I learnt that I needed to look after myself and rest up whenever I could, and I'd advise any pregnant person to do nice things for themselves. Nap when you want to, use your nice face masks, and take long baths... you're literally growing a human!
When I got to 37 weeks, I started to feel very heavy, my body completely changed. I felt a drop, my back was in pain constantly and I felt like a robot just trying to get through the day. Luckily, I was able to finish work earlier than I was supposed to.
I'd always told myself 'This is my body, I know my own body' and we'd planned to have this wonderful water birth, and I was quite against the thought of being induced and wanted to go into labour naturally. But as time went on, I couldn't do it any longer.
My doctor told me that my baby's growth had slowed and suggested that I be induced, she then examined me and noticed that I'd already started to dilate and was in early labour!
In that moment I agreed that this was something I wanted to do. I was struggling to cope with the pain and because I have ADHD, I was way too overstimulated and just wanted the birth to be over as soon as possible.
I realised that I didn't need to feel bad about having an induction because it was what was right for me at the time. You can plan and prepare all you want but when you're in a critical moment, you just need to do what's right for you and trust your own decisions.
Overall, I was in the hospital for a week.
I was being induced for three days, with my waters slowly breaking on the third day, then I was taken down to the labour ward and started on a hormone drip to help me get into a more active labour which started at 7 pm.
I didn't have my daughter until the next day at 9:30 am. I went from the hormone drip to more drugs and then an epidural. It got to a point where my body couldn't take the contractions anymore and my baby was getting distressed, so I had to go in for an emergency C-section.
Finally, out came my little girl! It was the best, most incredible feeling in the world and let me tell you, it was all worth it!
After Nova was born, I couldn't do a lot and was pretty much bed bound. We both had an infection due to my waters being broken for 24 hours, and my partner was having to take the lead, which was hard initially, but I knew it was just part of the process.
We had to stay in hospital for a few more days and by the end of it, I was so ready to be discharged! Luckily, we had lots of support in the hospital and learnt so much from all the midwives.
When we arrived home, it was like a whole new world I'd never experienced before.
As soon as you become a parent you can't just do things for yourself anymore, you need to keep in mind that you need to be there for a little baby too.
You can't just leave the house, it's like packing for a holiday every time! Making sure you have bottles, nappies, change of clothes, you really do get thrown in the deep end!
Then came the 'baby blues'. I could not stop crying and there were times when I thought that I wasn't good enough and that I would do a bad job, and these feelings lasted for about three days.
We asked my mum to come over and she helped clean the house, did the feeds, and helped in any way she could just so we could have a nap or organise the house a little. I know now how important it is to accept the help! It's really needed and by no means makes you weak. You're only human and your little one needs you, so you really need to look after yourself.
As the days went by I was sleep deprived from the night feeds, but something clicked and I thought to myself, 'My life doesn't have to stop', sure it's going to be a lot different, but I can continue to do some of the things we loved doing before we became parents - going out for food, for walks, attending events, and meeting up with friends!
