kellysomer
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Monday 3rd 12 noon i got stomach ache and called my mum to see if she could have DD for the afternoon so i could lay down or have a bath. She arrived and the tummy ache had got worse so she got me to phone the labour ward to check that constant stomach ache was normal. The lady on the phone thought i could have a kidney or water infection so they asked me to come in and be checked over. I called DH and he came home dispite a diversion due to huge roadworks. By the time he came home the pain was getting worse and i felt quite ill.
4:29pm I got set up on a trace at hospital and it showed that although i couldnt feel them i was insfact having contractions every 4-5 minutes and that they were actually very strong. This showed how bad my tummy ache was as i couldnt feel them beyond this. Everytime i had a contraction the babys heartrate dropped and at one point went down to 80bpm, at this point the room got busy and i started to panic. I knew that the addition of a paediatrician, doctor and MW cant be good! My blood pressure rose from the stress and this didnt help either. MW decided to break my waters which upset me as i knew then that i wasnt being sent home, the bags werent with us and it was all too much to take in. The breaking of my waters added more concern as they were so thick with meconium that 'you could paste walls and hang paper with that!' which is what the MW said.
Cue ER style rush to the labour ward for more monitoring!
5pm Doctor had decided that the baby was getting very distressed and decided to check his PH levels with a blood sample from his head. This was sheer agony and having to be so still while being in so much pain was awful. I needed to wee and couldnt get to the loo so wee'ed in a bed pan with 10 people in the room, i was mortified! It took then 20 minutes to do the sample and luckily the results showed that baby was ok for now. They decided that it would be ok to let me progress for a further 30 minutes and then carry out another sample to see how we were to proceed. I was laid with legs in stirrups and screaming my head off, at this point i really hurt the lovely MW's hand and she had to go off and get it checked over, hehe. 2nd lot of blood showed that the baby was more distressed so we were off to theatre for an emergency c-section.
6
0pm In theatre i completely went to pieces as i have a huge phobia of surgery of any kind, i couldnt cope with the section being discussed with me and went into shock. I was shaking uncontrollably and felt really sick. The lights were too bright and i felt so ill. They did an internal and i was 4cm dilated so i was definatly having a section as i was not ready to push, the shaking continued as people held down my arms and legs and tried to help me to stay still for the spinal block to be put in. I think it was at that point that i really thought i was going to die. The pain was still constant and i had no respite between contractions to prepare for the next one, i was incapable even of moving my leg for the surgeon , they had to lift it for me. Half an hour later they still hadnt managed to get the spinal in and i was getting more and more agitated and stressed. The aneasthetist was getting cross too. DH wasnt in the room and i was just so scared.
6:45pm I felt the urge to have a poo and the MW was asking if i needed to push instead and was i confused, i said i didnt know as i had no idea what the feeling was as i didnt get any urge to push with DD's birth. Suddenly it was overwelming and i started pushing, the MW panicked and was about 2cm from my face saying 'do not push, DO NOT push!' they were very scared that i would cause myself untold damage if i pushed before i was fully dilated, i couldnt help it though and had to push, I think it was at this point that they gave up all hope of a spinal block!! I just wasnt cooperating. One of the consultants had the idea finally to give me an internal and found me to be 10cm, no wonder i wanted to push! I pushed once and his head came out so easily no pain at all in comparison, the MW ran for the door to get Ross and he did a full sprint down to theatre as baby was half out.
6:53pm Morgan Finlay was born weighing 8lb 12 (exactly the same weight as my daughter) with a couple more pushes, DH burst into theatre just as he was born, and he so nearly missed it. I remember the vivid image of this very blue looking baby all covered in vernix and a cord tight around his neck. He was taken over to the resusitator, and dispite 4 people fussing over him they would not tell me what was happening and all i could do was cry. It turns out that his apgar score was only 6 at five minutes so no wonder he was wisked off. They resusitated him quickly and he was wisked off to SCBU. The only chance i got was to kiss his cheek quickly as he was taken away. DH was sent out of the room for me to be stitched and he didnt get to see or touch him at all.
We were taken back to the labour ward and told he would be ok but would be brought down in 1/2 hour as they wanted to clear his lungs of meconium. 2 hours later we had heard nothing, and were in a state. I was still in shock and couldnt sit up on the bed as i was shaking so badly. It was horrid. We finally got to see him 3 hours later in SCBU and i was able to feed him, he was allowed back on the ward with me the following day. Spending a night on a postnatal ward with no baby is awful, i felt a fraud with no baby beside me and cried most of the night. I cannot imagine how mothers who lose a baby would cope.
We stayed in for 3 days as he developed jaundice and hadnt pooed for 3 days. He has purple spots on his head where he was strangled and the blood and air supply was cut off and the pressure in his head means he has no whites in his eyes, they are all red with blood vessels bursting but this should go within a couple of weeks.
The constant pain was found to be caused by a grade 3 placental abruption (i had no idea what this was, but please google it and be aware of the symptoms, i wish i had known what to look for as the result can be stillbirth and i had all the symptoms!) this was why they were so concerned and everything happened so quickly.
I have only just been able to write this birth story as i found it all very upsetting but the hospital have been fab and we are going to a councelling session soon which will hopefully put our minds at rest and explain to us what happened and why as we have so many questions that we just dont have answers too, it plays on my mind how close we were to loosing him and i break down in tears. Hopefully this labour councelling will help.
We were readmitted today to the ward for observation as he was still passing meconium which he shouldnt have been but thankfully we are allowed home now until tomorrow. We will go back and get his poo checked again and then hopefully all will be well.
All in all not how i planned my lovely calm waterbirth, with meconium waters, placental abruption, cord round neck, resusitation and jaundice we certainly had the labour from hell. No wonder my little man was distressed and his heartrate was dropping.
