Well… Our second son has made his entrance into this world and what an entrance it was.

Since Thomas was two weeks overdue we were not expecting much to happen around the due date this time either but in the evening of Thursday 19 January I started having contractions - my due date was 19 or 20 January! I wasn’t sure if it was the real thing but we decided to send Mike to Bromley to pick up his mum so she could be here and watch Thomas should things develop more. And good thing we did as by the time they arrived back home I was struggling quite a bit and had just managed to get into a nice warm bath.

We rang the hospital and were told to hop in the car and come in as my contractions were only about 2 or 3 minutes apart. Normally they want you to come in at about 5 minutes apart so we had actually left it a bit late. The trip there in the car seemed to take ages but it was nice to know we were on our way to have our baby.

We got to hospital at about midnight and I had to lie down on the bed so they could hook up the various monitors. I had hoped to avoid being monitored constantly but with my history of a Caesarean they did not want to take any risks and kept an eye on everything. After about two hours I thought gas & air was probably not enough to help me deal with the pain anymore and said I might want an epidural. However, I never got one as the midwifery team decided that things were not well and baby would need to be delivered via a Crash Caesarean section. Apparently his heart rate had dropped and there was also meconium in my waters – a sign of foetal distress. They were also concerned about my scar rupturing so they rushed me away and put me under general anaesthetic. Mike was left standing with nothing to do (they don’t allow partners in when a C-section is done under general) but only for a few minutes. Before he knew it he was handed our baby boy. He had to wait around for a few hours until I came to and was given a bottle to feed our hungry boy in the meantime.

I had to stay in hospital for a few days. At Frimley Park Hospital they have all Caesarean mums together on a ward so it was nice not to be the only one who was having trouble sitting up and picking up the baby for feeds. The hospital staff were great and the very strict visiting hours were also very helpful. I think I slept a lot more than after having Thomas so I was feeling better much sooner. The wonderful effects of morfine…

I was discharged on Sunday and have enjoyed being at home with Mike and baby Alex. Thomas has been going to nursery as usual so we’ve had lots of time to catch up on sleep and get used to the idea of having two children. Thomas has been great about it all. He gets very excited when he hears Alex and is pleased Alex has eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth to point out. Really he wants to pull at the little boy’s ears but he does now seem to understand that’s not allowed.

This weekend Margaret and Laurence will get to meet Alex for the first time and on Tuesday my parents will arrive from Holland. Mike will go back to work on Monday so it will be good to have their help for a little while before I’m left to care for Alex on my own. So far he has been very easy going so we’re actually finding things easier than when we first had Thomas. Let’s hope things stay this way.