Toni_Win
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Originally posted this in BFP announcements by mistake - new borns are very tiring!
Well, Ben and his daddy are both asleep so I've finally got 5 minutes to get back on PF, catch up with everyone and write Ben's birth story.
As some of you know we did hypnobirthing classes a few months ago. I have to admit that towards the end of the pregnancy we got a bit lax with practising the breathing and relaxation techniques, and even listening to the CD. At the start of week 38 I promised myself we would do more practice, thinking I still had a couple of weeks to go. Ben was due on the 4th of Jan, so on Christmas Day I had no expectations that he would be making an early appearance. So we went out on Christmas Day to visit a couple of different family members. We had a great day and got home at about 10.30pm.
At around 10 to midnight I went up to bed. Went to the loo, everything fine, but then as I got into my PJs a small gush of fluid came out. I knew I hadn't just wet myself as I'd just been to the loo, so realised that my waters had started to go. The leak was quite gentle, so I put a pad on and went to tell my husband. I wasn't having any contractions at that point. We were both staying very calm and relaxed, so we just went to bed to try and get some rest, knowing that in a few hours there would be some work to do. Woke up at about 8am, still feeling absolutely fine, but realised first couple of contractions were starting. Didn't really have any pain at all, and the hypnobirthing techniques just came naturally, and I used the breathing and visualisation techniques to help the contractions progress.
I decided to phone the hospital to let them know things had started and that we would probably be in later on that day. They told me that as my waters had started going that I needed to come in asap for assessment in triage. So we gently got up, my hubby made some sandwiches and packed food, we made sure we had all the bits and pieces in the hospital bag and made our way to hospital. By this point contractions were getting more regular, but I was coping absolutely fine with them.
We got to the hospital at about 10am. Maternity triage is usually in the delivery suite, but due to staffing levels on boxing day it had been moved to the ward on 2nd floor. Although they had told me to go to the 2nd floor on the phone, there were no signs and no-one to ask, so we were a bit confused when we got there, which annoyed my husband a lot. Anyway, we eventually found where we needed to be. They gave me a bed and wanted to assess how much fluid was coming out. But as it was quite slow and I was coping so well with the contractions, the staff weren't really convinced I was in labour. After 3 hours they admitted me onto the ward, then eventually got a midwife from the delivery suite to come up and assess me. By this point we were timing contractions to be 2 mins apart and lasting for about a minute. They were getting quite intense by that point and I was only just able to get through them with the breathing techniques. Anyway, when they did the first internal exam the midwife found I was 8cm dilated! So they were finally convinced I was in labour. They then got on the phone to delivery suite and got them to fill up the birthing pool for me.
I got into the pool at about 3pm. That made me feel a lot better and more comfortable. I was still coping with the contractions and my husband was being brilliant and keeping me relaxed and helping me to breathe. After about 1.5 hours in the pool I was getting really tired and starting to panic that I couldn't cope, so had a bit of gas and air to get through a few of the contractions. But then came time to push. Hubby was brilliant again and helped with the change of breathing technique and encouragement. The midwife with us was also excellent. She knew we wanted to do as much as possible as naturally as possible so stayed pretty hands off, just checking his heartbeat every half hour or so. It took about an hour to push him out, but that's mostly because I was panicking that it was going to hurt, but I really have to just describe it as uncomfortable and tiring rather than the worst pain ever. Ben was eventually born after about 3 hours in the pool at 5.44pm. The feeling when he came out was just amazing. We both stayed in the water cuddling till the cord stopped pulsing, then DH cut the cord, even though he swore he wasn't going to! He had a panic though because he thought he'd cut Ben's leg. He forgot that there would be blood in the cord so when he saw a drop of blood on the baby's leg he panicked! But all was fine.
We then got out of the pool while daddy had a cuddle. Then while feeding the baby I was able to deliver the placenta naturally without the injection. Unfortunately at that stage they found out that I had a 3rd degree tear and would probably need surgery. The internal exam by the doctor to assess the amount of damage was far more painful than actually delivering the baby and I really did need gas and air for that. In fact I was gripping the thing so tightly with my teeth that the mouth piece kept coming off! Finally went to surgery at about 10pm. They kept me in hospital for 2 days due to the surgery.
Anyway, we're home now and still getting used to everything. Ben tends to like sleeping too much in the day and staying up at night, but hopefully we'll settle down soon!
