Barb's Birth diaries for Daniel, sarah dawn, & rebecca

My husband and I were living in England where most babies are born in hospital, but delivered by a midwife.  I had anticipated a difficult delivery - yes, I had watched movies where the mother was clutching the bed-frame and screaming. 

 BUT, with each contraction I said to myself, that wasn't so bad, relax and get ready for the next contraction.  Before I knew it, I had given birth to my 7lb 12oz son, Daniel, I really couldn't believe that I had had him, with so little pain.

I made up my mind, there and then, that if and when we had another child I would do it totally pain free!

When I became pregnant with our second child three years later, I read all I could on Natural Childbirth - Frederick LeBoyer's "Birth without Violence", Lamaze, Grantly Dick-Reed's "Childbirth Without Fear" and I approached my daughter's birth with confidence.

 
I experienced a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions throughout the last months of my pregnancy and when actual labour started, I didn't realize it! I would just relax through the contractions and wait for them to pass.  However, at 9pm in the evening I realized that the last few had been fairly strong and not too far apart. 

Hubby & I reached the hospital at 10:15, I was admitted, checked and when I asked the nurse if she thought I would have the baby that night, replied "You're going to have it any minute now - can you walk? Good, then walk to the delivery room!"

 
 No sooner had I seated myself ready to be examined I started to bear down and within minutes I was holding my daughter in my arms.  The time - 11:18pm!

We had arrived at the hospital barely and hour before and now here she was, Sarah Dawn, all 8lb 5oz of her, nursing vigorously.

 My third and last child was born 17 years after my second (it's a long story of widow-hood and re-marriage) but because of my advanced (!) age of 42, it was decided that I should give birth in hospital rather than at home which would have been my choice.

Three weeks before my due date my waters broke in the middle of the night and my excited hubby and I giggled our way to the hospital where our enthusiasm soon subsided when the doctor decided that I needed to be "hurried along a little" (I think he had a cesarean scheduled for early the next morning).

As expected, my contractions accelerated in strength and duration, making me feel out of control.  I couldn't walk about because he wanted me hooked up to monitors because of the drugs. 

My baby went into fetal distress and had to be gotten out in a hurry - there was no anesthesiologist at the hospital and I did not have a spinal block or epidural, so the doctor performed a high forceps delivery which delivered our daughter safely, 6lb 10 oz Rebecca, but left me with uterine lacerations and feeling like I had been in a train wreck!

 
 So, three babies, three totally different deliveries, three great kids who are now 31, 27 and 9.