I'm going to try and make this as brief as possible!
Had a sweep at 10am on Monday when I was 41+1. MW said I was 1-2cm dilated, cervix was stretchy and LOs head and my cervix were quite low (although I didn't think they felt low!) She was optimistic that I'd go into labour naturally before having to be induced at 42 weeks.
For the rest of the afternoon I had mild backache. By about 8pm I was having very mild contractions every 10 minutes, lasting about 30 seconds. I had a bath before bed and they slowed to every 20 mins before stopping altogether.
Woke up Tuesday morning still pregnant and not having a single twinge! Went shopping with my in-laws and had a couple of BH style tightenings but nothing exciting- I was hoping the walking would set me off! Got home at lunchtime and had backache again, so I settled on the couch with a DVD and a hot water bottle.
At 5:30pm I started having painful contractions- straight away they were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds. Within an hour I was struggling to breathe through them and they were lasting 1 minute each. I told OH to grab my bags and I called the labour ward to tell them that I was coming in. While I was on the phone I had a contraction and my waters broke (all over the living room carpet!)
We got to the hospital at 7:15pm and they took me straight to a delivery room where I got on the bed, asked for G&A and to be examined. I was praying I was more than 2cm dilated! The MW said I was 5cm and everything looked fine down there. By this point I was in so much pain at the height of each contraction that I asked for an epidural; I knew I couldn't take hours more of the pain I was in! They put a cannula in my hand for the IV etc but I knocked it out and was spurting blood everywhere. I was breathing the G&A constantly and kept asking OH to check it was working because it didn't seem to be doing anything! I was clawing my poor OH's arm with every contraction.
Around 8pm I was in agony - my body was literally bearing down at the height of each contraction and I found it impossible to breathe during it, I had no control over my body during this time at all. MW and OH kept telling me to breathe, but I couldn't until the bearing down had finished. I asked where the epidural was and said I needed to push, but the MW said they needed to put another cannula in before an epidural could be done.
Finally, at 8:45pm someone came to put another cannula in. The person (no idea who it was!) asked if I needed to push, OH said yes, I'd been saying that for ages! MW came and examined me at 20:55pm and said we were ready to have a baby!
I pushed for 30 minutes with my feet against the stirrups. Pushing wasn't like I expected- it didn't feel like I was actually pushing anything out, so I was getting disheartened as I thought it was going nowhere. The MW and OH were really good at keeping me motivated though, telling me that the baby had hair and her head was making it's way down. They said they needed to cut me as I was having trouble getting the head out- 2 big pushes while they were getting the equipment ready and I felt my whole belly deflate as LO was born! The anaethetist arrived 5 minutes later to give me my epidural! Lol
They put her straight on my chest while they clamped the cord and started getting my placenta out (which only took 5 mins). We had cuddles for about an hour while we waited for the Dr to come and do my stitches. I had a couple of 2nd degree tears but nothing too major. After I was stitched up (which was fine- not sure why some people say that hurts the most?!) I had a bath and OH stayed with baby. We then moved onto the ward, but they weren't too busy so I got a private room. OH left about 1am and I spent all night staring at and cuddling my beautiful baby.
So from start to finish, my labour was less than 4 hours, but I presume my body had been doing a lot of work before proper contractions started. Maybe all the RLT I drank had some effect after all! I was surprised by the contractions- I was expecting them to be in my back and whole of my belly, but they were just intense pains in my vagina! I'm recovering well - but doubt we'll be trying for more babies any time soon - the intensity of my labour has definitely put me off. In some ways I'm glad it wasn't a massively long labour, but in otherways I think you build up a bit more tolerance to the pain when they start off slow and milder.
Sorry for the essay!
Had a sweep at 10am on Monday when I was 41+1. MW said I was 1-2cm dilated, cervix was stretchy and LOs head and my cervix were quite low (although I didn't think they felt low!) She was optimistic that I'd go into labour naturally before having to be induced at 42 weeks.
For the rest of the afternoon I had mild backache. By about 8pm I was having very mild contractions every 10 minutes, lasting about 30 seconds. I had a bath before bed and they slowed to every 20 mins before stopping altogether.
Woke up Tuesday morning still pregnant and not having a single twinge! Went shopping with my in-laws and had a couple of BH style tightenings but nothing exciting- I was hoping the walking would set me off! Got home at lunchtime and had backache again, so I settled on the couch with a DVD and a hot water bottle.
At 5:30pm I started having painful contractions- straight away they were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds. Within an hour I was struggling to breathe through them and they were lasting 1 minute each. I told OH to grab my bags and I called the labour ward to tell them that I was coming in. While I was on the phone I had a contraction and my waters broke (all over the living room carpet!)
We got to the hospital at 7:15pm and they took me straight to a delivery room where I got on the bed, asked for G&A and to be examined. I was praying I was more than 2cm dilated! The MW said I was 5cm and everything looked fine down there. By this point I was in so much pain at the height of each contraction that I asked for an epidural; I knew I couldn't take hours more of the pain I was in! They put a cannula in my hand for the IV etc but I knocked it out and was spurting blood everywhere. I was breathing the G&A constantly and kept asking OH to check it was working because it didn't seem to be doing anything! I was clawing my poor OH's arm with every contraction.
Around 8pm I was in agony - my body was literally bearing down at the height of each contraction and I found it impossible to breathe during it, I had no control over my body during this time at all. MW and OH kept telling me to breathe, but I couldn't until the bearing down had finished. I asked where the epidural was and said I needed to push, but the MW said they needed to put another cannula in before an epidural could be done.
Finally, at 8:45pm someone came to put another cannula in. The person (no idea who it was!) asked if I needed to push, OH said yes, I'd been saying that for ages! MW came and examined me at 20:55pm and said we were ready to have a baby!
I pushed for 30 minutes with my feet against the stirrups. Pushing wasn't like I expected- it didn't feel like I was actually pushing anything out, so I was getting disheartened as I thought it was going nowhere. The MW and OH were really good at keeping me motivated though, telling me that the baby had hair and her head was making it's way down. They said they needed to cut me as I was having trouble getting the head out- 2 big pushes while they were getting the equipment ready and I felt my whole belly deflate as LO was born! The anaethetist arrived 5 minutes later to give me my epidural! Lol
They put her straight on my chest while they clamped the cord and started getting my placenta out (which only took 5 mins). We had cuddles for about an hour while we waited for the Dr to come and do my stitches. I had a couple of 2nd degree tears but nothing too major. After I was stitched up (which was fine- not sure why some people say that hurts the most?!) I had a bath and OH stayed with baby. We then moved onto the ward, but they weren't too busy so I got a private room. OH left about 1am and I spent all night staring at and cuddling my beautiful baby.
So from start to finish, my labour was less than 4 hours, but I presume my body had been doing a lot of work before proper contractions started. Maybe all the RLT I drank had some effect after all! I was surprised by the contractions- I was expecting them to be in my back and whole of my belly, but they were just intense pains in my vagina! I'm recovering well - but doubt we'll be trying for more babies any time soon - the intensity of my labour has definitely put me off. In some ways I'm glad it wasn't a massively long labour, but in otherways I think you build up a bit more tolerance to the pain when they start off slow and milder.
Sorry for the essay!
x
Congrats hun xx
