It's a bit late but I don't want to forget anything else!
A bit of background, I have under active thyroid so I'd been seeing a consultant every so often to have my levels checked and medication adjusted. What was different to my previous two pregnancies Is that I had a personalised growth chart for the baby, based on my weight and height I think? The doctor noticed that according to this growth chart my previous two babies were on the 2nd and 10th centiles, so my first was small for gestational age. As a result I had regular growth scans which were all fine... Until...
I was supposed to see the consultant at 36 weeks but both boys were ill so I rearranged and they told me it would be at 38 weeks as they had no space. My next growth scan was arranged for 39+6 (23rd November) at 6.30, they were having to put on extra scans in the evening due to all the chaos that the personalised growth charts were causing for people.
As hubby was busy sorting the childrens tea and getting them ready for bed and previous scans had been ok I went to the scan on my own. I only had a short wait and the lady scanned me quickly and said the baby was 6lb 14oz, I thought that was ok. They told me to wait and see the midwife which Is routine as they want to check a plan is in place.
I waited and the midwife called me Into the room. She had the chart open and I could see the baby had tailed off. She said the baby hadn't grown and I would have to see the doctor about a plan. Meanwhile I was monitored and the baby was perfect. The doctor called me in and said the growth charts are new and basically they hadn't had enough experience interpreting them yet. He said as I was full term and they weren't sure why the baby hadn't grown I would be induced. He asked me if I had any questions and I said no as I was induced with my first and knew why he was doing it.
The midwife examined me and I was 1cm dilated. She said it would be the pessary to induce me. Hubby was waiting to hear the news as I phoned him earlier to tell him they weren't happy with the babies growth. I phoned him to tell him they would be inducing me and to find my bag.
My bag was packed but I thought I would be going into hospital in labour and out again quickly so I had only packed for one night. The midwife said the process could take 3 days which I was doubtful about but I wanted to have my things so I got home and sorted my bag. I bolted down some pizza then my mum arrived to mind the kids.
At hospital I was monitored, it was about 9/10pm by then and they said everything was great. They inserted the pessary and warned me about going to the toilet, that it fell out easily. Hubby was wondering whether to stay but I assumed that nothing would happen overnight and he went home to take over from mum.
I got up to go to the toilet and yep... The pessary fell out. I called the midwife and explained, saying sorry. She seemed a bit annoyed which I thought was unfair as essentially my vagina is trying to hold something in against gravity and I tried my best. I could tell she was busy and knew this would be more work for her but I didn't think she hid her feelings very well!
The new pessary was put in around 12/1am and they told me I would be monitored in 4 hours, I think. I was paranoid about the pessary falling out again so I hardly moved and therefore didn't sleep well. I wasn't getting contractions though so when hubby arrived at 9am I was fairly chipper.
A new, young midwife monitored me and explained I would only be checked if I was in labour or my waters broke. She was nice and suggested I go for a walk. Some pains were already starting and the walk made them a lot worse so I didn't get very far before I decided to come back. I've had fairly quick labours the past two times so I thought I was on my way and didn't want to make the pain worse. I talked with hubby about pain relief as with my first birth (only other induction), the midwife didn't realise I was in labour and I was 9cm and in terrible pain before I had gas and air. Something we both didn't want happening again. Hubby promised he would stick up for us more than last time and we called the midwife in to tell her our worries and ask for paracetamol. She seemed to suggest she would know when I was in active labour and be ready to go down to labour ward. Things were ok as I ate my lunch and the pain didnt bother me too much. Around 1pm the pains very quickly got a lot worse and I buzzed the midwife to ask for codeine. She said she would get someone to prescribe it and this irritated me as the doctor should've prescribed the codeine at the same time as the paracetamol. I buzzed a few more times and explained I was in pain, she said the codeine was coming. Then it started to get really bad and I was very distressed. I called her and she came and I begged to be checked. She examined me and said I was 6-7cm dilated and I could go down to labour ward.
My body was trying to push and I was fully concentrating on stopping it as I wasn't 10cm and was trying to avoid another 2nd degree tear.
The lady who took me down said I was very brave and another lady was supposed to be going down but they'd taken me instead. This made me feel better as I knew it wouldn't be long.
