First-Time Mum

October 2016, can’t remember the exact date, but that’s when we found out I was pregnant. Best but worst moment of my life. I had just turned 19 and had only been with my partner for ten months. I had no idea what was to come. It was the unknown that scared me the most.

The pregnancy went all well, apart from a couple urine infections and a tiny little bleed, but other than that everything was perfect. Feeling our baby move around, kick and constantly having the hiccups was amazing. We went 12 days overdue and that was the hardest part, waiting the nine months and then having to wait another 12 days until she came. I had a sweep done and then had to be induced.

I was induced just after 12 AM on the day she was born. It wasn’t half as bad as people made it out to be. I was scared, but it needed to be done to get things going. I had to stay an extra two hours to be monitored just in case. So we eventually left the hospital about 2:45 AM and got home about 3:00 AM. We managed to get into bed and get three and a half hours sleep before waking up in a little bit of pain.

By 9:30 I was in a huge amount of pain and knew things were starting to happen. My partner and mum were with me and they rang the maternity ward. They told us to come in straight away. We got there and had no idea where to go. We were taken to three different places before we then got told to go and ask the ward manager where we were supposed to be. Whilst waiting for them to find out, my water broke. To start with, I thought I had wet myself as it was only a little bit, but when I sat down on the wheelchair it happened again. But this time I knew it was my water.

We finally got taken to a room where I got onto the bed and things started to take place. They gave me gas and air which definitely seemed to help. They also had to give me a drug to control my contractions as they were overlapping and not giving me a break in between. The gas and air took the pain away a little enough for me to have a little snooze in between each contraction. After a little while of pushing, they mad me change my position of lying. I had to put my legs up and my god, the pain was unreal. It honestly felt like my back was going to break in half.

Before I knew it, she was here. However, the pain wasn’t over just yet. I managed to tear whilst pushing her out so I had to be stitched up. I thought I had already felt the worst pain I could, but no way had I. They had to make me numb down below, so they had to inject and that absolutely killed me. They then had to stitch the tears and that also really really hurt even though they had injected me before. All the time this was happening and me screaming in pain, Loukia was laid on my chest as quiet as anything.

Once they had finished, they gave Loukia a vitamin K injection, weighed her and did her length. We were then left to digest what had just happen in the few hours. It was probably 3, maybe 4 PM and I hadn't eaten all day, so my partner popped out to get McDonalds. Whilst he was out I managed to go for a shower. It was very strange that my belly wasn’t half as big as it was. I didn’t really have the energy to do anything, so I had a quick hair and body wash then sat there for the rest of the time.

After the shower a felt a little more like myself. Then my partner came back with the food. I managed to eat some of it, but all I wanted to do was sleep. They never tell you how tiring it is and how much blood you actually loose. After not having a period for just over nine months, the amount of blood that was coming out of me scared me. After eating, my partner’s family came to visit and meet the new family member. They all loved her just as much as we did.

Once everyone had gone we had to wait around for about two hours just for a midwife to come in to give me an injection before we could go home. We were lucky enough to go home the same day just because we had my mum staying with us for a couple of days. It was all so overwhelming, but so amazing at the same time.

My partner and mum took care of Loukia that night so I could rest. I still couldn’t believe I was now a mum. As the days passed by I got my energy back and managed to be the mum I should be. Everyday she seemed to change and there was never a routine until about six weeks when she started to sleep through the night. There has definitely been some challenges, but there always will be when being a mum.

We are now just over a year on from that day and I wouldn’t change anything at all. I fell pregnant at a young age in a relationship that hadn’t been going for very long. I was still at college whilst being pregnant. I had to move out of my mum’s house a month before my due date. And I was becoming a mum all within nine months. It was a hectic nine months, but it has changed my life for the better.