Valentina's Glowing Birth Story
Currently I am well into the fourth trimester, and I can tell you it has been a major adjustment to go from one little one, to two. I went from finally going out for lunch with a small handbag, potentially some water wipes, to again having to take the whole kitchen sink - breast pump, nappy bag, muslins, nipple cream, you name it, I have it!
Hubbie and I chose to wait a few years to start trying for baby number 2. I was slightly apprehensive about getting pregnant again since I knew my AMH (an indicator of egg reserve) was on the low level. It was that of an average 45 year old when I was just 29. We were very fortunate that it happened as it did, I was actually having an ultrasound to check the health of my ovaries and to see how many follicles were present (if I was to go down the IVF route which was suggested if I didn’t get pregnant within 3 months) and the sonographer mentioned that there was a big juicy follicle and within the next 24 hrs if I wanted to get pregnant I should try and with that nudge of confidence, Valentina Rose was conceived.
Luckily, I had a really easy pregnancy. Second time around I had more of a hang on what to expect and was super active, full of energy and still running around with Mouse’s full schedule. We welcomed little Valentina Rose into the world naturally but induced on 11.11.2021 at 21.12pm.
It was a completely different experience for me this time, last time I had my mother, sister and Mo in the hospital until the last phase of labour where my sister took over as sole birthing partner... this time she was across the pond looking after her little boy (who I still haven’t met due to Covid restrictions and not being able to fly during my third trimester) and so Mo (Hubbie) took on the challenge. He did an amazing job whether fanning me when I thought I was going to faint or keeping pre-occupied with episodes of Downtown Abbey during contractions!
I went down the induction route again and was very fortunate to choose that as close to 40 weeks as I felt comfortable. I knew my body and although my babies are ‘engaged’ (head first, and ready to go) from around 32-33 weeks my body doesn’t seem to want to dilate itself. Fortunately, I will put it out there I had a choice so I wasn’t going to wait until 41 weeks. I always thought I would be the mama that would deliver with no drug intervention such as epidural as I am super sensitive to medication (I am a person who takes just one paracetamol as a last resort) however with going down the IV Oxytocin route there is no choice but to have epidural when contractions are approx. 4 times the strength of a normal contraction... apparently the pain would be so excruciating I would be ‘crawling on the roof’ said one of the mid wives. So an epidural become necessary.
The epidural needle for me is horrific I am not going to lie, as soon as it is admistered my blood pressure drops, I feel sick and want to faint. The look in Mo’s face when he tried to remain calm while fanning me with a sick bucket... I definitely was struggling with it, but as soon as they gave me a drip everything balanced out and I felt a little better. However, then starts the constant feeling like something is crawling all over my body, apparently I am the small percentage that suffers from the epidural itch and there is not much they can do to help!
My afternoon consisted of increasing the contraction strength, sitting on a gym ball and walking around. Meanwhile, Mo was preparing for the birth by taking a shower, shaving and ready to meet his daughter plus skin to skin time. I reminded him no cologne or I’d have him washing up again! As if Valentina knew her daddy was ready, the urge to push started. I really cannot describe the feeling other than this intense pressure and this out of body urge to just push.
I had Mo hold the phone and FaceTime my sister so even though she couldn’t be there in person she was virtually. The twenty or so minutes of actively pushing I put myself in a zone of just concentrating and listening to my body and before I knew it was the time had come for me to look down and take my little angel into my arms: Valentina, a beautiful little healthy girl at 3.100kg with a full head of hair, long eyelashes and a heart of gold. There’s nothing quite like that feeling of this little being lying on your chest, that little heart beat which has been ticking away in my tummy for 9 months. When she arrived all that doubt that I couldn’t love another child like my mouse melted away…there are no words to describe our joy and happiness!
After giving birth, I was most nervous about feeding… I had a harder time breastfeeding with Jasmine, I really wanted to do whatever it took to have baby 2 to latch. After harvesting some colostrum in the labour room thanks to a lovely midwife who I luckily spoke with suggested I harvested some in syringes just in case I had the same issue, a baby not interested to feed, and I was ready for round 2 of trying and she DID it!! Valentina latched!! I was so happy, the nerves subsided, and I felt this massive sense of achievement… the feeding journey is a personal one and the saying fed is best truly rings true and for me I really wanted to breast feed.
At around 12am we moved from the labour room into the room opposite where mouse and I spent the first 5 days of bonding (yes, i stayed that long with mouse) and just like that Mo and I were parents of two! At this point I was truly missing mouse, she had called when I was in labour but I was so scared and in a lot of pain I really didn’t want her to see me that way but I knew, although a second time mum, I needed to be confident about feeding before I left the hospital home. Within 48 hours we were on our way home for the big introduction of little sister to big sister. Check out my reel on Instagram for the short snippet of when Mouse first met her sister, it was such an emotional experience that I will truly never forget.
I have to say I was very fortunate to have a consultant led delivery at the Lindo Wing, I chose the same Obstetrician as before, Tom Setchell, I know everyone always says their doctor is the best etc, but I can hands down say he is such a lovely man, I felt so looked after and cared for the whole way, pre and post birth and on top of that the midwives (of course all with different, wonderful advice) were just incredible!
So that was my birth story of our newest addition: Valentina Rose. Soon to follow, more about my breast feeding journey, one filled with tips and tricks I have learnt along the way that may help other women who find the most natural thing be such a challenge. Stay tuned for more!
