Jus
New mum!
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Even as I begin to type, I know this is going to turn in to quite a long post, since it took such a long time for Arthur to actually make his appearance in the world!
All through my pregnancy I was determined to have a home birth, it just felt so right and I was convinced I could cope with the pain so much better in the comfort of my own home. Because my BMI is high I had been under consultant care thoughout the pregnancy and the consultant I saw was absolutely against me having a home birth; but it was my choice and I chose to ignore her! I had very few problems throughout the pregnancy - just one incidence of high BP at 36 weeks which involved a trip to the hospital for suspected pre-eclampsia, which turned out to be a false alarm. My MW was totally supportive of my wish for a home birth; she told me that consultants always looked on the negative side and if I wanted a home birth, then there was no reason why I shouldn't have one. That was until we got to about 36 weeks when the MW started to get worried that I was going to have a big baby; I had extra scans because of this and it was predicted that the baby would be 8.5-9lbs (although that didn't sound like a really big baby to me.) When we found this out, the MW was convinced I shouldn't have a home birth. Obviously I was disappointed, but I had total confidence in my MW and decided to go with what she said.
At 38+2 I had an appointment with my MW and she agreed to give me a sweep since, if the baby was going to be a 'big' one, it didn't seem to be a problem if he came early. This was where we discovered that my cervix was extremely posterior. The MW couldn't even touch it, which meant the sweep had absolutely no effect whatsoever.
At 39+2 I had another sweep, but my cervix was still extremley posterior and so, yet again, the sweep did nothing.
My due date of 3/3/09 came and went and at 40+2 I had another sweep which still did nothing. At 41 weeks I went to the hospital and was given a date of one week later for being induced. I went home with my fingers crossed that LO would make an appearance before then. I tried all the tricks that are supposed to encourage labour - curry, pineapples, walking, even sex - all to no avail. LO just wasn't shifting.
By the 17th of March (42 weeks) LO still hadn't arrived so I called the hospital at 8am as instructed, to find out when I should go in to be induced. I was told that the ward was very busy and to call back at midday. So I did, only to find out that by then the ward was so busy it had been closed. Great! The MW said that they would call me when there was space for me. Hubby and I decided to go out for a walk without taking our mobiles in the hope that sod's law would mean the hospital would be bound to phone while we weren't at home. And it worked! By the time we got back the hospital had left a message asking me to go in at 4pm - at last, this meant something would definitely be happening and surely LO would be with us soon!
At 5pm I was in a side room on the Day Assessment Unit of the Royal Berks in Reading with a MW desparately trying to insert a prostaglandin pessary to start the induction process. Unfortunately my cervix was still posterior which meant the MW had real trouble trying to get the pessary in the right place and the fact that I kept 'clamping down' on her hand as she tried to get it in, really didn't help! 6pm came, her shift ended and I was still pessary-less! Luckily the next MW was more experienced and the pessary was in without much fuss; she did offer me gas and air at one point to help me relax but luckily I didn't need it. I then had to stay on the bed and keep still for about 30mins. I was told that the pessary would stay in for 24 hours, by which time it should have taken effect and started off the contractions. I was then transferred up to a room and hubby went home for the night. I kept thinking that something would happen that night, but I fell asleep and only woke up when the MW came in to take my BP a couple of times at some god-awful hour.
Early morning came and nothing had happened - not even a twinge. Hubby came back not long after 9am and we spent the morning doing not a lot! No twinges, nothing. Hubby had to go home from 1-3pm, and when he came back still nothing had happened. About 4pm we went to the coffee shop and I started getting some pains very low down in my abdomen - just above my pubic line. I thought it was just discomfort from the pessary, although I later realised that these pains were actually contractions. However, the pains probably only lasted about 30mins and that was that.
At 8pm the pessary was removed and the MW said I was about 1-2cm dilated. So, it had done something, just not enough! As she removed it, the MW gave me a 'very rough' (in her words) sweep in the hope of making something happen. Hubby then went home and at 11pm I was told I had to eat as much as possible as I was going to be nil-by-mouth from midnight just in case they needed to give me a c-section!
Thursday morning came, and I still hadn't gone in to labour. About 10.30am the doctor came to examine me and decided I was finally 3cam dilated which meant my waters could now be broken, just as soon as a delivery suite was available for me. I waited and waited all day long, as did poor hubby - god, what a day. We walked all round the hospital, and while hubby enjoyed himself at the coffee shop, I had to make do with sips of water for most of the day as I was still nil-by-mouth! At 5pm a room finally became available and I was taken down. The MW examined me and asked who had told me that I was 3cm dilated as she didn't think I was. Great - I was going backwards! The MW went off to find the doctor who had seen me in the morning and she came in absolutely determined that she had been right earlier and that she was going to break my waters no matter what! At this point I was rather worried and actually asked if I could have a c-section, but the doctor said no. And, to give her her due, she did manage to break my waters. This meant I could then get hooked up to the BP monitor on one side and the syntocin drip and heart monitor for the baby on the other - this was it!
