AmandaBaby
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Here’s my birth story, nearly 5 months late!
And really long, sorry!
About 2 days before all of this I had been experiencing minor contractions on and off. I had the stretch and sweep about 3-4 days prior to active labour.
I was shopping the day before actually, really hoping that what I was experiencing was going to lead me to labour! At 7 days overdue, it was all I could think about!
Anyway, I woke up on the 15th December 2012 with contractions; they were a bit stronger from the days before. We decided to head to the hospital just to check on things as they started to get a bit uncomfortable.
We arrived at about 9am and got checked shortly after. I was 3cm dilated and they decided to break my water for me. It was quite uncomfortable! It turned out that I had meconium in my water so a monitor was attached to Ava’s head to check her heart rate. The contractions weren’t too bad yet so I decided to have a shower; I was in there for about an hour when the contractions started to get quite painful so I got out and put the gown on then got started on gas/air and also had some morphine. The morphine is such an unreal experience! I don’t think I liked it though! It didn’t do much for the pain, just made me feel like I wasn’t in my own body! I don’t think the gas/air worked either, it was more me doing it to try and take my mind off things – it didn’t!
I was adamant not to have an epidural and told my mum and partner that no matter how much pain I was in, to not let me have it – what a stupid idea that was! I was checked at 2pm and was sure that with all this pain I must be at least 7 or 8cm, I thought that if I was at least progressed that much then I could get through the rest – I was wrong! They told me I was 5cm and I immediately asked for an epidural. The anesthetist (sp?) who would perform the epidural was minutes off from being called away so I was very lucky I got it done when I did, otherwise I could have been waiting hours! This was one of the most stressful parts though! I was told not to move when they did it so had to make sure I wasn’t about to have a contraction when they did it and every time I made a panting noise during a contraction, the guy thought I was ready so went to do it, I had to keep yelling out, “not yet!” This happened about 3 times when finally he was able to do it! I was also given a catheter. The epidural kicked in not long after and things were great! It was the best decision I’d made, I was actually able to “enjoy” my labour!
Sometime around here, or possibly before the epidural (or maybe it was later on) I was given syntocin to help speed things along.
I was checked again at 6pm and was a “good” 7cm. Then I was checked at 10pm and was at 9cm, by this point I was told that I wasn’t progressing fast enough. They wanted to give me a cesarean but I begged them not to. I was given an hour to progress to the 10cm otherwise I would have to have one. There was also a bit of cervix in the way which meant I wasn’t able to be stretched the last 1cm. 11pm came and I was so nervous but thank gosh I was 10cm when they checked! I was told I wasn’t able to push though because other patients were more urgent…
This is where it started getting painful! My epidural was starting to run out and the nurse wouldn’t top it up for me. I started getting horrible pain high up in my ribs and was freaking out because of the contraction pain and rib pain. I begged for the nurse to come back and at 11.15pm she let me start to push. By this time, I’m fairly sure the epidural had worn off completely. I felt everything! It was horrific!
I didn’t understand how I was meant to take breaths in between pushing , I was too much in pain to comprehend anything, I eventually got the hang of it though. The pain was still in my ribs though so I kept trying to put pressure on the area with my hand. The midwife kept getting angry at me though because apparently I was suppose to be holding my legs back – alongside her, my partner and my mum. I was in so much pain with pushing, the contractions and the pain from my ribs, I was literally screaming! I couldn’t stop myself, it was like my body was screaming for me, I had no control over it. It felt like there were so many people in the room, the midwife, the doctor trying to pull Ava out (both hands, on each side of her head, pulling…
and then other midwives behind him. One of them told me to stop screaming. If I weren’t so out of it I would have told her where to shove it! I kept pushing but I was in horrific pain and just wasn’t getting anywhere so I had to have the vacuum to get her out. By this time I was asking myself why I didn’t just get the C-section! There was so much trauma happening to me at that moment, it was excruciating! Like nothing I had ever imagined. I also had to have the episiotomy. They were explain the process to me and all I could think was that I was going to feel them cut me, I was terrified. They gave me some kind of anesthetic though, thank gosh!
