Daughter of Ben and Susie Jones
Born on the 11th of November 2012 at the Whittington Hospital, weighing 6lb 9oz
en and I met on Christmas Eve, 2005. It turned out that not only did we have numerous mutual friends, but our parents were also part of the same group of friends and had even been on holiday together. Five days after our first date I moved to Cardiff to start a new job.
After nine months of travelling back and forth, we decided that it would be best if I moved back to London so, ten months after meeting, Ben and I moved in together. Two years later Ben proposed on a beautiful Indian summer’s day in my favourite city, overlooking the Thames on Blackfriars Bridge. We married in September 2009 in front of many family and friends, including five of our grandparents, three of whom were 99 years old.
In March 2012, almost six months after we began to try for a baby, I had a feeling that I should take a pregnancy test. It was positive. We couldn’t believe our eyes. We were so amazed by the result that over the course of the next five days I took another seven tests. It wasn’t until we had our twelve week scan that it really sank in, and only after the twenty week scan did we start to buy baby bits.
In the main, the pregnancy was great. At six months, however, I was involved in a car accident – through no fault of my own! I was taken to hospital where I was given the option of having a full check up myself or going straight to the maternity unit and having the baby checked out. I chose the latter, without hesitation. We had an ultrasound, which was fine, and the baby’s heartbeat was monitored for a few hours. We were given the all clear, and allowed to go home. After the accident I began to have very bad pelvic and hip pain. I had physiotherapy and acupuncture treatment, and I’m still receiving treatment now.
I’d always been very apprehensive about giving birth naturally. We thought that a Hypnobirthing course would help to alleviate some of my fears, and teach us how to breathe and relax. We practised it almost every night, and it worked for a time, but as we got closer to the third trimester, I began to panic. My midwife was amazing, she listened to my fears and arranged for us to speak to a senior obstetrician at the Whittington Hospital, to discuss the possibility of an elective caesarean.
We left the meeting feeling rejuvenated. After weighing up the pros and cons of a caesarean, we wrote our birth plan – which included a natural birth and lots of pain relief! The obstetrician noted on my records that I was a very apprehensive mum to be, and that I would therefore need to be admitted to the labour ward as soon as I arrived, however early it may be.
At 36 weeks we discovered that the baby was breech, and after another meeting with our obstetrician we decided that turning was not an option, as it doesn’t always work and it sounded very painful. Our birth plan was thrown out of the window, and we were booked in for a caesarean after all.
Two weeks before the planned date of the caesarean, I met up with some girlfriends. I commented that, although I was now getting the caesarean, deep down, what I really wanted was to go into labour naturally – to feel my waters break and experience some contractions.
At 4am on the day before we were booked in for the caesarean I felt a pop, as if a balloon had burst. I turned to Ben and told him, calmly, that my waters had broken. I’ve never seen him move so fast! We didn’t want to risk the baby coming out naturally. By 5am we were in triage, and by 8.45am we were in the operating room. I was given a spinal block, I lay down on the operating table, with Ben by my side, and the screen went up. Sixteen minutes later, our little girl was born. She was just perfect and beautiful – I think we both cried at some point in the operating theatre.
At four days, Lila was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. She was referred to Great Ormond Street for treatment, which involved her wearing a Pavlik harness for six weeks. She has now been given the all clear.
Lila also had problems eating, including very bad reflux, so she was also referred to a dietician and paediatrician. Her eating problems have greatly improved but it did mean that for the first few months of her life she was forever going back and forth to various hospital appointments.
Ben was at home for the first three weeks, which was great, as the caesarean had caused a lot of discomfort for me, and both sets of our parents were there whenever we needed them. I don’t think we would have managed so well without our parents’ support. She amazes us and makes us smile daily – we couldn’t imagine being without her.
