Rocco's birth story...


I figured since this blog is about Raising Rocco I should start from the very beginning.

I apologise in advance for the length of this post- I had a hella long labour and this isn't the full story, there will be a part two involving an extra 5 days in hospital and a stay in the special care baby unit..

But for now lets begin on the morning of…


Wednesday 16th March 2016- 37+2 weeks pregnant.

The day started like any other. I was due to have a midwife appointment at 11am and then had my last shift at work before maternity leave.

Getting ready for work I noticed I had a few stretch marks, the first sign of them I’d had in pregnancy. Of course my heavily pregnant, hormonal mind was not at all rational about the fact that my stomach was the size of a planet and I’d done pretty damn well to get to 37 and a half weeks without one. I cried like a bitch.

Went to the midwife, cried about stretch marks again. All was fine with baby, still measuring BIG as I had the whole pregnancy. Midwife said baby was 3/5 engaged at this point and off we went and were to see her again in 2 weeks.

Work went as any normal day would, at that time I worked as an auxiliary nurse in A&E- it was always busy. My amazing work colleagues had thrown a little tea party in the duty room and I got lots of lovely gifts including the most beautiful moses basket.

Towards the end of my shift, about 11pm, I noticed I was getting some tightenings around every ten minutes or so, nothing too painful but still uncomfortable. The sister in charge told me to get myself away early. I was totally naïve and thought they were definitely just Braxton hicks.

Thursday 17th March- 37+3 weeks pregnant

The rest of the night and the next day continued just the same, still not all that painful but still very uncomfortable. Didn’t do much of anything that day- first day of mat leave, me and Gary ate junk food, watched films and napped all day. Went to bed early that night…

Friday 18th March- 37+4 weeks pregnant

Woke at 7am in PAIN and then realised that I felt damp, stood up out of bed and there it was- the gush. I tied to wake Gary to tell him my waters had broken, he told me I’d probably just p*ssed the bed! I called the hospital and they told me to get ready and come straight down. At this point I was having painful contractions around every 8-10 minutes. Told Gary that my waters had broken again, still told me I’d weed myself. Called my mam at work and updated her- she was my second birthing partner. Went back upstairs and told Gary that I was going in the shower and then to the hospital,, I think it clicked then that maybe I hadn’t in fact weed myself and it was probably time to get out of bed.

We got to the hospital, they confirmed that it was indeed amniotic fluid and not urine, *cue ‘I told you so look’ to Gaz* monitored for a while, told to go home and come back when contractions were every 4 minutes or if not then come in tomorrow night for induction on Sunday morning.

We went home, panic packed my hospital bag and spent the rest of the day in pain. Contractions kept getting closer together and then further apart and I basically spent the whole day and night bouncing on my ball or trying to sleep in between contractions. I think they got to around every 6 minutes and then died back down to every ten. Literally the most frustrating day of my life.

Saturday 19th March- 37+5 weeks pregnant

The day that I was supposed to have my baby shower. We had to cancel as not only was I in pain… no one tells you just how much ‘waters’ there is! I was not prepared for that! The day passed in a blur of contractions, preparing and panicking. I vaguely remember a McDonalds at some point.

At about 7pm we left the house to visit Gary’s parents before making our way up to the hospital. It was the strangest feeling knowing that we would be coming home with our little baby.

So 9pm we arrive at the delivery suite. We were shown to our room and told that a midwife would be with us shortly, an hour later one finally arrived.

After what felt like forever she checked me and said that I was still only 2cm (I’ve never been so livid- essentially 4 days of pain and 2 freaking cm’s?!) A pessary was inserted and I was told to get some sleep and Gaz went off home to get a few hours kip.

After the pessary the pains got so much worse and I think it was only about an hour before I called Gary to come back as there was no chance of me sleeping.

Sunday 20th March- 37+6 weeks pregnant

Obviously a new shift of midwives started and this one was absolutely brilliant- she told me we would definitely have a baby by the time her shift finished at 9pm.

Another pessary inserted at 7am. I cant even remember how many centimetres I was but to be fair I’d had about 4 hours sleep in 3 days.

My mam arrived about 8.30am then at about 10am the midwife started the Syntocinon drip. Contractions immediately got stronger ad so much more intense. I was in absolute agony.

At around 12pm the midwife, Gary and my Mam finally persuaded me to have some pain relief, so I had some diamorphine and away with the fairies I went. Gary genuinely put an empty sick bowl on my head and told me it was party time and I did a little dance.


I cant remember the rest of the day until around 4pm when the pain came back with a vengeance. I point blank refused anymore pain relief- this was already far from my drug free, natural water birth birthing plan.

FINALLY at around 7pm I was ready to push- I wont bore you with the details but after the most exhausting, painful, frustrating almost 2 hours of my life the midwife finally said “I can see his head!”

The crowning- WOW! If you’ve ever had a natural birth you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say “the ring of fire.” Holy crap! My midwife was amazing though and literally poured cold water over me to sooth it.

And after all that- at exactly 9pm- as the midwife was meant to finish her shift, he arrived.

7lbs 6.5oz of absolute deliciousness.

And our world was changed forever…




To be continued…

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