The contractions started quite soon; they were all in my lower abdomen and bottom area, which was really strange. The MW didn't believe they were contractions at first, but when the pains didn't occur anywhere else, we decided that they must be contractions. I put my TENS machine on but had to take it off quite soon as one of the wires kept popping out and electrocuting me - admittedly the pain of that did take me mind off the contractions, but it was also rather annoying! After 4 hours on gas and air I wasn't coping very well at all and asked for an epidural (even though my birth plan stated in CAPITAL LETTERS that I did NOT want one!); unfortunately, the anaesthetist was in theatre and it was another hour before he was able to administer one. Even more unfortuntately, it didn't work! He was spraying my legs with ice cold water and I could feel everything. He then had to go back to theatre and I was left with just the gas and air. The MW then gave me pethidine, as well as anti-sickness tablets as I was throwing up all over the place due to the gas & air and the pain. At 2am the anaesthetist came back to re-site the epidural, but again it didn't work. OMG! I couldn;t believe it, and neither could he. In the end they called the registrar in and they ended up bringing in an ultrasound machine to find another place on my back where the third epidural could go in. And finally, it worked! This was about 4am and I finally had a lucid moment, so much so that I was able to crack jokes with the registrar. I just want to say at this point, please, please be open to all forms of pain relief. I was so adamant that I was ABSOLUTELY NOT having an epidural, but after just 4 hours of labour I was begging for one! Admittedly, I then had another 7 hours of labour without one, but I was so, so pleased when it finally worked! Hubby and I then both fell asleep til about 7am when a new MW came on shift. She examined me and I was actually 10cm dilated! She gave me an hour to come round a bit, and then got me to start pushing - I had to watch the machine which was monitoring my contractions and as the numbers went up, that's when I had to push. After an hour nothing had happened; the MW said I could have another 30mins as she could just about see the baby's head, but that 30mins did nothing. I was then told to take off all my jewellery and prepare to go in to theatre. It was hoped that forceps would be enough to get LO out, but I also had to be ready for a c-section.
Luckily for me, an episiotomy and the forceps did the trick and finally, after 18 hours and 40mins of labour, Arthur came in to the world at 12.10pm on Friday 20th March. Thank goodness that was over!
And, in all honesty, within just a few hours I couldn't remember anything that I had been through that previous night. Hubby kept saying 'remember when so and so happened?' and I would say 'no'. I was ready to have baby number two by Saturday night!
All through my pregnancy I was determined to have a home birth, it just felt so right and I was convinced I could cope with the pain so much better in the comfort of my own home. Because my BMI is high I had been under consultant care thoughout the pregnancy and the consultant I saw was absolutely against me having a home birth; but it was my choice and I chose to ignore her! I had very few problems throughout the pregnancy - just one incidence of high BP at 36 weeks which involved a trip to the hospital for suspected pre-eclampsia, which turned out to be a false alarm. My MW was totally supportive of my wish for a home birth; she told me that consultants always looked on the negative side and if I wanted a home birth, then there was no reason why I shouldn't have one. That was until we got to about 36 weeks when the MW started to get worried that I was going to have a big baby; I had extra scans because of this and it was predicted that the baby would be 8.5-9lbs (although that didn't sound like a really big baby to me.) When we found this out, the MW was convinced I shouldn't have a home birth. Obviously I was disappointed, but I had total confidence in my MW and decided to go with what she said.
At 38+2 I had an appointment with my MW and she agreed to give me a sweep since, if the baby was going to be a 'big' one, it didn't seem to be a problem if he came early. This was where we discovered that my cervix was extremely posterior. The MW couldn't even touch it, which meant the sweep had absolutely no effect whatsoever.
At 39+2 I had another sweep, but my cervix was still extremley posterior and so, yet again, the sweep did nothing.
My due date of 3/3/09 came and went and at 40+2 I had another sweep which still did nothing. At 41 weeks I went to the hospital and was given a date of one week later for being induced. I went home with my fingers crossed that LO would make an appearance before then. I tried all the tricks that are supposed to encourage labour - curry, pineapples, walking, even sex - all to no avail. LO just wasn't shifting.
By the 17th of March (42 weeks) LO still hadn't arrived so I called the hospital at 8am as instructed, to find out when I should go in to be induced. I was told that the ward was very busy and to call back at midday. So I did, only to find out that by then the ward was so busy it had been closed. Great! The MW said that they would call me when there was space for me. Hubby and I decided to go out for a walk without taking our mobiles in the hope that sod's law would mean the hospital would be bound to phone while we weren't at home. And it worked! By the time we got back the hospital had left a message asking me to go in at 4pm - at last, this meant something would definitely be happening and surely LO would be with us soon!
