Eshka
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Hey everyone - big apologies for taking so long to get around to this but things have just been so busy!
Anyway, here I am to announce that Layne arrived on Friday April 20th at 6:02am weighing a teensy 5lbs 13 oz, but perfect in every way and with a massive mop of dark hair
He is absolutely gorgeous, big big blue eyes and I've been on cloud nine ever since. I'll pop a pic on soon as I don't have time right now to sort it out!
So, here goes. After lots and lots of starting and stopping, I went down to hospital on Wednesday 18th with signs of labour. My contractions were 3 mins apart, but I was only 2cm so they kept me in and sent OH home to sleep for a while. By 4am, everything had stopped...again. That morning, before discharging me, the consultant decided to help me along with a sweep; he was a big Russian dude, stood at the end of my bed and said, 'In order to help you, I have to hurt you', lol. I was offered gas and air and he got to work and my *God* was I glad of the drugs; it only took a few moments but ouch. Fair play to those women who have a sweep done at the midwives! They then let me go, but one midwife told me that the Russian doctor was notorious for his sweeps and that she'd expect me back in by that night.
She was right. That evening, my best friend called with the last of my baby things - a swinging chair, a bath and bathstand etc - and we had a natter and a giggle to take my mind off things. I'd been having lots of bloody show all day, but felt fairly convinced that I'd be the first to prove Russian Doctor wrong. My friend left around 11pm with me telling her that it wasn't going to happen that night.
Within an hour, labour started. I was watching tv with OH, and had noticed increasingly uncomfortable period pains coming regularly - roughly 5 mins apart. By the time The Big Bang Theory was over, they were 3 mins apart and I had to pace around holding onto things each time one hit. These felt so different; both OH and I just knew it was time, so we were waiting for my parents to arrive to take care of my girls. I'll quickly answer an age old question here from my perspective, as this was my first experience of natural contractions - the difference between them and BH? Simple, guys. For me, with real contractions, I had no inclination whatsoever to check if my bump was tightening; I couldn't have cared less. These were intense period pains and I had no attention span for anything else other than getting through them by breathing.
Mum and dad arrived at about 1am, and we reached the hospital by 1.30am; I'd spent the journey clinging to the handle thingy above the window through each contraction and I couldn't talk through them. I knew that by the time I got into the admissions dept, I'd need gas and air. When I got out of the car, the pressure was insane; we were stood waiting for someone in admissions, nobody was there and I started to panic that Layne was coming very soon. Finally, we got brought in and I was checked; I was only 3-4cm, but the contractions were really stepping up and were now 2-3 mins apart. I had what seemed like a lifetime on the CTG, clung to the gas and air through my contractions and desperately wanted to get up on my feet. Finally, I was allowed up and started to dance through the contractions, which made things so much more bearable and OH had a proper giggle at me. I was high as a fecking kite, too. During a quick trip to the loo between contractions, he says I walked out of the cubicle, paused, turned and went back in to scrub the toilet seat, saying, 'I may be in labour, but I'm not a dirty bitch' (I have no memory of this, lol).
After I went back in to the admissions room (they were extremely busy so I was stuck there for a while), everything really changed. My contractions became very, very intense and all I can remember is being on my knees on the floor bent over the bed, rocking back and forth. At some point, an auxiliary came in and was on the phone giving someone hell as she'd just found me there, OH in a state of panic, no midwife to be seen and I was howling through my pains. A midwife came and brought me to the ante-natal ward as I was still only 4cm and delivery was full. I started crying on the bed, convinced I still had hours and hours to go; OH was crying too as I was just saying I couldn't do it anymore over and over again. The thing is, inside my head, I knew I could - it's just that the pressure down below was scaring me and I still felt sure I had ages left. I coped, though, and at around 4:45am they brought me down to delivery. I hadn't been checked since 3:30am, and the delivery midwife took one look at me when they got me sorted on the delivery bed and said she thought I was close. I figured she was mental cos in my head, I was still only 4cm and wanted an epidural NOW, lol. She spent some time doing my notes, I kept going with the gas and air (totally out of my head at this stage, lol), and then she checked me at around 5.30am as I was making noises with the pressure.
She said I was almost fully dilated, and at that moment EVERYTHING inside my head completely changed. She offered to pop my bag of waters, but I declined and said to let things happen naturally. My head felt totally clear and I managed the contractions so much better, cos I knew it was close. She offered me diamorphine for the pain, but I declined that too, and just as I did the urge to push with each contraction became really strong. She rushed around getting things ready, asking me every two mins if my section scar was ok (it was fine), and next thing I knew OH was crying and telling me I was almost there. The pressure hit, and I felt the bag of waters come out like one big balloon - as soon as they were out, they popped and soaked the whole bed, and I felt the most immense relief - it was amazing. I barely had time to think, though, as then OH was crying saying he could see Layne's head, the midwife was laughing saying he had tons of hair, and then pop - he was out!
The second he was born, I became 100% alert, awake, delighted, overcome, you name it. OH was still crying, the midwife gave Layne up to us and it was just surreal. He had the thickest head of dark hair and all I could think was, 'I have a son, I have a son.'
I delivered the placenta in no time - the part I was really afraid of - and barely felt a thing. The midwife checked me over and confirmed I needed no stitches whatsoever; it had been very plain sailing. I went for a bath, OH went to make all the calls and that was it - I was up on the ward within the hour pottering around with a massive grin on my face
All in all, having had a c-section, an instrumental birth and a completely natural birth, I'd recommend going naturally a million times over, girls. It's hard - really hard - but my God. It's so worth it.