At 12.43am on the 16th December 2012, Our beautiful Ava was born weighing 8 pound 13 ounces and 54cm long. She didn’t cry for what seemed like minutes, but was really only a few seconds. She also had the cord wrapped slightly around her neck so daddy wasn’t able to cut it. She was placed on my stomach for a few minutes while the placenta was delivered then they took her over to be cleaned up. She was given back to me while they stitched me up. I couldn’t feel pain but I could feel the tugging. After everything I’d just felt though, I just wanted to be left alone! Ava was taken down to special care not long after and her daddy went with her. She was down there for a while as I had developed a temperature during labour and they wanted to keep an eye on her. As well as check the meconium and her breathing as she had a little trouble. I was left alone until 5am I think. It was awful. My partner came back and I had a shower, it was so hard to move! These are the things they don’t tell you! I had such a heavy feeling, which I think was due to my pelvic floor. That, as well as the fact that my lungs felt like they were being dragged around. It was hard to move and I couldn’t breathe properly. I’m so thankful to my partner for helping me through all of this, I couldn’t have done it without him! I was then wheeled down to the maternity ward, though I could hardly sit. Ava was bought to us a short time later. She was perfect and had so much hair! I couldn’t believe she was ours!
We both had to have IV’s put in our hands for antibiotics due to the temperature which meant Ava spent some time in special care. It worked out good because I got a little extra sleep, though I hated being away from my baby.
We got to go home after 4 days (though I was first told I would be leaving the hospital without Ava, I nearly died, there was no way I was leaving without her. She was checked over by the doctors though and they said she was fine to come home too.
Ava is now nearly 5 months old and is the perfect little baby! She’s slept through the night since about 7 weeks only waking once or twice for her dummy! She started relying on it though about 3 weeks ago so we’ve taken it away. She now sleeps from about 6-7pm until about 6.30am! I’m so proud of our little girl, she is my everything!
And really long, sorry!
About 2 days before all of this I had been experiencing minor contractions on and off. I had the stretch and sweep about 3-4 days prior to active labour.
I was shopping the day before actually, really hoping that what I was experiencing was going to lead me to labour! At 7 days overdue, it was all I could think about!
Anyway, I woke up on the 15th December 2012 with contractions; they were a bit stronger from the days before. We decided to head to the hospital just to check on things as they started to get a bit uncomfortable.
We arrived at about 9am and got checked shortly after. I was 3cm dilated and they decided to break my water for me. It was quite uncomfortable! It turned out that I had meconium in my water so a monitor was attached to Ava’s head to check her heart rate. The contractions weren’t too bad yet so I decided to have a shower; I was in there for about an hour when the contractions started to get quite painful so I got out and put the gown on then got started on gas/air and also had some morphine. The morphine is such an unreal experience! I don’t think I liked it though! It didn’t do much for the pain, just made me feel like I wasn’t in my own body! I don’t think the gas/air worked either, it was more me doing it to try and take my mind off things – it didn’t!
I was adamant not to have an epidural and told my mum and partner that no matter how much pain I was in, to not let me have it – what a stupid idea that was! I was checked at 2pm and was sure that with all this pain I must be at least 7 or 8cm, I thought that if I was at least progressed that much then I could get through the rest – I was wrong! They told me I was 5cm and I immediately asked for an epidural. The anesthetist (sp?) who would perform the epidural was minutes off from being called away so I was very lucky I got it done when I did, otherwise I could have been waiting hours! This was one of the most stressful parts though! I was told not to move when they did it so had to make sure I wasn’t about to have a contraction when they did it and every time I made a panting noise during a contraction, the guy thought I was ready so went to do it, I had to keep yelling out, “not yet!” This happened about 3 times when finally he was able to do it! I was also given a catheter. The epidural kicked in not long after and things were great! It was the best decision I’d made, I was actually able to “enjoy” my labour!
