finally 5 minutes in which I wouldn't rather sleep to tell you my story and show you some pics insha'Allah.
I was due for an induction on 7th...
However at about 11pm the night before as I was packing the last couple of things in my hospital bag I bent over to reach for a low drawer and I felt and HEARD a loud "POP!" noise and felt a warm feeling on my legs: my waters had gone!
I ran to the bathroom as it kept gushing and soaking me down to my socks
It was SO COOL! I mean, it made a sound that made me feel like I was in a cartoon!
Anyway, sitting on the toilet (cos it just kept coming out!) I called the hospital while my husband was running around gathering my stuff (he was really all over the place, but he was soon to get a grip and be a wonderful, calm birth partner)
We went to the hospital just 5 minutes away to be monitored and examined. I didn't feel pain yet, just a bit of that "bloated" feeling you get when you are on your period. I was strapped to the monitor for half an hour (althouhg it didn't pick up this tightenings I was having!) and then the midwife examined me...which is very painful btw... and "emerged" from down there with the news that I was "a good 2cm dilated" and she had my show and blood all over her hand I was sent home until further development.
On the way home I started feeling something.
I tried going to sleep but it was painful to lie down, so my husband helped me to shower (the hot water on my lower back was really good for the pain!!!) and helped me put on my TENS machine. Then he lied on the sofa and I rocked in the gliding chair...but I was starting to be in a lot of pain.
My pain didn't exactly come and go: it was always there and it just kept getting stronger. I started feeling like I couldn't understand what was going on around me...and I wasn't all chatty anymore... This lasted probably for a couple of hours maximum.
When I felt I could talk I phoned the hospital and they told me to go back and this time take my bags with me.
As I was waiting for my poor husband to gather my belongings I started feeling a huge force shaking my insides and pulling downwards. I remember grabbing on to the staircase, feeling I was gonna pee myself: it hurt if I tried to hold it.
I was desperate to be in hospital, I was in a lot of pain and starting to feel awfully sick.
As soon as I arrived, the old lovely midwife who had seen me before said she was waiting for meafter I felt sick for a while (so much that I blocked the washbasin next to my bed) she examined me to find that I was now 5cm dilated.
I kept feeling that violent "I can't control my wee" pull downwards...and I was scared to pee myself but I thought "whatever! this is a hospital and these people have surely seen much worse that a woman in labour wetting herself!!!", so I just let go and started breathing my gas and air with it.
This feeling was actually the head of my baby coming down and out (but I didn't know it yet!)
They wheeled me to the delivery room, a nice room with a birthing pool, but I had made it cllear that I didn't want water, I wanted drugs
After this point it's a bit of a blur for a while. It must have been all the gas and air ... also that pain really drives you out of your mind. Like an earthquake all concentrated in your lower abdomen!
The pain I was in at this stage was frightening, all I remember is my husband giving me water to drink and sprinkling some on my face
They gave me a pethadine injection but it did nothing at all.
Then I started doing what seems to be the sound all women in labour do: this loud, low pitched moan as you exhale. I heard a lot of that that day coming from other rooms too: you just cannot help it.
The epidural people came.
I was terrified by the idea of being pierced so close to my spine, but at that moment I couldn't care less. I faint when I see a needle, still they pierced me several times to get the drip in and they couldn't catch my vein...also that I don't remember. I only remember turning on my side (with great pain) for my epidural and seeing my left hand all covered in blood whith a drip half in and half out I didn't care much. I was to busy doing my scream, like the mating call of some huge lazy animal
As soon as I rolled back from the epidural the midwife said she could see the baby's head (!!!) Now, that was good news, HOWEVER that meant I wouldn't be able to use the epidural because they had given me only the "test dose" to check for any reaction I might have, and there was no time for them to give me the proper shot that numbs you
They said it was time to start pushing and I was scared because I thought the pain would be too much. I said I was scared. They told me not to, they were very reassuring and they kept telling me how great I was doing etc.
I was now proper screaming because the baby's head, which felt like a stone pushing to come out my back passage, was now being squeezed down very frequently (and efficiently!) with these very strong and powerful contractions that would totally shake me and force me to fold on myself.
They told me I was gonna feel a burning sensation down below, and I SURE DIDI pushed through 3 contractions, very very close together, when they told me they could see his ears. After that they said "One last push" and I thought they were just lying to keep me going...so I pushed really hard without making a sound because they had told me to use the energy to push rather than scream. Two seconds after they asked me to pant and with a "BLOB" noise my baby was out like a bullet. I saw this back and bottom all dirty with vernix and I was in shock because it was so fast!!!
They basically threw him on my bare chest and wiped him clean.
I get all teary if I remember how warm, wet and heavy he felt.
It was 8.30am on Friday 7th March. He weighed 3.7kg (8.1 lb)
It took only 8 minutes to push him out!!!
He scored 10/10 apgar both at 1 and 5 minutes and he was absolutely gorgeous masha'Allah (as you can see!)
I delivered my placenta right away, with Yusef on my chest still. Then the midwife yelled something and about 10 people rushed in the room. I was bleeding a lot and although I had a minor tear, the blood wasn't coming from there but from inside.
The doctor came in and I was given the gas and air again while she put her hand inside me to collect pieces of membrane that had stayed behind and were making me bleed. That was more painful than the delivery!!!
I was holdin Yusef with my right arm, the left had a drip in and I couldn't move it and the midwife was holding the gas and air in my mouth. I was biting the mouthpiece so hard I though I was gonna break my teeth! and I was screaming, Yusef wasn't bothered though: he kept looking at me with interest
After that ordeal they decided I didn't need stitches but loads of drip because I had lost 1 liter of blood.
Then they brought us french toast and tea and my husband and I were left alone with Yusef.
