Dorothy: “The last minutes were ticking away, we had to think of a baby name during the delivery”

I am leaving with my partner and a friend towards the south of England

At that time, my sister-in-law and her family live there. They have a house with a very spacious garden that needs maintenance. My partner and his friend are going to help them with this task today. They have a little daughter who is almost two years old and since I am currently on leave, I decide to join them so I can take care of the little girl and the rest can have their hands free to work.

I lay down for a moment and unexpectedly fell asleep

When she went to bed in the afternoon for her nap, I decided to lie down on the couch for a bit. Against all odds, because it was quite noisy, I fell asleep for a while. I felt like I really needed this. In the evening, my sister-in-law picked up fish and chips from the chip shop in the village and we ended the day together. My sister-in-law asked my boyfriend: 'A beer, brother?' To which my boyfriend replied: 'Just give me a 0.0% so I can drive back myself.' We were all surprised, because he likes to have a beer after such a long day of work. To which my sister-in-law said: 'Are you sick or something, brother?' To which my partner said: 'You never know what might happen now.'

I assumed that the little one would stay put for a few more weeks

After we dropped his friend off at home, he said to me, "Don't go into labor tonight, okay." To which I replied, "Well, I still have almost four weeks to go, so it should be fine." We drive home, quickly jump in the shower, and dive into bed. We were both completely exhausted from this warm and tiring day. Around midnight, I woke up feeling an immense pain in my lower back and pelvis. I thought, "I must have overdone it, and now I'm paying the price."

The pain seemed to only get more intense

I decide to take a paracetamol and go back to bed. Around 01:30 AM, I wake up startled again and the pain hasn't subsided, but feels even more intense. It was my first pregnancy so I had no idea what to expect from childbirth. I decided to let my partner sleep and to take a warm shower. However, the warm shower only took the edge off but didn't alleviate the pain.

The app also indicated that it had started

After standing in the shower for about half an hour, I finally woke up my boyfriend. He said, “You’re crazy, you still have four weeks until your due date.” I thought, “Yes, you’re right, but what I’m feeling now is no joke.” My boyfriend went to download an app to time the contractions. He quickly indicated, “Get your midwife involved.”

I felt uneasy but still called the midwife

After waiting another 30 minutes, we decided to call anyway. I felt a bit guilty calling in the middle of the night because I was convinced it might be a false alarm. The midwife arrived within half an hour and checked if I was dilated. It turned out to be a whole centimeter. She mentioned that it could have been like this for a week already, so we were allowed to call back in the morning.

Off to the hospital

Around 9:30 AM, the midwife came again for a check-up. She indicated that labor had indeed started, as I was already at 4 cm dilation. Initially, I wanted to give birth at home, but since I was before 37 weeks of my pregnancy, I was transferred to the hospital. After some calls, fortunately, there was space available nearby. I really didn't fancy the idea of having to spend half an hour in the car with leg and back labor pains. They hurt so much!

I had severe pain in my pelvis and wanted pain relief

Once I arrived and settled in the hospital, after a few hours, my membranes were ruptured to further stimulate dilation. I was already at 5 cm, but of course, that was still far from 10 cm. After breaking my waters, I suddenly felt an enormous pressure on my pelvis. And when I was 9 years old, I broke my coccyx, which has caused me nearly 20 years of pelvic pain that only worsened during the pregnancy. The midwife indicated that if I wanted an epidural, I would need to decide now. After all, the anesthesiologist was currently on the ward, and otherwise, I might be too late. So I thought: 'Bring on the epidural, my pelvis/coccyx feels like it's bursting apart.' Once the epidural was in place, I thought I would finally have some rest. I felt very little of the contractions and my body could finally relax a bit.

We didn't have a name yet

I thought I'd have a nice rest and maybe even sleep, but my boyfriend put a stop to that. He said, “Honey, we really need to come up with a name for our little guy now. Otherwise, he'll come into the world nameless.” I had already given like 100 suggestions and he had a bunch too, but we weren't on the same page. At that moment as I lay there, I really thought: “Just pick something, but leave me alone for now. I'm already exhausted and I still have more to go.” Eventually, my boyfriend circled back to the name “Louá”, my favorite. To which I replied: “But if you don't like it, we're not going to do it, because then I'll have to hear about it for the rest of my life.” My boyfriend asked if I was okay with him calling his sister to see what she thought of it. I said that was fine and secretly I had to laugh. She had already sent that name to me once, while it had been at the top of my list for years. So I knew she liked the name too. The name was decided.

Progress was slow and the moment of a decision was approaching

Then the midwife came back. She conducted some examinations and indicated that I was fully dilated. The epidural was turned off and the labor inducers were turned on, so that I would start to feel more pressure. I was allowed to gently start pushing with the onset of a contraction. At one point, the little guy was having a tough time, so they asked if I was okay with them screwing a wire into his head to monitor his heartbeat closely. I told them to do whatever was necessary but to keep everything in consultation. The pushing stage had begun. After about 25 minutes of pushing, the midwife indicated that I had to give it my all during the next two contractions, because otherwise they would have to make an incision. Our little man was struggling and his heartbeat was not stable. I thought: “Hell no, everything is fine but no incision. Even if it feels like 10 minutes per contraction, he is on his way and I am going to pull this off!”

I absolutely did not want a haircut

No sooner said than done, at the second contraction our little boy was lying on my stomach. At 6:41 PM our son was born. Measuring only 46 cm in length and weighing just 2515 grams. Our little brave guy. The umbilical cord was very short, which is why he was placed quite low. After the umbilical cord stopped pulsating, dad cut it and we experienced the golden hour together. An hour of skin-to-skin with me, what an incredible feeling.

Everything went very smoothly after the delivery

After some checks were performed, two internal stitches were placed and I had eaten, I was allowed to shower. When the nurse came in, she was surprised that I did everything myself and so easily. After all, most women can't stand on their legs after giving birth. I guess I was so full of adrenaline that I just kept going as if nothing was wrong.

We had to stay for 2 more nights

After showering, we were allowed to go to the other side of the department. We had to stay for two nights because Louá was born before 37 weeks. Every 6 hours, they would check the glucose levels to make sure they didn't drop too low. Once in the room, the nurse asked if I had urinated yet. I indicated that I wanted to but couldn't; this was due to the epidural. She wanted to give me a catheter for the night so that my bladder would be completely emptied. I was fine with that.

Everyone was surprised

That evening we called family and friends who were completely surprised, as no one had expected our little man so soon. My mother came by in the evening, but due to the corona measures, I was only allowed to receive one visitor per visiting hour. So, the next day my in-laws came to visit. After staying in the hospital for 48 hours and all checks remained stable, we were allowed to go home.

There we went as a brand new family, introducing our little Louá Florian to the rest of the world.

DOROTHY