and then there were three

On 1 July, our little man arrived. After nine months of waiting, we met our son.

To say it didn't go to plan would be an understatement. I had never really intended to have a plan and had thought I'd try and go into the whole process with an open mind. But I did know that I wanted to give birth at our local midwife led unit in the town where we live and that I wanted to try the birthing pool. In the end, neither was an option.

After my waters broke (a trickle, not a gush!) in the early hours of Thursday morning, I was booked for induction at the consultant led unit at the main hospital in the next town for the Friday afternoon. I didn't make it to then, as in the early hours of Friday morning there was blood in my waters and I was told to come straight in for induction.

The induction process was daunting and I'm not sure that it was ever fully explained to us why or how it would happen. As such, within hours of being put on the drip to get my contractions going, I was exhausted and totally spaced out from the gas and air. Even the consultant told the midwife that I was in no state to give birth. Which was really encouraging!

After a shot of pethadine, which didn't do much, I opted for an epidural. This definitely helped me to rest and get some energy back. But the baby didn't like the strength of the contractions. It also turned out that after 10 hours, I had dilated no more. So late in the evening it was decided that a caesarean delivery would be the best option for the baby. I'll be honest, it was such a relief at that point!

The caesarean was actually the most positive part of the whole day. Everyone in the operating theatre was wonderful and supportive. They explained everything and were all very upbeat. In the end, the birth of our baby boy was a pretty positive experience. Even if I was left battered and bruised.

Unfortunately baby boy had to go to neonatal for his first night but I was lucky to spend most of it with him, nursing him and soothing him. The hospital provided an amazing service and the breastfeeding support was spot on. I knew before I had my baby that I wanted to try breastfeeding but was under no illusion that it would be easy or that it would work. But the nurses in neonatal and the postnatal wards were so supportive.

I'll confess now that even after nearly three weeks, I'm still processing the fact that my little boy's birth wasn't anything like I expected. I'll be sure to come back to this subject and my other thoughts on being a new mum soon.