Hello everyone!!
Little Liam James arrived at 12:35am on Monday morning..04.06.07.
I was booked in for induction at 10 days overdue.
I arrived at the hospital at 2:30pm on the Saturday 2nd June and was given my first dose of Prostin gel. OH and I then went to the TV room and waited for something to happen. Nothing did  OH headed home about 8:30pm and I was examined and was told I need the second dose of gel as the cervix hadnt dilated at all. As soon as they gave me the second dose the contractions started. The midwife was concerned that the babys heart rate was high so I stayed hooked up to the monitors until 1:30am and then had to be woken again at 4am so they could check his heart rate again. The contractions lasted throughout the night, but were manageable to start with. So as you can imagine I was awake the whole night. Then by 4am the contractions were coming every 3 minutes This is it I thought They gave me a few co-codamol which had absolutely zero effect and I was collected at 8am to go up to the labour suite.
Pretty much as soon as I arrived up at the labour suite my contractions slowed right down I was only having about 2-3 per hour!! They examined me and put in another dose of Prostin. OH arrived with some breakfast and at this point we really hoped things would pick up again. I went to the loo not long after and lost my mucus plug and the pessary! So I had to have ANOTHER dose of prostin! I really felt at this point that things were going no where. I thought they might send me back to the ward but by 6pm they re-examined me and were just able to break my waters. They attached a monitor to the little ones head and hooked me up to the drip and OH went home for some dinner and promised to be back at 7:30pm. The contractions started up again and I was using the gas and air for the pain. They kept doubling the dose to try and get me to contract 5 times in 10 mins as soon as they put it up to 20 the contraction started to get pretty unbearable, The pain was all in my back and bum. The midwife then turned the drip up to 40 .Ouch It was time for an epidural. I couldnt wait any longer on OH to arrive so the Anaesthetist went ahead. This is the best invention ever! I was so relaxed.. I think by this point I was so tired I couldnt have coped with another 6 hours or so of labour especially after having no sleep or food all day. Anyway that was me until they checked me again at 10pm, by this time I was fully dilated and they could see the babies head!!! At last some progress was being made  The midwife then asked me if I would allow for a student midwife to deliver the baby She promised she would be there all the way through to guide her and at no point would the baby be in any risk. We agreed this was okay and I was introduced to the student to the woman who was about to deliver my baby.
I started pushing at 11:45pm I must admit that this was much much harder than I expected.For some reason I had always imagined that the pushing part would be the easiest! I think because I had the epidural I couldnt feel my contractions and also couldnt feel if I was pushing correctly. It was so tiring and I felt really sick at this stage. Both midwifes were saying to me that they didnt want the doctor coming in with the forceps so to keep me pushing. I kept with it and with my OHs support I managed to push baby Liam out at 12:35. So all in all I was pushing for 1 hour and twenty minutes. This was without doubt the hardest thing I have ever had to do! The relief when I was over was immense. Liam was placed straight onto my chest and we all had a cuddle. He was so alert, scoring 9 on his Apgar score. There was no rush to remove him and he lay there for over an hour before they took him away to weigh him. I was surprised to hear he was 8lb12ozs. He was so long too.. measuring 52 cms!
I ended up with a 2nd degree tear and had to have stitches. Theyre still stinging now . Its a bit of a chore to go to the loo!! I was let out of hospital on the Tuesday afternoon and was really glad to get home.
OH and I are both mesmerised by Liam.. we cant stop staring at him.. He is absolutely gorgeous and was worth every single bit of it. 
Little Liam James arrived at 12:35am on Monday morning..04.06.07.
I was booked in for induction at 10 days overdue.
I arrived at the hospital at 2:30pm on the Saturday 2nd June and was given my first dose of Prostin gel. OH and I then went to the TV room and waited for something to happen. Nothing did  OH headed home about 8:30pm and I was examined and was told I need the second dose of gel as the cervix hadnt dilated at all. As soon as they gave me the second dose the contractions started. The midwife was concerned that the babys heart rate was high so I stayed hooked up to the monitors until 1:30am and then had to be woken again at 4am so they could check his heart rate again. The contractions lasted throughout the night, but were manageable to start with. So as you can imagine I was awake the whole night. Then by 4am the contractions were coming every 3 minutes This is it I thought They gave me a few co-codamol which had absolutely zero effect and I was collected at 8am to go up to the labour suite.
Pretty much as soon as I arrived up at the labour suite my contractions slowed right down I was only having about 2-3 per hour!! They examined me and put in another dose of Prostin. OH arrived with some breakfast and at this point we really hoped things would pick up again. I went to the loo not long after and lost my mucus plug and the pessary! So I had to have ANOTHER dose of prostin! I really felt at this point that things were going no where. I thought they might send me back to the ward but by 6pm they re-examined me and were just able to break my waters. They attached a monitor to the little ones head and hooked me up to the drip and OH went home for some dinner and promised to be back at 7:30pm. The contractions started up again and I was using the gas and air for the pain. They kept doubling the dose to try and get me to contract 5 times in 10 mins as soon as they put it up to 20 the contraction started to get pretty unbearable, The pain was all in my back and bum. The midwife then turned the drip up to 40 .Ouch It was time for an epidural. I couldnt wait any longer on OH to arrive so the Anaesthetist went ahead. This is the best invention ever! I was so relaxed.. I think by this point I was so tired I couldnt have coped with another 6 hours or so of labour especially after having no sleep or food all day. Anyway that was me until they checked me again at 10pm, by this time I was fully dilated and they could see the babies head!!! At last some progress was being made  The midwife then asked me if I would allow for a student midwife to deliver the baby She promised she would be there all the way through to guide her and at no point would the baby be in any risk. We agreed this was okay and I was introduced to the student to the woman who was about to deliver my baby.
I started pushing at 11:45pm I must admit that this was much much harder than I expected.For some reason I had always imagined that the pushing part would be the easiest! I think because I had the epidural I couldnt feel my contractions and also couldnt feel if I was pushing correctly. It was so tiring and I felt really sick at this stage. Both midwifes were saying to me that they didnt want the doctor coming in with the forceps so to keep me pushing. I kept with it and with my OHs support I managed to push baby Liam out at 12:35. So all in all I was pushing for 1 hour and twenty minutes. This was without doubt the hardest thing I have ever had to do! The relief when I was over was immense. Liam was placed straight onto my chest and we all had a cuddle. He was so alert, scoring 9 on his Apgar score. There was no rush to remove him and he lay there for over an hour before they took him away to weigh him. I was surprised to hear he was 8lb12ozs. He was so long too.. measuring 52 cms!
I ended up with a 2nd degree tear and had to have stitches. Theyre still stinging now . Its a bit of a chore to go to the loo!! I was let out of hospital on the Tuesday afternoon and was really glad to get home.
OH and I are both mesmerised by Liam.. we cant stop staring at him.. He is absolutely gorgeous and was worth every single bit of it. 
Thank you for sharing you story. xxx
