Hi Katharine,
Florence Alice Byrne was born on 4th January weighing 9lbs 9oz!
It was a very different experience to last time with my labour lasting a total of only 2 hours from start to finish. My waters broke without warning at around 7pm on Wednesday evening.
Having spoken to the hospital to let them know, they asked me to come in to be assessed. So we loaded up the car and set off. I had back to back surges all the way to hospital and was in second stage labour by the time we reached the hospital. I was shown straight to the delivery suite and an hour later Florence was born (at 9.11pm). It was an extremely intense experience and I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t a very uncomfortable one. It took every bit of inner strength to keep as relaxed as possible and breath appropriately, but I managed it.
When I saw you, we spoke about perineal massage. I ended up buying an Epi-No Perineal Trainer, which I used for the last few weeks leading up to the birth and as a result, even though her head circumference was above the 98th percentile, I did not require any stitches. I’m not sure if you have come across one of these before, but I would recommend it to anyone preparing to have baby, so just thought I would mention it to you (www.epi-no.co.uk).
Thanks again for all your help.
Louise Byrne xx
