Here he is opening the beautiful train from Myriad (which was half price during February - weren't we organised?!) at some ridiculous hour of the morning, hence daddy being still half asleep...
We had a lovely day yesterday, Phil stood up to both sets of his parents and told them we were spending our hour together, just the four of us (Chloe had Brownies at 5pm so we only had an hour after work). We had a picnic in the lounge, tried out Finn's next swing (in a very masculine shade of florescent pink) in the garden and watched Finn sampling his birthday cake - fairly healthy, dairy and soya-free birthday cake, but he's never had cake or chocolate before and was suitably intrigued. I think more ended up on my jeans than in his mouth, but we all enjoyed it!
Finn's birthday cake, not a work of art but it's dairy and soya free and quite yummy! He was mystified:
A gorgeous smiley picture: 
And a tired out birthday boy in his mamma-made birthday trousers :)
And Chloe started Brownies. I was so very proud of her, walking into that hall not knowing anyone. She was nervous and I stayed until she was happy for me to go, but she was taken under the wings of two lovely girls who she recognised from school and she came home absolutely walking on air. She loved it, and is very excited about the overnight trip they're planning in October. I'm not sure she's ready for overnights, but maybe it's just me that isn't ready! Still, October is a long way off and we'll see what happens.Finlay Jacob’s birth story
At about 9pm on Sunday 27th April 2008, I started to have painful contractions, about 20 mins apart. After two weeks of regular Braxton hicks and stop/start contractions, I wasn’t sure if it was the real thing as all the pain was in my back and I knew the baby was in a good position so thought maybe he was just messing about again!
The contractions became stronger and more regular and by midnight, I was having to breathe through them. I still worried it was a false alarm so didn’t phone my mum until 1.30am – she then drove down to be with Chloe upstairs, which was lucky as she woke up at about 3am and didn’t go back to sleep! I rang the on-call MW who advised me to rest and call her back if things picked up. By 2am, contractions were about 2-3mins apart - Phil was filling the birth pool and rubbing my back through the pains – so I phoned the MW again, to be told she was busy and would ring back in 5 mins. An hour later, she hadn’t phoned. I rang back as really wanted to use the pool for pain relief by then and was told again that she’d call in 5 mins.
My mum arrived (with a travel kettle so she didn’t disturb us by coming downstairs, lol) and Chloe woke up soon afterwards. I went up to reassure her that everything was ok and she was so excited she just kept asking ‘is it really happening?’ She wanted to have long conversations with me about where she was going to have breakfast, which wasn’t easy with contractions a minute apart, lol, but she was very happy to cuddle up and read stories with Grandma so I left them to it.
After 45 mins, the MW finally rang back – she said she’d be here in 20 mins so we didn't expect her to show up until about a week after the birth - we weren’t convinced about her timekeeping by now! She arrived at 5am and promptly told me I was only 3cms dilated – I could have cried!
I couldn’t believe how painful my back was and couldn’t bear the thought of another 7 hours of it getting worse. I got into the pool anyway, and listened to a relaxation CD. An hour later she checked me again – I’d been moving around and squatting a lot in the pool so was hoping for quick progress, but she told me I was 4cms – then added ‘and a half’ when she saw my face! I was really upset and wasn’t sure what to do – she suggested trying gas and air but I didn’t want to use it as I thought I still had such a long way to go, so I carried on moving in the pool or getting Phil to rub my back while breathing.
The MW was driving me insane asking questions about our holidays while I was trying to concentrate, and checking things like my temperature during contractions, so I was delighted at 7.30am when it was the end of her shift! She helpfully told the new MW and the student with her that it would be ages before anything happened, and left at 8am.
Almost as soon as she shut the door I had a huge show and a couple of really intense contractions on top of each other. I had a few minutes on my own in the bathroom which really helped me to get my head together, then I got back in the pool and asked for the gas and air. Gas and air was far better than I remembered from Chloe’s birth – really took the edge off the pain, although I think I may have worried Phil by coming round from it each time telling him how much I loved him but that I’d thought he was in the other room - I was totally spaced out, which wasn't what I'd wanted and I'd hoped to manage without the gas and air at all, but as it was such an intense labour, it really helped me to calm down and stop panicking.
Suddenly I had a really strange feeling, like my head cleared and I knew exactly what was going on. I told the MW it wouldn’t be long, and started feeling my body pushing – the MW and student were brilliant – really positive and supportive but hands-off, exactly as we’d asked. The MW was on the phone requesting a second MW for the delivery when I suddenly felt his head crowning – so she said ‘nevermind!’ and hung up!
Then I just had this overwhelming sense that my body knew what to do and that things would be fine – I felt him crowning but it didn’t hurt, it was just an awareness of what was happening. At 8.39am I delivered him into my hands under the water. I lifted him up to the surface and couldn’t believe how tiny and how loud he was! Also couldn’t believe that the pool suddenly looked like it was filled with red wine (tmi?!) but that was Phil’s job to clean up as I’d done my bit.
I stayed in the pool, both the baby and I were crying our eyes out! Then I sat on the edge of the pool to deliver the placenta while our little man had his first breastfeed and finally got out so we could snuggle up for a bit. Phil and I sat with him for ages deciding on his name and counting his fingers and toes, while the MWs filled in their notes. Then he was weighed (8lbs 5oz!) and I was examined – I had two 2nd degree tears but they decided I didn’t really need stitches – and then we went upstairs to bed.
My mum had taken Chloe to Sainsburys for breakfast and they arrived back around 11am. Chloe was so excited to meet her brother and she loved her big sister pressies! Seeing her meeting him, the sibling she had been asking and aching for since she could speak, was one of the most wonderful moments of my life. Phil emptied the pool with a hose siphon and buckets in about half an hour and by the time his parents arrived in the afternoon, the house was totally back to normal! It was so lovely being at home and feeling so in control of the whole thing – if we’re lucky enough to have anymore babies I think we’d definitely opt for another homebirth, it was just so relaxing!
My decision to train as a doula and antenatal/postnatal facilitator was inspired by the amazing birth of our precious little boy. Phil was incredible - wonderfully supportive but calm - which was quite unexpected! Having been a birth partner for my friend, I know how hard it is to be in that position and I'd love to have the confidence and knowledge to empower other women and their partners to have the births they hope for. I feel very grateful that we had such a wonderful experience and I know I'll reflect on it with joy on April 28th each year as my baby boys grows up.