At 5pm I was in a side room on the Day Assessment Unit of the Royal Berks in Reading with a MW desparately trying to insert a prostaglandin pessary to start the induction process. Unfortunately my cervix was still posterior which meant the MW had real trouble trying to get the pessary in the right place and the fact that I kept 'clamping down' on her hand as she tried to get it in, really didn't help! 6pm came, her shift ended and I was still pessary-less! Luckily the next MW was more experienced and the pessary was in without much fuss; she did offer me gas and air at one point to help me relax but luckily I didn't need it. I then had to stay on the bed and keep still for about 30mins. I was told that the pessary would stay in for 24 hours, by which time it should have taken effect and started off the contractions. I was then transferred up to a room and hubby went home for the night. I kept thinking that something would happen that night, but I fell asleep and only woke up when the MW came in to take my BP a couple of times at some god-awful hour.
Early morning came and nothing had happened - not even a twinge. Hubby came back not long after 9am and we spent the morning doing not a lot! No twinges, nothing. Hubby had to go home from 1-3pm, and when he came back still nothing had happened. About 4pm we went to the coffee shop and I started getting some pains very low down in my abdomen - just above my pubic line. I thought it was just discomfort from the pessary, although I later realised that these pains were actually contractions. However, the pains probably only lasted about 30mins and that was that.
At 8pm the pessary was removed and the MW said I was about 1-2cm dilated. So, it had done something, just not enough! As she removed it, the MW gave me a 'very rough' (in her words) sweep in the hope of making something happen. Hubby then went home and at 11pm I was told I had to eat as much as possible as I was going to be nil-by-mouth from midnight just in case they needed to give me a c-section!
Thursday morning came, and I still hadn't gone in to labour. About 10.30am the doctor came to examine me and decided I was finally 3cam dilated which meant my waters could now be broken, just as soon as a delivery suite was available for me. I waited and waited all day long, as did poor hubby - god, what a day. We walked all round the hospital, and while hubby enjoyed himself at the coffee shop, I had to make do with sips of water for most of the day as I was still nil-by-mouth! At 5pm a room finally became available and I was taken down. The MW examined me and asked who had told me that I was 3cm dilated as she didn't think I was. Great - I was going backwards! The MW went off to find the doctor who had seen me in the morning and she came in absolutely determined that she had been right earlier and that she was going to break my waters no matter what! At this point I was rather worried and actually asked if I could have a c-section, but the doctor said no. And, to give her her due, she did manage to break my waters. This meant I could then get hooked up to the BP monitor on one side and the syntocin drip and heart monitor for the baby on the other - this was it!
The contractions started quite soon; they were all in my lower abdomen and bottom area, which was really strange. The MW didn't believe they were contractions at first, but when the pains didn't occur anywhere else, we decided that they must be contractions. I put my TENS machine on but had to take it off quite soon as one of the wires kept popping out and electrocuting me - admittedly the pain of that did take me mind off the contractions, but it was also rather annoying! After 4 hours on gas and air I wasn't coping very well at all and asked for an epidural (even though my birth plan stated in CAPITAL LETTERS that I did NOT want one!); unfortunately, the anaesthetist was in theatre and it was another hour before he was able to administer one. Even more unfortuntately, it didn't work! He was spraying my legs with ice cold water and I could feel everything. He then had to go back to theatre and I was left with just the gas and air. The MW then gave me pethidine, as well as anti-sickness tablets as I was throwing up all over the place due to the gas & air and the pain. At 2am the anaesthetist came back to re-site the epidural, but again it didn't work. OMG! I couldn;t believe it, and neither could he. In the end they called the registrar in and they ended up bringing in an ultrasound machine to find another place on my back where the third epidural could go in. And finally, it worked! This was about 4am and I finally had a lucid moment, so much so that I was able to crack jokes with the registrar. I just want to say at this point, please, please be open to all forms of pain relief. I was so adamant that I was ABSOLUTELY NOT having an epidural, but after just 4 hours of labour I was begging for one! Admittedly, I then had another 7 hours of labour without one, but I was so, so pleased when it finally worked! Hubby and I then both fell asleep til about 7am when a new MW came on shift. She examined me and I was actually 10cm dilated! She gave me an hour to come round a bit, and then got me to start pushing - I had to watch the machine which was monitoring my contractions and as the numbers went up, that's when I had to push. After an hour nothing had happened; the MW said I could have another 30mins as she could just about see the baby's head, but that 30mins did nothing. I was then told to take off all my jewellery and prepare to go in to theatre. It was hoped that forceps would be enough to get LO out, but I also had to be ready for a c-section.
Luckily for me, an episiotomy and the forceps did the trick and finally, after 18 hours and 40mins of labour, Arthur came in to the world at 12.10pm on Friday 20th March. Thank goodness that was over!
And, in all honesty, within just a few hours I couldn't remember anything that I had been through that previous night. Hubby kept saying 'remember when so and so happened?' and I would say 'no'. I was ready to have baby number two by Saturday night!
