ShowingPromise
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Hi Ladies,
I wanted to document my labour before the whirlwind of motherhood makes me forget the details! This was a tough labour, so if you are looking for a nice easy birth story, this isn't it, but it does have a happy ending and I'm still here to tell the tale
Thurs 13th Aug - 2.30am Woke up with light contractions having had no other indications that labour was imminent! 4am woke up hubby to get tens machine on. 6-8am managed to sleep. Contractions continued through the day until around 4pm when I called hospital as pain was increasing and the contractions were 3-4 mins apart. Arrived at hospital and was examined only 2cm dilated. Examined again at 9pm and sent home as no further progress. To be honest the tens was a waste of time for me and it actually annoyed me more than helped - it was a relief when I decided to take it off!
Home to bed and then back to hospital at 1 am Fri 14th Aug as the pain was getting much worse. Examined and I was 6cm! Birth pool was filled and we added arnica and lavender oil. Started to use gas and air too. Approx 4am I came out of the pool and asked for a pethadine injection as the pain and frequency of contractions was so intense. Had to stop using pool from this point so was moved to another room where I was examined and still at 6cm and my waters were broken.
8am I was still no further along and the use of a drip to speed up contractions was mentioned by mw. I asked for an epidural at this point and I was moved to the labour ward and put onto a monitor. Epidural was administered along with the drip. Epidural was amazing and I was so relieved to feel some respite from the pain, although there was an area on my left side where it didnt work and I could still feel contractions, but it was nothing compared to what I had been feeling.
Timings sort of go out of the window at this point as I did doze off and hubby went out to the car at some point.. I heard one of the monitors bleep but I was lying on my left away from them in an attempt to get the epidural to move onto all of my left side, so couldnt see the mws reactions. One of them calmly then came over and said not to panic, but the babys heartbeat had dropped and an alarm would go off and the room would fill with people. Exactly as she said, seconds later there seemed to be 20 people in the room at once, all asking me questions but telling me not to worry. Basically the baby was back to back and his head was at an odd angle against my cervix which was why it hadnt dilated naturally properly. He was now in distress so I would have to go to theatre where they would assess if I could deliver him or if I would need a section.
Hubby was still nowhere to be seen, having popped out to the car to get babys bag and grab a coffee! A mw tried calling him but for some bizarre reason he had no signal. Thankfully his signal returned and he saw that he had a voicemail from the mw which he listened to and promptly legged it back into the hospital in time to change into scrubs and get into theatre just as they were getting started. I have never been so relieved to see someone in all my life!!!
As the epidural had not worked completely and there was the chance of a section, they had to test me all over and then administer more, so I was pretty much completely numb from the chest down, with minimal movement/ feeling in my arms and hands.
Thankfully babys heart rate picked back up and I had progressed to 10cm, so they attempted a ventouse delivery, but that did not work, so they had to use forceps. The mw was now telling me when to push which was an odd sensation as I didnt think I was really doing much as I couldnt feel it, but she assured me that I was, and at 11.11 am our little boy was safely delivered. He was put onto my chest briefly as the cord was cut then he was taken to be checked over. I was a little upset that I couldnt keep him on my chest but I had no feeling really in my arms, so it wouldnt have been safe anyway. I had to have an episiotomy, so that was stitched and then the epidural was removed.
I had to spend quite a while in recovery after wards and got a severe case of the shakes, but I was then moved onto a ward to recover. I had to stay in overnight and we were discharged around 4pm the next day.
Although this was clearly not the birth that Id have chosen, Im glad that I was able to experience natural labour and of course getting our little boy here safe was all that mattered! He is now almost 5 days old and I am feeling much better. Still a little sore and battered but definitely headed in the right direction. Baby had a few marks on his face and head from the forceps that looked so painful for him at the time, but they have all almost gone now and he is doing really well. He was quite quiet in the first 24 hours and I worried that he wasn't crying at all, but apparently its normal for some babies if they have a difficult birth.
