Welcoming Aaliyah Rose

Hello my loves! In three days time, my beautiful daughter Aaliyah Rose is going to be turning two! Time flies so quickly. It feels like it was just yesterday that I got to see her and hold her for the first time and now I can actually have a conversation with her! She is so full of character and I am incredibly proud of her. Since it's her birthday week, I thought I would share my labour/birth story. 

My bump progression! The bottom right picture was taken the day before I gave birth!

Aaliyah's due date was the 15th May 2013. As soon as I became full term at 37 weeks, I tried EVERYTHING that will make her come on time or even earlier. I was just so excited to meet her! I ate a lot of pineapples, spicy food, I did a lot of squats and lunges and did a lot of walking. One of my favourite Friends episode is when Rachel wanted her baby out so I pretty much did everything she did!

When the 15th of May came, I was eager to have her out. So I asked my partner Mike and my little brother Aldred if they wanted to go for a walk around London. I thought that this would really help induce labour. So we walked for about four hours around Central London. When I got tired we decided to have late lunch at Ed's Diner and I decided to get something spicy of course! After eating we walked some more and I remember going into a Holland and Barrets shop and buying Red Raspberry Leaf Tea because I read somewhere that it can help relax your uterus which can help induce labour. I thought I would give it a try! So we got home around 9pm and I decided to drink some of the Red Raspberry Leaf Tea. I really didn't like the taste of it as I'm not a fan of hot fruit teas but I downed it anyway. 

At around 2AM (16th May2013), me and Mike were still awake as I couldn't sleep as always. I felt cramps around that time and I didn't really think anything of it. But as time went on, they kept getting stronger and more frequent. I thought 'This is it!' and I suddenly got so scared! I told Mike to set the timer up on his phone so I could time the contractions. I knew Mike was really tired though so I told him to try and get some sleep first because I thought it would be awhile since I would be in active labour especially coz my waters haven't broken yet. But when it got to around 4AM I really couldn't take the pain anymore and so I decided to call the hospital. I really just wanted to walk straight to the hospital as we used to live near it but I thought it's best to call them first. The nurse asked how far apart my contractions were and told me to just relax for now and take paracetamol. I wanted to scream at her! If only she felt the pain I was experiencing!

By the time it got to 6AM, I called the hospital again. I told them I really couldn't take the contractions anymore. They asked me if my waters have broken yet and I said no. Again, they told me to just relax, take a bath and even try to have breakfast. I thought, wow do they not want me to go there? When it came to 7AM, I thought nope I've had enough time to go to the hospital! So me and Mike grabbed my hospital bag and walked to the hospital even though I was in so much pain. The two minute walk took me around 20 minutes as I had to stop every time I had a contraction! I still remember this lady who walked past us smiling at me and saying, "Good luck!" 

It was already around 8AM when we finally got a bed. I had my own private room which I really liked because I was screaming so much from the pain! In my birth plan I just wanted to have a natural birth and use gas and air to help ease the pain. When the midwife finally checked me, I was already 9cm dilated! I was so shocked. I think if we didn't walk to the hospital by 7AM I would've given birth at home. The only thing is my waters didn't break til about 8:15AM. After that everything to me was a blur. I just kept pushing, screaming and squeezing Mike's hands really hard and in between taking in my gas and air. The pain was bearable but once the gas and air would run out I would just cry! Anyways at exactly 8:25 AM, my baby finally came! I can't believe it only took me 10 minutes to push her out! I've heard so much horror stories and it really scared me but I am so lucky and blessed to have such a quick and safe delivery.

Aaliyah Rose Domingo Andres - born on the 16th May 2013 / 08:25AM / 8.2 lbs.

Giving birth is no doubt the most painful thing I have ever experienced, but it's also the most beautiful and I would definitely do it again! Not anytime soon though ;) Maybe when Aaliyah is a few more years older. For now I just want to enjoy our time with our baby girl!

 To all the mamas out there, how was your labour and your birthing experience?

- andreadxo