I got me a girl! My birth story...

I can hardly believe I'm writing this, but last Sunday I gave birth to my third (and definitely final!) child, a baby girl! I think I'm still in shock, but I was 100% convinced I was going to have another boy, one of life's little surprises I guess?  After having two boys, having a girl has completed our family, and we are over the moon and can hardly believe our luck. Now I will have an ally against boy stuff, war films, cricket and lots of other boring stuff that I formerly believed I would have to take part in. Happy days!

Although I was expecting to have a C section due to a low lying placenta, the consultant sent me for an MRI scan which showed that in fact, the placenta was 3cm from the "exit route", with the magic number being 2.5cm. My waters broke last Friday night/early Saturday morning though unfortunately I didn't start having contractions naturally. The hospital told me to wait 24 hours to see if anything developed (it didn't) so I had to go in at midnight to be induced. The induction worked REALLY well for me (some might say too well!) and I went into active labour two hours after starting the Syntocin drip last Sunday morning. I was totally unprepared for how painful it was to be honest, bearing in mind that during my last labour I managed without any pain relief at all, even gas and air.

I managed to get to 2cm dilation with no contractions at all, then they started coming on thick and fast and I was totally unable to cope with the pain! After begging for an epidural I actually suddenly needed to push just as the anaesthetist was setting everything up.  With only two pushes I gave birth and could hear everyone shouting, "it's a girl!" I definitely think that induced labours are more painful as last time I was in labour for two days and managed really well.

So here is my darling girl! 8lb 7oz and thriving.