Your labour...

[KarenC]

FBE - that's so cute. Love how he's a shouter! T yells at mealtimes now, with her mouth full, and it's hilarious.

Having read a lot of these, I think it's interesting that I was allowed to push for two hours at home with no intervention, whereas in hospital or MLUs they get a bit jumpy if it takes that long and then a lot of them end in very painful ventouse/forceps deliveries. Granted, Tilly was happy as larry for the whole time and never became distressed despite being stuck up my vag for two hours with me trying in vain to push her head out. The midwives who attended the birth were looking a bit concerned, or so my husband says, but I finally managed to find the strength to push her out in the end. I hope I don't have to push for that long next time because I didn't much enjoy that part. It demostrates, perhaps, how much more likely intervention is for a hospital birth compared with a home birth. Just my thoughts... x

 

[Samsgirl]

To quote FBE:

'If someone handed me a loaded gun I would have happily shot myself just to make it stop. For a short while I understood what it would be like to loose your mind.'

I too asked DH to shoot me a few times during labour and also suggested I would do it myself if he could find me a weapon.

yep...I said this too. Someone please just hand me a gun.....it was horrific...

but...I will do it again.....but i am also riddled with guilt because my labour went so wrongly. totally out of my control, but it took me so long to recover, i effectively missed the first 3 months of my babies life..just awful I went through my labour notes with a midwife not so long ago and it really did help and i would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their feelings about their labour.....

next time WILL be better.....xx

 

[FirstBabyEek]

To quote FBE:

'If someone handed me a loaded gun I would have happily shot myself just to make it stop. For a short while I understood what it would be like to loose your mind.'

I too asked DH to shoot me a few times during labour and also suggested I would do it myself if he could find me a weapon.

yep...I said this too. Someone please just hand me a gun.....it was horrific...

but...I will do it again.....but i am also riddled with guilt because my labour went so wrongly. totally out of my control, but it took me so long to recover, i effectively missed the first 3 months of my babies life..just awful I went through my labour notes with a midwife not so long ago and it really did help and i would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their feelings about their labour.....

next time WILL be better.....xx

I completely understand this, I too struggled with what I'd been through, plus had a baby that screamed 24/7 because he was lactose intolerant and we didn't know. My bond was very slow to develop and I think T and I were both slight suspicious of each other, ha ha!

I feel I missed the 8 weeks and possibly a little bit more and I'd love to go back, knowing what I know now, I'd do it differently. Just not sure I could cope with another labour.
xxx

 

[Samsgirl]

Yeah our bond took ages. About 6 months if I am honest. X

 

[Roo3]

I was induced. I went in on the Saturday morning and had him in the early hours of Monday morning. My labour was awful. The epidural didn't work and like others have said I would have shot myself than go through that pain if I'd been able to.
I pushed for 3 hours and ended up with an episiotomy and ventouse.
I am only just coming round to the idea of going through it all again. Oh remains to be convinced.

 

[willowwisp]

I managed to have both a previa and an anterior placenta. It meant that I had to have a c-section, but that they also had to cut through the placenta to get baby out. Apparently there are limited clotting/contracting cells in that lower front part of the uterus so we always knew I was a bleed risk. I was also severely anaemic going into the surgery, I just managed to get my iron levels up enough to avoid a pre c-section iron infusion.
LO had to come out 5 weeks early as my organs were packing up and I'd been ill/sick for a long time at that point and my body was on the verge of giving up, LO was fully engaged and I was getting irregular contractions.
I got the hospitals best surgeon and as a direct result I got away with only loosing 2 litres of blood. I refused blood transfusions unless it was life & death, so I managed to just about get away with not having blood.

I was quite calm going in, despite knowing LO was going to be 5 weeks premature and that I was a big bleed risk. They had 6 units of blood ready for me and had already warned me about the very real need to do a hysterectomy to stem the bleeding. DH on the other hand was a mess, but trying hard (bless him!) not to show it.

We can't have another one as it was little more than pure luck that both LO and I made it through the pregnancy. I couldn't bare to be in that position again now because the thought of leaving H without a mummy is enough to cause me a meltdown.