Sometime around here, or possibly before the epidural (or maybe it was later on) I was given syntocin to help speed things along.
I was checked again at 6pm and was a “good” 7cm. Then I was checked at 10pm and was at 9cm, by this point I was told that I wasn’t progressing fast enough. They wanted to give me a cesarean but I begged them not to. I was given an hour to progress to the 10cm otherwise I would have to have one. There was also a bit of cervix in the way which meant I wasn’t able to be stretched the last 1cm. 11pm came and I was so nervous but thank gosh I was 10cm when they checked! I was told I wasn’t able to push though because other patients were more urgent…
This is where it started getting painful! My epidural was starting to run out and the nurse wouldn’t top it up for me. I started getting horrible pain high up in my ribs and was freaking out because of the contraction pain and rib pain. I begged for the nurse to come back and at 11.15pm she let me start to push. By this time, I’m fairly sure the epidural had worn off completely. I felt everything! It was horrific!
I didn’t understand how I was meant to take breaths in between pushing , I was too much in pain to comprehend anything, I eventually got the hang of it though. The pain was still in my ribs though so I kept trying to put pressure on the area with my hand. The midwife kept getting angry at me though because apparently I was suppose to be holding my legs back – alongside her, my partner and my mum. I was in so much pain with pushing, the contractions and the pain from my ribs, I was literally screaming! I couldn’t stop myself, it was like my body was screaming for me, I had no control over it. It felt like there were so many people in the room, the midwife, the doctor trying to pull Ava out (both hands, on each side of her head, pulling…
and then other midwives behind him. One of them told me to stop screaming. If I weren’t so out of it I would have told her where to shove it! I kept pushing but I was in horrific pain and just wasn’t getting anywhere so I had to have the vacuum to get her out. By this time I was asking myself why I didn’t just get the C-section! There was so much trauma happening to me at that moment, it was excruciating! Like nothing I had ever imagined. I also had to have the episiotomy. They were explain the process to me and all I could think was that I was going to feel them cut me, I was terrified. They gave me some kind of anesthetic though, thank gosh! At 12.43am on the 16th December 2012, Our beautiful Ava was born weighing 8 pound 13 ounces and 54cm long. She didn’t cry for what seemed like minutes, but was really only a few seconds. She also had the cord wrapped slightly around her neck so daddy wasn’t able to cut it. She was placed on my stomach for a few minutes while the placenta was delivered then they took her over to be cleaned up. She was given back to me while they stitched me up. I couldn’t feel pain but I could feel the tugging. After everything I’d just felt though, I just wanted to be left alone! Ava was taken down to special care not long after and her daddy went with her. She was down there for a while as I had developed a temperature during labour and they wanted to keep an eye on her. As well as check the meconium and her breathing as she had a little trouble. I was left alone until 5am I think. It was awful. My partner came back and I had a shower, it was so hard to move! These are the things they don’t tell you! I had such a heavy feeling, which I think was due to my pelvic floor. That, as well as the fact that my lungs felt like they were being dragged around. It was hard to move and I couldn’t breathe properly. I’m so thankful to my partner for helping me through all of this, I couldn’t have done it without him! I was then wheeled down to the maternity ward, though I could hardly sit. Ava was bought to us a short time later. She was perfect and had so much hair! I couldn’t believe she was ours!
We both had to have IV’s put in our hands for antibiotics due to the temperature which meant Ava spent some time in special care. It worked out good because I got a little extra sleep, though I hated being away from my baby.
We got to go home after 4 days (though I was first told I would be leaving the hospital without Ava, I nearly died, there was no way I was leaving without her. She was checked over by the doctors though and they said she was fine to come home too.
Ava is now nearly 5 months old and is the perfect little baby! She’s slept through the night since about 7 weeks only waking once or twice for her dummy! She started relying on it though about 3 weeks ago so we’ve taken it away. She now sleeps from about 6-7pm until about 6.30am! I’m so proud of our little girl, she is my everything!
