December Birth Story

At around 2.30pm, I found that I could feel the pain of the contractions through the epidural, and that I could now feel pressure on the nerves in my spine. This meant that the baby was moving downwards, but it also meant agony for me.

The big push

I had not given the pushing stage much thought and when it came it felt utterly bizarre. I was persuaded not to have an epidural top-up so that I could feel the contractions and know when to push. This was a scary decision, but in fact made the whole thing much easier.

Suddenly, the midwife started rushing around, preparing the space behind me to receive the baby, and sending out the student to fetch the paediatrician. I felt the urgency and knew that the big moment was about to happen.

I gave one last push, and our beautiful baby slid out onto the bed - grey-blue in colour, but utterly perfect. And so big.

It's a boy

I looked behind me and saw immediately that it was a boy. 'I told you it was a boy,' were my first words. 'He's not breathing - is he OK?' were James's, one-upmanship far from his mind.

Joseph was rushed away by the paediatrician while I reeled with shock, relief, delight, and a strange numbness all at once.

When he was given back to me to hold, he looked up at me with ink-blue eyes. It was as if someone had told him, 'This is your Mum. See what you think. If you like what you see, you can keep her.'

He's still checking me out with those eyes, every time I hold him - but I think I'm passing the test. He's the most wonderful thing ever to happen to us, and I would definitely do it all again.