timtam78
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Our little heartbreaker Max Ward made his dramatic entrance into the world at 8.12pm on Saturday 22nd March weighing 7lb 8oz.
So where to start.... I had a bit of an epic 4 day experience, went absolutely nothing like I had planned it too, but the most important thing is he's here safe and sound.
I had wanted a lovely calm water birth using natal hypnotherapy in a birth centre but it turned out quite differently. It's all a bit of a blur but will describe as best as I can...
19th March
On my due date 19th March I started having period pains which were coming in waves all day and I knew it was the latent phase labour started and just kept an eye on during the day to see if they'd regulate. That night I was kept awake all night by them coming every ten minutes and stronger than earlier in the day. I also began to lose some mucous plug and put my tens machine on during the night.
20th March
This morning I called the birth centre and they said it sounded like early labour and to call to go in once they got around 4 mins apart. But all day they just kept getting closer together, then further apart, but mainly about 7-9 mis apart but still erratic really and quite frustrating! Later that night contractions were still roughly every 10 mins so i took off tens machine as baby was a bit chilled out and after I did I felt more kicks so thought it could be slowing down labour.
Contractions also seemed to speed up to every 5-6mins lasting 45-50 seconds.
21st March
Throughout the night contractions stayed at around 7-8 mins apart. Definitely felt more pressure during contractions though. I had a bit of a leak of what I thought could be waters too, was a tiny bit browny shade so i called birth centre and they asked me to go in to check baby hadn't pooed. They said is hadn't after examining me, but my cervix was still fully closed after all this so far. I was advised to go home, totally rest, eat plenty for energy and get of the Internet/texts etc to help my labour progress. So went home, locked myself in spare room with birth ball, natal hypnotherapy CDs, food and a comfy bed and just tried to chill out and catch a zzz between contractions.
22nd March
At 5am, sat on my birth ball I felt a trickle and just knew once i stood up, it was gonna gush out and sure enough it did. So called the birth centre up... They transferred me to the delivery unit as they answered which I did not like. Apparently the birth centre was full!! So I had to go into the delivery unit. I was gutted to say the least! Little did I know at the time it would never have worked out in there for me anyway... So reluctantly I headed off with hubbie in the car, I was in a bit of a grump if I'm honest as it felt it wasn't doing my PMA for a hypnobirth any good.
So arrived at delivery unit about 7am, got allocated a medical style room which I did not like, felt so sterile and uncomfy in there. They examined my pad from the waters and actually did think that there was some thin Meconium in there. So they hooked me up to the CTG trace to monitor baby.
Turned out at every contraction Max's heartbeat was dipping slightly. It wasn't right but they weren't too desperately concerned at that point. They just wanted to keep an eye on it so kept me connected and said I wouldn't be allowed to go into a birth pool because of the monitoring
Midwives were lovely and monitored me and contractions for a chunk of the day, they were slowly improving, but not radically. I was managing ok with hypno CDs and tens machine on, but the did start to increase a lot in pressure and I did feel like I was losing control a bit so I tried some gas and air. After a couple of examinations I was around 6cm dilated but still wasn't happening quick enough so they were talking about the dreaded drip and the heartbeat dips were getting a little worse They had to do a test where they get blood from baby's head to test to see if they could cope with the induction. At this point there was a horrid lady doctor who was so rough with me, just shoved the stuff up my bits during a contraction really hard and made me jolt. Hubbie was about to request someone else as she was just awful. Everyone else was so nice. I reckon she was at the end of her shift. She was talking to the midwife as ifI wasn't there saying what they would do.... But the lovely midwife was bossy with her and explained that it was to be discussed with me. She was lovely.
I was a little bit out of it at this point as I was going for it with the gas and air as the sensations were very hard now and I really felt the gas and air helped a lot, more so with what it did to my head than anything! If you start it early in a contraction that is!
