I honestly couldn’t wait to have children, I knew from a very young age I wanted to be a mum. Pregnancy for me wasn’t straight forward, I have a blood clotting disorder that makes me more prone to clots and pre eclampsia, so I was regularly seen by the midwife and was under the consultant at the hospital. Seeing your little baby on the screen for the first time is the most amazing feeling in the world. It doesn’t feel real until your see that tiny human on the screen.

Harriet Ruby

My first pregnancy, with Harriet, I was only 17 and it was a huge shock as I was on the contraceptive pill. The pregnancy went quite well, Harriet was healthy and I was put on Clexane blood thinning injections to prevent me from getting a clot. I was scanned 4 weekly from 28weeks to make sure everything was okay. At 38+1 I went for a scan and to see the consultant. Harriet hadn’t grown for 4 weeks and I had high blood pressure and protein in my urine (all signs of pre-eclampsia). I was booked in to be induced 3 days later, that weekend waiting felt like a lifetime. I went in on the Monday at 38+4 for induction, which was quite straight forward. I had the pessary tablet, they broke my waters and then put me in the drip to speed my contractions. Aaron and my mum were my birthing partners, after contracting for about 18hours I couldn’t take any more so decided to have the epidural. At around 3.30pm on Tuesday 1st November the midwife checked me and I was 10cm so it was time to push. I pushed and pushed and pushed but she just didn’t want to come out 🙈 no matter how hard I tried. After an hour of pushing, baby started to get distressed and her heart rate was dipping. I was petrified, all I kept thinking was am I going to loose my baby? The emergency button was pressed and in came all the doctors and midwives, the doctor decided the best thing to do would be forceps there and then. At 5.09pm Harriet made her entry into the world, weighing 5lb 15oz. I was so in love, she was perfect.

Elsie Georgina

Elsie’s pregnancy was definitely my worst and hardest, nothing seemed to go right for me with her. At around 18 weeks my waters starting very slowly leaking, I didn’t realise it was that, I just thought I kept peeing myself 🤷. At my 20 week scan they noticed my amniotic fluid was low and baby was breech. Over the next 14 weeks I was constantly in and out for scans and check ups. I had reduced movements on numerous occasions and my bump was tiny. I went in for a scan on Friday 07th Oct at 34weeks with my consultant. I was expecting a normal scan and to be sent home, instead my consultant scanned me, took me to a room and told me I was having the baby that day. My placenta had stopped working and I had no fluids left, luckily I had already had the steroid injections for her lungs. I was sent round to labour ward while Aaron went home and got our bags ready. I had to have a cesarean section, I didn’t have a choice with having no fluids and baby being breech. I walked down to the operation room at 8pm and was given a spinal block. Once I was settled and the spinal block was working they let Aaron into the room. I was so nervous I was shaking. At 8.40pm Elsie Georgina entered the world, 6 weeks early, weighing 4lb 3oz. Luckily she didn’t have to stay in NICU, but she did have to go straight down there and have antibiotics and was put on a heated cot as her temp was low. Elsie had to be fed 2 hourly (which was an absolute killer) but she managed to maintain her weight so we was allowed home 5 days later.

George Joseph Michael

After 2 quite scary pregnancies, we decided we wasn’t going to have anymore children, as much as I wanted another, so I went onto another contraceptive pill. July 2017, after numerous symptoms I took a test and it was positive, I felt so nervous. 2 weeks later though I started to bleed, only really lightly, but the doctor booked me in for an emergency scan 2 days later. The bleeding got heavier and I started getting tummy pains. When we went for the scan we was told the heartbreaking news that there was no heartbeat, my whole world felt like it had come crashing down. I miscarried naturally at home and we decided to try again. October I got another positive, but a few days later I started to bleed again, another miscarriage. I felt so deflated, why me?

December 2017 I got another positive test, but I couldn’t get excited or happy about it. Every little twinge I thought something was going to happen. Everytime I went to the toilet I was expecting to see blood. But luckily everything was fine. We had our 12 week scan and could see little George waving his hands around, now I finally felt excited. At 16weeks we had a private gender scan. I was so happy it was a boy, I cried 😂. George’s pregnancy was my best one yet, no complications and he was growing really well. I opted for a planned section at 39weeks. At 38+4 I started getting tummy pains, every 10 mins or so. I went up to bed, but I couldn’t sleep, the pains were coming stronger and stronger. The next morning I rang labour ward and explained and they asked me to come in. I’d been having contractions for 18 hours so the doctor checked me and I was only 3cm dilated. I was given the option of continuing with labour to see how I progress or have the cesarean. I opted for the cesarean, George made his appearance at 1.35pm on Saturday 18th August 2018 weighing 7lb 14oz. He was absolutely gorgeous, the spitting imagine of me. Everything was fine, so the next day we was allowed home.

So there’s my pregnancy stories, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it 🙂. Pregnancy can be hard, and they’re not always straight forward but knowing you’ve got a tiny human in there that you can love and cherish makes it all worth it. ❤️