The only saving grace was that my labour was only 2hrs 5 mins! compared to 26 hours for DD.
Heres the little man, so worth all the pain and worry ............
4:29pm I got set up on a trace at hospital and it showed that although i couldnt feel them i was insfact having contractions every 4-5 minutes and that they were actually very strong. This showed how bad my tummy ache was as i couldnt feel them beyond this. Everytime i had a contraction the babys heartrate dropped and at one point went down to 80bpm, at this point the room got busy and i started to panic. I knew that the addition of a paediatrician, doctor and MW cant be good! My blood pressure rose from the stress and this didnt help either. MW decided to break my waters which upset me as i knew then that i wasnt being sent home, the bags werent with us and it was all too much to take in. The breaking of my waters added more concern as they were so thick with meconium that 'you could paste walls and hang paper with that!' which is what the MW said.
Cue ER style rush to the labour ward for more monitoring!
5pm Doctor had decided that the baby was getting very distressed and decided to check his PH levels with a blood sample from his head. This was sheer agony and having to be so still while being in so much pain was awful. I needed to wee and couldnt get to the loo so wee'ed in a bed pan with 10 people in the room, i was mortified! It took then 20 minutes to do the sample and luckily the results showed that baby was ok for now. They decided that it would be ok to let me progress for a further 30 minutes and then carry out another sample to see how we were to proceed. I was laid with legs in stirrups and screaming my head off, at this point i really hurt the lovely MW's hand and she had to go off and get it checked over, hehe. 2nd lot of blood showed that the baby was more distressed so we were off to theatre for an emergency c-section.
6
0pm In theatre i completely went to pieces as i have a huge phobia of surgery of any kind, i couldnt cope with the section being discussed with me and went into shock. I was shaking uncontrollably and felt really sick. The lights were too bright and i felt so ill. They did an internal and i was 4cm dilated so i was definatly having a section as i was not ready to push, the shaking continued as people held down my arms and legs and tried to help me to stay still for the spinal block to be put in. I think it was at that point that i really thought i was going to die. The pain was still constant and i had no respite between contractions to prepare for the next one, i was incapable even of moving my leg for the surgeon , they had to lift it for me. Half an hour later they still hadnt managed to get the spinal in and i was getting more and more agitated and stressed. The aneasthetist was getting cross too. DH wasnt in the room and i was just so scared. 6:45pm I felt the urge to have a poo and the MW was asking if i needed to push instead and was i confused, i said i didnt know as i had no idea what the feeling was as i didnt get any urge to push with DD's birth. Suddenly it was overwelming and i started pushing, the MW panicked and was about 2cm from my face saying 'do not push, DO NOT push!' they were very scared that i would cause myself untold damage if i pushed before i was fully dilated, i couldnt help it though and had to push, I think it was at this point that they gave up all hope of a spinal block!! I just wasnt cooperating. One of the consultants had the idea finally to give me an internal and found me to be 10cm, no wonder i wanted to push! I pushed once and his head came out so easily no pain at all in comparison, the MW ran for the door to get Ross and he did a full sprint down to theatre as baby was half out.
6:53pm Morgan Finlay was born weighing 8lb 12 (exactly the same weight as my daughter) with a couple more pushes, DH burst into theatre just as he was born, and he so nearly missed it. I remember the vivid image of this very blue looking baby all covered in vernix and a cord tight around his neck. He was taken over to the resusitator, and dispite 4 people fussing over him they would not tell me what was happening and all i could do was cry. It turns out that his apgar score was only 6 at five minutes so no wonder he was wisked off. They resusitated him quickly and he was wisked off to SCBU. The only chance i got was to kiss his cheek quickly as he was taken away. DH was sent out of the room for me to be stitched and he didnt get to see or touch him at all.
We were taken back to the labour ward and told he would be ok but would be brought down in 1/2 hour as they wanted to clear his lungs of meconium. 2 hours later we had heard nothing, and were in a state. I was still in shock and couldnt sit up on the bed as i was shaking so badly. It was horrid. We finally got to see him 3 hours later in SCBU and i was able to feed him, he was allowed back on the ward with me the following day. Spending a night on a postnatal ward with no baby is awful, i felt a fraud with no baby beside me and cried most of the night. I cannot imagine how mothers who lose a baby would cope.
We stayed in for 3 days as he developed jaundice and hadnt pooed for 3 days. He has purple spots on his head where he was strangled and the blood and air supply was cut off and the pressure in his head means he has no whites in his eyes, they are all red with blood vessels bursting but this should go within a couple of weeks.
The constant pain was found to be caused by a grade 3 placental abruption (i had no idea what this was, but please google it and be aware of the symptoms, i wish i had known what to look for as the result can be stillbirth and i had all the symptoms!) this was why they were so concerned and everything happened so quickly.
I have only just been able to write this birth story as i found it all very upsetting but the hospital have been fab and we are going to a councelling session soon which will hopefully put our minds at rest and explain to us what happened and why as we have so many questions that we just dont have answers too, it plays on my mind how close we were to loosing him and i break down in tears. Hopefully this labour councelling will help.
We were readmitted today to the ward for observation as he was still passing meconium which he shouldnt have been but thankfully we are allowed home now until tomorrow. We will go back and get his poo checked again and then hopefully all will be well.
All in all not how i planned my lovely calm waterbirth, with meconium waters, placental abruption, cord round neck, resusitation and jaundice we certainly had the labour from hell. No wonder my little man was distressed and his heartrate was dropping.
The only saving grace was that my labour was only 2hrs 5 mins! compared to 26 hours for DD.
Heres the little man, so worth all the pain and worry ............
thank goodness you and your lo are ok... 
