missbabes
Mum of 2
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I had really hoped that I would have been able to tell my birth story after being induced in a positive light not long after giving birth, but unfortunately in my case it was just not meant to be.
I was booked in for induction due to GD and baby measuring in the 97th percentile on my actual due date of the 23rd. Was meant to have a pessary after being admitted at 9:30am, but it was delayed as I was getting numerous braxton hicks contractions, enough that I was left on a fetal monitor for several hours while the midwifes scratched their heads. I had a mixture of ones that I couldn't feel, to ones that were mildly painful with backaches. Leading to an average of one every one to five minutes in a rather odd pattern. They didn't want to put the pessary in as it could have made the braxton hicks more painful and frequent which could have caused distress for the baby. I had a cervical check and was told that I was 1cm dilated.
Eventually around 10:30pm (that's right pm, not a typo) they were confident enough that my braxton hicks had levelled off and finally had the pessary.
Around 2am on the 24th I started having cramps as a result of the pessary, which were first thought to be early contractions. The pain seemed pretty bad, but a dose of codine did the job allowing me to sleep about an hour later.
At exactly 6:30am I had been awake for a while (having had been on the fetal monitor all night), and literally felt my waters burst while I lay on my side. It was a slightly embarassing but also the funniest moment as my waters didn't stop for over 5 minutes. I'd had excess amniotic fluid earlier on in pregnancy, but had been just under the borderline at my final ultrasound so there was a lot. The pessary fell out by itself just minutes afterwards. It was probably about an hour later that the contractions started up by themselves. Then by 10:30 I was taken to the CLU so I could be examined, I was all of 2cm dilated.
I was placed on a drip (forget which drug it was) to speed up my contractions. Was told that typically I would dilate 1/2cm per hour, I wouldn't be checked agai until 6pm. I lasted until about 1pm on will power alone before I went on gas and air. 6pm arrived and my check had me at 8cm, which had me much further along than expected.
Approximately around 7pm I gave in and had an epidural, since the gas and air was no longer as effective. Was so very glad to have it, as it gave me time to rest and relax.
I was checked again about 10pm, where I was 9.5cm, and again at 10.30pm where I was offically 10cm. I had a chance to relax and even slept for about an hour.
In the meantime though my contractions were being closely monitored, and there were concerns as some contractions weren't as strong as others. It was decided before 12am that I was to stop increasing my epidural dosage so I could have some sensations so I could attempt pushing. I laboured like this in a controlled way for over an hour, though towards the end of this I was in a lot of pain and here is where the confusion for me started.
At some point during a complete blur it was found that I was no longer progressing. The more I pushed the less of a reaction so it was clear that something wasn't right. My epidural was kick started again so a doctor could do a scrape of babys head to check whether they were in distress. Then I was whipped into theatre where a ventouse was attempted and subsequently failed (was pumped with enough drugs that I had no idea what was going on).
At 2am the decision was quickly made for me to have an emergency c-section and minutes later at 2:06am baby Scott was born. As it turned out he was oblique the whole time and if it had been spotted sooner then the induction would have never been initatied and I would have just had the c-section instead. The hospital admitted a little later on that it was entirely possible that I was already in the early stages of labour when I was admitted. If left to labour naturally it's possible that he would have ended up fully head down, as there would have been more time for him to straighten up.
Another twist is that despite all the scans that show that Scott was in the 97th precentile and predicted to be a 9lber, his birth weight was 7lbs 10oz. He's just taken after his 6'5 father instead of my tiny 5'1. He was perfectly in preportion, and we even had to get people to get us some more newborn clothes as we'd focussed more on sizes 0-3.
My recovery has been a slow one as in a way I've gone through both types of delivery. I ended up being in hospital for a grand total of 5 and a half days. Though the latter part was due to Scott being treated for jaundice, cause partly due to him being RH positive while I'm RH negative, and because of the use of the ventouse.
Unfortuntately despite my wish to breastfeed my slow recovery made it a big problem when it came to latching. I just couldn't get into positions which would help him. It's one of the areas in which I feel extremely let down by my hospital. However he's not been denied breastmilk, I've ended up expressing, which is proving to be less stressful for both of us, as well as my Husband.