 

[Butterflykisses]

What did you do first? Was in denial so made hot water bottle to ease cramps

Who did you ring first? After phoning hospital, phoned DH at work and when couldn't get him phoned security to get him to phone me back. Didn't tell anyone else what was happening until after birth lol

Where were you? Woke at 6am with what felt like period cramps and nothing more. Went to toilet and had some show but as it was my first baby told DH he was ok to go to work as I would have hours before anything happened. WRONG. Was phoning him 20 minutes later to come home and take me to hospital. On examination at 8.30am was 8cm dilated and LO was born at 12.46pm with gas and air and unfortunately suction at end. The main thing he was healthy and we all survived


What's your feelings about it now? I would do it all again in the morning. The only thing thats on my mind is what if the next time is horrendous and takes away all the positive thoughts I have of my first labour???

 

[Samsgirl]

I managed to have both a previa and an anterior placenta. It meant that I had to have a c-section, but that they also had to cut through the placenta to get baby out. Apparently there are limited clotting/contracting cells in that lower front part of the uterus so we always knew I was a bleed risk. I was also severely anaemic going into the surgery, I just managed to get my iron levels up enough to avoid a pre c-section iron infusion.
LO had to come out 5 weeks early as my organs were packing up and I'd been ill/sick for a long time at that point and my body was on the verge of giving up, LO was fully engaged and I was getting irregular contractions.
I got the hospitals best surgeon and as a direct result I got away with only loosing 2 litres of blood. I refused blood transfusions unless it was life & death, so I managed to just about get away with not having blood.

I was quite calm going in, despite knowing LO was going to be 5 weeks premature and that I was a big bleed risk. They had 6 units of blood ready for me and had already warned me about the very real need to do a hysterectomy to stem the bleeding. DH on the other hand was a mess, but trying hard (bless him!) not to show it.

We can't have another one as it was little more than pure luck that both LO and I made it through the pregnancy. I couldn't bare to be in that position again now because the thought of leaving H without a mummy is enough to cause me a meltdown.

oh lovey...how awful. You really do have your little miracle there...xxx

 

[sallybee]

What did you do first? Was in denial so made hot water bottle to ease cramps

Who did you ring first? After phoning hospital, phoned DH at work and when couldn't get him phoned security to get him to phone me back. Didn't tell anyone else what was happening until after birth lol

Where were you? Woke at 6am with what felt like period cramps and nothing more. Went to toilet and had some show but as it was my first baby told DH he was ok to go to work as I would have hours before anything happened. WRONG. Was phoning him 20 minutes later to come home and take me to hospital. On examination at 8.30am was 8cm dilated and LO was born at 12.46pm with gas and air and unfortunately suction at end. The main thing he was healthy and we all survived


What's your feelings about it now? I would do it all again in the morning. The only thing thats on my mind is what if the next time is horrendous and takes away all the positive thoughts I have of my first labour???

That's exactly how I feel, I wasn't scared of labour when I was pregnabt and I had a fantastic experience but reading all the birth stories now I'm terrified of next time! Xx

 

[TaffyRose]

I spent the Friday at my mums with her saying 'are you ok? Are you sure you're not in labour' and me saying, no it's just a bit of cramping, just stretching pain. I think it's because I was bang on 37 weeks so didn't think I could be in labour. I then started 'leaking' Friday evening and the pains started to become about 10 mins apart. I still didn't really think I was in labour so just paced and tried to nap. By 7am Sat morning the pains were 4 mins apart so we went to hospital. I was told I was 2cm and given some paracetamol and told to go home. Within half an hour I was bent over growling and telling my oh my body was telling me to push. He refused to take me home so we changed rooms and I was re-examined. The midwife was shocked to find I was 10cm and was indeed pushing. There was no time for pain relief so told to go for it and within 1hr 20mins Max was born.

We had no time to ring anyone so I called my parents with my lo in my arms, there was lots of tears!

Was the most amazing experience and I can't wait to do it all again xxx

 

[Spammy]

I was admitted at 40+1 with vomiting and feeing unwell. Had very high blood pressure and was induced at 40+5.

