buggy1
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It's been 12 days so I thought I had better get round to posting my labour story..
I started having quite regular contractions on the Wednesday, every 6 or 7 minutes, lasting just under a minute but they didn't really hurt or get closer together. I managed to get off to sleep and in the morning they had stopped, I seemed to be able to get them going again my bouncing on my ball but they were still very mild and not progressing. I think these must have just been BH in the end as they stopped completely, I was already overdue so I was really disappointed.
Saturday morning at 9am I had a third sweep, I started to have contractions instantly, they felt about the same as the BH I had before but slightly stronger. They carried on all day but I managed a walk with my oh and the contractions were becoming more painful but still not too bad as I think I am fairly good with pain!
My mw told me at the sweep in the morning I was 3-4cm, so the contractions I was having before, but not really feeling, must have been doing something! By 2pm on the Saturday I figured I must have passed 4cm having been contracting for 5 hrs and I was already almost 4cm at the start so I decided to go in to get checked over as I wanted to use the birthing pool.
We arrived at the birth centre and the mw said I didn't look like I was in labour as I wasn't showing any sign of being in pain really, she did feel my belly when a contraction came and did agree I was contracting. She said my heart rate was too high though and the babies was a little higher than it should be so after checking and saying i was only 3cm dilated they sent me to triage to go on the monitor.
They had me on the monitor for about half an hour and i was allowed back to the birth centre, my contractions were getting painful but they wouldn't let me have gas and air yet only being 3cm so they suggested i get in the bath. The bath was tiny and didn't help at all, by this point i needed pain relief but my only options were pethadine or codeine so i opted for the codeine. The mw came back and took some blood too. She had been saying she thought my heartbeat sounded irregular like it was skipping a beat, i've never been told that before and thought it was strange.
The next thing i know the mw rushed in and demanded i instantly get out of the bath and go to the labour ward to be put on a drip and an ecg to monitor my heart! It was all a bit panicked and i couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about, I felt fine! I was in pain though which I think might have accounted for my heart racing a little bit.
I went in to labour ward and was put back on the monitor, the mw in there said she thought it all looked fine and agreed it was a little high because I was in pain. A doctor came in to see me, he said he had come to put me on the ecg but looking at me and the stats he didn't think it was necessary and also agreed my heart rate was down to me being in labour. I was taken back to the birth centre again! I was checked by another mw who said I was now 6cm and she gave me gas and air! At long last, I was so happy, it made the world of difference!
I was then quickly taken in to the room with the pool and had to wait a short while for it to fill but I was as happy as a clam with my gas and air! I got in the pool and it felt nice as it was deep and warm it was very relaxing!
Before I knew it I was fully dilated, this all happened in a few hours really and my body began to push. I was surprised how your body just does it, it feels natural and you just know what you need to do. It does feel a lot like going for a massive poo! haha
I was in the pool and pushing for over an hour, my waters still hadn't broken so eventually the mw broke them in an attempt to get things moving. I could feel I was close, I could feel something right there, but by this time it was almost midnight, I was tired and my energy was fading. I was giving a really good push at the beginning of the contraction, ok for a second push but I was just exhausted for the third and couldn't get enough behind it to make a difference. I think the head was almost popping out then I would stop pushing and it would pop straight back in again! It was so frustrating.
They made me get out the pool and took my gas and air away so I could concentrate on pushing. I don't remember it hurting that much surprisingly but I think I was so in the zone and had adrenaline flowing that I didn't notice it, I was just trying so hard to push but still no joy.
After a few attempts they took me back to labour ward again for some help. They strapped my legs up in stirrups and said they were going to give me a cut and use the ventouse and put a clip on the babies head although they didnt use the clip in the end for some reason, it is all a bit of a blur to me! I think that last stage was more stressful for my oh than me as he was far more aware of what was going on!
They did use the ventouse but I was later told they just did one pull and she was out! As I say it was all a bit of a blur and it didn't really feel real in some ways, it was strange. I think I was still in shock for a bit after, I didn't even cry when they handed me the baby, I thought I would, my oh did, but I don't think it felt real to me at that point.
