'm not sure, but I find this one so rude. Unless over the 5 scans I've had, they've missed something, there is only one baby in there, trust me.

Have you thought of a name yet?
Yep, we have a few in mind but I'm going to tell you 'no' because I don't want to tell you. Nosey.

Get your sleep whilst you can! You won't be sleeping when she is here.
I cannot count how many times I've been told this recently as I've got later in my pregnancy. Pregnancy insomnia is a thing and a lot of my mummy blogger friends suffer too. No matter how many times I am told to get sleep now, it won't make me suddenly fall asleep. So just don't say it. All I'll reply to you is 'I can't'.

Was it planned? Have you been with the dad for long?
K & I recently went to a family party and I was asked this a lot. I think its probably a huge stereotype, as I am 20 years old and about to give birth to a human. No, she wasn't planned, but I'm not sure if how long I've been with the dad is any of your business..... but in case you did wonder, we have been together for 5 years.

You shouldn't be eating that...
Luckily I haven't had this much as everyone around me knows I'm a very fussy eater, so their view is as long as I eat something its better than nothing (thanks family).

However, I will never forget when I was around 30 weeks pregnant during our heatwave, strolling round a car boot and I got a screwball ice cream (if you don't know what that is, essentially a Mr whippy in a plastic cone with a bit of bubblegum at the bottom). I had read all about avoiding Mr Whippy ice creams, but decided I wouldn't bother as there isn't actually much evidence to show its harmful... I was happily eating my ice cream when some fat, bald, old man comes up to me and says 'just to let you know, you really shouldn't be eating that'. He didn't even say it in a nice way, which made me even angrier. I simply replied 'I will eat what I want, but thanks for the concern'. If it isn't bad enough being judged for everything you eat/drink by your closest family, some complete stranger has just come up to me and told me what I should and shouldn't eat. Safe to say he got a death stare and he quickly popped off.

Baby will come when she's ready!
Thanks for reminding me. I dare you to tell me, a heavily pregnant very fed up hating life whale lady, that baby will come when she's ready. I am very aware she will take her time, and come, WHEN SHE IS READY!!

Now I've got that off my chest, I am feeling better already. PHEW.
Did you get any of these whiles you were pregnant? What was your worst one? Would love to hear your experiences!

22 Week Pregnancy Update & GENDER REVEAL!!

Ahhhh how the devil are yah? I read back on my 13-14 week update post just to see what kind of things I wrote about, and I said at the start I wanted to do WEEKLY updates!! Pahaha, who was I kidding. It's been 8+ weeks since my last update (which was actually my last blog post, I am terrible!!), so grab a cuppa as you know how I like to babble on.

So as I write this I am 22+1 day. If you follow me on Twitter you should already know as I haven't stopped talking about it but we are having a GIRL!!! As you can imagine this was a huge surprise, after the amount of times I said I would put money on my baby being a boy. He turned out to be a she, which was the biggest shock I've ever had in all my life and if I'm completely honest it still hasn't sunk in. 

I am obviously so over the moon to have my own baby girl, but I hadn't even looked at anything girly as I was so set she was a boy. I thought I would be obsessed with buying clothes straight away but if I'm honest it was the last thing I wanted to do. I liked girls clothes, but I loved boys clothes. I had already picked out bits I liked from certain shops so I had to take a while to get used to not going straight to the boys section. I have also realised I'm very fussy when it comes to picking her clothes so she hasn't actually got much so far, poor baby. 

I went shopping with my mum on Saturday just gone (haul coming soon...) and I tweeted that it was the first day I felt completely happy I was having a girl. I can't lie and say I wasn't a teeny, tiny bit disappointed (well, more shocked than anything) when she told me it was a girl but I am finally over that and I'm ready for my little lady.

We recently got back from our pre-baby holiday to Greece. It was stupidly hot, and I only managed two days in the sun before I had to retire to most the day under shade. I still really enjoyed it though, all I kept thinking about was next time we go away we will have a child in toe. The picture was taken at nearly 21 weeks but I feel I had a massive growth on holiday. I am now over that 'are you fat or pregnant?' stage, and have actually been asked a few times when I'm due. I love when people notice I'm pregnant, as before I used to just get looks of confusion. I haven't grown much since the picture, and I am forever being told how small I am, although I'm not convinced anyone can actually tell.

I have put on nearly a stone, and in my last update I said I had put on 4 pounds so its gone on quite quickly since then. I'm not too worried as Ive had people tell me they put on stones and stones, and I needed a bit of extra weight.

I still haven't had any cravings. I try and explain at work whenever somebody asks me... A craving to me is something you HAVE to have there and then. I've been told I would wake K up at night because a craving was so bad he needed to get me it, but i've had none of that. I've fancied stuff, but never NEEDED anything which I think is the true meaning of a craving.