I lost a bit of track of time at this point but this is when it went a bit mental... Suddenly everyone was saying that baby had had enough and was distressed and I remember them telling me there would soon be a lot of people coming in as they were going to press the emergency buzzer. I never got as far as the induction drip as they wanted to whisk me off for an emergency c section.
So found myself being wheeled off, Don disappeared and reappeared again in scrubs as i entered theatre with about 20 people ( it felt like) coming at me for all directions asking me questions, surgeon one side, anaesthetist the other, lovely midwives etc. They were all so nice. At this point I was happy I'd chose the Cambridge Rosie as its a world class hospital.
It got hard as they were giving me the spinal as i had to stick my back out during contractions and keep still, I remember this part being particularly traumatic but knew they needed to be quick to get baby out. It felt so good as all the feeling went from the bottom of my body though. They said I'd probably feel the tugging but I didn't really at all.
Don was watching them dig around in my insides as they pulled baby out and Don told me it was a boy! But Max was quickly whisked off to get a response off him. I was looking at Dons concerned face for what felt like an eternity, but when we heard that first whimper it was the best sound and moment ever!! We both had a blub at that point and then Don went over to see him.
While he was over there the coordinating midwife brought me over the culprit of the whole experience.... A piece of the cord with a KNOT tied in it! No idea when in the pregnancy it had happened but it only started causing problems during contractions. It was this that wasn't letting my labour progress and had they let me go on who knows what could have happened. I think Max is a really lucky boy!!
They bought Max straight over to me for skin to skin contact which is one thing I did get from my plan. He stayed with me from this point and through recovery where i gave him his first breast feed.
I've prob left lotsa little details out, but it's long enough as is, so will leave it there. It was traumatic but feels like a distant memory now he's here. Although I didn't get the birth I wanted I managed to use the CDs and I think that helped me get through a big chunk of it.
And I'm just sooooooo happy that Max is here safe and sound, we're both besotted with him, he's gorgeous! Can't stop staring at him and it doesn't feel like I haven't slept in nearly a week!
Here's the first pic of him....
So where to start.... I had a bit of an epic 4 day experience, went absolutely nothing like I had planned it too, but the most important thing is he's here safe and sound.
I had wanted a lovely calm water birth using natal hypnotherapy in a birth centre but it turned out quite differently. It's all a bit of a blur but will describe as best as I can...
19th March
On my due date 19th March I started having period pains which were coming in waves all day and I knew it was the latent phase labour started and just kept an eye on during the day to see if they'd regulate. That night I was kept awake all night by them coming every ten minutes and stronger than earlier in the day. I also began to lose some mucous plug and put my tens machine on during the night.
20th March
This morning I called the birth centre and they said it sounded like early labour and to call to go in once they got around 4 mins apart. But all day they just kept getting closer together, then further apart, but mainly about 7-9 mis apart but still erratic really and quite frustrating! Later that night contractions were still roughly every 10 mins so i took off tens machine as baby was a bit chilled out and after I did I felt more kicks so thought it could be slowing down labour.
Contractions also seemed to speed up to every 5-6mins lasting 45-50 seconds.
21st March
Throughout the night contractions stayed at around 7-8 mins apart. Definitely felt more pressure during contractions though. I had a bit of a leak of what I thought could be waters too, was a tiny bit browny shade so i called birth centre and they asked me to go in to check baby hadn't pooed. They said is hadn't after examining me, but my cervix was still fully closed after all this so far. I was advised to go home, totally rest, eat plenty for energy and get of the Internet/texts etc to help my labour progress. So went home, locked myself in spare room with birth ball, natal hypnotherapy CDs, food and a comfy bed and just tried to chill out and catch a zzz between contractions.
22nd March
At 5am, sat on my birth ball I felt a trickle and just knew once i stood up, it was gonna gush out and sure enough it did. So called the birth centre up... They transferred me to the delivery unit as they answered which I did not like. Apparently the birth centre was full!! So I had to go into the delivery unit. I was gutted to say the least! Little did I know at the time it would never have worked out in there for me anyway... So reluctantly I headed off with hubbie in the car, I was in a bit of a grump if I'm honest as it felt it wasn't doing my PMA for a hypnobirth any good.
