Leah04x
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Right, here we go! Just about plucked up the courage to write my birth story..
It was a long and drawn out labour, so not sure on times that things happened!
Thursday 6th: (10 days overdue)
At around 11pm, I started to get some period pains and back ache, but as I had been getting these all week & there was still no sign of baby, I took them with a pinch of salt.
I went to bed, but something wasn't right & I just couldn't settle at all.
Friday 7th:
At about 1am, I decided to get up and go downstairs as I felt the pains were getting worse and I couldn't stand being in bed any longer! I took some paracetamol and bounced on my birthing ball for a few hours.
During this time, the pains seemed to be getting more intense and closer together, so I decided to time them to see if anything had come of it. At first the pains were coming every 8 minutes and lasting a minute.
I called hospital for advice and was told to have a bath and to continue timing contractions, and to call back when my contractions were closer together or I couldn't take the pain anymore.
At this point, I woke my OH up, who wasn't too amused at being woken up at 4:30am and didn't believe me when I said I was in labour LOL..
He helped me to have a bath, and by around 6am, my contractions were coming every 5 minutes, lasting a minute.
I called the hospital again and they told me to come in.
We got all of stuff together and got to the hospital for around 6:30am. I was examined and was 2cm dilated. I was moved to the ward and was given some more paracetamol and a birthing ball.
At around 10:30am, I took another bath, which seemed to soothe the pain a lot, but the pains came back thick and fast as soon as I got out!
As the morning went on, I was examined again, and was 4cm dilated - which meant being transferred to the delivery suite.
I was then given gas and air, which was amazing and I started managing the pains really well, but with no progress! I was stuck at 4cm.
I went to the toilet and had my bloody show.
They decided to break my waters, and this is where all hell broke loose. The pains became, so much more intense and closer together, making it very difficult to get through on just gas and air.
Due to the pain, I shouted to OH that I was gonna be sick. By the time he had got a sick pot and got back, I threw up all over him!
Woooopsie!!
I stayed struggling on gas and air for a while longer, before being offered diamorphine, which gave me a bit of relief & a rest from the contractions.
I was examined later on in the afternoon and was 6cm dilated - finally made some progress!
After another 4 hours or so, I was examined and I was stuck again at 6cm.. So they decided to put me on the drip to help things along. The drip made the contractions so much more painful!
Later on on the friday evening, I was given an epidural (I said I would never have one!), and I was able to have a rest and try and get to fully dilated.
Saturday 8th:
The early hours of the morning, I was making slow but sure progress towards being fully dilated. Finally - 10cm! I was then left an hour for the head to naturally drop down more, making life easier for me..
Time to push.. The epidural made it so hard at this stage! I wasn't feeling my contractions at all, so the mw had to tell me when I was contracting and when to push. I couldn't feel the actual 'pushing', so it made 'pushing into the bum' hard.
After over an hour, there was no sign of LO coming down, so the mw decided to leave me for another 2 hours on the drip to see if that would help.
After the 2 hours, I continued to put all my energy (very very little!), into pushing and yet nothing was happening. I had never ever been so exhausted in my life!
The mw got the doctor in to examine me at the same time as me pushing. They then realised that, even though I was fully dilated, there was a 'lip' of the cervix which was dropping down everytime I pushed.
When examined without pushing simultaneously, you would never have known.
The doctor decided to leave me for another two hours on the drip. He felt that the longer the drip was left to work, it would help the lip of the cervix to move out of the way. He then planned to come and examine me at 9am.
9am came and I was examined. The lip of the cervix was still there making it difficult for me to push, and also the baby was in a position which wasn't helping. It was decided there and then that I would be taken down for a c section.
I was in bits! Mixed emotions, as I had just spent the last 35 hours being in pain and trying to bring my little man into the world, but relief as I knew we were near the end. I was also petrified about the c section itself!
My epidural was topped up, the theatre was prepped, my OH got into the theatre clothing and I was wheeled down.
It was the scariest time of my life, but so happy I was just about to meet me little boy..
The sections began, and I felt the knife cut me. I held my breath, felt the pain of the knife and then felt every single movement down there and all the rummaging around in my stomach! The epidural top up hadn't worked.
I screamed and shouted about what I could feel and everything ground to a halt.
I was then promptly told I needed a general anaesthetic and I gave my consent - anything to stop feeling the pain.. My OH was taken out of the room and taken back to the delivery suite, where he waited there for an hour not knowing how I was or how his little boy was..
I remember looking up and seeing an oxygen mask being placed over my face, the faces and voices went blurry and I was put under.
