JoeyClare
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Birth Story:
Friday 26th July: After being in and out of hospital over the last week and a half with preeclampsia, they finally decided to induce me.
I arrived at 8am, had the usual checks for BP and baby's heartbeat and movements and they finally gave me a pessary at 12:30. I was warned it would be likely that I'd need the second pessary and so the wait began! I did begin to feel the odd tightening, but by 3pm, I was feeling them quite strongly every few minutes. They weren't horrendous, so I didn't think they were full on contractions. 3 hours later, they put me back on the monitor. Turns out I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes and they were worried the pessary was working too well!
8:30pm- I told hubby I wanted to walk a little and about 5 minutes in, I felt a pop and a big gush. My waters had gone! The midwife panicked me buy saying it looked like urine! What?!? There was so much of it that would surely mean my bladder had exploded. Turns out it was meconium that was staining my waters.
They took me into the labour room and gave me the gas and air. (Love it). I really wanted to stick to just gas an air, but by 1:30am I was so exhausted that the midwife recommended an epidural to try and get me to rest. I was a little worried about the needle, but so high on gas and air that I didn't feel it and the relief after was amazing.
They came to examine me to see how dilated I was. Cervix closed!
After 12 hours of contractions, nothing had happened. By this point I had consultants in and out due to the preeclampsia, the meconium in my waters and the fact that not much was happening. I eventually got to 3cm and seemed to stick at that for ages. That's when they started talking 'c-section'. However all of a sudden, I was examined and I was 9cm!! A few hours later I began to push. Unfortunately the consultant was concerned that nothing was happening and during this time my temperature was rising and showing signs of infection.
The decision was made that I was becoming unwell and a c-section was needed. It was a mix of emotions. Relief it was going to be over- I was exhausted and Elin's heartrate kept dropping. Disappointment- that I hadn't managed to do it all naturally and fear- nobody likes having to lie there and listen to the risks etc!
They began by topping up my epidural which wasn't doing what it should be. I was completely numb on my right, but not on my left. So they had to do a spinal block. I was surprised by how quickly Elin arrived from that point. I did find waiting to be stitched up frustrating as I just wanted to hold Elin, but had to wait till we got into recovery.
The surgeon spoke to hubby after the surgery to explain that Elin had managed to get into an awkward position near the end of labour and that I wouldn't have been able to push her out naturally.
We spent 5 days in hospital following her birth. I had to have treatment for the infection, but also my blood pressure is still all over the place so I now have medication to try and control it. The downside of the c-section was that my iron levels (already too low) took a huge drop, so feeling pretty fatigued, but it was definitely all worth it!
Friday 26th July: After being in and out of hospital over the last week and a half with preeclampsia, they finally decided to induce me.
I arrived at 8am, had the usual checks for BP and baby's heartbeat and movements and they finally gave me a pessary at 12:30. I was warned it would be likely that I'd need the second pessary and so the wait began! I did begin to feel the odd tightening, but by 3pm, I was feeling them quite strongly every few minutes. They weren't horrendous, so I didn't think they were full on contractions. 3 hours later, they put me back on the monitor. Turns out I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes and they were worried the pessary was working too well!
8:30pm- I told hubby I wanted to walk a little and about 5 minutes in, I felt a pop and a big gush. My waters had gone! The midwife panicked me buy saying it looked like urine! What?!? There was so much of it that would surely mean my bladder had exploded. Turns out it was meconium that was staining my waters.
They took me into the labour room and gave me the gas and air. (Love it). I really wanted to stick to just gas an air, but by 1:30am I was so exhausted that the midwife recommended an epidural to try and get me to rest. I was a little worried about the needle, but so high on gas and air that I didn't feel it and the relief after was amazing.
They came to examine me to see how dilated I was. Cervix closed!
After 12 hours of contractions, nothing had happened. By this point I had consultants in and out due to the preeclampsia, the meconium in my waters and the fact that not much was happening. I eventually got to 3cm and seemed to stick at that for ages. That's when they started talking 'c-section'. However all of a sudden, I was examined and I was 9cm!! A few hours later I began to push. Unfortunately the consultant was concerned that nothing was happening and during this time my temperature was rising and showing signs of infection.The decision was made that I was becoming unwell and a c-section was needed. It was a mix of emotions. Relief it was going to be over- I was exhausted and Elin's heartrate kept dropping. Disappointment- that I hadn't managed to do it all naturally and fear- nobody likes having to lie there and listen to the risks etc!
They began by topping up my epidural which wasn't doing what it should be. I was completely numb on my right, but not on my left. So they had to do a spinal block. I was surprised by how quickly Elin arrived from that point. I did find waiting to be stitched up frustrating as I just wanted to hold Elin, but had to wait till we got into recovery.
The surgeon spoke to hubby after the surgery to explain that Elin had managed to get into an awkward position near the end of labour and that I wouldn't have been able to push her out naturally.
We spent 5 days in hospital following her birth. I had to have treatment for the infection, but also my blood pressure is still all over the place so I now have medication to try and control it. The downside of the c-section was that my iron levels (already too low) took a huge drop, so feeling pretty fatigued, but it was definitely all worth it!
