This is the long version of my birth story . .. its so nice to write 
…
On Thursday night to Friday I suddenly had the most acute sciatica, from my SI joint to my big toe. I called the Netherbrook unit as I thought I could do with some stronger pain relief. They recommended I went to heartlands, they assessed me and I was having surges (though not painful ones) they assessed me, I was dilated but because I was in so much sciatic pain they did a sweep (they thought he may be pressing on my nerve). Cocodamol worked a treat and aloud me to stretch out my piriformas (with yoga stretches) and the pain settled (though I still have a numb foot!)
That night (Friday) I began to feel surges every 3-20 mins, not consistent but enough to stop me sleeping 
. We got excited but they stopped completely sat am…. which did give us time to sort our lives out a bit! We did a dry run with the rented home birth pool… I had no more Surges until Sunday night (as I hadn’t had any surges for 24 hours we decided to go ahead and go on the spa break my mum had bought us) obviously as soon as we got there I started having surges again… we had a lovely dinner (during which I went to the toilet and had the show) so came back home.
The Surges didn’t really become regular until Monday afternoon. I thought I was leaking some waters so my local midwife came and assessed me, I was 2cm and she said the membrane had gone and that my 24 hours had started and if I hadn’t delivered/or was close to delivering by 6pm Tuesday I’d have to go in to heartlands 
…24 hours sounds like a long time but I laboured for 48 with Alice so I found that really hard to hear (I’d set my heart on a home pool birth… although I’d tried to keep an open mind!)
I bounced away on my gym ball all evening, surges were every 3-10 mins depending on my position. Things hotted up at about 2am, Paula, the midwife, came again and stayed for an hour. .. things slowed down… so frustrating! She assessed me and I was still 2cm ….. (I was 1.5cm with Alice for a life time!) I tried to stay relaxed. .. did lots of hypno breathing and listened to my mp3s…. really really helpful to stay focused and in control.
Nothing changed until around 3pm, surges became overwhelming and I could feel a pressure on my cervix. Paula came with gas and air and assessed me (at 3.45pm) and I was 10cm! Hooray! Same pattern as last time. .. just really slow to progress then sudden!
It was such a relief to hear and after she had assessed I started feeling the ‘moo’ urge! They had bought gas and air which really helped as a distraction more than anything. I could feel him coming lower but I was still lying in the bed upstairs where I’d been assessed.
Jason had filled the pool but the midwives thought I wouldn’t make it. I was focused though. They made me carry a towel between my legs as a sling in case he came out on the way down the stairs; ) It was mind over matter though… I didn’t have a surge until I was in the pool. I think walking down the stairs had improved his position a bit and after one surge and a bit of a ‘moo’ I could feel the top of his head. I was so so careful not to tear (having had a 2nd degree last time) so thought of you and did a lot of ha ha ha breathing until I could feel it was stretched right round, then it took just one more ‘moo’ to deliver his head and then he just wiggled out into my arms.
It was beautiful 
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He and I were fine. .. no tears! Whoop!
We stayed in the pool skin to skin for about 10 mins, Jason cut the cord. I delivered the placenta naturally about 20 mins later… Then they put us in bed, the midwives (I had Paula and her colleague Debbie for the final bit) stayed for a while to write notes and help my mum and Jason clear up. I just fed Theo in bed.
He’s very settled compared to Alice, feeding well. I have had stronger contractions when feeding him than I remember with Alice so taking reg pain relief but generally feel much more happy with the way it went this time and less sore . And how lucky to have the same midwife for both pregnancies and deliveries!
Thank you so much for your classes they have been invaluable…
Lots of love xx