Manic Kitty

I've been a bit busy the last few days.

It seems when I wrote my last post I was already in labour, but didn't realise. I woke up at 4:30am on Friday 20th with a sharp pain, I was half asleep so thought I was just desperate for the loo. When I crawled back into bed 7 minutes again and got another sharp pain I realised what was happening.

I woke Porl and told him to get the last few things for the hospital bag pack while I phoned the labour ward. Even though my contractions were only 7 minutes apart I was concerned because for the past couple of days I'd been leaking, I suspected it was my waters, but because I had no contractions I thought it might also have been that the fall had ruined my pelvic floor muscle and the babies head pushing on my bladder was making me wee all the time. (So embarrassing I felt like an old women!) Thankfully (sort of) it was my waters.

Anyhow the hospital said to come in immediately as if my waters had broken 2 days earlier they'd have to induce me come the morning anyway.

Its a good job we hurried. We were at the hospital by 5am my contractions had gone down to 4-5 minutes apart, and I was 4 cm dilated.

I was using the gas & air, but I'd only had 1.5 hours sleep so they gave me some pethedine too. Unfortunatly I had to be hooked up to monitors the whole time as baby wasn't moving much. At 11:30 they decided that if I hadn't delivered by midday they'd try forceps or ventouse.

I work well with deadlines.

At the stroke of midday I gave birth to a 7lb 1oz baby girl who we have named Bryher, after this place
.

She was whipped away as she had been in a bit of distress due to a knot in her cord, but a bit of suction and she was fine. I had a quick cuddle, then passed her onto Porl while they sorted me out, I was bleeding quite heavily. I got to hold her again at 12:15 and by 12:20 she was breastfeeding.

It feels like she's been feeding ever since. When babies are weighed on their 3rd day they are expected to have lost 10% of their birth weight, she had put on 3ozs!

She's very contented, in the hospital I thought it was due to the pethidine, but she's been the same since she came home, she's feeding brilliantly, sleeping for relatively long periods, and if I manage to shut my brain off a little I might sleep too.

I'm quite sore, and very tired, but that's to be expected.

I've still not quite got over the shock of having a little girl. For 9 months I've been convinced she was a boy.

P.S. It's so good having a friend who's a professional photographer :)