Hi ladies! It has taken me 10 weeks but here is my birth story finally! Its long and boring so if you cant be bothered reading theres some tips at the bottom!!
First I just need to say the even though my labour was prolonged, labour and birth was nowhere near as bad as I though it would be! No one ever says that so I need to say it!
Also I drank heaps of RLT which Im sure helped with my pushing and I took EPO and went into labour at 39 weeks, not sure if it was the EPO or not.
It was a Wednesday, I was lying on the couch and I was having very faint period like cramps, they were so light I thought I might be imagining it. They must have been real because later that day my water broke. I was on the couch and I felt a little wet, I slowly got up thinking it could just be some mucus plug or something gross like that but as soon as I stood up I had a huge gush of fluid! It just kept coming. Every time I moved or sat down and got up again there would be another massive gush I cant believe how much fluid there was. I was wearing pads all day and when I looked closely at the fluid on the pad I could see little hairs, these were my babys hairs! I could not stop shaking I was just so nervous.
My contractions hadnt started yet so I just called the hospital to let them know what was going on and they said I had to come in to get monitored because my water had broken. So I went in and we listened to baby on the ctg for an hour and they sent me home to wait for contractions.
Nothing happened all evening so OH and I went to bed where I slept for about an hour or so when I started having some light contractions. They started to get a little more intense and I wanted to get things going so I let OH sleep while I got up to walk around. I had a tens machine and apparently your supposed to start using it early on so when the contractions picked up a bit I woke OH to put it on. It felt really weird, I wasnt sure if it was helping but I kept using it anyway.
By around 2 in the morning it started getting pretty intense, I had to concentrate to get through the contractions and I really wanted to get in the bath as I had spent pretty much the last three months in the bath and I loved it. We headed to my parents house because they have a beautiful bathroom and a huge bath. As I got in the bath, it was nice but as soon as the next contraction started I knew it was a huge mistake! Having a contraction lying down was 10x worse than standing up, I hated it. So I got straight out of the bath and walked around the house having very intense contractions. After a few hours of really intense contractions we headed back to the hospital. By the way, I was LOVING the tens machine by now! It was great, not for everyone but defiantly give it a chance.
Heres where the trouble starts, after hours of intense contractions, we got to the hospital and bam they stop! I was sooooo frustrated! The midwife looked at me like oh here we go, another first time mum thinking shes in pain but shes not even close! So off we go back home which is 30 mins away. By this time it was Thursday morning so I went back to bed and had around one average contraction every 45 minutes so labour had pretty much stopped completely but my mucus plug had started coming away. It was huge stretchy clear bits of mucus that would stretch out like 15cm lol yuk. It was streaked with bright red as well which is normal.
That night after a long walk we had a family dinner planned at my parents house and we went. When we were there my contractions started getting stronger and closer together again. I had to leave the room every time I was having one because my brother, dad and grandad were freaking out, I was pretty loud during the bad ones. I was making noises I make when I have sex and I couldnt help it! I must sound the same during pleasure as I do during pain lol embarrassing, lucky only OH knows its the same.
We went home where I laboured for hours and omg it was getting so bad I couldnt sit down because that made it worse but I was so exhausted, it was impossible to rest. I was refusing to go to the hospital because I was scared theyd send me home and getting in the car meant sitting down.
Eventually, probably at about 5 on Friday morning OH made me go to the hospital because I was freezing cold and shaking even though it wasnt cold at all. When we got there the contractions were still terrible but again slowed right down. Not sure if the hospital made me anxious so it slowed or just coincidence? Anyway they were really busy so the made my lay on the bed in this tiny clinic room with no windows on the ctg while they found a room for me.
They didnt want to do a vaginal examination because my water had broken so this old midwife did a speculum. She told me I hadnt dilated yet!!! OMG if this is what labour feels like before dilating that WTF will it feel like when I am!? It was this moment I decided I am DEFINATLY getting an epidural. I was just thing ok all I have to do is get to 4cm and I can have the epidural.
I was so upset I really started to panic. She gave me some panadol and a sleeping tablet and left the room only to come back and check on me every hour or so. The sleeping tablet helped me sleep in between the contractions but I woke up every 5 minutes to have the most painful intense contractions Id had so far. At around 9:40am a midwife finally came in and said there was a room ready for me. She also said wouldnt it be nice if there was a little hotel for all the women who arent in established labour to wait in Are you kidding me lady? They still thought I wasnt in real labour yet. I walked to my room and as I got in there I felt like I was pushing. The midwife tole me not to push as I wasnt dilated yet. I thought I needed to poo lol so I sat on the toilet where I knew I was defiantly pushing! I vomited and then the midwife decided to check me. Yep fully dilated, but by this stage I though I was having an epidural and was terrified of the pain of the pushing part. Obviously there was no time for an epi so I knelt over the back of the upright bed and pushed out my baby boy in about 10 minutes! No time for the antibiotics for the prolonged rupture of membranes, which caused my little boy to become very sick but thats a whole other story. (hes fine now)
When I heard the midwife say ok lots of burning and stinging now I was actually think oh this isnt as bad as I thought it would be! Lol I cant believe that was what was going through my head when there was a head coming out of me!
