I woke up earlier than normal with some minor cramps and thought it may be contractions. Since I thought it must be very early stage I tried to get some more sleep and woke up a bit later. I think Ross (the daddy) was awake too as it was Tuesday morning and a working day for him. Told him I thought I was having contractions to which his response was “so I am not going to work then?”, don’t think so. Ross “I have a conference call at 9:30”, I don’t think so. So we chatted in bed for a while but contractions were getting more intense, so I realised I was definitely having contractions and I better go downstairs to have some breakfast before they become too intense.

Went downstairs while Ross texted Kate the birth photographer and rang the hospital. They advised us to come in but we said we would have breakfast first. Never got to eat any of the breakfast I had made or drink the cup of tea as contractions were coming very regular now and quite intense. Ross rang the hospital again that we were coming in. Saoirse was on a sleepover with Abigail so Ross went to pick her up first at around 9am before taking me to hospital. Oma was at home looking after soon to be big sisters Saoirse and Aoife. I had the slight comfort of a hot water bottle and tense machine while lying over my birthing ball, but it was fair to say I was in agony.

Shortly after arriving at the hospital Kate arrived to document our birth story. I was allowed to go to the birth centre and use the pool, but they had to check me over first.

I was 5cm dilated already, excellent I thought. The pool was a delight! I think I spend around 4 hours in the pool.

The contractions were very strong and very regular, I was expecting them to change and feel that pushing feeling but never did. I was in a lot of pain but tried not to fight them and relax as the midwife had told me..it helped.

The midwife and I both thought Ciara’s birth was imminent until she checked me and I was still only 5 cm and my waters hadn’t even broken yet.

The decision was made to transport me upstairs to the delivery suit, which worried me as I had to use the lift I had been stuck in on the tour of the maternity ward a few weeks earlier. Yes I, together with four other pregnant women had to be rescued by Firemen!

Luckily I didn’t get stuck this time and we made it to the maternity ward where I opted for an epidural as there was still a long way to go and there was no visible progress. The epidural made me feel a lot better and I was surprised how much I could still move around on the bed as from memory I hadn’t been able to feel my legs much when I had one with Aoife. I was still hoping for a somewhat natural birth by kneeling on the bed.

We tried lying backwards and on either side but Ciara heartbeat was irregular and didn't recover well after contractions. The midwifes weren’t sure if this was due to the earlier c-section scar or because of Ciara not feeling happy inside. I did get a chance to finally brush my teeth, after having rushed out of the house in the morning and having been sick at least three times it made me feel so much better. It’s the little things….

They soon came with the not so happy news that a c-section was probably needed. They gave me a bit more time, in particular since my waters had now broken during transport, but nothing changed.

So here we go again. It felt less rushed than with my first baby but nevertheless an emergency c-section.

This time however I wanted to make sure I would get my skin to skin straight after birth, so made everyone promise they wouldn’t wrap her up as they normally do with a c-section. They kept their promise as much as they could and made sure they placed all the monitor pads slightly further away from my chest to keep enough space for my first cuddles with baby Ciara.

Unfortunately Kate my photographer wasn’t allowed in the operating theatre and therefore couldn’t photograph the actual birth so my husband took over and captured our first sight of Ciara. My initial thoughts were that she looked like Aoife, my second child now 5.5 but that may be because of the amount of vernix on her. As I had a normal birth (VBAC) with Aoife she was also covered. They unfortunately had cleaned Saoirse by the time I got to see her so I don’t know if she came out with some on her too.

I was so excited I almost made the paper barrier placed between us collapse.

Ciara wasn’t breathing though, as often is the case with c-sections, so they did have to take her away for a bit but brought her straight to me after with just a nappy and hat on and left all the checks till later.

When they did have to take her from me, still not sure if this was in fact necessary, they had to put my surgical stockings socks on and lift me over to another bed to be transported to the recover room, my husband took over with the skin to skin so that was nice.

I wasn’t there for those moments so it’s really nice Kate was there to document this for us as well.

This was followed by Ciara’s first breastfeed and I just loved her wet hair.

Recovery was uncomfortable, was half lying on my side to avoid being sick again and I had the shakes.

However two hours on the dot and the shakes were gone and although still unable to move I felt a lot better and was allowed to go to the maternity ward where my daughters and oma were allowed to visit.

Again, I was very grateful not having to worry about photographs as Kate was there too.

Saoirse and Aoife had been very excited that day and it had been a long wait for them knowing I had gone into hospital that morning but finally at 8pm that evening they were able to meet their little sister!

I held Ciara all night. Didn’t sleep much as other babies were crying that first night but it didn’t bother me too much as I was finally holding my third baby girl. What a journey it has been!

The second night however I had hoped for a bit more sleep but Ciara was playing up a bit, starting to get hungry I think. One of the other baby seemed not being able to settle either and with between them, the midwife visits and Ciara I did not get any sleep.

After having read my birth story one of my clients who is a doula said "Baby’s second night is often a tough one - I feel like all mums should be warned but they never are! This article might make sense in retrospect! https://kellymom.com/ages/newborn/bf-basics/second-night/" which I thought is definitely worth a read if you are about to give birth soon.

Luckily my catheter had been taken out that evening and made my first very slow trip to the toilet. It was going slightly better every time I made the trip, although I was slightly envious of the other lady on the ward who seemed to skip everywhere after having had the c-section on the same day as me.

I asked to be released first thing and with all checks being fine, Ciara and I were on our way home early the following day.

The kids were so surprised as daddy hadn’t told them he was going to get Ciara. After no sleep for two nights I went straight to bed.