In August 2014, seven days before my due date, I woke at 7.30am with mild cramps. My husband Wayne woke soon after. I told him I had cramps, but that it was nothing to worry about. He was due to go to work, and we decided he should go. As the morning progressed, so did the cramps. I wasn’t too concerned, and continued with the morning as usual. At 11.00am, my mam called to the house and I explained what I was feeling. At this point, the cramps were getting stronger and I couldn’t sit down. As I chatted with my mam, another contraction came. I told her to feel my belly – it was like a rock – and she said “Oh yeah, you’re in labour all right”.

At 12.30pm, the contractions continued as we had some lunch. At the peak of the contraction, all I could do was focus, and concentrate on my breath. My mam said, “You should call Wayne.” I was calm and happy, so I walked her to the car and called Wayne at about 2:00pm. I explained what was happening and said you need to come home. Due to my composure, he said, “Ah now, I can’t be coming home every day for the next few weeks because you might be in labour.” He said it in a joking manner, and I laughed, but I also told him to “Get home now.” Wayne arrived at 2.30pm while I was getting out of the shower. He said, “so what’s up?!!” A contraction began to build, I smiled and said “hang on.” His reply was “oh you are in labour”! I got dressed and couldn’t speak while the contractions rolled in. Wayne started to time them. Now, 6 minutes apart and lasting between 40 to 60 seconds. We laughed in between contractions, saying we are ACTUALLY having a baby, as if we only realised this for the first time. I didn’t want to go to the hospital too early in case they sent us home. We decided to call the Rotunda, and as I spoke to the midwife, I had a contraction. She listened and advised us to come in. It was 4.00pm on a Thursday afternoon, and we knew the traffic would be bad. Wayne decided to take a road that runs along the Phoenix Park, forgetting that it has hundreds of ramps. When we hit the first ramp, he turned to me and said “SORRY!” With the baby’s head now down in my pelvis, I held on tightly, closed my eyes, and breathed deeply for the remaining ramps, with Wayne apologising for each one. We arrived at the hospital at 4.30 pm. I decided to register while Wayne parked the car. This is the only time I felt serious pain. I was alone, in a public place, and I could barely speak. Thankfully, the registrar seen me and said, “Come in here before you have that baby on the floor.” I leaned on the back of a chair, swaying my hips and block everything out. Wayne’s hand arrived on my shoulder and the women asked for my chart. I was with the community midwife scheme, so we held it at home. WE (HE) FORGOT THE CHART!!

I was brought into the emittance room, placed on the Fetal Heartbeat Monitor, but was told that they can’t examine me until my chart arrives. Thankfully, Wayne had realised this on the way and called my Dad who was about 15 minutes behind us. Wayne left to collect my chart. The midwife plugged in a gas and said “you can use it if you want.” I sucked on the tube, and time distortion set in. One minute felt like ten. Wayne returned about 3 minutes later, I asked in a slurred voice, “Why did you leave me for so long.” The midwife examined me, 5cm, I went straight to labour and delivery. The midwife examined me twenty minutes later and I was 7cm. I felt strong, and in complete control. Contractions came hard and fast and my waters started to release, albeit slowly. I felt the need to poo, so went into the bathroom. I had two contractions sitting on the loo, quickly got myself back to the gas and air. When I moved to the bed, the back was raised up for me to lean on. On my knees, several strong contractions came and went.

Looking at Wayne, and breathing deeply, the baby’s head slowly began to crown. At 17:52 pm, Ollie James Tuohy was in my arms. He was perfect. He was gorgeous. He was the image of his daddy. We were so in love. With baby skin to skin, the midwife gave me an oxytocin injection. This is an injection to manage bleeding when the placenta separates from the womb. I wasn’t sure what it was for at the time, so I agreed. They clamped the cord about 2 minutes after Ollie was born. We remained skin to skin for about 40 minutes. I was asked/told to take shower. Ollie was feeding from me, so I wanted to wait. The midwife came over and unlatched him, by sticking her finger in the side of his mouth. I felt under pressure to get moving. When I came back into the room, daddy was holding Ollie. He looked at me and said “wow that was mad, fair play.” I remember the feeling of love I had for my new little family, it was so comforting. At 11:00 pm, Wayne reluctantly had to leave. It was just my baby and me. I couldn’t stop looking at him. I spent the night with Ollie on my chest feeding and sleeping. I was so happy and amazed by the whole experience. I couldn’t wait to get home, so I got dressed at 5am. Between all the checks and paperwork, we got to leave at 11 am.