So I tried to go back to sleep after having the first contraction but could hear a strange noise downstairs. Then I heard it again. It sounded like our hamster had something caught in the wheel and was making a strange noise. I couldnt sleep so went downstairs to see what was going on. However the noise was coming from the kitchen and not the lounge where the hammie was. Then I remembered the mouse...
On Sunday, two days previously, I saw a little mouse run into the lounge and go behind the sofa. They had just harvested the fields next to the house and it probably came from there. We had pulled out the sofa and then the cushions and saw it run across the sofa and down behind the seat cushions. There was no getting it out of there so we put some traps down. This mouse was now running around the kitchen with a trap just caught on its side. I shouted for hubby, who jumped out of bed so quickly thinking I was having contractions (which I was but that wasnt why I was shouting for him) that his legs buckled and he bashed his knee on the side of the bed. He ran down stairs wearing just his pants to see what was going on. I showed him the mouse still running round the kitchen and he seemed a little disappointed until I had to stop talking and breathe through another contraction....that confused him somewhat! I left him to chase the mouse round the kitchn and stood in the lounge getting through a few more contractions which were already happening every 15-20 minutes.
We then went upstairs to bed again around 4am but I couldnt sleep through these and so we called the delivery suite at the hospital to let them know what was happening. They said to ring again when they got to 10 minutes apart. I always thought things would start really slow but by 5am I had to call them again and couldnt talk on the phone during a contraction. They were to let the community midwife on call know, as we were planning a home birth, and I was to call again when they were 5-7 minutes apart. However it wasnt long before I was calling them again about 6am and they said the on call community midwife would ring me. In the meantime they suggested some paracetamol, which would have been pretty useless seeing as I had been on string co-codamol for the past few months for pelvic pain so I just took some of those instead.
I got it into my head that I needed to wash my hair and so we decided to run a bath as that might also help with the pain. However, it was too painful to sit and so knelt in the bath, getting on all fours during each contraction whilst hubby poured water over my lower back as that was where all the pain was. We somehow washed my hair and also had a brief conversation with the midwife when she called back. She was on her way and would be with us around 7am.
I was quite surprised at how the contractions came so quickly, not how I imagined at all, though perhaps I overstimulated things with the accupuncture and accupressure? Who knows???
The midwife arrived and told hubby to get the pool ready as I would be able to get in soon. He then dissappeared for an hour as we had underestimated how long the pool would take to fit the liner and fill up. I stayed upstairs with the midwife bent over the sink and getting her to press on my lower back through each contraction. I also developed my own funny little swaying manouver as I couldnt stay still through the pain. Finally it was ready and since contractions were so thick and fast I was allowed in. Oh it was bliss!!!
(The picture is obviously not taken during labour but when we set the pool up 5 weeks previously).
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