Happybunny
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This past week has been wonderful; I can't believe I am a mummy to such a beautiful little girl or that it is possible to love somebody soooooo much.
One week on, I have finally managed to tear myself away from my littlie long enough to try and recount some of last week's events...sorry if I ramble, its a long one...
I started getting contractions on Thursday 17th April at 3am. The contractions were like strong period pains, uncomfortable, but easy to breathe through and they were coming every 10 mins on the dot. They lasted about 40 -60 seconds and I couldnt sleep through them, but now and again they would slow down to every 20-30 mins, so I could nap in between. I was convinced this was false labour as the contractions were not speeding up in frequency and would slow down from time to time. By the early hours of Friday morning the contraction pain was becoming unbearable I was breathing through them, but dreading each one. They were coming every 10 minutes, then every 6, then every 7 and so on. They kept changing their frequency, but they were still intense and long. This continued all day Friday, I was getting very tired now and hoping that real labour would start or this false labour would ease up.
Saturday followed a similar pattern to Friday, long, painful contractions every 10/6/7 minutes or so. By Saturday tea time I could not cope any more and rang the Delivery Suite. Some grouchy old bat told me that I was not in labour and that a bath and paracetamol would sort it out. (As if I hadnt thought of trying those things!!
)
Saturday night/Sunday early hours were horrible. I hadnt slept for three nights and I was in such pain. My contractions were coming every 4/5 mins in places, but would sometimes go back to every 10. I rang delivery again on Sunday at 8am in tears. A nicer woman sounded sympathetic, but still insisted I wait it out at home. I was distraught. I had done nothing but rock on my ball for about three days and nights solid. My OH was so good in supporting me and reassuring me, but enough was enough. At 6pm on Sunday I rang Delivery and demanded to be seen. I said I know that I wasnt in labour and that they were going to send me home, but I needed pain relief.
We got to the suite at 6.30pm. My contractions had faded to about 1 every 10 minutes. The midwife looked at me like I was nuts, but she still did an internal exam .and guess what????? I WAS in labour!!!
I was 4cm dilated!!! I was so relieved! She gave me some pain relief and said that I could stay in now or go home to see if things sped up. She promised that if I went home that I could come back at any time. Now that I had some stronger pain relief, we decided to go home again as we hadnt expected to be kept in and wanted to grab one or two last minute things.
We went home at 9.30pm. I had a shower and tried to nap. I couldnt sleep, so OH and I went for a walk. As we wondered around our estate at midnight, my contractions started coming every two minutes!! We called the suite and got back in at about 2.15am on Monday morning.
The midwife gave me gas and air, at first I thought it was rubbish, but then I figured out I wasnt breathing it hard enough. OMG!!! That stuff is fantastic. I was falling about laughing. It took the edge of the pain initially and I hadnt realised how quickly the time was passing. By about 5am I asked for some diamorphine. This made me sick, but it did take the edge of the pain and I could cope quite happily with my hypnobirthing breathing techniques. I was upright and walking around for most part as I found standing helped me breathe deeply and ease the pain. At 7am I had another internal. Sadly I was only 6cm dilated. They asked if they could break my waters. I agreed to that. They also wanted to put me on a Syntocinon to speed up the contractions. I agreed to this, only if I could have an epidural first. It might sound odd to ask for pain relief before you know you will need it, but I had heard such horrible things about the drip, I didnt want to risk getting it and then being told I was too far gone for an epidural if I needed one. They agreed to the epidural and within 20 minutes I was prepped and done. The epidural didnt hurt one bit and the effects were magic!! I could still feel and move my legs, but my abdomen was completely numb!
For the first time in four days and nights I couldnt feel a thing and I could actually have a nap! Bliss!! This part of the labour was great. My midwife (sooo lovely), my OH and a paramedic guy (watching my labour as part of his training) were all sat round drinking tea and we were discussing baby names and the news whilst waiting for me to dilate!! At 1.30pm I was ready for pushing. They turned down the epidural first so that I could feel the urge to push. I pushed on all fours for about an hour. I was shattered. The baby was coming down, but slowly, I was beginning to feel like I couldnt go on. At this point, the baby was getting a bit distressed, so they decided to use a ventouse to help her out. It was all very quick. They turned up my epidural so that I couldnt feel anything. Then I did one big push and her head was out!
Little April arrived at 3.34pm weighting 8lb 5 1/2oz. We had skin to skin straight away and she was latched on and feeding within the hour. It was an incredible experience. I couldnt stop crying with happiness.
The worst part of the experience was the four days in pain at home. Once I was in hospital, although I had almost every intervention possible, my labour was brilliant. I was well cared for by my OH and the staff and I will always remember this day as the best day of my life. I felt no pain and would go through labour 100 times again (seriously). Best of all, now I have the most wonderful daughter. I cant believe how lucky I am, my heart could burst with love.
*****update 1st May************
We discovered that midwife had converted April's weight incorrectly. She was infact only 7lb 7oz when born, not 8lb 5 1/2. I didn' think she looked like a big baby.
