Hi everyone,
Turns out Bethany could not wait for today and decided to come early.
I went into labour in the early hours of Saturday morning. I think I was in denial to start with and tried to pretend it was braxton hicks but the contractions did feel different and were coming every 10 - 15 minutes from about 4am onwards. They were bearable and I actually managed to sleep inbetween them, much to the amazement of my husband, who was dutifully on stand by with a pad and pen and clock timing them!
I rang the hospital at 9.30am and they told me to go straight in as she was breeched. They put me on a monitor to trace the contractions and also baby's heart beat. They did an internal and I was not at all dilated so they suspected it was a false labour but asked me to stay in for monitoring for a few more hours.
By this time it was about 2pm and I was still having contractions every 10 minutes or so, they were getting increasingly difficult but I was coping with them with the help of my TENS machine, I was just REALLY thirsty as they made me stay nil by mouth just in case........ I had another internal and I still was not dilating so they made a judgement that it was definitely false labour! They gave me a couple of codeine for the pain and let me have some sips of water and a sandwich. They then asked me to stay for one more hour, then they would check baby's heartbeat again and if everything was OK I could go home, which I was really pushing for as we were totally fed up!
I was still having contractions. An hour later they were just about to do the heartbeat trace and I decided I would go to the loo first and discovered I was bleeding very very heavily.... like nothing I have ever seen before!
The midwife immediately went to get the consultant who examined me and found I was now 4cm dilated and she could feel a foot pressing on my cervix!! They never did tell me why I was bleeding and I forgot to ask, thinking about it.
It turned out that the other 2 girls on the labour ward at the same time as me also needed emergency c-sections, totally unheard of and especially on a Saturday! I joined the queue a little later than them and they were more urgent cases than me and had to wait for about 3 1/2 hours, which were the longest 3 1/2 hours of our lives. Adrenalin kicked in and thankfully killed off my oxitocin levels so my contractions actually slowed right down and stopped dilating.
Eventually we went in for surgery. I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience, I never could have dreamed it would be such a magical time. The staff were brilliant and the atmosphere was really lovely in theatre as I was not an "emergency" as such so they could relax with me, the spinal block worked a treat and I did not feel anything, you can still feel touch though which is quite odd, it did feel like someone was washing up in my belly.
My DH got to tell me the sex and then she was taken to be dried and cleaned, then bought back for cuddles..... we were over the moon and both could not stop crying! DH then got to take her into recovery and help get her weighed and measured etc... I was very jealous but it gave me a few minutes on my own to take it all in whilst I was being stitched up.
She was 7lb 5oz!
Anyway, everything was fine, we went into recovery and had skin to skin and we had a go at breast feeding which is not easy when you cannot feel anything from your ribs down but she still managed to feed.
I was in hospital until Monday afternoon, so not long really considering but was glad to come home and get on with it.
Recovery is going well, the drugs help a lot!
Bethany is just perfect, I cannot believe I have only known her for 3 days, I miss her when she is asleep! She is feeding really well and is generally just an absolute joy.
Sorry for such a long story! Just a little bit proud of myself!
1 minute old!
Chilling in her crib!
Turns out Bethany could not wait for today and decided to come early.
I went into labour in the early hours of Saturday morning. I think I was in denial to start with and tried to pretend it was braxton hicks but the contractions did feel different and were coming every 10 - 15 minutes from about 4am onwards. They were bearable and I actually managed to sleep inbetween them, much to the amazement of my husband, who was dutifully on stand by with a pad and pen and clock timing them!
I rang the hospital at 9.30am and they told me to go straight in as she was breeched. They put me on a monitor to trace the contractions and also baby's heart beat. They did an internal and I was not at all dilated so they suspected it was a false labour but asked me to stay in for monitoring for a few more hours.
By this time it was about 2pm and I was still having contractions every 10 minutes or so, they were getting increasingly difficult but I was coping with them with the help of my TENS machine, I was just REALLY thirsty as they made me stay nil by mouth just in case........ I had another internal and I still was not dilating so they made a judgement that it was definitely false labour! They gave me a couple of codeine for the pain and let me have some sips of water and a sandwich. They then asked me to stay for one more hour, then they would check baby's heartbeat again and if everything was OK I could go home, which I was really pushing for as we were totally fed up!
I was still having contractions. An hour later they were just about to do the heartbeat trace and I decided I would go to the loo first and discovered I was bleeding very very heavily.... like nothing I have ever seen before!
The midwife immediately went to get the consultant who examined me and found I was now 4cm dilated and she could feel a foot pressing on my cervix!! They never did tell me why I was bleeding and I forgot to ask, thinking about it.
It turned out that the other 2 girls on the labour ward at the same time as me also needed emergency c-sections, totally unheard of and especially on a Saturday! I joined the queue a little later than them and they were more urgent cases than me and had to wait for about 3 1/2 hours, which were the longest 3 1/2 hours of our lives. Adrenalin kicked in and thankfully killed off my oxitocin levels so my contractions actually slowed right down and stopped dilating.
Eventually we went in for surgery. I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience, I never could have dreamed it would be such a magical time. The staff were brilliant and the atmosphere was really lovely in theatre as I was not an "emergency" as such so they could relax with me, the spinal block worked a treat and I did not feel anything, you can still feel touch though which is quite odd, it did feel like someone was washing up in my belly.
My DH got to tell me the sex and then she was taken to be dried and cleaned, then bought back for cuddles..... we were over the moon and both could not stop crying! DH then got to take her into recovery and help get her weighed and measured etc... I was very jealous but it gave me a few minutes on my own to take it all in whilst I was being stitched up.
She was 7lb 5oz!
Anyway, everything was fine, we went into recovery and had skin to skin and we had a go at breast feeding which is not easy when you cannot feel anything from your ribs down but she still managed to feed.
I was in hospital until Monday afternoon, so not long really considering but was glad to come home and get on with it.
Recovery is going well, the drugs help a lot!
Bethany is just perfect, I cannot believe I have only known her for 3 days, I miss her when she is asleep! She is feeding really well and is generally just an absolute joy.
Sorry for such a long story! Just a little bit proud of myself!
1 minute old!
Chilling in her crib!
she is gorgeous!
