AmyQ
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I thought this baby would never come! Sorry it's an epic!
I was due on 14th April although I had had no signs of anything happening. I had 3 sweeps but my cervix was still quite high and thick. I was then booked in for an induction on Friday 26th April. I was not happy about this as I wanted a home birth and induction was the worst possible outcome for me.
When I went in for the induction I had the most amazing mw ever. She talked me through the process and said I did not have to go ahead with it if all is well with the baby. This SHOCKED me. I had expected to be induced there and then. She offered to run the fetal monitor and do the checks and allow me to make an informed decision. However, on the fetal monitor there was one decel in an hour or so period, so she asked a doctor to take a look. Unsurprisingly the doctor told me to get induced. I said I wanted to know what my cervix was doing first as if there was nothing happening then the induction would be drawn out and may not work.
They decided to take me to the labour ward to go on another fetal monitor to check for longer. Again I got another fantastic mw who said it was my choice. After about an hour the hb was completely normal and mild contractions were being recorded so I asked for an internal. She said that her supervisor would prefer I just got induced because if I had the check and then wanted the induction it would involve two exams. I stood my ground and the mw fought my corner and examined me. Good job too as my cervix was fully effaced and 2cm dilated. She said that my waters were bulging. I couldnt have been happier! She said I would likely go into natural labour within 24 hours and after checking with my homebirth team I was allowed home at about 4pm.
7pm tried to eat some dinner but was really struggling with contractions, I think they were coming every 6 mins or so but lasting over a minute. I told DH I was really struggling and got him to phone the mw at which point I started throwing up.
8pm mw arrived and I started using my hypnobirthing techniques to control the pain. DH was fantastic at helping me
9.30pm mw examined me and I was 5cm! Couldnt believe it!
Times get sketchy here lol!
Sometime around 10-11pm I asked for G&A. I was beginning to struggle as I had had no sleep for the night before and had barely eaten during the day due to the anxiety of the induction. They started trying to force me to eat and drink but I was finding it hard. While on G&A I was still using hypnobirthing.
G&A was fantastic. I told everyone I felt I was in a psychedelic cartoon and definitely helped me manage the pain.
Then things start getting fuzzy. Mw changed over sometime around 8am and during this time I started to feel like things werent happening. My body was exhausted and hungry. I was given some ovaltine and toast, but threw that up again. The new mw was bossy and made me walk up the stairs, move around etc. She was brilliant but at the time I was so exhausted I began to panic.
The babys hb then started to slow and they tried to get me to push. DH and my mum were starting to panic now as well and I kept telling them I couldnt do it because I had no strength or energy.
They tried to make me go for a wee but I couldnt, so they put a catheter in and emptied over a litre from my bladder. They also tried to break my waters but this didnt help.
An ambulance was called around 10.30am and we all thought that this was serious. I was told to really push but was getting nowhere. The ambulance arrived at nearly 12pm and I was rushed into hospital. I arrived around 12.35 and was given an episiotomy and told to push. I was still only on G&A but at 13.03 I managed to push my beautiful son out into the world.
He came out covered in meconium but was passed onto my chest for a few moments before they took him over to get checked out. Then we heard his beautiful scream and the last 17 or so hours disappeared into a haze.
We discovered he is missing three digits on his right hand, but we couldnt have cared less. I was stitched up and he was passed back to me.
He will need to see a hand specialist to see if they can do anything, but he has a thumb and little finger we have named him little crab man as it looks like a pincer!
I am now at home but have to have a catheter in for a week as my bladder has been overstretched.
Despite all the panic and trauma I felt at the time, my mw told me the labour was textbook and the hospital dash was only due to the exhaustion of labouring at night (with no sleep the previous night) and not eating anything during the day, otherwise I should have been able to push my baby out on my own.
I do not regret refusing the induction or having the homebirth, and when I look back on the labour I am incredibly proud of what I did. At no point during the labour was there any increased risk by being at home, and the homebirth mw were fantastic and prompt when action needed taking. I would recommend homebirth to anyone low risk and would certainly do it all again (but not for a good few years lol!)
