Tootsmaloy
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Here is the birth story of my little Thea. Just so you know, I live in Germany so the drug they use might be different (you can google it) and I also have a midwife who is always there with me for the birth and the before and after care.
As some of you may know, I have been suffering from quite severe SPD since the start of August, so although my due date was actually 7th November, my midwife and I decided to go ahead with an induction on 26th October.
So at 9am on that Monday morning my husband and I headed to hospital. My daughter (21 months) went to nursery as normal and her grandma was going to be staying with us for the duration.
I live in Germany and the drug they use to induce you here is called "Cytotec (misoprostol)". It's in pill form and is taken orally. After being checked and being told I was already 2cm anyway (I'd lost my plug entirely the day before) I had my first 1/4 dose around 9.30am. Nothing happened, my husband headed home to pick up DD from nursery, I had a second pill 4 hours later this time a 1/2 dose. In the afternoon DD, her granny and my husband came to visit and went home for dinner. Another 4 hours and I had my first full dose pill. Around 8pm contractions started. Given the speed of my first delivery I rang my midwife straight away and my husband and both were there pretty fast. I was checked again and was 5cm. I was just breathing through it and the contractions weren't massive yet. It got to about 11pm and then it was decided to put me on the oxytocin drip to keep the momentum going, this was upped and upped until the contractions were pretty strong. My waters still hadn't gone and around 3am I was checked again and they found I was a bit stuck at 6cm. Basically my little girl who's head had been way way down for so long was now bouncing around and the amniotic sack was acting as a cushion so I wasn't dilating in a very progressive way anymore. I bounced on a ball a bit and we discussed breaking my waters and decided against it, at least this way there'd be no time constraint and risk of infection etc. So around 4am oxytocin was stopped and hubby and I went to sleep for a couple of hours.
We decided to start again at 6am. Obviously I couldn't be sent home at 6cm so we started again with the low dose of the pill. We were also sent back to the nice private "pre-labour" room we had originally and my Husband and I went back to sleep. Another pill at 10am and we were curled up on the bed watching tv.
I was now the talk of the maternity ward. The woman who came in to be induced, to reach 6cm and have no real complaints about contraction pain and to have the job effectively stop!
Then at 10:25, whilst dozing on my side I suddenly felt as if someone had hit me in the abdomen. That was it, she was coming. I had a huge contraction, the kind you couldn't talk through even if you tried. Once it had passed my husband asked if we should call for the midwife. Nah I said, maybe it was a one off? Less than a minute later I had another contraction and realised I needed to push. Husband called the midwife and she walked in to see me there clearly labouring. Think she was pretty surprised! Husband went to the loo whilst I grabbed my midwife's hands and breathed through the contraction. That's when I felt my waters go. Once it had passed I told her I had to push and that my waters had gone. My husband came back from the loo and took over hand gripping duties. I think I had only about 5 more contractions and then I pushed her head out. Then I had to roll onto my back to give her a bit of room, that was seriously painful because of the SPD but somehow I managed it. One more massive contraction and I pushed beyond the peak of it because I could feel she would be out if I just went for it, and the next thing I knew my daughter was placed on my chest at 10:46. I was checked and didn't have any tears or grazes and about 10 minutes later I delivered the placenta in tact.
That was that! Still can't believe that after all that actual proper labour was 21 minutes long! It was intense, but I guess she just had to come out! As with DD, I didn't have anything for the pain, I don't even know when I would have been able to if I'd asked for it! It was more of a feeling that was just bigger than me, bigger than the earth and I just had to hang on a bit and it would be over. For me induction was really very successful, I honestly couldn't have asked for a better labour.
Thea was born at 10.46am on 27th October weighing 7Llb 2oz.
As some of you may know, I have been suffering from quite severe SPD since the start of August, so although my due date was actually 7th November, my midwife and I decided to go ahead with an induction on 26th October.
So at 9am on that Monday morning my husband and I headed to hospital. My daughter (21 months) went to nursery as normal and her grandma was going to be staying with us for the duration.
I live in Germany and the drug they use to induce you here is called "Cytotec (misoprostol)". It's in pill form and is taken orally. After being checked and being told I was already 2cm anyway (I'd lost my plug entirely the day before) I had my first 1/4 dose around 9.30am. Nothing happened, my husband headed home to pick up DD from nursery, I had a second pill 4 hours later this time a 1/2 dose. In the afternoon DD, her granny and my husband came to visit and went home for dinner. Another 4 hours and I had my first full dose pill. Around 8pm contractions started. Given the speed of my first delivery I rang my midwife straight away and my husband and both were there pretty fast. I was checked again and was 5cm. I was just breathing through it and the contractions weren't massive yet. It got to about 11pm and then it was decided to put me on the oxytocin drip to keep the momentum going, this was upped and upped until the contractions were pretty strong. My waters still hadn't gone and around 3am I was checked again and they found I was a bit stuck at 6cm. Basically my little girl who's head had been way way down for so long was now bouncing around and the amniotic sack was acting as a cushion so I wasn't dilating in a very progressive way anymore. I bounced on a ball a bit and we discussed breaking my waters and decided against it, at least this way there'd be no time constraint and risk of infection etc. So around 4am oxytocin was stopped and hubby and I went to sleep for a couple of hours.
We decided to start again at 6am. Obviously I couldn't be sent home at 6cm so we started again with the low dose of the pill. We were also sent back to the nice private "pre-labour" room we had originally and my Husband and I went back to sleep. Another pill at 10am and we were curled up on the bed watching tv.
I was now the talk of the maternity ward. The woman who came in to be induced, to reach 6cm and have no real complaints about contraction pain and to have the job effectively stop!
Then at 10:25, whilst dozing on my side I suddenly felt as if someone had hit me in the abdomen. That was it, she was coming. I had a huge contraction, the kind you couldn't talk through even if you tried. Once it had passed my husband asked if we should call for the midwife. Nah I said, maybe it was a one off? Less than a minute later I had another contraction and realised I needed to push. Husband called the midwife and she walked in to see me there clearly labouring. Think she was pretty surprised! Husband went to the loo whilst I grabbed my midwife's hands and breathed through the contraction. That's when I felt my waters go. Once it had passed I told her I had to push and that my waters had gone. My husband came back from the loo and took over hand gripping duties. I think I had only about 5 more contractions and then I pushed her head out. Then I had to roll onto my back to give her a bit of room, that was seriously painful because of the SPD but somehow I managed it. One more massive contraction and I pushed beyond the peak of it because I could feel she would be out if I just went for it, and the next thing I knew my daughter was placed on my chest at 10:46. I was checked and didn't have any tears or grazes and about 10 minutes later I delivered the placenta in tact.
That was that! Still can't believe that after all that actual proper labour was 21 minutes long! It was intense, but I guess she just had to come out! As with DD, I didn't have anything for the pain, I don't even know when I would have been able to if I'd asked for it! It was more of a feeling that was just bigger than me, bigger than the earth and I just had to hang on a bit and it would be over. For me induction was really very successful, I honestly couldn't have asked for a better labour.
Thea was born at 10.46am on 27th October weighing 7Llb 2oz.