First pessary went in at 3pm and was told to expect it not to work. We went for a walk and had a coffee and some cake in the cafe. By 5pm I started getting niggles. They got stronger and I was given a tens machine. It got to 10pm and they checked me to see if hubby could stay but they said i definitely wasn't in labour and would need another pessary the next day. hubby went home and I cried cos was in pain and felt a wimp!

At 1am it got too much but was scared because the midwife was awful and didn't believe me! In the end she checked me and I was 4cm! She gave me codeine and paracetamol (was not impressed and in my frustration said 'i dont have a headache im having a baby'! Ha ha.

I called hubby to come back and i got in the bath. Was in the bath for an hour but it was getting too much. Sat on the edge of the bed with hubby rubbing my back but the pain was so bad I didn't know what to do with myself. Midwife gave me a shot of Pethidine saying I wouldn't have got much further as it hadnt been that long and didnt feel the need to check me again. 10mins later i started grunting and she asked if I was pushing!

Got back on the bed and she gave me some G&A to check me. Man that was good stuff! Told me I was 10cm!!! Had gone from 4cm-10cm in an hour and a half.

I was in the monitor and between pushed we were having heart deceleration so was a bit scary. Had an episiotomy and saw the forceps and thought no chance. I pushed so hard I burst blood vessels in My face and eyes and looked dreadful! Lol. Finally at 2:59 my little Meri was born! She wasn't breathing so was resuscitated. Was probably only a few minutes but the longest few minutes of my life and hearing her cry was the biggest relief I have ever felt!

All happened so fast and I wasn't happy with the midwife for not believing me and giving me Pethidine without checking me. Because of thst Meri was sleepy and wouldn't feed. She got really bad jaundice and dehydrated and we ended up in for 5 days with her being pumped full of formula to try and flush the jaundice away and to rehydrate her. Also had to have light therapy. But finally got out of there on the Sunday.

It was all amazing. Stressful at the time, especially trying to get her to feed and having paediatricians sticking needles in her to check her jaundice levels.

Overall though I think it went pretty well and I didnt find the birth too bad. I tear up every time i think about it. Was the happiest day of my life and would do it again in a heartbeat . If only I wouldn't have to be pregnant again!

 

[TaffyRose]

Ah Hun I can only imagine the relief you felt hearing that first cry xxx

 

[Spammy]

Ah Hun I can only imagine the relief you felt hearing that first cry xxx

Massive! Funny cos at first I was so relieved and happy I didn't notice what was going on. Then I saw the worry on hubby's face and started to panic!

Feels like a lifetime ago we were texting each other as bump buddies with our good news!

 

[KarenC]

Awww. That must have been the best sound in the world! Glad she arrived safely in the end - what an epic! Sorry you didn't enjoy pregnancy. I'm quite looking forward to being pg again, but not the last few weeks. Even though I had a lovely labour and birth I also don't think that part is something I want to do many more times. It was such hard work! xxx

 

[Spammy]

Awww. That must have been the best sound in the world! Glad she arrived safely in the end - what an epic! Sorry you didn't enjoy pregnancy. I'm quite looking forward to being pg again, but not the last few weeks. Even though I had a lovely labour and birth I also don't think that part is something I want to do many more times. It was such hard work! xxx

I know il do it again but was just so sick it was awful! There were lovely sides to it though that I do miss. They are so worth it though aren't they?! And that new baby stage is just amazing.

 

[littlesmoosh]

i had a sweep on thursday the 5th of july early afternoon. and felt nothing unusual all day. went to bed at 2am and kept waking up every hour with pains, but i thought it was cause i was needing a wee. at 7am after getting up yet again for the loo i returned to bed and as i was trying to get back to sleep i felt a mild contraction. another one came. then another. so i started timing them. after an hour they were gettin worse and were eery 6 minutes apart so woke up my OH just to tell him. but then let him sleep til 10am as i went for a shower and phoned my dad. then all day they just got worse n worse. at one point they were every 2 minutes at 1.30pm. so rushed to the hospital but was only 2 cm. sent home. got a call from my stepmum saying she was leaving work early and heading up. so a couple of hours later she arrived. went to the hospital again at 6pm. 3-4cms went home again. back to the hospital at 10.30pm and admitted. although turns out i was back to only 3cms. but they kept me in. i was in and out the pool a few times. then i had gas and air. and 2 shots od diamorphine to knock me out for an hour because i was exhausted. but didnt want an epidural. in the end i had dexter in the pool at 16.48pm on saturday the 7th of july. was in labour for 33 hours. during labour i was going crazy at points. the pain was just sooooooooo much. i remember screaming my head off about how i didnt want a baby (just the pain talking). and afterwards i swore id never do it again lol. 2 weeks later i was already broody.
and ive kind of continued in that vain! dying for baby number 2. but being smart and waiting because we can barely afford one let alone two. but itching for a little girl!

