My birth story for #16 Casper Theo born 3rd October @ 14.05

So here goes... on Monday the 1st October we were woken up by the tv crew at 6.30 they had arrived early because i was due to go in for my induction of labour. I had to ring the unit at 7.30 to see if they were able to take me in or if they were too busy but we tried to get through for about an hour and a half but it was just constantly busy so we decided to just make our way in so we said goodbye to the children and left for the hospital. When we got to the labour ward she said to us to go up onto the ward which we thought a bit strange because i was just going to be having my waters broke. Anyway, we got up to the ward and the midwife told us that they were very busy on delivery so couldn't induce me that morning but if it got quieter then they would take me down so we waited all day and it just didn't get any quieter so thought we would be able to go home and come back in the morning but my consultant wasn't happy to let me go home because of my labours being very quick and she thought that it would be the case with this one so i stopped in over night and hated leaving the children at home and not being able to see them.
So tuesday morning came and i was feeling hopeful that i would have him that day but when it got to dinner time and the woman in the next room was labouring up on the ward we realised that it probably wasn't going to happen again. I got very emotional and just wanted to go home to see the children so the consultant came in to see me and explained that she was going to do her best to get me taken down during  the night or early in the morning so Noel went home and was told to take his mobile and house phone up to bed with him just in case i did go down but morning came and i was still waiting. The midwife came in to see me and said that they had got very busy again so hadn't been able to take me down but would get the consultant to come and see me which she did very soon after she told me that she would go and find out what was happening on labour ward so off she went and an hour passed and we still hadn't heard anything so thought oh no its going to be another day of waiting and being away from the children but shortly after the midwife came in and said to me "right im going down to find out what's happening" and within 10 minutes she popped her head round the door and said to me "right are you ready to go have a baby" well the relief was amazing i never thought i would be so relieved to be going to be in alot of pain so Noel came in to the hospital and we went down to the delivery room. It was about 10.30 i had to go on the monitor for about 45 minutes because he was being very lazy and they wanted to see some movement from him before they went ahead and broke the waters. Eventually i was taken off the monitor and the doctor came in to put my cannular in and i really hate those things going in, they're so painful and the first attempt didn't work and it really made my hand swell up so she went on to try it in my other hand and that didn't work either so she decided to put it in half way up my arm, by this point i was just praying it would work so when she said yep its all done what a relief that was so we were all ready to have my waters broke so the consultant came in to do it and said his head was still floating around so they would have to do a controlled breaking of the waters so i had one person pushing down on my bump while another held his head in place to try and stop the cord from coming out first it was so uncomfortable but they broke the waters and there was so much of it but he still kept pressing down on my bump to try and get his head to come down so when he was happy that everything was ok they put me back on the monitor for another 30 minutes just to monitor that he was nice and happy after they had broke the waters which he was, he wouldn't stop moving around! So after i got taken off the monitor i was allowed to get up and move around to try and get his head to come down and start the contractions off i did feel a bit crampy but nothing much happened for a good hour then i had a really big contraction and thought right if the next one is like that one i'm starting on the gas and air well the next one was far worse so i grabbed the gas and air and got on the bed.
Well that was it! they just started coming one after the other till i said to the midwife i can't cope i need something else i think she had realised that he was coming she said do you feel pushy and i thought no i don't think so well with the next contraction i could just feel this overwhelming urge to push i think he took us all by surprise and before the midwife had chance to call a second midwife in his head was out and just one more push and he was out it was that fast i think Noel was in shock just how fast he was born he said all he can remember was the midwife saying just pant and him thinking no way is he here already it was such a lovely birth experience he is just absolutely gorgeous. He weighed in at a very healthy 8lb 8oz which is pretty much what i thought he was going to weigh so all in all, my labour is recorded as 16 minutes but i was actually only really in alot of pain for about 5 minutes. We brought him home yesterday and introduced him to all of his brothers and sisters. What a special time that was they all love him so much we feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to have what we have and it really makes me feel very emotional when i see them all together and see what we have created over the years and who knows maybe we will be lucky enough to have more in the future!!!!