Ethan James was brought into the world on Saturday 8th September at 10:25am weighing 8lb 1.
Little Ethan was then taken back to his daddy, and I was taken to recovery.
My OH helped to get him cleaned up and dressed, waiting for me to come round.
At around 12:30pm, I groggily came round from the anaesthetic and was taken back to see my OH and LO.
I was then encouraged to try and breastfeed, as LO needed his first feed and had already waited for me to come back from recovery. I was still half out of it, I didn't even know what time it was, and I was absolutely exhausted and sore.
I could barely move, let alone breastfeed! But I was desperate to. So I made my best efforts to lay side by side with Ethan and feed him. He was trying his best to latch on, bless him, but it just wasn't happening!
I decided that, my LO needed to feed and I wasn't fit to do it, so he had his first bottle.
I spent the rest of the day in bed, I couldn't move as the epidural was still in effect. I literally looked like death! My OH was amazing with Ethan during this time.
As I had lost nearly a litre of blood in the op, they tested me and found my iron levels had dropped to 7! I was borderline anaemic anyway before labour, but my GP decided against iron tablets.
So the doctors suggested I arranged a blood transfusion for the following day.
Over the weekend, I slowly got some feeling back in my legs, walked for the first time in ages, bottled fed my baby and changed his nappy. Felt like such an achievement for me, but I was still really poorly..
Yesterday, I had the blood transfusion (two bags of blood) and started perking up immediately after. Last night at around 8pm, the mws and doctors thought I was well enough to bring my little boy home!
Right now, I'm still in a lot of pain - my wound is healing well, but my stomach muscles are so tender! (After naturally labouring for 35 hours, then pains from c section rummaging too! = Double whammy!)
My muscle soreness means I'm finding it hard to walk, sit, sleep, do 'mummy' duties, but I'm trying my best! I'm just going through the stage of feeling like a lousy mummy at the minute for not being able to give 100% to my boy!
But OH has told me off for this! And has been amazing - looking after Ethan, housework, cooking, looking after me, getting up in the night.. Couldn't be better!
But on the whole, Ethan is settling down really well & is a star!
I'm hoping to make a speedy recovery, so I can feel more like a mummy!
I love both my boys! xx
Here are a few pictures of my little man:
It was a long and drawn out labour, so not sure on times that things happened!
Thursday 6th: (10 days overdue)
At around 11pm, I started to get some period pains and back ache, but as I had been getting these all week & there was still no sign of baby, I took them with a pinch of salt.
I went to bed, but something wasn't right & I just couldn't settle at all.
Friday 7th:
At about 1am, I decided to get up and go downstairs as I felt the pains were getting worse and I couldn't stand being in bed any longer! I took some paracetamol and bounced on my birthing ball for a few hours.
During this time, the pains seemed to be getting more intense and closer together, so I decided to time them to see if anything had come of it. At first the pains were coming every 8 minutes and lasting a minute.
I called hospital for advice and was told to have a bath and to continue timing contractions, and to call back when my contractions were closer together or I couldn't take the pain anymore.
At this point, I woke my OH up, who wasn't too amused at being woken up at 4:30am and didn't believe me when I said I was in labour LOL..
He helped me to have a bath, and by around 6am, my contractions were coming every 5 minutes, lasting a minute.
I called the hospital again and they told me to come in.
We got all of stuff together and got to the hospital for around 6:30am. I was examined and was 2cm dilated. I was moved to the ward and was given some more paracetamol and a birthing ball.
At around 10:30am, I took another bath, which seemed to soothe the pain a lot, but the pains came back thick and fast as soon as I got out!
As the morning went on, I was examined again, and was 4cm dilated - which meant being transferred to the delivery suite.
I was then given gas and air, which was amazing and I started managing the pains really well, but with no progress! I was stuck at 4cm.
I went to the toilet and had my bloody show.
They decided to break my waters, and this is where all hell broke loose. The pains became, so much more intense and closer together, making it very difficult to get through on just gas and air.
Due to the pain, I shouted to OH that I was gonna be sick. By the time he had got a sick pot and got back, I threw up all over him!
Woooopsie!!I stayed struggling on gas and air for a while longer, before being offered diamorphine, which gave me a bit of relief & a rest from the contractions.
I was examined later on in the afternoon and was 6cm dilated - finally made some progress!
After another 4 hours or so, I was examined and I was stuck again at 6cm.. So they decided to put me on the drip to help things along. The drip made the contractions so much more painful!
