Wyatt Barlow

A bit about me and Mummy's birth story

A bit about me

My full name is Wyatt Ellis Barlow - Wyatt means 'little warrior', 'guide', 'peaceful' or 'water' depending on which book you look in and Ellis means 'kind', 'benevolent' or 'generous'.

I came into this world on Saturday 13th January at 20:36 at the Liverpool Womens Hospital and didn't give mummy too much trouble really.  I am generally a very happy and contented little boy and only ever cry if something is troubling me, especially when I am very tired or hungry.

Mummy and daddy had wanted me for quite some time and were very happy that it didn't take long for me to arrive once they were married.  Mummy was especially keen to meet me as she had wanted a baby for a very very long time and has only ever wanted to be a mum so now I have finally made her dreams come true.

Wyatt

Mummy's birth story

Well, as birth experiences go, I don’t think I could’ve asked for better. Sure it really hurt at times but hey, what do you expect when you’re having a baby? It was all forgotten as soon as my little Wyatt was placed on my chest.

I suppose I should really start at the beginning, when I woke up at stupid o’clock on Saturday morning for a couple of hours for no real reason before returning to bed at 8 o’clock. I managed to snatch a little more sleep until I was rudely awoken at about 10 o’clock with the desperate need to go to the loo. As I stood up I felt a little gush down below, more than I’d felt the previous times it had happened but I tried not to think anything of it.

Saturday morning was spent doing the usual… eating breakfast, watching Soccer AM, surfing the net… all except for the fact I had a couple more little gushes if I stood up after being sat down for a while.  Then there was a pain, a contraction, was it a real one or was it just more false ones? I know one thing though, it was pretty uncomfortable and was followed shortly after by some more. I didn’t bother timing them as I was doing my best to ignore them just in case. It was only at this point that I really allowed myself to think, “could my waters have broken?”, it was certainly possible. 

After a quick discussion with Al, to see if he was thinking the same as I was thinking, I rang the hospital to explain what had been happening and to see what their advice was. It was quarter-to-one when I made the phone call and the midwife said that as the waters were clear and baby was active and wriggling enough, he was obviously okay and that I was better off staying at home and keeping an eye on the situation before calling them back at 2 o’clock with an update. So, I sat back and enjoyed some lunch and then it all started happening!

There was another much bigger downpour, thank goodness I was on the loo at the time having just been for my millionth wee of the day, and there was no way it could have been anything other than more of my waters going. I was finally believing that I could actually be going into labour. The contractions were now coming much closer together and they were stronger than any I’d experienced before. Al was timing them at around every 2-3 minutes and lasting between 45-90 seconds. They reached the point that I had to start moving around through them, swaying my hips and also getting on the floor and hugging the birth ball. 2 o’clock came around quite quickly and I called the hospital with the latest. This was it! It was time to get my stuff together and make my way in!!

The journey to the hospital was a little surreal, I distracted myself by sending out a text update and even got a bit emotional as the good luck messages came back. I just couldn’t believe it was all happening and still had it in the back of my mind that it could just be false labour again and that I could get sent home. I wouldn’t even let Al get the bags out of the car, I wanted to get checked over first and find out what was what. Walking from the car park to the Midwifery-Led Unit involved a couple of stops where I had to get through some contractions, and I was then shown to my delivery room, mine for however long I needed it. It was a fairly small room with an en-suite loo and shower, television, desk with phone, a couple of chairs and a Perspex cot. Basic, but perfectly adequate and quite homely I suppose. I was pretty much left to it then and was told that a midwife would be in to see me shortly, probably in about half an hour or so as they’d had a busy day on the Unit already.

We stuck the telly on so that there was a bit of background noise, to drown out the nearby screaming eventually settling on the darts of all things, and just chatted. The contractions were getting stronger all the time and it wasn’t long before I was literally needing to hang on to Al whilst he rubbed my back. Then it became gripping the rail at the end of the bed whilst getting my back rubbed. I was eventually seen by a midwife at 15:45 and was formally admitted to hospital. There wasn’t a great deal to it really, no examination or anything, I was just left to get on with it. As it was now clear that we were here for the duration, Al went off to collect my hospital bag from the car. This really was it, I wasn’t leaving hospital without my baby!

By half-past-four, I was ready for pain relief, knowing that it would take a little while to kick in so the midwife went and got me two strong paracetamols and a codeine tablet. I don’t know if it’s because the pain was intensifying at the same rate as the pain relief was working but they didn’t seem to make much difference. The midwife had read my birth plan and came along with a birth ball for me to use. The most comfortable position for me was when I put the ball at the foot of the bed and stood next to it, hugging it to death. The midwife then suggested some aromatherapy, lavender oil in a tub of hot water, also using the water to soak a towel to use as a hot compress on my back. Oh, the heat on my back felt wonderful and really did help, along with a second codeine tablet. The midwife also got a rocking chair for me to try, seeing as I’d been stood up for so long but it just wasn’t comfortable. I found kneeling on the bed and ball hugging to be the most comfortable position for me whilst swaying from side to side.