i can remember the pain, but id take that pain anyday for dexter. so id deffo be up for it all over again. and im glad i did it in the pool with just the gas and air (with the exception of my 2 shots of diamorphine to put me to sleep as id pretty much been awake for over 2 days).

when the midwife lifted dexter out the water and put him in my arms it just felt right. and worth it all. definitely the biggest and best experience of my entire life

 

[Jajis]

Felt contractions Thursday morning, first thing I did was go for a stretch and sweep as was booked in and couldn't really believe I was already in labour but midwife said that was okay Went in about 3pm but was only 2cm and was sent home. Went back in just after midnight and was about 5cm so was given gas and air. Got to fully dilated on gas and air and was told to start pushing so I did. Pushed for hours but nothing happened. Shift changed so got a new midwife. She examined me and realised Alex was facing the wrong way and decided there was no way he was coming out without help. On top of that my blood pressure had gone through the roof and all their monitoring equipment was crap so they couldn't find Alex's heartbeat with the internal or external monitors so they all freaked out and about a million people appeared in my room and all the lights came on. They started talking about emergency c sections and general anaesthetics but thankfully I didn't need either. Rushed me down to theatre and two spinal blocks (the first did nothing) and some forceps later Alex was born on the Friday just before lunch - perfect and healthy despite their panic. I was moved to the observation ward but quite frankly the care I received from then on was crap. My Mum had been with me (along with my OH) until I went into theatre so she was the first person I saw and she rang my Dad and my sister. OH rang his parents, but I didn't get to tell anybody myself until the next day as you weren't allowed phones on the observation unit and I couldn't move (they tried to get me up to have a shower, but blood poured out and I felt like I was going to faint - so they put me back into bed and left me there, covered in blood all night ). I stayed in hospital for three nights and I hated every second of it. The care I received when I got home was pretty crap too.

I think it all affected me pretty badly and I hate thinking back on it, although writing this I've managed not to cry like I did last time. I really want to have another baby at some point in the future, but I am totally terrified at the idea of having to go through all of that again. Those of you who got to go through your hospital notes, who did you ask and how did you go about it? I think it would help me, but I'm terrible at asking for help

 

[BevG]

i had a sweep on the thursday evening, hindwaters went at 4.30am, i went back to sleep for a bit, contractions woke me, i watched a few programmes on the laptop bouncing on my ball, woke oh at a reasonable our (9am) and rang hospital when i puked up last nights tea cos the contractions made me sick, went in to hosp at 12.30 2cm, stayed on early labour ward til 9pm as they said they couldnt examine me til 9 the next morning so at 9pm i asked for drugs as i was never gonna get to sleep with the contractions i was having, said i either needed drugs, the loo or to push! needless to say i was rushed to labour ward and 9cm then and Alyssa was born at 3.38am after a failed epidural, gas and air, an episiotomy and a lot of pushing cos she was back to back. OH had updated everybody when he was sent home at 8pm and i was texting the important ppl (pf buddy) and mum thruoghout. im doing it again this year lol

 

[KarenC]

OMG! Bev! Congratulations, hun! You didn't start TTC til December, am I right? If so, that was quick work - such great news. Fingers crossed all goes well. This is lovely news xxx

 

[TaffyRose]

Ah Hun I can only imagine the relief you felt hearing that first cry xxx

Massive! Funny cos at first I was so relieved and happy I didn't notice what was going on. Then I saw the worry on hubby's face and started to panic!

Feels like a lifetime ago we were texting each other as bump buddies with our good news!

I know it does feel like a lifetime ago we were texting each other. Do you have any idea when you are planning the next one? Be great to go through the pregnancy again together Hopefully you won't be so sick next time xxx