Stunned
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Well..here I am...9 months after making my BFP annoucement! Feels weird typing this lol!
On Monday 20th Dec, I had a sweep at the midwifes. Nothing seemed to happen so I went off to see a friend and ended up having a spicy dinner at hers.
Went home at 8.30 that night and immediately felt ill - had diarrhoea and was sick. I wasnt sure if I had caught a bug off the kids who had been ill over the weekend or if it was the start of things.
So I spent the next few hrs throwing up and getting the runs (TMI sorry!) through to the wee hours of the 21st December. Told Simon to grab as much sleep as he could just in case but then kept waking him up every time I was sick - poor man!
At 4am, I realised that the braxton hicks I had been getting was actually hurting - period like pains so I got out the contraction timer on me iphone and timed them - they were already averaging 40 secs every 3 and half mins!
At 5am, the contractions were pretty regular - every 3 to 4 mins and so I decided to call the hospital to ask them to send the midwife as I was booked for home birth. During the phone call, it turned out that I hadnt felt baby move for a while and what with being sick, they told me to go in for a check up and if all was fine, I would get back home for birth.
We arrived at the hospital at 6am and I was hooked up to the monitor. It showed that baby's heartbeat kept dipping down and the staff wasnt happy about that and wanted to monitor me for longer till the heartbeat was more stable and I was feeling her move which I wasnt at that point.
To cut a fairly long story short, homebirth was out of the question - I made that decision myself to stay in - seeing her heartbeat dipping on the monitor put the heebie jeebies in me and I wanted to do all I could to keep my baby safe.
I laboured naturally until about 1pm when my waters broke properly (a little had leaked out at 10.20am), then the contractions really started to hurt bad. Got meptid - fantastic stuff! but didnt last long. I was told that I was only about 3 cms dilated at that point so couldnt have gas and air!
Things start to get hazy here.
I do remember that at about 2pm I was given gas and air, even though I wasnt in "established labour" despite the fact that I was contracting every 2 to 3 mins and hardly had a break in between and was so weak from being sick all night.
At 3pm, I remember arching my back so much with every contraction thinking "If I break my back now, at least it wont hurt anymore"
The pain was all in my back. It was that horrific. I havent even dared to think about Simon and my mum who were there and how it affected them seeing me in that much pain. It upsets me so.
I asked for an epidural. They made me wait 3 hours for it cos the doc was in theatre. I hardly remember those 3 hours and have no wish to remember. The gas and air did nothing at all especially since I was having such strong contractions with maybe a minute in between.
6pm - got my epidural. Just blessed relief! Got the rest I badly needed. Even managed to sleep for a couple of hours. Mum stayed with me throughout and insisted that Simon go to sleep too. She told me that she was looking on the monitor I was strapped to and saw that at one point I had 6 strong contractions in one go with only seconds in between. Thank god for the epidural!
Midnight - reached that magic figure - 10 cms dilated!
Midwife told me that they would leave me for an hour to rest and let the contractions do the work before I start pushing.
1am on the 22nd - started pushing.
3.30am - still pushing and exhausted beyond belief. Baby not coming down the canal at all, kept going back up. Decision made to deliver by ventouse or forceps or if that fails, cesearean.
Taken to theatre - disappointed that mum couldnt come and Simon wasnt allowed to bring the camera, see baby being born, or cut the cord or anything like that.
The epidural was taken out cos the docs werent happy with it not working properly as I still needed gas and air when I was pushing. Given a spinal anaesthetic which completely numbed my lower half.
2 goes on the ventouse failed with a pop!
3.57am - Eva Grace finally born at the 2nd go on the forceps! Had to be cut but I dont mind in the slightest as long she was out in one piece and in good health.
Me and all 8lbs 7oz of Eva are home now after a night in hospital. Even though I didnt have the home birth I wanted, I dont care at all because in the end, I got the healthy, beautiful and peaceful baby I wanted and that is far more important to me.