It all becomes a bit of a blur by about six o’clock/half-past-six but I remember trying to eat some toast after one of the staff brought in coffee and toast for the two of us. The pain had really started to build up so I decided it was time for the gas and air. This meant that I had to get into my labour nightie and have an examination to check on my progress. I was told that I was 4cm dilated and remember thinking, “oh no, I’ve still got ages to go” but there wasn’t exactly anything I could do about it. I carried on with the hot compresses, ball hugging and rocking side to side on the bed whilst using the entonox throughout each contraction.

At one point, I remember getting off the bed to go to the loo for the umpteenth time and coming back out feeling rough and needing to stand next to bed before getting the sudden need to be sick.  Oops! I remember apologising to the midwife because she had to change the sheets whilst I went round to the opposite side of the bed to stand next to Al (and the entonox connection). All of a sudden, and there was absolutely no mistaking it, I was overcome with the urge to push!

The midwife told me to try not to push, as it had only been 45 minutes since she’d examined me, but I just couldn’t stop myself. I could do nothing but cling on to Al and the entonox mouthpiece, drawing on the gas and air like it was oxygen. She quickly got me back up onto the bed to examine me and was shocked to find that I was fully dilated and ready to go. Wow! 4cm to 10cm in just 45 minutes, no wonder it had hurt!!

Now my memory becomes really hazy but I shall do my best to recount everything that happened. They say that when you have a baby, you should leave your dignity in the car park but I hadn’t managed to do that, so it just upped and left of it’s own accord at this point. Very bizarre!

For the rest of my labour, I chose to lie back on the bed but found myself to be the most comfortable in a very weird position - sort of sitting up but leaning onto my left hand side, almost falling off the bed, whilst swinging my right knee from side to side. The contractions got really hard now and I was clutching onto Al’s hand, or rather his thumb, with all of my might. Every now and then, I would hear what was on the telly – I even answered one of the questions on the National Lottery show and then insisted that my child was not being born to the background of Casualty. I’ve no recollection of what channel was put on instead but it must’ve met with my approval at the time.

I continued to push with each contraction, I heard the midwife say that she could see his head and got Al to have a look.  Shortly after, she asked me if I wanted to feel his head to which I promptly said “no thanks”. The midwife then asked Al to be ready to hit the buzzer to request a second midwife to ‘take the baby’ when he was born. Only I didn’t give them time. At 20:36, my son was born.   And he was perfect! 

This little baby boy was passed straight over to me and I held him close whilst struggling to get my nightie off at the same time so that we could have skin-to-skin contact. Al and I looked at our son and decided that the name we liked the most did, in fact, suit him and so he was named Wyatt Ellis. Al also grabbed the camera and took some pictures as the midwives gave Wyatt a quick rub down to clean him up a bit. .

In my birth plan, I’d expressed my preference for a physiological third stage because I wanted to wait until the cord had stopped pulsing before it was clamped.   As I didn’t require stitches, this was okay and I could have what I wanted. After about quarter of an hour or so, the midwife pointed out that the pulsing had stopped so the cord was clamped and Al got to cut it.  There was a shift changeover and a new midwife took over my care, she unsuccessfully tried to speed up the third stage but it wasn't needed anyway.  It took me just over an hour in total to deliver the placenta and I needed the gas and air for the last few contractions, holding onto Wyatt and Al the whole time.

Wyatt was taken to be weighed soon after and the midwife thought he’d be 6lb-odd so was very surprised when he weighed in at exactly 8lb. No wonder my bump got so big! He was soon passed back to me and eventually found his own way to the breast for his very first feed, after some serious hand-sucking.   Soon after the feed, Al got to hold his son for the first time and I felt all emotional when I looked at the two of them all snuggled up together on the rocking chair.

We were left alone for ages, just the three of us, and we weren’t really sure what we were meant to be doing. Al phoned the family members and I sent the announcement texts once he’d finished with my phone. The midwife eventually returned to check me over and told me it was okay to get up for a shower. As I got off the bed, I felt ever so faint but I managed to get myself together and got showered with Al’s help whilst Wyatt slept in his Perspex cot.

After another few feeds for Wyatt and more coffee and toast for me and Al, it was well after 2am by the time I was moved onto the Jeffcoate ward. Poor Al was shattered and desperate to go home to get some sleep. He took all the bags across to my new room, kissed me and Wyatt goodnight and then went home to see Buddy and get some much needed rest. Someone came along shortly afterwards to collect me and then wheeled Wyatt in his cot onto the ward whilst I walked slowly alongside.

My new room on the ward was larger and brighter than the delivery room with the bed beneath the window and a nicer en-suite shower room. The adrenalin had kicked in though so there was no way I could get to sleep straightaway. I had some more toast and read through some of the leaflets that I had been given as well as the ward information file. That’s when I noticed that Wyatt didn’t have an electronic tag like he was meant to so buzzed a midwife who came and put one on him.

Shortly after half past three, after a few text messages with Al, I switched off the light and fell asleep next to my newborn son who was sleeping soundly in his cot. It had been a long but truly amazing day, one that I will never forget and will always think of with fond memories.

Laurie

  

Wyatt Ellis Barlow

Hello!

Welcome to my website, I hope you like it.

This is the best place to find out all about me and to check on my progress.  If you would like to see some video clips of me too you will need to find Mummy's profile on Facebook. 

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Love Wyatt x

(Last updated 29/02/08)