Zita and Dáire - ‘Big Baby’ birth story

Hi Lainey, how are you, I still owe you my birthstory.

So for the birth:

I woke at 6.30 Tuesday morning that my waters went. Got up quietly, made myself a cup of coffee and sat down thinking that this is probably my first peaceful coffee since Seána was born and probably the last one for the next 2 years too so I'm gonna enjoy it 😂

After my coffee I had a nice long shower, woke my husband and called my mother in law to make her way over to mind Seána.

I didn't want to leave it too late to drive to the Coombe as it can take for ever to get into the carpark these days.

We got in there after 9 and I was put on the monitor to see if baba is happy, which he was. I still didn't have any contractions and babys head was still quite high so I was told to go for a walk and come back in in 2 hours.

So we went to have breakfast  and then for a walk on Cork Street. And sure enough pains have started to come pretty quickly and within an hour they were 3 minutes apart so we walked back into the hospital. I got back into the assessment room 11.15

I was only 2 cm dialated,  couldn't be admitted to the labour ward yet so was sent out to walk the corridors for another 30 minutes.  At every contraction I was repeating your sentence in my head; I can do anything for a minute! 😂

I was the only one in the assessment room and the midwife really gave me all her attention and was checking on me every few minutes and reminding me to relax my muscles to let my baby move down.

At 12 I was finally collected and  brought to the labour room. Only minutes in the room, I got the urge to push and I panicked. With Seána I was told to hold back, and don't push until I'm fully dialated. I can still remember that terrible feeling, trying to hold back something that you have no control of.

Now I haven't even been examined since the assessment room, hardly entered the delivery room,  I was still fully clothed I thought this is where the birth will go the same way as with my first.

But the midwife's respond was, trust your body, it knows how to birth your baby. It was the best thing to hear

Switching between all fours, squatting and hanging from the end of the bed I did just that while my husband was massaging my lower back for a bit of a pain relief. I used a bit of a gas and Air too although I didn't notice any change with it, it helped me to concentrate on my breathing when I went off track.

At one point the pain got unbearable and I screamed I can't do this, and the midwife said, reach down, can you feel the top of your babys head? He is almost here. And yes I could, just the very top of his little head, but he was there, on his way to meet us and it gave me all the energy I needed. Only a few more pushes and only 58 minutes after entering the delivery room he was born, I was the one lifting him up, I was the one holding him for the very first time, my perfect little baba.

He had delayed cord clamping and my husband cut the cord.

I'm very proud of my first birth too, but after an instrumental delivery, front of a team of doctors, and baby rushed away before I could even look at her, this birth was so much different.

My "big baby" was indeed the perfect size for my body and my body knew perfectly how to birth him.

And my midwife was the best I could have asked for. It truly was the perfect birth.

At the last class I was saying that I'm a bit worried how the second baby will affect my bond with my daughter. Well, he just slot right into our little team, like he has always been there. Seána adores her little brother and my happiness just doubled and I love them more than anything.

Ah yeah, we named him Dáire

We have the perfect little family, with two healty , beautiful children and I couldn't be happier.

Thank you for all your support through both of my pregnancies.

Can't wait to show him off at baby massage 😊

Zita