Its Time....

Well she arrived, finally, a week later than expected, and hoped for by my wife. The hot and humid summer days that we’d managed to have in the couple of weeks leading up to the due date hadn’t done Clare’s mood any good, with all the hormones flying around and the fact that getting around was now becoming more difficult due to her size. I just keep my mouth shut and supported her all that I could.

I was remarkably relaxed leading up to the due date and not fazed by the prospect of the birth and becoming a father at all. We chatted about things like how our lives were going to change and about being scared of actually having to grow up and behave like the responsible adults were supposed to be. I’m 29 and my wife, Clare is 25, and up to the birth of Isabelle I was by the far biggest kid in the house, Clare will probably tell you all I’m still the biggest kid in the house!

Being a week overdue meant I was on permanent standby at work with my mobile never too far away, with most of my colleagues seemingly more anxious than I was every time it rang. We had an appointment with a consultant a couple of days after the due date as we had had some concerns during the pregnancy, so they brought us in for a check-up, where they confirmed that everything was fine and that we were 2cm dilated. So things were moving in the right direction, albeit a little slowly. The consultant gave things a helping nudge along and carried out a sweep. Which I have to admit I found a little off putting, sitting in the room whilst Clare disappeared behind the curtain with the nurse and the consultant so they could carry out the exam and sweep.

A couple more days of minor contractions and not a lot else a visit to the local mid wife was due. I didn’t attend this but not long after the appointment I received a phone call from Clare, things had moved a bit more and we were 3 cm dilated. Now at this point, this didn’t really mean a lot to me despite all the books I’d read, websites viewed and advice given but the lads at work who all have kids seemed to get very excited by this fact and telling me that I should be getting home as birth could be imminent. So, after a quick chat with Clare, she assured me there was no panic and after a little bit of Google research I’m calmed the frayed nerves of my work colleagues and finished the day as normal. I left work that night and agreed that I would work from home the next day as it appeared things were moving in the right direction.

So there I was working from home with the expectation that we could be racing into hospital at any time but nothing of any note happened all day. That evening we went for walk where Clare was suddenly getting sharper and more regular contractions (up to this point they had only been mild and anything but regular), I suggested we phone the hospital and see what they thought but Clare said the contractions weren’t regular enough and she talked me out of it. By now I was starting to get more nervous and excited as Isabelle had obviously decided that the time to meet her parents was getting closer. We went to bed as normal that night and although Clare was having more intense contractions the frequency had dropped. Knowing that I would be at home the next day I took the opportunity for a bit of a lie in, I’m normally out of the house by 5.30am. So I made the most of it and stayed in bed until I got woken abruptly by Clare at about 7am.

She had been up for about an hour with her contractions, been to the toilet and had a ‘show’ so decided it was time to call the hospital. We were told to make our way in but there was no rush, so we had breakfast, double checked the bags to make sure we had packed everything and then steadily made our way in. By now, I was getting more and more nervous, with a million and one things running through my head; have we got enough clothes, is the cot suitable, is the house organised and ready, more importantly, am I ready for this?! I stayed calm and hid my anxiety from Clare, I thought the worst thing would be for her to see me getting worked up as she was already nervous and stressed.

So here we were, on our way into the hospital where we about to enter a whole new world……