Phoebe Maya was born at 18:14 on 12/04/2008.
She is lovely, and well worth all the pain, and illness through out my pregnancy. Though I'm not in a hurry to do it all again just yet!
Will write up my birth story over the next few days, when she is being less of a pickle
Here are a few pics in meantime
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Birth story added
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Sorry its mega long, and I haven't read it through lol. Hope it makes sense, and an interesting read.
------------------------------------------------
Well as some of you already know, I woke up just before 6am having dreamt that I was in incredible pain (think I must have had the first contraction asleep), I woke up feeling like my stomach was splitting apart. It was enough to make me leap out of bed swearing. It was pretty painful, so I came into the lounge to wait to see if I had another, leaving Toby to sleep just in case.
Sure enough, 36 mins later I had another one - painful enough to have to breathe through, lasting about 40 odd seconds. This was shortly followed by another 2 at 9 mins apart. I left it a little while before I started timing them. They seemed to get closer together, but were quite irregular. I also had a bit of a clearout. Moving seemed to bring on one instantly.
I had a bath, but had to get out as the last one I had in there was really painful. I then had a shower which seemed to help more. According to my forum post this was about 8.30am. I have no idea of times throughout the whole day to be honest lol.
Contractions then seemed to regulate themselves a bit, coming every 5 mins for an hour. Then, they just stopped!! I couldn't believe it. I'd been having contractions for hours, was beginning to worry it was a false alarm.
We decided to go for a walk round the block to see if it started up again. We walked for 40 mins, and in that time I only had one contraction!
When we got back, Toby made me a sandwich, which I managed to eat. Good job, as the contractions started back up again. But they were irregular again, coming every 5-10 mins lasting from 40 secs to 1m40 ish. This was about 1pm. I also phoned the hospital at this time as I felt the pain was becoming a bit to much to bear. They said to stay at home until they were 5 mins apart for a while. They asked if I had had a show, and at this point I hadn't.
So, this is where it starts to get a little blurry in terms of time. I started to have a bloody show at just after 2pm. I was thinking about phoning the hospital again at this point but decided to wait a bit longer. I had also put my tens machine on - couldn't have gone on without it! At about 3pm, I went to the toilet, which brought on a contraction after 2m30 rather than 5 mins, I thought it was just because I had moved, but oh no, they suddenly jumped to 2 m 30 apart from this point onwards. I had also started to bleed more, and got 2 contractions on top of each other, so phoned hospital.
They said to come in, especially as there was a chance of me bleeding (as I have a genetic disorder called Hypermobility Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome). By the time we got everything together, it must have been 3.30pm when we left for the hopsital. Luckily we are only a 5 min drive away, as the contractions started becoming unbearable.
When we got there, they showed us to a room, and was told a midwife would be along to see me soon. I must have waited at least 30 mins, by which point I was in unbearable pain, with only my tens machine to get me through. I had cranked this up to about half of its full power.
When the mw arrived, she wanted to get all the info out of me about what had happened so far that day. Took me a long time to tell her as I was having 2 contractions on top of each other most of the time. At this point I was unsure how much longer I could go on for like this. She showed me how to use the gas and air. Great stuff, but unfortunately didn't help with the pain at all. Though mw reckoned I coped better with it - I'm not so sure, I think she was telling porkies lol.
She said she needed to examine me, but left the room for some reason. She was gone for what seemed like forever, and after about 20 mins I got the urge to push, I couldn't stop it. I was struggling to take in enough gas and air, and trying to yell at Toby to push the buzzer to get the midwife back at the same time. Another midwife came in, and watched me for a minute and said "Well nothing is going to happen imminently, your mw will be back to examine you soon." At this point I was becoming a bit distressed as I was worried that the pushing would make her head swell up if I wasn't dilated enough.
After another 10-15 mins my mw came back and said I had her all to myself now. I had to turn from all fours over on to my back to be examined, but the contractions were coming so frequently this took ages!
So she finally examined me, gasped, and said to Toby, "Oh my goodness you have a superwoman here." She then said to me, do you want the good news or the bad. I said both! So she said, "well you can't have any more pain relief, but the good news is, you are a sneaky labourer and there is nothing holding this baby back apart from your waters." At this point I started crying with the emotion of being told I was almost there.