It was so amazing!
Here he is:
I was due for an induction on 7th...
However at about 11pm the night before as I was packing the last couple of things in my hospital bag I bent over to reach for a low drawer and I felt and HEARD a loud "POP!" noise and felt a warm feeling on my legs: my waters had gone!
I ran to the bathroom as it kept gushing and soaking me down to my socks
It was SO COOL! I mean, it made a sound that made me feel like I was in a cartoon!
Anyway, sitting on the toilet (cos it just kept coming out!) I called the hospital while my husband was running around gathering my stuff (he was really all over the place, but he was soon to get a grip and be a wonderful, calm birth partner)
We went to the hospital just 5 minutes away to be monitored and examined. I didn't feel pain yet, just a bit of that "bloated" feeling you get when you are on your period. I was strapped to the monitor for half an hour (althouhg it didn't pick up this tightenings I was having!) and then the midwife examined me...which is very painful btw... and "emerged" from down there with the news that I was "a good 2cm dilated" and she had my show and blood all over her hand I was sent home until further development.
On the way home I started feeling something.
I tried going to sleep but it was painful to lie down, so my husband helped me to shower (the hot water on my lower back was really good for the pain!!!) and helped me put on my TENS machine. Then he lied on the sofa and I rocked in the gliding chair...but I was starting to be in a lot of pain.
My pain didn't exactly come and go: it was always there and it just kept getting stronger. I started feeling like I couldn't understand what was going on around me...and I wasn't all chatty anymore... This lasted probably for a couple of hours maximum.
When I felt I could talk I phoned the hospital and they told me to go back and this time take my bags with me.
As I was waiting for my poor husband to gather my belongings I started feeling a huge force shaking my insides and pulling downwards. I remember grabbing on to the staircase, feeling I was gonna pee myself: it hurt if I tried to hold it.
I was desperate to be in hospital, I was in a lot of pain and starting to feel awfully sick.
As soon as I arrived, the old lovely midwife who had seen me before said she was waiting for meafter I felt sick for a while (so much that I blocked the washbasin next to my bed) she examined me to find that I was now 5cm dilated.
I kept feeling that violent "I can't control my wee" pull downwards...and I was scared to pee myself but I thought "whatever! this is a hospital and these people have surely seen much worse that a woman in labour wetting herself!!!", so I just let go and started breathing my gas and air with it.
This feeling was actually the head of my baby coming down and out (but I didn't know it yet!)
They wheeled me to the delivery room, a nice room with a birthing pool, but I had made it cllear that I didn't want water, I wanted drugs
After this point it's a bit of a blur for a while. It must have been all the gas and air ... also that pain really drives you out of your mind. Like an earthquake all concentrated in your lower abdomen!
The pain I was in at this stage was frightening, all I remember is my husband giving me water to drink and sprinkling some on my face
They gave me a pethadine injection but it did nothing at all.
Then I started doing what seems to be the sound all women in labour do: this loud, low pitched moan as you exhale. I heard a lot of that that day coming from other rooms too: you just cannot help it.
The epidural people came.
I was terrified by the idea of being pierced so close to my spine, but at that moment I couldn't care less. I faint when I see a needle, still they pierced me several times to get the drip in and they couldn't catch my vein...also that I don't remember. I only remember turning on my side (with great pain) for my epidural and seeing my left hand all covered in blood whith a drip half in and half out I didn't care much. I was to busy doing my scream, like the mating call of some huge lazy animal
As soon as I rolled back from the epidural the midwife said she could see the baby's head (!!!) Now, that was good news, HOWEVER that meant I wouldn't be able to use the epidural because they had given me only the "test dose" to check for any reaction I might have, and there was no time for them to give me the proper shot that numbs you
They said it was time to start pushing and I was scared because I thought the pain would be too much. I said I was scared. They told me not to, they were very reassuring and they kept telling me how great I was doing etc.
I was now proper screaming because the baby's head, which felt like a stone pushing to come out my back passage, was now being squeezed down very frequently (and efficiently!) with these very strong and powerful contractions that would totally shake me and force me to fold on myself.
They told me I was gonna feel a burning sensation down below, and I SURE DIDI pushed through 3 contractions, very very close together, when they told me they could see his ears. After that they said "One last push" and I thought they were just lying to keep me going...so I pushed really hard without making a sound because they had told me to use the energy to push rather than scream. Two seconds after they asked me to pant and with a "BLOB" noise my baby was out like a bullet. I saw this back and bottom all dirty with vernix and I was in shock because it was so fast!!!
They basically threw him on my bare chest and wiped him clean.
I get all teary if I remember how warm, wet and heavy he felt.
It was 8.30am on Friday 7th March. He weighed 3.7kg (8.1 lb)
It took only 8 minutes to push him out!!!
He scored 10/10 apgar both at 1 and 5 minutes and he was absolutely gorgeous masha'Allah (as you can see!)
I delivered my placenta right away, with Yusef on my chest still. Then the midwife yelled something and about 10 people rushed in the room. I was bleeding a lot and although I had a minor tear, the blood wasn't coming from there but from inside.
The doctor came in and I was given the gas and air again while she put her hand inside me to collect pieces of membrane that had stayed behind and were making me bleed. That was more painful than the delivery!!!
I was holdin Yusef with my right arm, the left had a drip in and I couldn't move it and the midwife was holding the gas and air in my mouth. I was biting the mouthpiece so hard I though I was gonna break my teeth! and I was screaming, Yusef wasn't bothered though: he kept looking at me with interest
After that ordeal they decided I didn't need stitches but loads of drip because I had lost 1 liter of blood.
Then they brought us french toast and tea and my husband and I were left alone with Yusef.
It was so amazing!
Here he is:
Brilliant birth story. I can't see any pics though 
