a visit to the midwife..

on the 9th january i was booked into see my lovely midwife Demi. she explained all the steps of being induced and the sad news that i'd no longer be able to have my water birth as i'd have to be closely monitored during my labour incase bubs became distressed. 

she was a bit concerned that this was my first baby and there was a chance that being induced could be a very lengthy process. as much as i didn't like the idea of being induced i knew that i would have my baby at the end of it and they were doing it for mine and the babys own good. 

i had to go into hospital every 48 hours to be hooked up to the monitor so babys movements could be looked at. i was going in on the friday and my midwife said she would talk to the doctor about giving me a stretch and sweep to get my body ready for labour. apparently your cervix is still quite far back and thick if you've never had a child before and it could take a while to dilate. 

my midwife spoke to the doctor and decided to come in to hospital on her day off to see me on that friday. she got the ok from the doctor to give me a stretch and sweep, permission had to be in writing as they don't like to do it unless you are 40 weeks and over. 

people had told me horror stories about having a stretch and sweep and i was pretty scared. jack had so much time off work at the start of the week due to me being in and out of hospital that he couldn't come with me so i had to be a big brave girl and do it alone. in all honesty it wasn't as bad as people make out to be, i think it helped that i trusted my midwife and had a good relationship with her! she said she gave me a really good one (weird thing to say i know!) and i was already 1cm dilated and thinned. because of this she said it looked quite promising that it would work as my body was getting ready on it's own.

i walked to my juds house and had a cuppa and some lunch. we then took a long walk to the shops to get some crab to eat infront of the telly! when we got back i noticed i had some bleeding which is common and i had lost some of my plug. 

that evening jack and i planned our weekend and said we would go for a long walk on saturday and have a trip to town on sunday. my midwife said that baby was fully engaged from so early on because of how active i was and how much walking i did.