Anyway, here I am to announce that Layne arrived on Friday April 20th at 6:02am weighing a teensy 5lbs 13 oz, but perfect in every way and with a massive mop of dark hair
He is absolutely gorgeous, big big blue eyes and I've been on cloud nine ever since. I'll pop a pic on soon as I don't have time right now to sort it out!So, here goes. After lots and lots of starting and stopping, I went down to hospital on Wednesday 18th with signs of labour. My contractions were 3 mins apart, but I was only 2cm so they kept me in and sent OH home to sleep for a while. By 4am, everything had stopped...again. That morning, before discharging me, the consultant decided to help me along with a sweep; he was a big Russian dude, stood at the end of my bed and said, 'In order to help you, I have to hurt you', lol. I was offered gas and air and he got to work and my *God* was I glad of the drugs; it only took a few moments but ouch. Fair play to those women who have a sweep done at the midwives! They then let me go, but one midwife told me that the Russian doctor was notorious for his sweeps and that she'd expect me back in by that night.
She was right. That evening, my best friend called with the last of my baby things - a swinging chair, a bath and bathstand etc - and we had a natter and a giggle to take my mind off things. I'd been having lots of bloody show all day, but felt fairly convinced that I'd be the first to prove Russian Doctor wrong. My friend left around 11pm with me telling her that it wasn't going to happen that night.
Within an hour, labour started. I was watching tv with OH, and had noticed increasingly uncomfortable period pains coming regularly - roughly 5 mins apart. By the time The Big Bang Theory was over, they were 3 mins apart and I had to pace around holding onto things each time one hit. These felt so different; both OH and I just knew it was time, so we were waiting for my parents to arrive to take care of my girls. I'll quickly answer an age old question here from my perspective, as this was my first experience of natural contractions - the difference between them and BH? Simple, guys. For me, with real contractions, I had no inclination whatsoever to check if my bump was tightening; I couldn't have cared less. These were intense period pains and I had no attention span for anything else other than getting through them by breathing.
Mum and dad arrived at about 1am, and we reached the hospital by 1.30am; I'd spent the journey clinging to the handle thingy above the window through each contraction and I couldn't talk through them. I knew that by the time I got into the admissions dept, I'd need gas and air. When I got out of the car, the pressure was insane; we were stood waiting for someone in admissions, nobody was there and I started to panic that Layne was coming very soon. Finally, we got brought in and I was checked; I was only 3-4cm, but the contractions were really stepping up and were now 2-3 mins apart. I had what seemed like a lifetime on the CTG, clung to the gas and air through my contractions and desperately wanted to get up on my feet. Finally, I was allowed up and started to dance through the contractions, which made things so much more bearable and OH had a proper giggle at me. I was high as a fecking kite, too. During a quick trip to the loo between contractions, he says I walked out of the cubicle, paused, turned and went back in to scrub the toilet seat, saying, 'I may be in labour, but I'm not a dirty bitch' (I have no memory of this, lol).
After I went back in to the admissions room (they were extremely busy so I was stuck there for a while), everything really changed. My contractions became very, very intense and all I can remember is being on my knees on the floor bent over the bed, rocking back and forth. At some point, an auxiliary came in and was on the phone giving someone hell as she'd just found me there, OH in a state of panic, no midwife to be seen and I was howling through my pains. A midwife came and brought me to the ante-natal ward as I was still only 4cm and delivery was full. I started crying on the bed, convinced I still had hours and hours to go; OH was crying too as I was just saying I couldn't do it anymore over and over again. The thing is, inside my head, I knew I could - it's just that the pressure down below was scaring me and I still felt sure I had ages left. I coped, though, and at around 4:45am they brought me down to delivery. I hadn't been checked since 3:30am, and the delivery midwife took one look at me when they got me sorted on the delivery bed and said she thought I was close. I figured she was mental cos in my head, I was still only 4cm and wanted an epidural NOW, lol. She spent some time doing my notes, I kept going with the gas and air (totally out of my head at this stage, lol), and then she checked me at around 5.30am as I was making noises with the pressure.
She said I was almost fully dilated, and at that moment EVERYTHING inside my head completely changed. She offered to pop my bag of waters, but I declined and said to let things happen naturally. My head felt totally clear and I managed the contractions so much better, cos I knew it was close. She offered me diamorphine for the pain, but I declined that too, and just as I did the urge to push with each contraction became really strong. She rushed around getting things ready, asking me every two mins if my section scar was ok (it was fine), and next thing I knew OH was crying and telling me I was almost there. The pressure hit, and I felt the bag of waters come out like one big balloon - as soon as they were out, they popped and soaked the whole bed, and I felt the most immense relief - it was amazing. I barely had time to think, though, as then OH was crying saying he could see Layne's head, the midwife was laughing saying he had tons of hair, and then pop - he was out!
The second he was born, I became 100% alert, awake, delighted, overcome, you name it. OH was still crying, the midwife gave Layne up to us and it was just surreal. He had the thickest head of dark hair and all I could think was, 'I have a son, I have a son.'
I delivered the placenta in no time - the part I was really afraid of - and barely felt a thing. The midwife checked me over and confirmed I needed no stitches whatsoever; it had been very plain sailing. I went for a bath, OH went to make all the calls and that was it - I was up on the ward within the hour pottering around with a massive grin on my face
All in all, having had a c-section, an instrumental birth and a completely natural birth, I'd recommend going naturally a million times over, girls. It's hard - really hard - but my God. It's so worth it.
congratulations xxx
I'm planning a natural birth too so it's very inspiring!