I was booked in for induction due to GD and baby measuring in the 97th percentile on my actual due date of the 23rd. Was meant to have a pessary after being admitted at 9:30am, but it was delayed as I was getting numerous braxton hicks contractions, enough that I was left on a fetal monitor for several hours while the midwifes scratched their heads. I had a mixture of ones that I couldn't feel, to ones that were mildly painful with backaches. Leading to an average of one every one to five minutes in a rather odd pattern. They didn't want to put the pessary in as it could have made the braxton hicks more painful and frequent which could have caused distress for the baby. I had a cervical check and was told that I was 1cm dilated.
Eventually around 10:30pm (that's right pm, not a typo) they were confident enough that my braxton hicks had levelled off and finally had the pessary.
Around 2am on the 24th I started having cramps as a result of the pessary, which were first thought to be early contractions. The pain seemed pretty bad, but a dose of codine did the job allowing me to sleep about an hour later.
At exactly 6:30am I had been awake for a while (having had been on the fetal monitor all night), and literally felt my waters burst while I lay on my side. It was a slightly embarassing but also the funniest moment as my waters didn't stop for over 5 minutes. I'd had excess amniotic fluid earlier on in pregnancy, but had been just under the borderline at my final ultrasound so there was a lot. The pessary fell out by itself just minutes afterwards. It was probably about an hour later that the contractions started up by themselves. Then by 10:30 I was taken to the CLU so I could be examined, I was all of 2cm dilated.
I was placed on a drip (forget which drug it was) to speed up my contractions. Was told that typically I would dilate 1/2cm per hour, I wouldn't be checked agai until 6pm. I lasted until about 1pm on will power alone before I went on gas and air. 6pm arrived and my check had me at 8cm, which had me much further along than expected.
Approximately around 7pm I gave in and had an epidural, since the gas and air was no longer as effective. Was so very glad to have it, as it gave me time to rest and relax.
I was checked again about 10pm, where I was 9.5cm, and again at 10.30pm where I was offically 10cm. I had a chance to relax and even slept for about an hour.
In the meantime though my contractions were being closely monitored, and there were concerns as some contractions weren't as strong as others. It was decided before 12am that I was to stop increasing my epidural dosage so I could have some sensations so I could attempt pushing. I laboured like this in a controlled way for over an hour, though towards the end of this I was in a lot of pain and here is where the confusion for me started.
At some point during a complete blur it was found that I was no longer progressing. The more I pushed the less of a reaction so it was clear that something wasn't right. My epidural was kick started again so a doctor could do a scrape of babys head to check whether they were in distress. Then I was whipped into theatre where a ventouse was attempted and subsequently failed (was pumped with enough drugs that I had no idea what was going on).
At 2am the decision was quickly made for me to have an emergency c-section and minutes later at 2:06am baby Scott was born. As it turned out he was oblique the whole time and if it had been spotted sooner then the induction would have never been initatied and I would have just had the c-section instead. The hospital admitted a little later on that it was entirely possible that I was already in the early stages of labour when I was admitted. If left to labour naturally it's possible that he would have ended up fully head down, as there would have been more time for him to straighten up.
Another twist is that despite all the scans that show that Scott was in the 97th precentile and predicted to be a 9lber, his birth weight was 7lbs 10oz. He's just taken after his 6'5 father instead of my tiny 5'1. He was perfectly in preportion, and we even had to get people to get us some more newborn clothes as we'd focussed more on sizes 0-3.
My recovery has been a slow one as in a way I've gone through both types of delivery. I ended up being in hospital for a grand total of 5 and a half days. Though the latter part was due to Scott being treated for jaundice, cause partly due to him being RH positive while I'm RH negative, and because of the use of the ventouse.
Unfortuntately despite my wish to breastfeed my slow recovery made it a big problem when it came to latching. I just couldn't get into positions which would help him. It's one of the areas in which I feel extremely let down by my hospital. However he's not been denied breastmilk, I've ended up expressing, which is proving to be less stressful for both of us, as well as my Husband.
Congratulations! 
