Seems to have taken me ages to get round to this, but here's our story, its a bit long, got carried away...
I woke up on Sunday 16th March with what felt like bad period pains after feeling uncomfy all night, and by 9 am realised that the pains werent constant but getting worse in waves and it finally occurred to me they might be contractions!!! They were coming every 10 mins at this point by by 11am I decided to ring the labour ward as they had increased to every 5 mins and were definately hurting more.
Since my waters hadnt yet gone I was told to stay at home and take paracetamol, have a bath etc and see how things were in a couple of hours. So I ate breakfast and spent a while in the shower and OH massaged my back in between getting my stuff together and leaving everything tidy for my mum who was driving up from Kent.
By 1pm I was getting very uncomfortable and spending every contraction on my knees with a hot water bottle hugged to my tummy so we rang the hospital again and was told to go in.
I was sooo relieved when I was examined to find I was 4 cm dilated and admitted to the midwife led delivery unit which was all homely with low beds and a ball and nice lighting etc. I spent the next couple of hours bouncing on the ball and sucking on the gas and air (which I dont think really had much effect on me at all other than to give me something to concentrate on during contractions) and I was given more paracetamol. Unfortunatley when my waters broke they had meconium in so I had to be moved to the usual delivery rooms so I could be attached to a monitor, so after that I was stuck on the bed which I was a bit disappointed about...
By about 6.30pm I was starting to struggle with the pain so I was examined and told I was very nearly ready to start pushing so we decided I would carry on as I was without any more pain relief....I came to regret that a bit when 2 and a half hours later I was STILL pushing!!
Thats when it all went a bit wrong as I was examined rather roughly by a doctor who decided that the baby was in a good position but I was too tired to do any more alone and they would need to use forceps or ventouse, and since I could barely cope with being examined they would give me an epidural. So all hell broke loose then as they prepared me for theatre in case I needed an emergency c section, and I was so scared and still having to push while they sorted me out and made me sign forms!!
To be honest it was such a relief to have that epidural as I was shaking so bad with the pain by this point that I dont think I could have done any more, although I felt quite miffed hat I had managed all day with no drugs only to have the epi anyway!!
We finally got little Eva out at 10.15pm with the help of forceps and some weird sensationless pushing from me, and her crying voice was the best sound ever! I am trying to remember that now when we hear it at 3am!
Felt like I had been hit by a truck for most of the first week despite popping arnica pills religiously, but she is sooooo worth it all, I have been blown away by how much I love her already and the memory of the actual pain if not the trauma has faded already too!
I woke up on Sunday 16th March with what felt like bad period pains after feeling uncomfy all night, and by 9 am realised that the pains werent constant but getting worse in waves and it finally occurred to me they might be contractions!!! They were coming every 10 mins at this point by by 11am I decided to ring the labour ward as they had increased to every 5 mins and were definately hurting more.
Since my waters hadnt yet gone I was told to stay at home and take paracetamol, have a bath etc and see how things were in a couple of hours. So I ate breakfast and spent a while in the shower and OH massaged my back in between getting my stuff together and leaving everything tidy for my mum who was driving up from Kent.
By 1pm I was getting very uncomfortable and spending every contraction on my knees with a hot water bottle hugged to my tummy so we rang the hospital again and was told to go in.
I was sooo relieved when I was examined to find I was 4 cm dilated and admitted to the midwife led delivery unit which was all homely with low beds and a ball and nice lighting etc. I spent the next couple of hours bouncing on the ball and sucking on the gas and air (which I dont think really had much effect on me at all other than to give me something to concentrate on during contractions) and I was given more paracetamol. Unfortunatley when my waters broke they had meconium in so I had to be moved to the usual delivery rooms so I could be attached to a monitor, so after that I was stuck on the bed which I was a bit disappointed about...
By about 6.30pm I was starting to struggle with the pain so I was examined and told I was very nearly ready to start pushing so we decided I would carry on as I was without any more pain relief....I came to regret that a bit when 2 and a half hours later I was STILL pushing!!
Thats when it all went a bit wrong as I was examined rather roughly by a doctor who decided that the baby was in a good position but I was too tired to do any more alone and they would need to use forceps or ventouse, and since I could barely cope with being examined they would give me an epidural. So all hell broke loose then as they prepared me for theatre in case I needed an emergency c section, and I was so scared and still having to push while they sorted me out and made me sign forms!!
To be honest it was such a relief to have that epidural as I was shaking so bad with the pain by this point that I dont think I could have done any more, although I felt quite miffed hat I had managed all day with no drugs only to have the epi anyway!!
We finally got little Eva out at 10.15pm with the help of forceps and some weird sensationless pushing from me, and her crying voice was the best sound ever! I am trying to remember that now when we hear it at 3am!
Felt like I had been hit by a truck for most of the first week despite popping arnica pills religiously, but she is sooooo worth it all, I have been blown away by how much I love her already and the memory of the actual pain if not the trauma has faded already too!