Here is my little cuddle monkey .
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One week on, I have finally managed to tear myself away from my littlie long enough to try and recount some of last week's events...sorry if I ramble, its a long one...
I started getting contractions on Thursday 17th April at 3am. The contractions were like strong period pains, uncomfortable, but easy to breathe through and they were coming every 10 mins on the dot. They lasted about 40 -60 seconds and I couldnt sleep through them, but now and again they would slow down to every 20-30 mins, so I could nap in between. I was convinced this was false labour as the contractions were not speeding up in frequency and would slow down from time to time. By the early hours of Friday morning the contraction pain was becoming unbearable I was breathing through them, but dreading each one. They were coming every 10 minutes, then every 6, then every 7 and so on. They kept changing their frequency, but they were still intense and long. This continued all day Friday, I was getting very tired now and hoping that real labour would start or this false labour would ease up.
Saturday followed a similar pattern to Friday, long, painful contractions every 10/6/7 minutes or so. By Saturday tea time I could not cope any more and rang the Delivery Suite. Some grouchy old bat told me that I was not in labour and that a bath and paracetamol would sort it out. (As if I hadnt thought of trying those things!!
) Saturday night/Sunday early hours were horrible. I hadnt slept for three nights and I was in such pain. My contractions were coming every 4/5 mins in places, but would sometimes go back to every 10. I rang delivery again on Sunday at 8am in tears. A nicer woman sounded sympathetic, but still insisted I wait it out at home. I was distraught. I had done nothing but rock on my ball for about three days and nights solid. My OH was so good in supporting me and reassuring me, but enough was enough. At 6pm on Sunday I rang Delivery and demanded to be seen. I said I know that I wasnt in labour and that they were going to send me home, but I needed pain relief.
We got to the suite at 6.30pm. My contractions had faded to about 1 every 10 minutes. The midwife looked at me like I was nuts, but she still did an internal exam .and guess what????? I WAS in labour!!!
I was 4cm dilated!!! I was so relieved! She gave me some pain relief and said that I could stay in now or go home to see if things sped up. She promised that if I went home that I could come back at any time. Now that I had some stronger pain relief, we decided to go home again as we hadnt expected to be kept in and wanted to grab one or two last minute things.
We went home at 9.30pm. I had a shower and tried to nap. I couldnt sleep, so OH and I went for a walk. As we wondered around our estate at midnight, my contractions started coming every two minutes!! We called the suite and got back in at about 2.15am on Monday morning.
The midwife gave me gas and air, at first I thought it was rubbish, but then I figured out I wasnt breathing it hard enough. OMG!!! That stuff is fantastic. I was falling about laughing. It took the edge of the pain initially and I hadnt realised how quickly the time was passing. By about 5am I asked for some diamorphine. This made me sick, but it did take the edge of the pain and I could cope quite happily with my hypnobirthing breathing techniques. I was upright and walking around for most part as I found standing helped me breathe deeply and ease the pain. At 7am I had another internal. Sadly I was only 6cm dilated. They asked if they could break my waters. I agreed to that. They also wanted to put me on a Syntocinon to speed up the contractions. I agreed to this, only if I could have an epidural first. It might sound odd to ask for pain relief before you know you will need it, but I had heard such horrible things about the drip, I didnt want to risk getting it and then being told I was too far gone for an epidural if I needed one. They agreed to the epidural and within 20 minutes I was prepped and done. The epidural didnt hurt one bit and the effects were magic!! I could still feel and move my legs, but my abdomen was completely numb!
For the first time in four days and nights I couldnt feel a thing and I could actually have a nap! Bliss!! This part of the labour was great. My midwife (sooo lovely), my OH and a paramedic guy (watching my labour as part of his training) were all sat round drinking tea and we were discussing baby names and the news whilst waiting for me to dilate!! At 1.30pm I was ready for pushing. They turned down the epidural first so that I could feel the urge to push. I pushed on all fours for about an hour. I was shattered. The baby was coming down, but slowly, I was beginning to feel like I couldnt go on. At this point, the baby was getting a bit distressed, so they decided to use a ventouse to help her out. It was all very quick. They turned up my epidural so that I couldnt feel anything. Then I did one big push and her head was out!
Little April arrived at 3.34pm weighting 8lb 5 1/2oz. We had skin to skin straight away and she was latched on and feeding within the hour. It was an incredible experience. I couldnt stop crying with happiness.
The worst part of the experience was the four days in pain at home. Once I was in hospital, although I had almost every intervention possible, my labour was brilliant. I was well cared for by my OH and the staff and I will always remember this day as the best day of my life. I felt no pain and would go through labour 100 times again (seriously). Best of all, now I have the most wonderful daughter. I cant believe how lucky I am, my heart could burst with love.
*****update 1st May************
We discovered that midwife had converted April's weight incorrectly. She was infact only 7lb 7oz when born, not 8lb 5 1/2. I didn' think she looked like a big baby.
Here is my little cuddle monkey .
