08/09/2026
🤍 Herb’s Birth Story 🤍
On the morning of Monday April 20th, I was woken at 4am by some mid-level period-pain style cramping. I was 39 + 5 at this stage, however this kind of sensation, along with Braxton Hicks, had been showing up a lot throughout the pregnancy, so I didn’t think too much of it.
I got myself up, had a shower, made a coffee, and thought I would read my book in the quiet of the morning. I go to bed very early and tend to wake very early (although 4am is quite early, even for me!), so I am used to being up in these hours. The cramping was sporadic, perhaps every twenty minutes or so. They certainly made themselves known but were not painful, per se, just obvious.
Les woke around 5am and I said to him that I thought things might be happening. We’d had a few false alarms throughout the third trimester, but this already felt different. I was conscious this could be another fast labour, so I popped my final things in the hospital bag - toothbrush, skincare, snacks, the essentials! - and around 6am I made myself a big breakfast, two pieces of sourdough with peanut butter, coconut yoghurt, berry jam, and cinnamon. Pearl then woke up so I made her some breakfast and we ate together at the kitchen table.
Around 7am the cramping became stronger and more frequent, though again not what I would have called painful…
Continued via the link in my bio or at https://jaclyncave.substack.com/p/herbs-birth-story 🖤
