Sorry it's taken a few days for me to have the time to announce Amelie's arrival! Everything went by in a blur so I'm bound to leave something out lol!
I was induced on 26/06, had first gel at 8pm, didn't do anything - DH was rather disappointed to be sent home!
Second gel given at 8am on the fri, started to work by 10am. Strapped my tens machine on as it was getting v painful, kept being sick too - even with antisickness injections! Was examined about 2pm ish (by male doctor - he was not gentle and it hurt like mad!!) by this time, tens really not doing much, contrations coming regularly and v painfully although i was only 2cm dilated - was desperate for more effective pain relief. Eventually moved from antenatal ward to delivery suite around 4pm once a room was free, they set up the gas and air for me although noone came to see us after that for about an hour by which time i was climbing the walls!
Then had pethidine injection, did nothing. Contractions were about 2 mins or so apart and I was really struggling at this point. Had waters broken - boy were they right about all the extra fluid lol!!! DH wanted to stand on a chair to avoid the flood!!
We were finally told the anaesthetist would be in at 8pm to give me an epidural but just before 8 we were told he had an emergency c-section to go to and wouldn't be free til 9.30 or later!!
Eventually got my epidural and syntocinon (sp?) drip was so happy after that although it was a very weird sensation not being able to move my legs - they went totally dead and so heavy!! They had lots of problems doing my drips and epidural - DH said it took 5 times to get the epidural in, my veins kept hiding from the needles so they took about 5 goes to do the drip too - have lots of bruises to show for it!
Was still feeling v nauseous at this point, had more anti sickness injections but they didn't help - every time they put the bed down to examine me then back up again I was sick - projectile at some points, managed to miss the midwife but it wasn't far off hitting the wall the other side of the room!!
Baby wasn't too happy through the night, they tried a few times to take a blood sample from the top of her head, eventually succeeded the 3rd time, the result was fine.
Morning came and I still wasn't fully dilated, had even more injections.
Was told that baby's heart rate was starting to decelerate a little and it looked like I was going to have an assisted delivery or a c-section.
It got to 11am and baby still not happy. Had numerous visits from chief consultant and registrar. Was then examined and found to finally be fully dilated. Tried pushing but couldn't feel where I had to push, registrar decided to use forceps as baby's heart rate dropped below 100, forceps went in at 12.08 and out came Amelie at 12.12!!!
Having been told we were having a big baby, we were very surprised when they said she was 7lb 5oz!! She was checked over by a paediatrician then passed to DH while I was stitched up.
Finally got to hold my little girl - she really is beautiful! She had some bruising on the side of her face from the forceps but thats gone now.
We were moved to the postnatal ward - had the whole bay to ourselves which was great! Amelie had a little bit of trouble maintaining her body temperature so was wrapped up well and put in a warming cot - seemed to do the trick as she's fine now!
Because of the forceps delivery with her getting a sore head (she had some swelling on the back of her head too) getting her to breast feed was impossible, all the positions seemed to hurt her head. They gave her paracetamol and I ended up expressing milk with them topping up her feeds with aptamil from a cup. Getting her to latch on has still not worked even after seeing the breast feeding counsellors and going to the feeding clinic but i'm happy to be expressing at least so I know she's still getting my milk! Am having to top up with aptamil but she's doing well, she now weighs 7lb 15oz!! We were discharged from hospital on the monday night, I had lost quite a lot of blood so they wanted to make sure I was ok, was told I could need a blood transfusion but as I was feeling fine, they would put me on iron tablets instead and told me to get by bloods checked again in a month. Plays havoc on your guts though - makes you v constipated (sorry if tmi!!)
All the midwives/doctors/healthcare assistants were absolutely fantastic, I couldn't praise them enough!!
Well thats my birth story, think I've covered everything although considering I don't even know what day it is I'm sure I've left something out!! It was a very hard few days but looking at my gorgeous little girl, I'd do it again tomorrow if I had to.
Will try to post some pics soon (once I work out how to lol!!)