Well, Ben and his daddy are both asleep so I've finally got 5 minutes to get back on PF, catch up with everyone and write Ben's birth story.
As some of you know we did hypnobirthing classes a few months ago. I have to admit that towards the end of the pregnancy we got a bit lax with practising the breathing and relaxation techniques, and even listening to the CD. At the start of week 38 I promised myself we would do more practice, thinking I still had a couple of weeks to go. Ben was due on the 4th of Jan, so on Christmas Day I had no expectations that he would be making an early appearance. So we went out on Christmas Day to visit a couple of different family members. We had a great day and got home at about 10.30pm.
At around 10 to midnight I went up to bed. Went to the loo, everything fine, but then as I got into my PJs a small gush of fluid came out. I knew I hadn't just wet myself as I'd just been to the loo, so realised that my waters had started to go. The leak was quite gentle, so I put a pad on and went to tell my husband. I wasn't having any contractions at that point. We were both staying very calm and relaxed, so we just went to bed to try and get some rest, knowing that in a few hours there would be some work to do. Woke up at about 8am, still feeling absolutely fine, but realised first couple of contractions were starting. Didn't really have any pain at all, and the hypnobirthing techniques just came naturally, and I used the breathing and visualisation techniques to help the contractions progress.
I decided to phone the hospital to let them know things had started and that we would probably be in later on that day. They told me that as my waters had started going that I needed to come in asap for assessment in triage. So we gently got up, my hubby made some sandwiches and packed food, we made sure we had all the bits and pieces in the hospital bag and made our way to hospital. By this point contractions were getting more regular, but I was coping absolutely fine with them.
We got to the hospital at about 10am. Maternity triage is usually in the delivery suite, but due to staffing levels on boxing day it had been moved to the ward on 2nd floor. Although they had told me to go to the 2nd floor on the phone, there were no signs and no-one to ask, so we were a bit confused when we got there, which annoyed my husband a lot. Anyway, we eventually found where we needed to be. They gave me a bed and wanted to assess how much fluid was coming out. But as it was quite slow and I was coping so well with the contractions, the staff weren't really convinced I was in labour. After 3 hours they admitted me onto the ward, then eventually got a midwife from the delivery suite to come up and assess me. By this point we were timing contractions to be 2 mins apart and lasting for about a minute. They were getting quite intense by that point and I was only just able to get through them with the breathing techniques. Anyway, when they did the first internal exam the midwife found I was 8cm dilated! So they were finally convinced I was in labour. They then got on the phone to delivery suite and got them to fill up the birthing pool for me.
I got into the pool at about 3pm. That made me feel a lot better and more comfortable. I was still coping with the contractions and my husband was being brilliant and keeping me relaxed and helping me to breathe. After about 1.5 hours in the pool I was getting really tired and starting to panic that I couldn't cope, so had a bit of gas and air to get through a few of the contractions. But then came time to push. Hubby was brilliant again and helped with the change of breathing technique and encouragement. The midwife with us was also excellent. She knew we wanted to do as much as possible as naturally as possible so stayed pretty hands off, just checking his heartbeat every half hour or so. It took about an hour to push him out, but that's mostly because I was panicking that it was going to hurt, but I really have to just describe it as uncomfortable and tiring rather than the worst pain ever. Ben was eventually born after about 3 hours in the pool at 5.44pm. The feeling when he came out was just amazing. We both stayed in the water cuddling till the cord stopped pulsing, then DH cut the cord, even though he swore he wasn't going to! He had a panic though because he thought he'd cut Ben's leg. He forgot that there would be blood in the cord so when he saw a drop of blood on the baby's leg he panicked! But all was fine.
We then got out of the pool while daddy had a cuddle. Then while feeding the baby I was able to deliver the placenta naturally without the injection. Unfortunately at that stage they found out that I had a 3rd degree tear and would probably need surgery. The internal exam by the doctor to assess the amount of damage was far more painful than actually delivering the baby and I really did need gas and air for that. In fact I was gripping the thing so tightly with my teeth that the mouth piece kept coming off! Finally went to surgery at about 10pm. They kept me in hospital for 2 days due to the surgery.
Anyway, we're home now and still getting used to everything. Ben tends to like sleeping too much in the day and staying up at night, but hopefully we'll settle down soon!
XXX