I am absolutely in awe of the midwife and theatre teams, the jobs that these people do are truly amazing
I wanted to document my labour before the whirlwind of motherhood makes me forget the details! This was a tough labour, so if you are looking for a nice easy birth story, this isn't it, but it does have a happy ending and I'm still here to tell the tale
Thurs 13th Aug - 2.30am Woke up with light contractions having had no other indications that labour was imminent! 4am woke up hubby to get tens machine on. 6-8am managed to sleep. Contractions continued through the day until around 4pm when I called hospital as pain was increasing and the contractions were 3-4 mins apart. Arrived at hospital and was examined only 2cm dilated. Examined again at 9pm and sent home as no further progress. To be honest the tens was a waste of time for me and it actually annoyed me more than helped - it was a relief when I decided to take it off!
Home to bed and then back to hospital at 1 am Fri 14th Aug as the pain was getting much worse. Examined and I was 6cm! Birth pool was filled and we added arnica and lavender oil. Started to use gas and air too. Approx 4am I came out of the pool and asked for a pethadine injection as the pain and frequency of contractions was so intense. Had to stop using pool from this point so was moved to another room where I was examined and still at 6cm and my waters were broken.
8am I was still no further along and the use of a drip to speed up contractions was mentioned by mw. I asked for an epidural at this point and I was moved to the labour ward and put onto a monitor. Epidural was administered along with the drip. Epidural was amazing and I was so relieved to feel some respite from the pain, although there was an area on my left side where it didnt work and I could still feel contractions, but it was nothing compared to what I had been feeling.
Timings sort of go out of the window at this point as I did doze off and hubby went out to the car at some point.. I heard one of the monitors bleep but I was lying on my left away from them in an attempt to get the epidural to move onto all of my left side, so couldnt see the mws reactions. One of them calmly then came over and said not to panic, but the babys heartbeat had dropped and an alarm would go off and the room would fill with people. Exactly as she said, seconds later there seemed to be 20 people in the room at once, all asking me questions but telling me not to worry. Basically the baby was back to back and his head was at an odd angle against my cervix which was why it hadnt dilated naturally properly. He was now in distress so I would have to go to theatre where they would assess if I could deliver him or if I would need a section.
Hubby was still nowhere to be seen, having popped out to the car to get babys bag and grab a coffee! A mw tried calling him but for some bizarre reason he had no signal. Thankfully his signal returned and he saw that he had a voicemail from the mw which he listened to and promptly legged it back into the hospital in time to change into scrubs and get into theatre just as they were getting started. I have never been so relieved to see someone in all my life!!!
As the epidural had not worked completely and there was the chance of a section, they had to test me all over and then administer more, so I was pretty much completely numb from the chest down, with minimal movement/ feeling in my arms and hands.
Thankfully babys heart rate picked back up and I had progressed to 10cm, so they attempted a ventouse delivery, but that did not work, so they had to use forceps. The mw was now telling me when to push which was an odd sensation as I didnt think I was really doing much as I couldnt feel it, but she assured me that I was, and at 11.11 am our little boy was safely delivered. He was put onto my chest briefly as the cord was cut then he was taken to be checked over. I was a little upset that I couldnt keep him on my chest but I had no feeling really in my arms, so it wouldnt have been safe anyway. I had to have an episiotomy, so that was stitched and then the epidural was removed.
I had to spend quite a while in recovery after wards and got a severe case of the shakes, but I was then moved onto a ward to recover. I had to stay in overnight and we were discharged around 4pm the next day.
Although this was clearly not the birth that Id have chosen, Im glad that I was able to experience natural labour and of course getting our little boy here safe was all that mattered! He is now almost 5 days old and I am feeling much better. Still a little sore and battered but definitely headed in the right direction. Baby had a few marks on his face and head from the forceps that looked so painful for him at the time, but they have all almost gone now and he is doing really well. He was quite quiet in the first 24 hours and I worried that he wasn't crying at all, but apparently its normal for some babies if they have a difficult birth.
I am absolutely in awe of the midwife and theatre teams, the jobs that these people do are truly amazing
hehe x