Later on on the friday evening, I was given an epidural (I said I would never have one!), and I was able to have a rest and try and get to fully dilated.
Saturday 8th:
The early hours of the morning, I was making slow but sure progress towards being fully dilated. Finally - 10cm! I was then left an hour for the head to naturally drop down more, making life easier for me..
Time to push.. The epidural made it so hard at this stage! I wasn't feeling my contractions at all, so the mw had to tell me when I was contracting and when to push. I couldn't feel the actual 'pushing', so it made 'pushing into the bum' hard.
After over an hour, there was no sign of LO coming down, so the mw decided to leave me for another 2 hours on the drip to see if that would help.
After the 2 hours, I continued to put all my energy (very very little!), into pushing and yet nothing was happening. I had never ever been so exhausted in my life!
The mw got the doctor in to examine me at the same time as me pushing. They then realised that, even though I was fully dilated, there was a 'lip' of the cervix which was dropping down everytime I pushed.
When examined without pushing simultaneously, you would never have known.
The doctor decided to leave me for another two hours on the drip. He felt that the longer the drip was left to work, it would help the lip of the cervix to move out of the way. He then planned to come and examine me at 9am.
9am came and I was examined. The lip of the cervix was still there making it difficult for me to push, and also the baby was in a position which wasn't helping. It was decided there and then that I would be taken down for a c section.
I was in bits! Mixed emotions, as I had just spent the last 35 hours being in pain and trying to bring my little man into the world, but relief as I knew we were near the end. I was also petrified about the c section itself!
My epidural was topped up, the theatre was prepped, my OH got into the theatre clothing and I was wheeled down.
It was the scariest time of my life, but so happy I was just about to meet me little boy..
The sections began, and I felt the knife cut me. I held my breath, felt the pain of the knife and then felt every single movement down there and all the rummaging around in my stomach! The epidural top up hadn't worked.
I screamed and shouted about what I could feel and everything ground to a halt.
I was then promptly told I needed a general anaesthetic and I gave my consent - anything to stop feeling the pain.. My OH was taken out of the room and taken back to the delivery suite, where he waited there for an hour not knowing how I was or how his little boy was..
I remember looking up and seeing an oxygen mask being placed over my face, the faces and voices went blurry and I was put under.
Ethan James was brought into the world on Saturday 8th September at 10:25am weighing 8lb 1.
Little Ethan was then taken back to his daddy, and I was taken to recovery.
My OH helped to get him cleaned up and dressed, waiting for me to come round.
At around 12:30pm, I groggily came round from the anaesthetic and was taken back to see my OH and LO.
I was then encouraged to try and breastfeed, as LO needed his first feed and had already waited for me to come back from recovery. I was still half out of it, I didn't even know what time it was, and I was absolutely exhausted and sore.
I could barely move, let alone breastfeed! But I was desperate to. So I made my best efforts to lay side by side with Ethan and feed him. He was trying his best to latch on, bless him, but it just wasn't happening!
I decided that, my LO needed to feed and I wasn't fit to do it, so he had his first bottle.
I spent the rest of the day in bed, I couldn't move as the epidural was still in effect. I literally looked like death! My OH was amazing with Ethan during this time.
As I had lost nearly a litre of blood in the op, they tested me and found my iron levels had dropped to 7! I was borderline anaemic anyway before labour, but my GP decided against iron tablets.
So the doctors suggested I arranged a blood transfusion for the following day.
Over the weekend, I slowly got some feeling back in my legs, walked for the first time in ages, bottled fed my baby and changed his nappy. Felt like such an achievement for me, but I was still really poorly..
Yesterday, I had the blood transfusion (two bags of blood) and started perking up immediately after. Last night at around 8pm, the mws and doctors thought I was well enough to bring my little boy home!
Right now, I'm still in a lot of pain - my wound is healing well, but my stomach muscles are so tender! (After naturally labouring for 35 hours, then pains from c section rummaging too! = Double whammy!)
My muscle soreness means I'm finding it hard to walk, sit, sleep, do 'mummy' duties, but I'm trying my best! I'm just going through the stage of feeling like a lousy mummy at the minute for not being able to give 100% to my boy!
But OH has told me off for this! And has been amazing - looking after Ethan, housework, cooking, looking after me, getting up in the night.. Couldn't be better!
But on the whole, Ethan is settling down really well & is a star!
I'm hoping to make a speedy recovery, so I can feel more like a mummy!
I love both my boys!
xxHere are a few pictures of my little man:
xxx
What a terrible time you had, hope you recovered really soon 
hope your recovery is quick
