So, round about a week ago Stu and my lives changed forever when beautiful Sienna Mabel Burnett entered the world…and this is how it all happened!
I’d just woken from a v nice long lie in (one week in and I can just about remember what a lie in is!) After going to the toilet (sorry tmi, don’t worry I will try and keep the gory details to a minimum in this blog) I noticed things were a bit different down there. At this point I really didn’t think anything was happening and just thought I’d mention it to the midwife when we had our appointment later that day. However, when I told Stu, in his typically sensible way, he thought it was probably safer just to give them call now and let them know.
As usual, Stu was right and when I told the midwife they said we should get to the hospital right away as my waters had broken. Again, at this point I was still v chilled and got ready as usual, straightened my hair and grabbed hospital bag (secretly thinking I’d be back home in about an hour.)
When we got to the hospital, I saw a midwife pretty quickly who said they didn’t think I was in labour so we should prob just go home. This did make me feel a bit deflated so as we were four days over my due date I asked if I could have a sweep whilst we were there (again sorry tmi) which she said was fine.
Another midwife then came in to do the sweep, but when she did it, she said I was already 2cm dilated so we should get the baby out today!
Walking over to the labour ward, everything suddenly felt very real. However, as I wasn’t in pain and the midwives were all so nice, I was still pretty chilled.
By this point it was about 12ish and they said to bring on the contractions they would put me on a hormone drip at like 2 which would hurt and I wouldn’t be able to eat – great! Thankfully, the hospital has a very nice Costa, so Stu ran downstairs, got me a big frostino and a surprisingly tasty egg sandwich (as well as a millionaire shortbread for himself – this is a key plot point for later in the blog)
Nice and fed, the next couple of hours flew by as we chatted with the midwives. There was one hairy moment when one of the midwives revealed her partner worked for Southampton football club, but luckily Stu managed to suppress his hatred, remembering this lady was going to be helping bring our daughter into the world so it was a good idea to keep her on side.
When 2pm came around they popped me on the drip and to my delight I didn’t get a sudden rush of pain as predicted. It wasn’t actually till about 5 that I thought things were a little uncomfortable so they gave me laughing gas (aka best thing ever!) I haven’t had any alcohol for well over 2 years, so going on the gas I instantly felt drunk and as I laughed away Stu got flashbacks of the tipsy Ali which is not dissimilar to five year old Ali.
Everything then went by in a nice drunken blur as we waited for 9.30pm when I’d get examined again. I’d told myself I’d hold out till this point to get stronger pain relief and it was all going fine until 8.30pm when the contractions really started to kick in. It was at this point the staff all changed for the night shift and out of nowhere four men were in the room. I’m pretty sure one was an anaesthetist but as I was so high on gas it literally could have been the handyman.
At 9.30 they examined me and the trainee told me I was 4cm…All that for 4cm! Thankfully, the other midwife then had a look and said no I was actually 8cm. This was great I’d progressed so much but also a bit rubbish as it meant I was now too far to have any other pain relief. To make things worse I’d gone a bit too hard on the gas which had made me start to vomit and shake quite a bit.
Luckily, as I knew the end was near and Stu was on hand with the sick bowl I could deal with it. The amazing midwives then moved me into lots of random positions to get me comfortable (again all a bit of a blur) before telling me they could see the head!
Now, it was then when I honestly thought i couldn’t do it. I was so tired and I knew I had to make the final push but the frostino and egg sandwich were a v distant memory. I remember literally saying to Stu I’m really sorry but I can’t get her out but he gave me a tight hand squeeze and told me I could and from somewhere I had a sudden burst of strength and brought her into the world.
The midwives then put Sienna on me and the pain instantly disappeared. Stu started to cry but I just couldn’t stop smiling. Sienna pooing all over me within minutes of being born wasn’t enough to make my smile go away.
After they tidied me up (again don’t worry I won’t go into details) Stu had his first cuddle, I had a shower and Stu just realised something amazing…he hadn’t eaten his shortbread yet!
On top of the world Stu munched his millionaire shortbread cuddling Sienna before he went home and I went over to the maternity ward.
I was super lucky, having a bed overlooking all of Portsmouth, including the spinnaker tower, but I spent most the night just staring at Sienna.
The next day Stu came back to the hospital at about 12ish, with tasty supplies for me and lots of cuddles for Sienna. As Sienna had done a poo in the womb (sorry again tmi) they kept us in hospital till 8 that eve which was actually really nice because it meant I had lots of times to ask what was normal and was I doing that right.
At 8pm we got given the all clear, went home where I had the tastiest sushi takeaway ever!
Since then we’ve been in the craziest baby bubble, time doesn’t really exist, I take on average 20 million photos of Sienna a second and even with the poo, sick and sleep deprivation, Stu and I are the happiest we’ve ever been
alanaburnett 
Lovely xxxx
Thank you 🥰