Hi ladies,
As promised my birth story. Sorry it is so long, but it sort of all felt important.
OH had asked me on the Monday if I wanted to accompany him to Scotland for the day on Tuesday. I agreed as I thought it would be nice for us to spend some time with each other and he could drop me off at a shopping centre, where I could have a wee look around. Also on the Monday, OH suggested that we get the belly cast done after he finished work on Monday. So we done the belly cast Monday night, which was fun (and as it turned out the day after just in time).
On the Tuesday we left early in the morning and I asked OH if he thought I should take my notes and bags just in case, which he thought was a good idea. So I got most of the things I had together at the time and off we went. We were on our way for about an hour when I asked OH to stop as I needed the toilet
. So we stopped and I went. I washed my hands and felt a small amount of fluid in my undies. I didnt think it was enough to be my waters, but thought Id better go back to the toilet to check. I was sure it wasnt pee, but didnt think it was my waters as such and decided to keep an eye on things. Got up again from the toilet and this huge amount of fluid gushed out on the floor this was at 8.45 in the morning. I realized that this was it my waters had broken. I rang OH from inside the toilet to tell him and went outside the ladies, where he was waiting for me. The water still ran down my legs, so we quickly went back to the car. We were talking about how we would probably meet out little man within the next two days, I got a bit nervous, but at the same time thought there would still be some time as most of you ladies here still had some time after your waters had broken and contractions dont necessarily start as soon as the waters have gone. We were on our way back hoping to pick up some things that I hadnt packed yet when at about 10.30am I started having contractions. They started lasting about 15 seconds and were doable, but only 3 minutes apart, which sort of worried both OH and me as to where we were up to. Within half an hour the contractions came 2 minutes apart lasting about 30 seconds. We knew we should probably stop at a hospital and at least get checked out before continuing out journey. We made it to a nearby hospital, which luckily had a maternity unit and my contractions were already quite strong and made it almost impossible for me to walk into the hospital.
We were seen to straight away by a midwife who informed us that this unit was a midwife led unit, which generally wouldnt have been a problem, but I always thought it would be good to have the option of an epidural, which in a midwife led unit you cant have. At 12 noon, the midwife examined me and I was 3 cm dilated. She said that she would usually class this as early labour. However, she was surprised by how regular and painful the contractions were. They had a birthing pool there, which I was originally quite keen on, but they usually only let you start using it in established labour. She therefore suggested running me a bath to see if it would ease the contraction pain. Once I got into the bath, the contractions just got stronger. I was unable to find any position that was remotely comfortable in between the contractions and as they were so close, I started to get worried that I would not be able to handle the pain without an epidural (also given the fact that I was only 3 cm dilated, I knew I could be in this for a long time). I felt like such a wimp (and I kept telling my OH too
) when I told my OH that there was no way I could do this without an epidural and to get things moving for a transfer to the next hospital. The MW rang the closest hospital (20 minutes away), which wasnt closed for admissions, but preferred me to be transferred to the next hospital (40 minutes away) as they were quite busy. I got out of the bath, MW arranged for me to go by ambulance and OH had to follow in the car because otherwise the car would have been left there. Before making the journey to the other hospital the MW examined me again and I was 5 cm dilated (this was only 45 minutes after the 1st examination). She was impressed by the speed my labour was progressing and realized that I now qualified for gas and air, which took a few minutes to get used to, but did distract me from concentrating on the pain itself. The ambulance picked me up, MW came with us and kept checking the babys heart rate, which was fine. Ambulance dropped OH off at the car and we were on our way. After about 10 minutes in the ambulance the MW asked the paramedics, which way they were going. Turned out that they assumed I was going to the closer hospital, which also happened to be the other way. MW told them that OH was on his way to the other hospital, so they had to turn around. Whenever there was too much traffic on the way, they turned the sirens on.
For the last 10 to 15 minutes of the journey, the contractions appeared to get stronger and gas and air was becoming less effective. We finally arrived at the other hospital and I was so relieved to see my OH already waiting for me. I have never been so happy to see him in my life as I knew he was going to be there with me. I think he was equally happy to see me as he was a bit concerned that I might have already given birth in the ambulance. MW told the MWs at the new hospital that I wanted an epidural and my contractions were only 1-2 minutes apart and very strong. I was taken into a room and a student midwife started asking me about my birth plan. On the weekend I had made some last changes to my birth plan and I was going to print it off and take it to my next MW appointment later that week. So I did not have my birth plan with me
, but OH and I managed to remember most things between us. Another MW came into the room to examine me again and I was told that I was fully dilated and it was too late for the epidural
. This was at 4.05pm.
Anyway, I asked the MWs what was going to happen now and since my body was already pushing by itself now, I was told to just push whenever there was a contraction. I felt a bit weak since I only had a bowl of cereal in the morning and although I had all these lovely snacks in my hospital bag, I did not feel like eating.
One of the MWs got me a Fanta to give me some energy for the final stage.
So I started pushing and at around 5.15pm the MW said that the baby had lots of lovely dark hair. I couldnt quite believe that she could see his hair as I didnt actually feel him that far down yet. I was told to push as much as I can with every contraction, but to stop when they tell me to, which I did. And at 5.43pm our babys head was delivered and two minutes later our baby was born. Our baby was put onto my chest straight away and stayed there for an hour. OH cut the cord after it stopped pulsating.
The MWs started cleaning me up and told me that there was a small internal vaginal tear that required one stitch (but my perineum was intact
). She asked me if I wanted a local anesthetic, which required to stabs for the one stitch or did I just want to have the one stitch by using gas and air, which she thought was doable. So I decided to go for that option and I can honestly say that it wasnt that bad.
After the delivery the MWs told me to be proud of myself having done it without the epidural after all, that my birth was a perfect birth (babys heart rate stayed steady all along through the birth), my body acted exactly as it was supposed to and I could come back anytime
.
Thats mad that Mogster was that weight at 11 weeks!
