42+0 baby Liam is born

After visiting our midwife, Diane, on Monday morning, there was just one day to go before Caroline would be 2 weeks overdue. Not that this is the end of the world, but it’s the point in time when you need to start having checkups every day and deciding if the birth needs to be induced.
As it turned out, we didn’t have to worry about this. Caroline started to have some contractions on Monday evening at around 8 o’clock. They were about 20min apart from the start and not strong. We were able to go to bed and we both slept until Caroline woke again at 1:30 in the night. By then the contractions were strong enough keep her awake, but still only 15 to 20min apart. We moved into the living room and half slept between contractions for the rest of the night on the mattress on the living room floor. At least I did anyway, I think Caroline was awake for most of the time.
I called the midwife and we agreed she would come to our flat later in the afternoon. By 11 am the contractions were more intense and coming every 10min. I called Diane to update her and she arrived soon after at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. She checked Caroline, who was already 5cm dilated by this time. We then started the serious business of helping Caroline dealing with ever more regular and painful contractions. Caroline was great and managed really well. We moved around the flat and stood, sat and leaned in various positions to help her cope with the contractions. Serious pain relief isn’t an option with a home birth, but Diane helped Caroline with good advice and a little acupuncture. Caroline had also some homeopathic medicine to help her. We were getting quite tired, but she was making good progress and at 10 pm Caroline’s waters broke. By now we were in the bathroom with the mattress and a good selection of towels. The final push started at 10:45 and went quite quickly. Soon the top of the baby’s head could be seen and two more pushes were enough to deliver a baby boy into the hands of Diane. Liam had arrived into the world Partus Normalis at 23:05 on the 7th October and cried out immediately.
Diane and I looked on as Liam suckled up to Caroline and we all sighed with relief that everything had gone well. Liam weighed 3950g and was 51 cm long. After just 22min he was at the breast for his first feed. Diane administered some necessary stitches and Caroline moved to our bed with Liam. Diane then wrote up her notes and completed the birth registration. An hour later she was on her way home, leaving Caroline, Liam and I to settle down for our first nights sleep together.



This was an incredible 24 hours, and all the credit goes to Caroline, who was fantastic throughout. Now the fun begins :) and we are both very happy and looking forward to enjoying Liam grow up.