My sleep is up and down. The past few nights have been awful. I have been getting 4-5 hours sleep, then I will wake up, usually at silly o'clock ready to get up for the day. It's like my body is just rejecting sleep and I don't know why. The thing is, I don't then feel really tired during the day, I just feel normal. It's really odd and I hope my pattern goes back to normal soon!

My sickness/nausea has gone completely, I never ever get it anymore *touch wood*. I have been getting acid reflux on and off, but I've only really had it about 3 times properly. It's a strange old thing! My back has been terrible but as I've mentioned so many times I do actually have back problems. And my boobs/nipples have been SO itchy I can't do anything to get the itch. Asides from those little bits, I have felt the most normal I have felt in 22 weeks. Everyone said to me I would start feeling better but did I believe them? Did I heck! 

I can't believe how much I've wrote for this 'small' update, I guess thats what happens when you don't do an update for such a long time!! I'll do better next time, I promise.

I also feel like my blog is becoming very baby based, which is just because I've had no time to do anything else. I love writing the baby posts, and I can write and write and write, however I promise I will be doing some more other posts soon. I want to get back to blogging as I miss it so so much!! And maybe a make over is on the cards too...

Daisy xxx

My HUGE Announcement!!! | Lifestyle

Hi guys! Long time no speak. If you follow me on Twitter or are my Facebook friend you will probably already know I'M PREGNANT! Now its out in the open I just want to shout it from the roof tops. I have known for over 2 months so it feels so good to be able to let the world know too. As I write this, I am 13 weeks pregnant today, so yesterday I had my official '12 week dating scan' (which is the time that most people wait to share the news as you are in the safer stages!). I have so so much to say so I'm not sure weather I'll split this in to two posts or just one huge one! 

So the thing everyone loves to know, how did I find out? It was actually my boyfriend that was telling me to do a test. I had no symptoms whatsoever, and for some reason he just knew. I was at my best friend Dani's house and she had a spare test so she told me to do that one. Off I went upstairs to do it, I think if you're expecting it to come back positive you wait around nervously and time feels like its going by so slowly... I was the complete opposite. I did my wee on the stick (gross, I'm sorry) and just looked at it. Obviously I didn't expect it to say anything so I wasn't that bothered. Oh how wrong I was. I think the tests suggest you wait about 5 minutes or so, but my test was instant. Instant isn't even the word, it didn't even take a mini second. It was positive. 

My bestie wasn't expecting it either, to be honest we were both just doing it to shut K up as he had been going on for ages. I went downstairs and was nervously grinning. She thought I was just nervous, or trying to wind her up. I just turned it around and showed her. We were both in complete shock! We literally put on our shoes and went straight to Asda as I needed more tests to be certain. 

I splashed out on a Clearblue test (the one that says how many weeks) and a pack of cheaper Asda own ones. When I got home I did the Clearblue, which again came back straight away as positive but you have to wait a little bit longer for the weeks to come back. I also did one of the cheaper tests which yet again was instant. I was pregnant. It was certain. The Clearblue test came back as 3+ weeks (which is the most it says, so I could be anything from 3 weeks+). I kind of had it in my head I was around 5-6 weeks meaning my due date would be end of October/November time. I made my appointments with the midwife and got my first scan date through pretty quickly.

Forward on a few weeks, I was at work and had just downed quite a large drink of hot chocolate. I had incredible stomach bloating which was a bit sore and I mentioned it to a few of the girls. I went and sat in the back office for a few minutes which was followed by absolute immense abdominal pain. I kept my cool until someone I work with came in and said 'are you okay?' (you know thats the worst thing to ask someone if they aren't okay) and I just broke down. I had recently found out I was pregnant, I had no idea how far gone I was and was in SO much pain. I rung my midwife and she suggested I get myself to hospital if its that bad, better to be safe than sorry. Some of the girls at work made the decision for me that I was going to A&E. My mum met me up there followed by my step dad and boyfriend. I had some blood tests etc and the nurse felt for baby, all seemed fine. Then she told me to head up to ward F14 but no information was given, I didn't even know what F14 was! Turned out it was the EPU (early pregnancy unit) and I was having an emergency scan. I am so glad I got to have an early scan, although it wasn't in the best circumstances but it made me SO at ease and I've not had any type of pains since! She dated me which made my due date of the 19th or 20th November. 

Yesterday I had my official dating scan, which is the one where you get the scan picture and do it all properly, not in a state of panic. She changed my date again, but I think the 12 week dating scan is pretty accurate. My due date is now 15th November, so it's only changed by a few days. K's birthday is the 13th so I am making a bet it will come then.

I am conscious this is becoming such a long post so I think I might follow up with a 13 week update where I will go in to more detail about how I'm feeling etc. I am also obsessed with reading mummy blog posts, I love reading ones close to the same dates as me to see how everyone else is feeling! Please leave your recommendations!! 

Daisy xxx

PS- thank you SO much for all your kind words etc on Twitter!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!