I got down to labour ward where I remember seeing the midwife and feeling like I was in good hands, I got on the bed and she examined me and I was 10cm. I was sucking in the gas and air for dear life and she said not to if there wasn't a contraction but I remember shouting ' I don't want to be here!!' At her.
I remember the midwife saying my pushing was good but my waters still hadn't broken and it was going to be hard to birth the baby in the waters. With my other two my waters have been broken during labour so I wasn't surprised she said I had waters of steel!
She said she was going to be naughty and break the waters and made me promise not to tell anyone. I still don't understand why this was a problem.
Soon after my waters broke my baby was out. I was in complete shock and the midwife plopped her on my chest. I looked and yes she was our beautiful little girl. Her forehead was covered in vernix and tbh she appeared quite squashed! She was born around 3.30pm so they recorded my active labour as being 1hr 30.
I got the injection to deliver the placenta but it didn't come easily and I worried about the bleeding but the midwife said it was fine and eventually the placenta came away. Midwife said I had another second degree tear but that I'd done everything right and it couldn't be helped, the scar tissue from my other births was too weak.
The baby was weighed and she was 7lb9! So she wasn't small at all and the growth scans wasn't accurate. Later hubby heard her mentioning this to the other midwives and one of them saying 'this is happening all the time now'. So really my induction wasn't necessary but I was fed up of being pregnant and everything went well so I wasn't bothered.
I lay there while she stitched me up feeling so relieved she was here safely. The midwife went to make us tea and toast and told me to 'feed the baby'. She obviously thought I was a pro this being my 3rd but it took a long time for her to latch on. Once she did she was feeding for a few hours. I fed her whilst eating the toast and discussing names with hubby. We decided it would probably be Eleanor but not to tell anyone yet as we weren't 100%. I had a shower whilst hubby got her dressed. We took some photos and the midwife said we could go home. As I'm rhesus negative we had to wait for Eleanor's blood results and it turned out she is negative too so we went home without another injection. We left about 9pm and had a maccies on the way home! I felt a bit nervous as the last two times I stayed at least for one night but it was lovely to take her straight home as the boys were with nanny.
And that's about it! She is 8 weeks old now and doing brilliantly.
A bit of background, I have under active thyroid so I'd been seeing a consultant every so often to have my levels checked and medication adjusted. What was different to my previous two pregnancies Is that I had a personalised growth chart for the baby, based on my weight and height I think? The doctor noticed that according to this growth chart my previous two babies were on the 2nd and 10th centiles, so my first was small for gestational age. As a result I had regular growth scans which were all fine... Until...
I was supposed to see the consultant at 36 weeks but both boys were ill so I rearranged and they told me it would be at 38 weeks as they had no space. My next growth scan was arranged for 39+6 (23rd November) at 6.30, they were having to put on extra scans in the evening due to all the chaos that the personalised growth charts were causing for people.
As hubby was busy sorting the childrens tea and getting them ready for bed and previous scans had been ok I went to the scan on my own. I only had a short wait and the lady scanned me quickly and said the baby was 6lb 14oz, I thought that was ok. They told me to wait and see the midwife which Is routine as they want to check a plan is in place.
I waited and the midwife called me Into the room. She had the chart open and I could see the baby had tailed off. She said the baby hadn't grown and I would have to see the doctor about a plan. Meanwhile I was monitored and the baby was perfect. The doctor called me in and said the growth charts are new and basically they hadn't had enough experience interpreting them yet. He said as I was full term and they weren't sure why the baby hadn't grown I would be induced. He asked me if I had any questions and I said no as I was induced with my first and knew why he was doing it.
The midwife examined me and I was 1cm dilated. She said it would be the pessary to induce me. Hubby was waiting to hear the news as I phoned him earlier to tell him they weren't happy with the babies growth. I phoned him to tell him they would be inducing me and to find my bag.
My bag was packed but I thought I would be going into hospital in labour and out again quickly so I had only packed for one night. The midwife said the process could take 3 days which I was doubtful about but I wanted to have my things so I got home and sorted my bag. I bolted down some pizza then my mum arrived to mind the kids.
At hospital I was monitored, it was about 9/10pm by then and they said everything was great. They inserted the pessary and warned me about going to the toilet, that it fell out easily. Hubby was wondering whether to stay but I assumed that nothing would happen overnight and he went home to take over from mum.