So the pushing commenced - several midwives popped their head round the door say they couldn't believe how far on I was. LOL I felt like yelling at them, I had tried to tell them!
Unfortunately she got a bit stuck, so I was pushing for an hour, most of which on all fours. About half way through my waters broke, but not much came out. I was so tired at this point, and she wasn't moving down further, so the midwife made me go onto my back. I also ended up in stirrups to give her a bit more room to come out. She mentioned a dreaded episiotomy, but luckily I pushed her out before that became necessary. As they were worried about me bleeding, they decided to put a cannula in just in case - not a great time to do it though, about 10 mins before she was born, whilst I was pushing with all my might! Took 2 of them to do it, and blood spurted everywhere.
I gave one big push when she told me to, her head crowned - and to be honest, I don't really remember this hurting that much compared to my contractions and pushing! A more pushes and she came flying out all at once with all the waters behind her.
I managed to get away with a small 2nd degree tear on my labia, as she came out with her hand by her head, which was why she was stuck. She also had the cord round her neck.
The midwife was very flustered after all this, she hadn't had a chance to write anything in my notes because of how quickly it happened after I got to the hospital. They said I had better go in a lot earlier next time!
Have had a few nightmarish nights as she won't sleep unless we are holding her - she thrashes her arms around every few mins and it wakes her up unless you are holding her. But, fingers crossed, she is sleeping a bit in her crib today, so there may be some hope for tonight.
I still can't believe I managed on just gas and air, I wonder if I would have found it a different experience if I had had a chance to have some pethedine to relax me. My tens machine was a Godsend, at the end, it was maxed out, and on boost lol. The batteries ran out at some point whilst I was pushing, but I didn't notice until after she was out.
I am def not considering another just yet, but we do want a brother or sister for her in the future. It certainly is amazing how you forget the pain. I know it was the worst pain I have ever experienced, but I can't remember what it felt like.
Well thats it in a nutshell (well done if you have reached the end, this has turned out to be quite long!)
She is lovely, and well worth all the pain, and illness through out my pregnancy. Though I'm not in a hurry to do it all again just yet!
Will write up my birth story over the next few days, when she is being less of a pickle
Here are a few pics in meantime
------------------------------------------------
Birth story added
------------------------------------------------
Sorry its mega long, and I haven't read it through lol. Hope it makes sense, and an interesting read.
------------------------------------------------
Well as some of you already know, I woke up just before 6am having dreamt that I was in incredible pain (think I must have had the first contraction asleep), I woke up feeling like my stomach was splitting apart. It was enough to make me leap out of bed swearing. It was pretty painful, so I came into the lounge to wait to see if I had another, leaving Toby to sleep just in case.
Sure enough, 36 mins later I had another one - painful enough to have to breathe through, lasting about 40 odd seconds. This was shortly followed by another 2 at 9 mins apart. I left it a little while before I started timing them. They seemed to get closer together, but were quite irregular. I also had a bit of a clearout. Moving seemed to bring on one instantly.
I had a bath, but had to get out as the last one I had in there was really painful. I then had a shower which seemed to help more. According to my forum post this was about 8.30am. I have no idea of times throughout the whole day to be honest lol.
Contractions then seemed to regulate themselves a bit, coming every 5 mins for an hour. Then, they just stopped!! I couldn't believe it. I'd been having contractions for hours, was beginning to worry it was a false alarm.
We decided to go for a walk round the block to see if it started up again. We walked for 40 mins, and in that time I only had one contraction!
When we got back, Toby made me a sandwich, which I managed to eat. Good job, as the contractions started back up again. But they were irregular again, coming every 5-10 mins lasting from 40 secs to 1m40 ish. This was about 1pm. I also phoned the hospital at this time as I felt the pain was becoming a bit to much to bear. They said to stay at home until they were 5 mins apart for a while. They asked if I had had a show, and at this point I hadn't.