Here is my little man
I was due on 14th April although I had had no signs of anything happening. I had 3 sweeps but my cervix was still quite high and thick. I was then booked in for an induction on Friday 26th April. I was not happy about this as I wanted a home birth and induction was the worst possible outcome for me.
When I went in for the induction I had the most amazing mw ever. She talked me through the process and said I did not have to go ahead with it if all is well with the baby. This SHOCKED me. I had expected to be induced there and then. She offered to run the fetal monitor and do the checks and allow me to make an informed decision. However, on the fetal monitor there was one decel in an hour or so period, so she asked a doctor to take a look. Unsurprisingly the doctor told me to get induced. I said I wanted to know what my cervix was doing first as if there was nothing happening then the induction would be drawn out and may not work.
They decided to take me to the labour ward to go on another fetal monitor to check for longer. Again I got another fantastic mw who said it was my choice. After about an hour the hb was completely normal and mild contractions were being recorded so I asked for an internal. She said that her supervisor would prefer I just got induced because if I had the check and then wanted the induction it would involve two exams. I stood my ground and the mw fought my corner and examined me. Good job too as my cervix was fully effaced and 2cm dilated. She said that my waters were bulging. I couldnt have been happier! She said I would likely go into natural labour within 24 hours and after checking with my homebirth team I was allowed home at about 4pm.
7pm tried to eat some dinner but was really struggling with contractions, I think they were coming every 6 mins or so but lasting over a minute. I told DH I was really struggling and got him to phone the mw at which point I started throwing up.
8pm mw arrived and I started using my hypnobirthing techniques to control the pain. DH was fantastic at helping me
9.30pm mw examined me and I was 5cm! Couldnt believe it!
Times get sketchy here lol!
Sometime around 10-11pm I asked for G&A. I was beginning to struggle as I had had no sleep for the night before and had barely eaten during the day due to the anxiety of the induction. They started trying to force me to eat and drink but I was finding it hard. While on G&A I was still using hypnobirthing.
G&A was fantastic. I told everyone I felt I was in a psychedelic cartoon and definitely helped me manage the pain.
Then things start getting fuzzy. Mw changed over sometime around 8am and during this time I started to feel like things werent happening. My body was exhausted and hungry. I was given some ovaltine and toast, but threw that up again. The new mw was bossy and made me walk up the stairs, move around etc. She was brilliant but at the time I was so exhausted I began to panic.
The babys hb then started to slow and they tried to get me to push. DH and my mum were starting to panic now as well and I kept telling them I couldnt do it because I had no strength or energy.
They tried to make me go for a wee but I couldnt, so they put a catheter in and emptied over a litre from my bladder. They also tried to break my waters but this didnt help.
An ambulance was called around 10.30am and we all thought that this was serious. I was told to really push but was getting nowhere. The ambulance arrived at nearly 12pm and I was rushed into hospital. I arrived around 12.35 and was given an episiotomy and told to push. I was still only on G&A but at 13.03 I managed to push my beautiful son out into the world.
He came out covered in meconium but was passed onto my chest for a few moments before they took him over to get checked out. Then we heard his beautiful scream and the last 17 or so hours disappeared into a haze.
We discovered he is missing three digits on his right hand, but we couldnt have cared less. I was stitched up and he was passed back to me.
He will need to see a hand specialist to see if they can do anything, but he has a thumb and little finger we have named him little crab man as it looks like a pincer!
I am now at home but have to have a catheter in for a week as my bladder has been overstretched.
Despite all the panic and trauma I felt at the time, my mw told me the labour was textbook and the hospital dash was only due to the exhaustion of labouring at night (with no sleep the previous night) and not eating anything during the day, otherwise I should have been able to push my baby out on my own.
I do not regret refusing the induction or having the homebirth, and when I look back on the labour I am incredibly proud of what I did. At no point during the labour was there any increased risk by being at home, and the homebirth mw were fantastic and prompt when action needed taking. I would recommend homebirth to anyone low risk and would certainly do it all again (but not for a good few years lol!)
Here is my little man
xx
well done xx