All in all I am quite happy with how the labour went, I got to use the pool a bit and I avoided the forceps which I am pleased about, plus I didn't have much pain relief! I just wish I hadn't needed the cut as my stitches have been so sore, they've been worse than the labour! I think I was always going to need the help as she was such a big baby! It was all well worth it and I would do it again
I started having quite regular contractions on the Wednesday, every 6 or 7 minutes, lasting just under a minute but they didn't really hurt or get closer together. I managed to get off to sleep and in the morning they had stopped, I seemed to be able to get them going again my bouncing on my ball but they were still very mild and not progressing. I think these must have just been BH in the end as they stopped completely, I was already overdue so I was really disappointed.
Saturday morning at 9am I had a third sweep, I started to have contractions instantly, they felt about the same as the BH I had before but slightly stronger. They carried on all day but I managed a walk with my oh and the contractions were becoming more painful but still not too bad as I think I am fairly good with pain!
My mw told me at the sweep in the morning I was 3-4cm, so the contractions I was having before, but not really feeling, must have been doing something! By 2pm on the Saturday I figured I must have passed 4cm having been contracting for 5 hrs and I was already almost 4cm at the start so I decided to go in to get checked over as I wanted to use the birthing pool.
We arrived at the birth centre and the mw said I didn't look like I was in labour as I wasn't showing any sign of being in pain really, she did feel my belly when a contraction came and did agree I was contracting. She said my heart rate was too high though and the babies was a little higher than it should be so after checking and saying i was only 3cm dilated they sent me to triage to go on the monitor.
They had me on the monitor for about half an hour and i was allowed back to the birth centre, my contractions were getting painful but they wouldn't let me have gas and air yet only being 3cm so they suggested i get in the bath. The bath was tiny and didn't help at all, by this point i needed pain relief but my only options were pethadine or codeine so i opted for the codeine. The mw came back and took some blood too. She had been saying she thought my heartbeat sounded irregular like it was skipping a beat, i've never been told that before and thought it was strange.
The next thing i know the mw rushed in and demanded i instantly get out of the bath and go to the labour ward to be put on a drip and an ecg to monitor my heart! It was all a bit panicked and i couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about, I felt fine! I was in pain though which I think might have accounted for my heart racing a little bit.
I went in to labour ward and was put back on the monitor, the mw in there said she thought it all looked fine and agreed it was a little high because I was in pain. A doctor came in to see me, he said he had come to put me on the ecg but looking at me and the stats he didn't think it was necessary and also agreed my heart rate was down to me being in labour. I was taken back to the birth centre again! I was checked by another mw who said I was now 6cm and she gave me gas and air! At long last, I was so happy, it made the world of difference!
I was then quickly taken in to the room with the pool and had to wait a short while for it to fill but I was as happy as a clam with my gas and air! I got in the pool and it felt nice as it was deep and warm it was very relaxing!
Before I knew it I was fully dilated, this all happened in a few hours really and my body began to push. I was surprised how your body just does it, it feels natural and you just know what you need to do. It does feel a lot like going for a massive poo! haha
I was in the pool and pushing for over an hour, my waters still hadn't broken so eventually the mw broke them in an attempt to get things moving. I could feel I was close, I could feel something right there, but by this time it was almost midnight, I was tired and my energy was fading. I was giving a really good push at the beginning of the contraction, ok for a second push but I was just exhausted for the third and couldn't get enough behind it to make a difference. I think the head was almost popping out then I would stop pushing and it would pop straight back in again! It was so frustrating.
They made me get out the pool and took my gas and air away so I could concentrate on pushing. I don't remember it hurting that much surprisingly but I think I was so in the zone and had adrenaline flowing that I didn't notice it, I was just trying so hard to push but still no joy.
After a few attempts they took me back to labour ward again for some help. They strapped my legs up in stirrups and said they were going to give me a cut and use the ventouse and put a clip on the babies head although they didnt use the clip in the end for some reason, it is all a bit of a blur to me! I think that last stage was more stressful for my oh than me as he was far more aware of what was going on!
They did use the ventouse but I was later told they just did one pull and she was out! As I say it was all a bit of a blur and it didn't really feel real in some ways, it was strange. I think I was still in shock for a bit after, I didn't even cry when they handed me the baby, I thought I would, my oh did, but I don't think it felt real to me at that point.
All in all I am quite happy with how the labour went, I got to use the pool a bit and I avoided the forceps which I am pleased about, plus I didn't have much pain relief! I just wish I hadn't needed the cut as my stitches have been so sore, they've been worse than the labour! I think I was always going to need the help as she was such a big baby! It was all well worth it and I would do it again
