Katie Smith tells her birth story: 'Gracie-Faye Louise Gladwin came into the world at 4.37am on Tuesday 30th September 2008 weighing quite an impressive 7lb 11oz, exactly 1 week overdue.
On Sunday night at 1am I woke to period-type pains. I kept drifting in and out of sleep until the pains started getting quite tight and I noticed they were regular too.
I woke Lee up and told him not to get too excited but that I thought I was having contractions! So we woke up and went downstairs… we started timing the contractions and they were every 9-10 minutes, not too pain ful and I was coping fine.
By about 4am they were getting a bit irregular - some every 15 mins some every 20 mins - so I went back to bed and tried to sleep but couldn’t really as I kept waking every time I had one!
This carried on all day and as the contractions got to every 9 minutes they were lasting 1½ minutes and were getting quite intense. I was ok though and coping well. We went to bed at 9.30pm on Monday and tried to get some sleep.
Now the contractions started coming thick and fast but we were so tired I just tried to sleep through it. Then at 11pm my waters went POP!! Lee didn’t quite believe me until I stood up and it was dripping out of me like a tap!!
I rang the hospital and told them my waters had gone and contractions were now very close so they told us to come in. We were both convinced we would be sent home; I thought I was being a wimp and that I would only be 1cm.
We got to hospital and met Chris our lovely midwife. She took a while doing lots of other things before checking me over, like bp and wee etc .
Meanwhile the woman next door was screaming like a possessed monster wanting an epidural…
I was so scared, I thought how the hell am I going to do this? And I said to Lee I'm going to have an epidural because I don’t want to get into that state. Meanwhile my contractions were every 3-4 minutes and bloody painful. They were so intense I suddenly started being sick.
I was sick 6 times and poor Lee (who has a weak tummy) was catching it all in bowls and stroking my hair, bless him!
Midwife finally checked me over and I was dreading what she was going to say, I was already groaning through the contractions in pain and wasn’t sure how I could carry on!
When she examined me, I was 6cm! I was so proud of myself I couldn’t believe it! She asked me if I really wanted an epidural and said, 'Katie you have got this far I really think you can do it without'.
She said, 'why don’t we try gas and air and a shot of Pethidine?' So I did. The PethIdine took about 20 minutes to work and at the start of every contraction I was taking in the gas and air - AMAZING stuff, cannot recommend it enough!
The Pethidine didn’t kill the pain of the contractions but it made me not care as much, and made me a bit tipsy.
I started telling Lee, 'I think we should go to hospital', and then asked him to stop Bitzie (my dog) from licking my feet as it was annoying me!
With every contraction I was crying, saying that I was pooing myself. The midwife assured me that it was the baby's head getting lower but I didn’t believe her! I was given ice lollies because my mouth was dry (I cant really remember) and Lee said I was sucking the lolly and giggling like a kid.
Then it was time to push. The Pethidine had worn off by now so it was me and the gas and air. I was in all sorts of positions and felt like I was getting nowhere, I was so tired and felt like it was never going to end.
Every time I pushed I could feel her slipping back up, it was so frustrating! Lee and the midwife were fantastic really, cheering me on which helped so much.
After being on all fours I decided to sit up and put one leg on the midwife's hip and one on Lee’s hip. This was a great idea as I felt as if I could really push now, my body just took over and I pushed and pushed and pushed on every contraction.
The pushing stage for me was a lot easier than the hours of contractions: when you're pushing you feel as if you're getting somewhere and that it's going to get your baby here. It really is true that your body takes over.
Anyway after 2½ hours of pushing, I finally got her to a point of no return but I just couldn’t get her head to crown, I tried and tried but the midwife said the skin was just not stretching so I had to have an episiotomy. I was not happy about it but what can you do?
I was given a local anaesthetic which burst a blood vessel and made everything swell (I didn’t know this until afterwards) and on the last big push she cut and her head crowned then suddenly the rest of her followed! WOW WOW WOW what a feeling!!
Words really can not describe the relief, joy and amazement of finally pushing your baby out. It’s the best thing I have ever done in my life and yes it's true you do forget the pain immediately. Nothing hurts anymore!
She screamed as soon as she came out and was placed straight onto my bare chest. Lee almost fainted not because of the mess but because of the emotion. He started crying so much he couldn’t believe it, I will never forget the way he looked at me and Gracie-Faye, he was so proud.
Then I had to deliver the placenta.. The cord had frayed so they couldn’t pull, I had to push it out and was a few seconds away from been taken to theatre but they got it out in one in the end.
I had to be stitched up afterwards. Took about 25 minutes and was not very nice BUT I was so happy that I really didn’t care anymore. Looking over at Lee having a cuddle with our baby took all the pain away (cheesy but so true!)
Then we were left and I was brought tea and toast by our lovely midwife. Gracie-Faye breastfed right away and it felt lovely.
My midwife Chris then told me that out of the 5 girls that gave birth that morning I was the only one who didn’t have an epidural. After everything was sorted I was taken for a shower and when I looked in the mirror I screamed!
I had not been told about the blood vessel bursting and to my shock my entire down below were swollen to the size of a tennis ball. I cried so badly and thought I was going to be deformed forever. The midwife managed to calm me down and helped me shower. I was so upset I couldn’t bear to wash it or touch it.
Anyhow, I got back on the ward and Gracie-Faye was demand feeding non-stop and not getting anything, she was very frustrated and upset and so was I - the stitches were killing and I was having after-contractions which made me feel as if I was going to poo and had no control.
At 5am I finally built up the courage to ask for a bottle, after being awake for nearly 3 days I was so tearful.
Gracie Faye is 6 weeks old now and it seems like she has always been here, we love her so much and I would do it all again tomorrow!'