So arrived at delivery unit about 7am, got allocated a medical style room which I did not like, felt so sterile and uncomfy in there. They examined my pad from the waters and actually did think that there was some thin Meconium in there. So they hooked me up to the CTG trace to monitor baby.
Turned out at every contraction Max's heartbeat was dipping slightly. It wasn't right but they weren't too desperately concerned at that point. They just wanted to keep an eye on it so kept me connected and said I wouldn't be allowed to go into a birth pool because of the monitoring
Midwives were lovely and monitored me and contractions for a chunk of the day, they were slowly improving, but not radically. I was managing ok with hypno CDs and tens machine on, but the did start to increase a lot in pressure and I did feel like I was losing control a bit so I tried some gas and air. After a couple of examinations I was around 6cm dilated but still wasn't happening quick enough so they were talking about the dreaded drip and the heartbeat dips were getting a little worse
They had to do a test where they get blood from baby's head to test to see if they could cope with the induction. At this point there was a horrid lady doctor who was so rough with me, just shoved the stuff up my bits during a contraction really hard and made me jolt. Hubbie was about to request someone else as she was just awful. Everyone else was so nice. I reckon she was at the end of her shift. She was talking to the midwife as ifI wasn't there saying what they would do.... But the lovely midwife was bossy with her and explained that it was to be discussed with me. She was lovely. I was a little bit out of it at this point as I was going for it with the gas and air as the sensations were very hard now and I really felt the gas and air helped a lot, more so with what it did to my head than anything! If you start it early in a contraction that is!
I lost a bit of track of time at this point but this is when it went a bit mental... Suddenly everyone was saying that baby had had enough and was distressed and I remember them telling me there would soon be a lot of people coming in as they were going to press the emergency buzzer. I never got as far as the induction drip as they wanted to whisk me off for an emergency c section.
So found myself being wheeled off, Don disappeared and reappeared again in scrubs as i entered theatre with about 20 people ( it felt like) coming at me for all directions asking me questions, surgeon one side, anaesthetist the other, lovely midwives etc. They were all so nice. At this point I was happy I'd chose the Cambridge Rosie as its a world class hospital.
It got hard as they were giving me the spinal as i had to stick my back out during contractions and keep still, I remember this part being particularly traumatic but knew they needed to be quick to get baby out. It felt so good as all the feeling went from the bottom of my body though. They said I'd probably feel the tugging but I didn't really at all.
Don was watching them dig around in my insides as they pulled baby out and Don told me it was a boy! But Max was quickly whisked off to get a response off him. I was looking at Dons concerned face for what felt like an eternity, but when we heard that first whimper it was the best sound and moment ever!! We both had a blub at that point and then Don went over to see him.
While he was over there the coordinating midwife brought me over the culprit of the whole experience.... A piece of the cord with a KNOT tied in it! No idea when in the pregnancy it had happened but it only started causing problems during contractions. It was this that wasn't letting my labour progress and had they let me go on who knows what could have happened. I think Max is a really lucky boy!!
They bought Max straight over to me for skin to skin contact which is one thing I did get from my plan. He stayed with me from this point and through recovery where i gave him his first breast feed.
I've prob left lotsa little details out, but it's long enough as is, so will leave it there. It was traumatic but feels like a distant memory now he's here. Although I didn't get the birth I wanted I managed to use the CDs and I think that helped me get through a big chunk of it.
And I'm just sooooooo happy that Max is here safe and sound, we're both besotted with him, he's gorgeous! Can't stop staring at him and it doesn't feel like I haven't slept in nearly a week!
Here's the first pic of him....
xx
sounds just like my birth problems!, and my max was the same weight too 
