You were due to arrive on the 29th April, a special day whilst we waited for you but also special as the Royal Wedding was taking place. On your due date we had a Bank Holiday so Daddy was home and we watched the Wedding and waited, knowing we would meet you soon. On the 30th April we decided to take your brothers for a walk on Snelsmore Common. It was a lovely day and Daddy and I chatted as we walked and enjoyed the sunshine. We agreed that the names we had thought of for you just weren’t quite right and we decided by the end of the walk that you would be our darling Clementine instead. We decided to keep this decision between us and it felt very exciting! On the way home I felt as though we were now totally ready to meet you.During the early hours of the morning of the 1st May I was woken with rushes every 10 to 15 minutes. They weren’t too strong so I stayed in bed and rested in between them. At around 4am I got up as I felt hungry and thought this may be ‘it’. After a snack the experienced Mummy in me thought I should be trying to sleep while I could so went back to bed. I could still feel the rushes coming but rested well between. We got up the next morning (Sunday) to sunshine. It felt like this would be a great day to meet you and I was excited. I told Daddy that I thought you would be born today and we started to get things organised. We called Nanny and Granddad around 10am and they came at 11am and took your big brothers away for the night to give us the chance to concentrate on you.
I called your Nanny and Auntie Laura at 11am and told them you would be coming soon. We agreed that they would come over around 12.30. Daddy and I sat and had a nice lunch whilst the rushes got slowly stronger and longer. Liz came to see us at around 1pm and by this time Auntie Laura and Nanny had arrived and were very excited! All was well and Liz did some checks and left us to get in to our groove. It felt good to be having you and I used a TENS machine to keep my mind occupied in these early stages.
As the time passed my rushes seemed to keep spacing out and it felt a little odd. I was a bit worried that maybe you wouldn’t come today and that this was all just the very early stages. I decided that maybe it would be a nice thing to have some time alone and went up to the bedroom. While I was alone the rushes seemed much stronger and I realised that maybe I was feeling a bit too observed downstairs. I went downstairs and told Daddy this and he came out in to the garden with me for a walk. Daddy chuckled at me while I was walking around the garden as I had ended up throwing such a mish mash of clothes on to go outside I looked like a bag lady! I had to tell Daddy not to make me laugh at this point as he was making my rushes much stronger every time I laughed along with him!
We agreed that maybe Nanny and Auntie Laura should go back to Nanny’s house for a while.
They didn’t mind and I felt better that they could have some dinner without feeling awkward. This was at around 4pm. Liz checked in with us every so often by phone and gave us some encouragement along the way. Daddy and I sat down to watch the Sunday afternoon movie (Evan Almighty). It was quite funny and helped to stop me clock watching.
Things got intense over the next hour and although the rushes were not sticking to a regular pattern I was feeling like it was time to ask Liz to come back. We called her around 5.30pm and she said to get in the pool if we wanted to. I did! We also called Nanny and Auntie Laura to come back and they arrived just after Liz at around 6.30pm. By this time I was pretty upset. I cried when I saw Nanny as I was struggling to get on top of the rushes and the irregular pattern of them wasn’t allowing me to anticipate the next rush. Over the next few hours we moved from the pool to the toilet and back a couple of times. I was using Entonox (a medical gas mixture of 50% oxygen and 50% nitrous oxide) to help with the pain and Daddy was helping me too. We went upstairs at around 8pm and I sat on the loo. Daddy cuddled me during the rushes and whispered encouragement in my ear. He was great and this is one of memories that I cherish from your birth.
I felt inside to see how close you were and could feel a big bubble of waters there. The last few rushes had stopped feeling like they were pushing you down and instead the energy felt like it was pulling up. I knew we had to release the waters to get you down where you needed to be. I asked Liz if she would please do this and she very gently released your waters. That felt great and although I was 6-7cms at this point I knew it was what we needed to do.
This was at 8.20pm and we decided to go back down to the pool. After your waters had released I felt you trying to find your way out. You twisted this way and that way inside me and I had to stay strong and trust that you would come out soon. Nanny and Laura had kept the pool warm for me and Daddy got in to the pool with me. He rubbed my hips and back during rushes and I felt good to know he was doing it with me all the way. Nanny and Laura sat on the sofa and gave me water when I needed it. I felt very loved.
I started to push and after a few rushes I had one which just kept on and on. I realised the only way to stop it was to just push and push. For what seemed like ages (but was around 5 minutes probably) I pushed and as I leaned back on Daddy I felt your head start to crown. I reached down to feel your soft hair and I knew it was nearly over. Nanny and Laura watched in amazement as your head and body emerged under the water right in front of them. Daddy and I scooped you up together and you were pink and beautiful.
We all laughed and cried together whilst we looked at you and fell in love. So you had arrived - our beautiful Clementine Rose on May Day at 8.58pm. Daddy cut the cord when you had received all your blood from your placenta and we hopped out of the pool. We snuggled together on the sofa and I looked at you and saw you were all there and perfect. The placenta came out easily and your gentle birth had meant no damage to me. We had chocolate cake and cups of tea and you had some skin to skin time with Daddy. You weighed 7lb 8oz.