Louise and Amelie. xx
I was induced on 26/06, had first gel at 8pm, didn't do anything - DH was rather disappointed to be sent home!
Second gel given at 8am on the fri, started to work by 10am. Strapped my tens machine on as it was getting v painful, kept being sick too - even with antisickness injections! Was examined about 2pm ish (by male doctor - he was not gentle and it hurt like mad!!) by this time, tens really not doing much, contrations coming regularly and v painfully although i was only 2cm dilated - was desperate for more effective pain relief. Eventually moved from antenatal ward to delivery suite around 4pm once a room was free, they set up the gas and air for me although noone came to see us after that for about an hour by which time i was climbing the walls!
Then had pethidine injection, did nothing. Contractions were about 2 mins or so apart and I was really struggling at this point. Had waters broken - boy were they right about all the extra fluid lol!!! DH wanted to stand on a chair to avoid the flood!!
We were finally told the anaesthetist would be in at 8pm to give me an epidural but just before 8 we were told he had an emergency c-section to go to and wouldn't be free til 9.30 or later!!
Eventually got my epidural and syntocinon (sp?) drip was so happy after that although it was a very weird sensation not being able to move my legs - they went totally dead and so heavy!! They had lots of problems doing my drips and epidural - DH said it took 5 times to get the epidural in, my veins kept hiding from the needles so they took about 5 goes to do the drip too - have lots of bruises to show for it!
Was still feeling v nauseous at this point, had more anti sickness injections but they didn't help - every time they put the bed down to examine me then back up again I was sick - projectile at some points, managed to miss the midwife but it wasn't far off hitting the wall the other side of the room!!
Baby wasn't too happy through the night, they tried a few times to take a blood sample from the top of her head, eventually succeeded the 3rd time, the result was fine.
Morning came and I still wasn't fully dilated, had even more injections.
Was told that baby's heart rate was starting to decelerate a little and it looked like I was going to have an assisted delivery or a c-section.
It got to 11am and baby still not happy. Had numerous visits from chief consultant and registrar. Was then examined and found to finally be fully dilated. Tried pushing but couldn't feel where I had to push, registrar decided to use forceps as baby's heart rate dropped below 100, forceps went in at 12.08 and out came Amelie at 12.12!!!
Having been told we were having a big baby, we were very surprised when they said she was 7lb 5oz!! She was checked over by a paediatrician then passed to DH while I was stitched up.
Finally got to hold my little girl - she really is beautiful! She had some bruising on the side of her face from the forceps but thats gone now.
We were moved to the postnatal ward - had the whole bay to ourselves which was great! Amelie had a little bit of trouble maintaining her body temperature so was wrapped up well and put in a warming cot - seemed to do the trick as she's fine now!
Because of the forceps delivery with her getting a sore head (she had some swelling on the back of her head too) getting her to breast feed was impossible, all the positions seemed to hurt her head. They gave her paracetamol and I ended up expressing milk with them topping up her feeds with aptamil from a cup. Getting her to latch on has still not worked even after seeing the breast feeding counsellors and going to the feeding clinic but i'm happy to be expressing at least so I know she's still getting my milk! Am having to top up with aptamil but she's doing well, she now weighs 7lb 15oz!! We were discharged from hospital on the monday night, I had lost quite a lot of blood so they wanted to make sure I was ok, was told I could need a blood transfusion but as I was feeling fine, they would put me on iron tablets instead and told me to get by bloods checked again in a month. Plays havoc on your guts though - makes you v constipated (sorry if tmi!!)
All the midwives/doctors/healthcare assistants were absolutely fantastic, I couldn't praise them enough!!
Well thats my birth story, think I've covered everything although considering I don't even know what day it is I'm sure I've left something out!! It was a very hard few days but looking at my gorgeous little girl, I'd do it again tomorrow if I had to.
Will try to post some pics soon (once I work out how to lol!!)
Louise and Amelie. xx
Hopefully see you sometime next week. x