Thank you for reading - its been good for me to piece together what happened and type it all down.
On Monday 20th Dec, I had a sweep at the midwifes. Nothing seemed to happen so I went off to see a friend and ended up having a spicy dinner at hers.
Went home at 8.30 that night and immediately felt ill - had diarrhoea and was sick. I wasnt sure if I had caught a bug off the kids who had been ill over the weekend or if it was the start of things.
So I spent the next few hrs throwing up and getting the runs (TMI sorry!) through to the wee hours of the 21st December. Told Simon to grab as much sleep as he could just in case but then kept waking him up every time I was sick - poor man!
At 4am, I realised that the braxton hicks I had been getting was actually hurting - period like pains so I got out the contraction timer on me iphone and timed them - they were already averaging 40 secs every 3 and half mins!
At 5am, the contractions were pretty regular - every 3 to 4 mins and so I decided to call the hospital to ask them to send the midwife as I was booked for home birth. During the phone call, it turned out that I hadnt felt baby move for a while and what with being sick, they told me to go in for a check up and if all was fine, I would get back home for birth.
We arrived at the hospital at 6am and I was hooked up to the monitor. It showed that baby's heartbeat kept dipping down and the staff wasnt happy about that and wanted to monitor me for longer till the heartbeat was more stable and I was feeling her move which I wasnt at that point.
To cut a fairly long story short, homebirth was out of the question - I made that decision myself to stay in - seeing her heartbeat dipping on the monitor put the heebie jeebies in me and I wanted to do all I could to keep my baby safe.
I laboured naturally until about 1pm when my waters broke properly (a little had leaked out at 10.20am), then the contractions really started to hurt bad. Got meptid - fantastic stuff! but didnt last long. I was told that I was only about 3 cms dilated at that point so couldnt have gas and air!
Things start to get hazy here.
I do remember that at about 2pm I was given gas and air, even though I wasnt in "established labour" despite the fact that I was contracting every 2 to 3 mins and hardly had a break in between and was so weak from being sick all night.
At 3pm, I remember arching my back so much with every contraction thinking "If I break my back now, at least it wont hurt anymore"
The pain was all in my back. It was that horrific. I havent even dared to think about Simon and my mum who were there and how it affected them seeing me in that much pain. It upsets me so.I asked for an epidural. They made me wait 3 hours for it cos the doc was in theatre. I hardly remember those 3 hours and have no wish to remember. The gas and air did nothing at all especially since I was having such strong contractions with maybe a minute in between.
6pm - got my epidural. Just blessed relief! Got the rest I badly needed. Even managed to sleep for a couple of hours. Mum stayed with me throughout and insisted that Simon go to sleep too. She told me that she was looking on the monitor I was strapped to and saw that at one point I had 6 strong contractions in one go with only seconds in between. Thank god for the epidural!
Midnight - reached that magic figure - 10 cms dilated!
Midwife told me that they would leave me for an hour to rest and let the contractions do the work before I start pushing.
1am on the 22nd - started pushing.
3.30am - still pushing and exhausted beyond belief. Baby not coming down the canal at all, kept going back up. Decision made to deliver by ventouse or forceps or if that fails, cesearean.
Taken to theatre - disappointed that mum couldnt come and Simon wasnt allowed to bring the camera, see baby being born, or cut the cord or anything like that.
The epidural was taken out cos the docs werent happy with it not working properly as I still needed gas and air when I was pushing. Given a spinal anaesthetic which completely numbed my lower half.
2 goes on the ventouse failed with a pop!
3.57am - Eva Grace finally born at the 2nd go on the forceps! Had to be cut but I dont mind in the slightest as long she was out in one piece and in good health.
Me and all 8lbs 7oz of Eva are home now after a night in hospital. Even though I didnt have the home birth I wanted, I dont care at all because in the end, I got the healthy, beautiful and peaceful baby I wanted and that is far more important to me.
Thank you for reading - its been good for me to piece together what happened and type it all down.
