The new season of One Born Every Minute on Channel 4 started tonight, One Born Every Minute is a documentary set on the Labour ward of the Princess Ann Hospital in Southampton. It follows mums to be through the journey of labour from the labour rooms to the operating theatre, One Born Every Minute shares the highs and lows, the pains and traumas of giving birth and everything that comes with it.

Last year when the previous series of One Born Every Minute was on I only just had Thomas, I was still feeling really broody and could 100% relate to everything the women were going through. This year I am feeling a little different, where I do look at the newborns with a melting heart, I dont yet feel the urge to be pregnant with a baby inside me right now. I do want another baby but not right now, Thomas has just turned 1 he is a handful at the moment into absolutely everything, and still waking me up at night – I just want to enjoy him, I cant wait to see him start toddling about, and couldnt be pregnant right now as Its not the right time. Nevertheless I still enjoy watching One Born Every Minute as a mum and a future mummy its interesting to watch the different scenarios of birth.

The midwives at the Princess Ann Hospital in Southampton are raising money for the NeoNatal unit by walking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. NeoNatal equipment literally keeps premature babies alive, supporting their breathing, maintaining their temperature feeding them and so much more Its not surprising that each piece of  NeoNatal equipment  is extremely expensive. Every penny that can be raised through fund raising goes to towards this life saving equipment. Baby’s are born earlier and earlier and surviving thanks to the life saving equipment used by the Neo Natal unit at The Princess Ann Hospital In Southampton.

(This blog is a continuation from part 2)

Well the 9th December came and went, and no signs of labour! I tried all the usual remedies to bring on labour – Hot curry, raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on a ball but nothing worked. My over due appointment at the hospital was on 17th December I waddled to the appointment, by this point I was huge and felt ready to burst, I was told that going off my bump the baby was going to be a good size. The consultant examined me as I had many times before, although this time the doctor was a little quiet and looked puzzled. I quickly became worried and asked what was wrong, she said that the baby may be breached! We were speechless, but at that moment everything seemed to fall into place – Only ever feeling kicks very low down, never having felt that heavy bowling ball feeling! A scan confirmed that my baby was breached. Being 8 days over due it was too late to try to turn the baby around, I didn’t really want that either as it sounded painful. I expressed I wanted to have a Cesarin section (C-Section) I just wanted to get my baby out safely many known breached babies are delivered at 38 weeks by section, I was almost 42 weeks pregnant!

Because of the time of the year I could not have a section that day, all the c sections were booked in. I was kept in hospital and told that the next day they would try to fit me in for the section. My husband and I are nice people, we don’t like making a fuss or shouting. I expressed my concerns to get the baby out as soon as possible and was told the chances of having the operation the next day were very high. So I accepted that I would likely have the baby the next day, but in the back of my mind I had doubts that they would fit me in on the 18th December as they sounded very busy. Nathan went with me to the ward and stayed with me for a short while, but it was out of the visiting hours so he had to go. The moment he left the ward I remember watching him walk down the  corridor leaving me with such an empty feeling, I felt lonely and scared. I know Nathan hated leaving me, it was the thought of the unknown, we were both still in shock from finding out past my due date that our baby was breached! I was one of four girls on the ward, we were all waiting to have our babies. I looked out of the window there was a thin layer of snow on the ground, snow was falling, the hospital car park looked like a winter picture, it was lovely. I looked out of the window for some time to try to calm myself down and relax, I was in the best place.

(The Road To Parenthood Part 4 Continues Here)