chrystaltips
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My labour started on Sunday 20th January. I was having quite noticeable contractions on and off all day, at about 10 minutes apart. They were uncomfortable but not really bad and felt like really strong BH and my back was really achey too. By about 10pm that evening I was in quite considerable pain with the contractions but they still were only every 10 mins apart. I had a small brownish show early that evening and a huge bloody show by midnight. From then on I was bleeding continuously and my contractions worsened and I was having to hang on to my BF and deep breathe through each one. By 2am Monday 21st January they were every 5 mins apart.
We arrived at the birth centre at 3am on Monday 21st January. I was assessed and was 4cm dilated and my cervix was nice and soft. We got settled in a room and waited it out, but about 2 hours later the contractions seemed to subside so we decided to go home where we would be more comfortable. We came home at about 6am and went to bed but I was still having contractions that were too painful to sleep through, just not that frequent!
My contractions continued to worsen throughout the day on Monday 21st January and become more frequent again until by 3pm I decided that after 2 nights without any sleep because of the contractions there was no way I was going to have the energy to cope with a natural birth so had decided I wanted an epidural.
We called the delivery suite and they were quite shocked to find I was still at home when I had already been 4cm dilated earlier that morning.
Arrived at the hospital at 4.45pm on Monday 21st January. Got stuck in traffic on the way - not nice during contractions! They booked me in and examined me and I was 5cm dilated. I was in pain but managed just using breathing techniques for the next four hours. However, when they examined me again I was still only 5cm dilated! They said that they were going to have to break my waters to speed things up. At that point I demanded an epidural as I couldn't cope with the pain getting any more intense.
Aahhh epidurals are SOOOO good
After the epidural they broke my waters at about 10.30pm and left me another two hours, after which time I had only dilated to 6cm. At about 1am on January 22nd I was put on syntinocin drip to increase the strength of my contractions and help speed things up. They checked me at about 5am to see how I had progressed and the midwife was concerned that I wasn't dilating properly on one side and was also concerned that Rowan was becoming distressed as her heart rate kept dropping with each of my contractions. Because of this she didn't want to increase my syntinocin any more despite the fact that my contractions were still too weak.
The doctor came to take a blood sample from Rowan's head at about 5.30am to check her health, but when he examined me he said I was almost at 10cm and would be OK to start pushing. By this time, after 2 nights without sleep I was absolutely exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I was glad though as it meant I narrowly avoided an emergency c-section!
At about 5.30am I started pushing. Thank God I couldn't feel anything is all I can say! I pushed for about 30 mins but because I was so tired and the effects of the epidural I was finding it very hard. At this point the doctors decided to intervene as they didn't want it to take too long because Rowan was in distress.
At 6am out came the crew of about 3 doctors. Never before have I been in a room with about 3 doctors and a midwife completely focused on my nether regions! It was a bit strange but by that stage I couldn't have cared less who was in the room, I just wanted her out.
They attached the ventouse (suction cup), gave me an episiotomy, and pulled as I was pushing and about 30 mins later Rowan was born. She only gave a couple of cries as they lifted her onto my chest but was very healthy. I was beside myself. I just couldn't believe I was finally meeting her after all this time and she was so perfect
The docs checked her over and my BF cut the cord while I delivered the placenta and was stitched up, and we were left to bond for a while as a family before I got cleaned up and was transferred to the post-natal ward. I breastfed for the first time about 30 mins after birth and it was the most surreal and amazing experience of my life.
Rowan Penelope was born at 6.37am on January 22nd January weighing 7lb 3oz. We love her so much
After Delivery
In hospital
With her daddy
We arrived at the birth centre at 3am on Monday 21st January. I was assessed and was 4cm dilated and my cervix was nice and soft. We got settled in a room and waited it out, but about 2 hours later the contractions seemed to subside so we decided to go home where we would be more comfortable. We came home at about 6am and went to bed but I was still having contractions that were too painful to sleep through, just not that frequent!
My contractions continued to worsen throughout the day on Monday 21st January and become more frequent again until by 3pm I decided that after 2 nights without any sleep because of the contractions there was no way I was going to have the energy to cope with a natural birth so had decided I wanted an epidural.
We called the delivery suite and they were quite shocked to find I was still at home when I had already been 4cm dilated earlier that morning.
Arrived at the hospital at 4.45pm on Monday 21st January. Got stuck in traffic on the way - not nice during contractions! They booked me in and examined me and I was 5cm dilated. I was in pain but managed just using breathing techniques for the next four hours. However, when they examined me again I was still only 5cm dilated! They said that they were going to have to break my waters to speed things up. At that point I demanded an epidural as I couldn't cope with the pain getting any more intense.
Aahhh epidurals are SOOOO good
After the epidural they broke my waters at about 10.30pm and left me another two hours, after which time I had only dilated to 6cm. At about 1am on January 22nd I was put on syntinocin drip to increase the strength of my contractions and help speed things up. They checked me at about 5am to see how I had progressed and the midwife was concerned that I wasn't dilating properly on one side and was also concerned that Rowan was becoming distressed as her heart rate kept dropping with each of my contractions. Because of this she didn't want to increase my syntinocin any more despite the fact that my contractions were still too weak.
The doctor came to take a blood sample from Rowan's head at about 5.30am to check her health, but when he examined me he said I was almost at 10cm and would be OK to start pushing. By this time, after 2 nights without sleep I was absolutely exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I was glad though as it meant I narrowly avoided an emergency c-section!
At about 5.30am I started pushing. Thank God I couldn't feel anything is all I can say! I pushed for about 30 mins but because I was so tired and the effects of the epidural I was finding it very hard. At this point the doctors decided to intervene as they didn't want it to take too long because Rowan was in distress.
At 6am out came the crew of about 3 doctors. Never before have I been in a room with about 3 doctors and a midwife completely focused on my nether regions! It was a bit strange but by that stage I couldn't have cared less who was in the room, I just wanted her out.
They attached the ventouse (suction cup), gave me an episiotomy, and pulled as I was pushing and about 30 mins later Rowan was born. She only gave a couple of cries as they lifted her onto my chest but was very healthy. I was beside myself. I just couldn't believe I was finally meeting her after all this time and she was so perfect
The docs checked her over and my BF cut the cord while I delivered the placenta and was stitched up, and we were left to bond for a while as a family before I got cleaned up and was transferred to the post-natal ward. I breastfed for the first time about 30 mins after birth and it was the most surreal and amazing experience of my life.
Rowan Penelope was born at 6.37am on January 22nd January weighing 7lb 3oz. We love her so much
After Delivery
In hospital
With her daddy
