Amy Walker of Lennie & Co Birth Story 

Hi I’m Amy, I am the most impatient person on earth. So waiting 9 whole months until I could meet my baby was a big ask.

I found out I was pregnant after an extremely boozey New Year in Madrid with my, then husband. I was 26 and drank far too much tequila whilst welcoming in 2012. We weren’t ‘trying’ but I had come off the pill in the October and with my husband in the forces he had only come home for Christmas 2 weeks before as was based in Germany.

On the 5th of January I asked him to get a pregnancy test, ‘you know one of the ones that tell you early’ was my description as my boobs were sore. So when I arrived home from work there was a First Response test on the side ( still have it tucked at the back of my wardrobe, weird maybe but hey) So I pottered to the bathroom and waited for the lines and sure enough, tad da, my magic boobs were correct!

So that is how I knew, boobs. They’re great aren’t they. Lucky for my husband he returned back to Germany in the New Year as I was a tired mess. I would go to work and on return, open the front door and undress whilst walking up two flights of stairs to get into bed. Yep 5:45pm was my bedtime; well I’d arise for a feeding and go back up. This happens pretty much until 17 weeks.

I then got some energy back until 22 weeks when I was diagnosed with Symphysis Pubis, which didn’t need any of my new found energy as I struggled to walk very far at all. It was so uncomfortable. I went to physio in Gloucester to help, it was unfortunately a short-lived aid as the general weight of the baby and misalignment of my pelvis left me in pain. Anyway I’ve literally forgotten about that part of pregnancy!

I was a giant when I was pregnant. Everyone said ‘Blimey you can’t tell from the back’ Liars. I was huge but it was nice of them to pretend. I ate a Crunchie religiously everyday and enjoyed everything I wanted everyday on the food chart. I had such a sweet tooth when pregnant, probably why Lennie looked like a sumo wrestler when he arrived.

So impatient Amy tried everything to get this baby out from about 37 weeks. Raspberry tea.. Check. Clove Oil in bath… Check (man that stuff stinks) I rubbed it in my feet too. I even drank Castor Oil, I did, so bad I know and once you taste it you’ll never do it again. But ‘peanut’ I called the baby was so comfy.

I had 3 stretch and sweeps before ‘peanut’ came. The first one wasn’t painful at all and my cervix was tucked away very tightly, the second one made me wince and the third I just didn’t care. When at home I bounced on my ball at every chance I could.

I went for reflexology on day 7 of being over due and it seemed the button in my feet relating to my nipples were causing ‘Peanut’ to wriggle. So I was sent home and told to massage my nipples. A little odd but as above I’d try anything, I probably did it whilst inhaling Clove Oil.

8 days overdue whilst bouncing on my ball and watching the British Bake Off that evening I felt something I’d never felt before and they were happening every 7 minutes. BOOM! Then of course I was impatient for them to speed up…. Obviously.

4 baths later and at 5:30am the next morning we headed to the Cheltenham Birth Unit. We got a room with a bath, something I would have liked but didn’t get my hopes up about as I understood you only got one if there was one free. I managed to scoff some toast, I had eaten all of my ‘hospital snacks’ at home before we left for the hospital. I decided early on that I wouldn’t have any pain relief other than Gas & Air. My nan had said to me ‘if a woman can give birth in a field in Africa with no pain relief you can in hospital’ She was right! I was doing this.

I felt warm water helped lots, I had had 4 baths at home and carried on in the normal bath in my room in hospital. To my amazement my body was also taking me to the loo to empty, I know this doesn’t happen in a lot of cases. I had a friend that poo’d everywhere. In all honestly YOU WILL NOT CARE. I promise, dignity leaves you when you begin to push. You just want this thing out ASAP.

Then it seemed all of a sudden I was ready, the midwife got me into the birthing bath as I wanted to start pushing. The gas and air had been really helping too. I found it great for my breathing and it was great to bite on the nozzle. If you’ve ever been scuba diving you know how calm you have to be with your breathing. Kind of the same idea but you are attempting to push a watermelon out of your vagina and be calm at the same time. In between contractions is your resting time. They help, they are an amazing break between the chaos. I don’t remember making much noise but my senses were heightened. I wouldn’t let the midwife’s run the taps to warm the water up in the bath as the noise bothered me, so they bought water in buckets to fill the bath. My most Diva-ish moment to date but I didn’t care.

The head came out and I thought ‘Peanut’ was here but no no I still had the body to come. Then another few pushes and out he came. We didn’t know whether he was a boy or a girl. He was passed up through my legs and he looked squashed and round. He looked like a baby to me, I had no idea how big they were meant to look, feel or be but the midwifes were saying ‘wow he’s a big boy’

They took him from me to weigh him and that is when I remember feeling the pain. It stung, it stung like mad. Lenn was 9lb 13oz, I was pretty proud of myself and I had torn, naturally.

I had also opted for the injection to make you placenta come along but after seeing the size of Lenn the midwife opted not to give it too me, as due to his size it should’ve ‘fallen out’. 45 minutes later I was still on Gas & Air trying to get the damn thing out. They almost pulled it out, it just didn’t want to come. Should’ve given me the injection hey! Then the stitches, I won’t bore you with that but I was still enjoying the Gas & Air with my legs in stirrups.

At that point my midwife came in, the one I had seen for all my appointments. She was so excited to see me, as I was to see her and then she said ‘I knew you were going to have a big baby’

Christ I wish she had told me. After that my parents arrived later in the afternoon with my request of a Double Pepperoni Stuffed Crust pizza, our first family meal as 3 on a hospital sofa bed.

They say you forget the pain, but I’ll be honest it took me till Lennie was 3!

Turns out, Lennox was totally worth waiting 9 months for and was the best surprise on earth.

Amy is mother to Lennie. She works as a Graphics designer but also has another baby Lennie & co. selling award winning happy unisex kidswear. If you’re like us and all about supporting mum bosses and small businesses then go and take a peek at the gorgeous, happy collection.