The Highs and Lows of my Pregnancies

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This summer my girls turn twelve and that means it is twelve years since I was last pregnant, I can’t quite believe that if I am honest, it feels like it was only a couple of years back; the memories are so vivid. Despite not having the easiest pregnancies or best birth experiences either time, I absolutely loved being pregnant as I felt so special. Growing a small human is an absolute privilege that not everyone gets to enjoy.

I so clearly remember being at work in 2003 and this veil of tiredness fell over me as I sat at my desk. I immediately went out to buy a pregnancy test and recall sitting in the loo silently screaming and thumping the air with elation when the two little lines appeared! My pregnancy with JJ was a good one generally, I was a model student, attending all the classes, reading all the literature, chatting to other pregnant women and mothers, and I think I knew nearly as much as the midwives.

Then for some silly reason a few days before JJ was due to arrive, I got impatient and I decided to see if I could help him along a little by cleaning the garage top to bottom. Straight after I had my routine midwife appointment and found that I had pre-eclampsia; high blood pressure, protein in my urine and terrible oedema (water retention) on my legs. I was sent straight up to the hospital to spend the night on the antenatal ward so they could get my blood pressure under control.

As I’d had such a good pregnancy and done all the things I was supposed to do, I truly believed that I’d have this idyllic water birth. We’d been encouraged in our classes to write a birth plan and mine was full of ideas of soothing music, easing the pain in the warm water and my husband by my side. The reality was quite different; I was forced to have an induction as I had pre-eclampsia, that then failed and my baby getting distressed, so I was whizzed through for a C section, but the spinal blocks and epidural didn’t work so I ended up with a crash section under general anaesthetic.