With it being Charlie's birthday, I thought I would share the story of exactly how Charlie ended up being born on his brother's birthday as it always raises a few eyebrows that they have the same birthday.

Firstly, his brother was born 10 days late after a gruelling intensive labour of over 27 hours. I went into labour on Halloween which was the day I should of been induced, however as I was doing it naturally myself, the midwifes decided to let nature take its course hence the long drawn out Labour. I said all the way through how much I didn't want a baby on Halloween and how much it upset me if I would of given birth on Halloween. I got my wish, and my eldest son was born on the 1st November.

Fast forward 9 years, and a very heavily pregnant me is having the same discussions in the hospital, on Halloween with the midwifes. After 2 emergency ceasaeran sections, I was told under no circumstances could I deliver a baby naturally and I must give birth through a planned c section. At our consultation, the consultant paediatrician suggested that we have Charlie at 39 weeks, which was the current guidelines. He was due on the 7th November so that naturally put us at the 1st of November for delivery. I started crying my eyes out in the consultation (36 weeks pregnant, still working and very hormonal) we explained we had a child born on that day and I couldn't possibly take his birthday away from him. The consultant gave in and offered the 2nd November instead. It would of been a bit of a push, Halloween then eldest’s birthday, then youngest’s birthday.. But guidelines are guidelines and thst’s what we were given.

I worked right up to 37 and a half weeks pregnant, luckily I was working for Royal Derby Hospital, so in the right place should I go into labour anyway, so wasn't so bad and I LOVED my job, every second of it. After, going on maternity leave for a couple of weeks it was on the run up. Halloween fell on the Monday, eldest birthday Tuesday, section booked in on Wednesday. Not to mention the previous week was October half term and I was off with the older children who were 8 and 6 at the time.

Halloween. I picked the children up from school, (didn't drive so walked everywhere) my sister and her daughter who was only 7 months old at the time were over. This was obviously to support with the children while I was having the c-section as I was booked in at 7am on the Wednesday and my husband (the children's dad) would be with me. We decided me, my sister, and the 3 children to go trick or treating. My children needed it. My sister wasn't from the area, she lives in Lincolnshire and she was with me. What could go wrong? We gave the children some dinner, got dressed up and off we went. We went out around 5.30am with the intention of a few streets and then coming back, however, we had so much fun! Everywhere was really creative and we enjoyed it so much we stayed out until 7pm when it began.

Labour. It was around 7pm, we'd just walked up a monster of a hill when I started to get labour pains, contractions. And I was struggling to breathe, well I was 39 weeks pregnant. My sister started to panic, rang the children's dad and he came to get us straight away (while telling me we shouldn't of gone out, altho he never offered to take them). We went home to grab the hospital bag and make the call. However, after 2 previous intense long labours, I realised I'd be without food once there, as they would monitor me and in case of surgery I wouldn't be allowed to eat. So I ate, I ate a spaghetti bolognese. And it was amazing! I enjoyed every second of it and I don’t regret it at all. With everything sorted we rang the labour ward and they made us a bed up, told us to come in to be monitored.

Hospital. It was nearly 10pm by the time I was fully admitted, and monitored and a decision was made to ring for the on call consultant paediatrician. Who, at that point told me we were staying in over night at the very least. I was still under the impression I could keep Wednesday's 7am slot open on the 2nd and stay in until then.

At around 11pm, the consultant anethatist came over, and suggested we have the spinal block put in, spoke to the paediatrician and a decision was made to deliver Charlie there and then. My previous 2 labours had only got to 5cm dilated (despite many interventions) I was almost 7 and having Charlie naturally could cause a haemorrhage so delivery was imminent. By 11.30pm I was being wheeled to theatre. And this is where it gets tricky. My previous emergency section was done on an epidural that was wrongly administered, which caused a gap in spinal fluid and meant I had to be put under general anaesthetic to deliver Charlie's sister. Because of these difficulties and the complications of previous deliveries this is why the length of time was taken to deliver Charlie safely.

The birth. The whole time I was in the pre-op room I was fixated on the clock, I wanted in. I wanted to deliver Charlie on Halloween. Just a few years earlier the thought of delivering a baby on Halloween petrified me. Now I wished it, I begged for it. I would of done anything to have Charlie on Halloween and not his brother's birthday. As the clock got closer to 12am I started to cry, because I knew, the boys would then have the same birthday. The staff just wanted a healthy delivery. But it was my worst nightmare. How would I manage every year? Charlie was finally born at 12.34am and surprisingly only 5 hours in labour, actually my shortest labour. And he was huge! Born at 39 weeks was 9lb 7oz! Of course he couldn't stay in any longer! He needed to come out. And the hair, so much hair!! My only child to be born with hair. Best thing about working in the hospital, the porter who collected me knew me.. The dispatch coordinator knew I had given birth as took the name and I asked him to announce it to the staff, who worked in the switchboard who were part of my team. By the time me and Charlie were on the ward and settled the congratulations from my colleagues had started to come in which made me feel a lot less alone.

So there we have it, the story of how I got 2 babies on the same day. He made an entrance. Took me a lot longer to write than I thought it would! Have loved sharing this memory.

Georgina x