I got up to go to the toilet and yep... The pessary fell out. I called the midwife and explained, saying sorry. She seemed a bit annoyed which I thought was unfair as essentially my vagina is trying to hold something in against gravity and I tried my best. I could tell she was busy and knew this would be more work for her but I didn't think she hid her feelings very well!
The new pessary was put in around 12/1am and they told me I would be monitored in 4 hours, I think. I was paranoid about the pessary falling out again so I hardly moved and therefore didn't sleep well. I wasn't getting contractions though so when hubby arrived at 9am I was fairly chipper.
A new, young midwife monitored me and explained I would only be checked if I was in labour or my waters broke. She was nice and suggested I go for a walk. Some pains were already starting and the walk made them a lot worse so I didn't get very far before I decided to come back. I've had fairly quick labours the past two times so I thought I was on my way and didn't want to make the pain worse. I talked with hubby about pain relief as with my first birth (only other induction), the midwife didn't realise I was in labour and I was 9cm and in terrible pain before I had gas and air. Something we both didn't want happening again. Hubby promised he would stick up for us more than last time and we called the midwife in to tell her our worries and ask for paracetamol. She seemed to suggest she would know when I was in active labour and be ready to go down to labour ward. Things were ok as I ate my lunch and the pain didnt bother me too much. Around 1pm the pains very quickly got a lot worse and I buzzed the midwife to ask for codeine. She said she would get someone to prescribe it and this irritated me as the doctor should've prescribed the codeine at the same time as the paracetamol. I buzzed a few more times and explained I was in pain, she said the codeine was coming. Then it started to get really bad and I was very distressed. I called her and she came and I begged to be checked. She examined me and said I was 6-7cm dilated and I could go down to labour ward.
My body was trying to push and I was fully concentrating on stopping it as I wasn't 10cm and was trying to avoid another 2nd degree tear.
The lady who took me down said I was very brave and another lady was supposed to be going down but they'd taken me instead. This made me feel better as I knew it wouldn't be long.
I got down to labour ward where I remember seeing the midwife and feeling like I was in good hands, I got on the bed and she examined me and I was 10cm. I was sucking in the gas and air for dear life and she said not to if there wasn't a contraction but I remember shouting ' I don't want to be here!!' At her.
I remember the midwife saying my pushing was good but my waters still hadn't broken and it was going to be hard to birth the baby in the waters. With my other two my waters have been broken during labour so I wasn't surprised she said I had waters of steel!
She said she was going to be naughty and break the waters and made me promise not to tell anyone. I still don't understand why this was a problem.
Soon after my waters broke my baby was out. I was in complete shock and the midwife plopped her on my chest. I looked and yes she was our beautiful little girl. Her forehead was covered in vernix and tbh she appeared quite squashed! She was born around 3.30pm so they recorded my active labour as being 1hr 30.
I got the injection to deliver the placenta but it didn't come easily and I worried about the bleeding but the midwife said it was fine and eventually the placenta came away. Midwife said I had another second degree tear but that I'd done everything right and it couldn't be helped, the scar tissue from my other births was too weak.
The baby was weighed and she was 7lb9! So she wasn't small at all and the growth scans wasn't accurate. Later hubby heard her mentioning this to the other midwives and one of them saying 'this is happening all the time now'. So really my induction wasn't necessary but I was fed up of being pregnant and everything went well so I wasn't bothered.
I lay there while she stitched me up feeling so relieved she was here safely. The midwife went to make us tea and toast and told me to 'feed the baby'. She obviously thought I was a pro this being my 3rd but it took a long time for her to latch on. Once she did she was feeding for a few hours. I fed her whilst eating the toast and discussing names with hubby. We decided it would probably be Eleanor but not to tell anyone yet as we weren't 100%. I had a shower whilst hubby got her dressed. We took some photos and the midwife said we could go home. As I'm rhesus negative we had to wait for Eleanor's blood results and it turned out she is negative too so we went home without another injection. We left about 9pm and had a maccies on the way home! I felt a bit nervous as the last two times I stayed at least for one night but it was lovely to take her straight home as the boys were with nanny.
And that's about it! She is 8 weeks old now and doing brilliantly.