So, this is where it starts to get a little blurry in terms of time. I started to have a bloody show at just after 2pm. I was thinking about phoning the hospital again at this point but decided to wait a bit longer. I had also put my tens machine on - couldn't have gone on without it! At about 3pm, I went to the toilet, which brought on a contraction after 2m30 rather than 5 mins, I thought it was just because I had moved, but oh no, they suddenly jumped to 2 m 30 apart from this point onwards. I had also started to bleed more, and got 2 contractions on top of each other, so phoned hospital.
They said to come in, especially as there was a chance of me bleeding (as I have a genetic disorder called Hypermobility Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome). By the time we got everything together, it must have been 3.30pm when we left for the hopsital. Luckily we are only a 5 min drive away, as the contractions started becoming unbearable.
When we got there, they showed us to a room, and was told a midwife would be along to see me soon. I must have waited at least 30 mins, by which point I was in unbearable pain, with only my tens machine to get me through. I had cranked this up to about half of its full power.
When the mw arrived, she wanted to get all the info out of me about what had happened so far that day. Took me a long time to tell her as I was having 2 contractions on top of each other most of the time. At this point I was unsure how much longer I could go on for like this. She showed me how to use the gas and air. Great stuff, but unfortunately didn't help with the pain at all. Though mw reckoned I coped better with it - I'm not so sure, I think she was telling porkies lol.
She said she needed to examine me, but left the room for some reason. She was gone for what seemed like forever, and after about 20 mins I got the urge to push, I couldn't stop it. I was struggling to take in enough gas and air, and trying to yell at Toby to push the buzzer to get the midwife back at the same time. Another midwife came in, and watched me for a minute and said "Well nothing is going to happen imminently, your mw will be back to examine you soon." At this point I was becoming a bit distressed as I was worried that the pushing would make her head swell up if I wasn't dilated enough.
After another 10-15 mins my mw came back and said I had her all to myself now. I had to turn from all fours over on to my back to be examined, but the contractions were coming so frequently this took ages!
So she finally examined me, gasped, and said to Toby, "Oh my goodness you have a superwoman here." She then said to me, do you want the good news or the bad. I said both! So she said, "well you can't have any more pain relief, but the good news is, you are a sneaky labourer and there is nothing holding this baby back apart from your waters." At this point I started crying with the emotion of being told I was almost there.
So the pushing commenced - several midwives popped their head round the door say they couldn't believe how far on I was. LOL I felt like yelling at them, I had tried to tell them!
Unfortunately she got a bit stuck, so I was pushing for an hour, most of which on all fours. About half way through my waters broke, but not much came out. I was so tired at this point, and she wasn't moving down further, so the midwife made me go onto my back. I also ended up in stirrups to give her a bit more room to come out. She mentioned a dreaded episiotomy, but luckily I pushed her out before that became necessary. As they were worried about me bleeding, they decided to put a cannula in just in case - not a great time to do it though, about 10 mins before she was born, whilst I was pushing with all my might! Took 2 of them to do it, and blood spurted everywhere.
I gave one big push when she told me to, her head crowned - and to be honest, I don't really remember this hurting that much compared to my contractions and pushing! A more pushes and she came flying out all at once with all the waters behind her.
I managed to get away with a small 2nd degree tear on my labia, as she came out with her hand by her head, which was why she was stuck. She also had the cord round her neck.
The midwife was very flustered after all this, she hadn't had a chance to write anything in my notes because of how quickly it happened after I got to the hospital. They said I had better go in a lot earlier next time!
Have had a few nightmarish nights as she won't sleep unless we are holding her - she thrashes her arms around every few mins and it wakes her up unless you are holding her. But, fingers crossed, she is sleeping a bit in her crib today, so there may be some hope for tonight.
I still can't believe I managed on just gas and air, I wonder if I would have found it a different experience if I had had a chance to have some pethedine to relax me. My tens machine was a Godsend, at the end, it was maxed out, and on boost lol. The batteries ran out at some point whilst I was pushing, but I didn't notice until after she was out.
I am def not considering another just yet, but we do want a brother or sister for her in the future. It certainly is amazing how you forget the pain. I know it was the worst pain I have ever experienced, but I can't remember what it felt like.
Well thats it in a nutshell (well done if you have reached the end, this has turned out to be quite long!)
SHE IS GORGEOUS! 