I listened to the midwife when she told me not to push so I only had a first degree labial tear with no stitches woohoo!
About half an hour later I went to the toilet and looked down at my vagina and omg dont do that ladies! My (for lack of a better word) clit looked like a golf ball eww! Very scary but I am happy to say that my vagina looks and feels the same as before pregnancy so yes everything really does go back to normal, in fact my vagina looked worse when I was pregnant than it did a week after birth!
So heres my advice from my birth experience:
- drink lots of raspberry leaf tea
- prepare to manage the pain mentally. Take one contraction at a time, its all in the mind!
- drink ural right after birth and lots of it! The first pee is terrible lol
- Listen to the midwife when she says to push and not to push
- Trust your body, you know best
Thanks for reading, Im happy to answer any questions!
First I just need to say the even though my labour was prolonged, labour and birth was nowhere near as bad as I though it would be! No one ever says that so I need to say it!
Also I drank heaps of RLT which Im sure helped with my pushing and I took EPO and went into labour at 39 weeks, not sure if it was the EPO or not.
It was a Wednesday, I was lying on the couch and I was having very faint period like cramps, they were so light I thought I might be imagining it. They must have been real because later that day my water broke. I was on the couch and I felt a little wet, I slowly got up thinking it could just be some mucus plug or something gross like that but as soon as I stood up I had a huge gush of fluid! It just kept coming. Every time I moved or sat down and got up again there would be another massive gush I cant believe how much fluid there was. I was wearing pads all day and when I looked closely at the fluid on the pad I could see little hairs, these were my babys hairs! I could not stop shaking I was just so nervous.
My contractions hadnt started yet so I just called the hospital to let them know what was going on and they said I had to come in to get monitored because my water had broken. So I went in and we listened to baby on the ctg for an hour and they sent me home to wait for contractions.
Nothing happened all evening so OH and I went to bed where I slept for about an hour or so when I started having some light contractions. They started to get a little more intense and I wanted to get things going so I let OH sleep while I got up to walk around. I had a tens machine and apparently your supposed to start using it early on so when the contractions picked up a bit I woke OH to put it on. It felt really weird, I wasnt sure if it was helping but I kept using it anyway.
By around 2 in the morning it started getting pretty intense, I had to concentrate to get through the contractions and I really wanted to get in the bath as I had spent pretty much the last three months in the bath and I loved it. We headed to my parents house because they have a beautiful bathroom and a huge bath. As I got in the bath, it was nice but as soon as the next contraction started I knew it was a huge mistake! Having a contraction lying down was 10x worse than standing up, I hated it. So I got straight out of the bath and walked around the house having very intense contractions. After a few hours of really intense contractions we headed back to the hospital. By the way, I was LOVING the tens machine by now! It was great, not for everyone but defiantly give it a chance.
Heres where the trouble starts, after hours of intense contractions, we got to the hospital and bam they stop! I was sooooo frustrated! The midwife looked at me like oh here we go, another first time mum thinking shes in pain but shes not even close! So off we go back home which is 30 mins away. By this time it was Thursday morning so I went back to bed and had around one average contraction every 45 minutes so labour had pretty much stopped completely but my mucus plug had started coming away. It was huge stretchy clear bits of mucus that would stretch out like 15cm lol yuk. It was streaked with bright red as well which is normal.
That night after a long walk we had a family dinner planned at my parents house and we went. When we were there my contractions started getting stronger and closer together again. I had to leave the room every time I was having one because my brother, dad and grandad were freaking out, I was pretty loud during the bad ones. I was making noises I make when I have sex and I couldnt help it! I must sound the same during pleasure as I do during pain lol embarrassing, lucky only OH knows its the same.
We went home where I laboured for hours and omg it was getting so bad I couldnt sit down because that made it worse but I was so exhausted, it was impossible to rest. I was refusing to go to the hospital because I was scared theyd send me home and getting in the car meant sitting down.
Eventually, probably at about 5 on Friday morning OH made me go to the hospital because I was freezing cold and shaking even though it wasnt cold at all. When we got there the contractions were still terrible but again slowed right down. Not sure if the hospital made me anxious so it slowed or just coincidence? Anyway they were really busy so the made my lay on the bed in this tiny clinic room with no windows on the ctg while they found a room for me.
They didnt want to do a vaginal examination because my water had broken so this old midwife did a speculum. She told me I hadnt dilated yet!!! OMG if this is what labour feels like before dilating that WTF will it feel like when I am!? It was this moment I decided I am DEFINATLY getting an epidural. I was just thing ok all I have to do is get to 4cm and I can have the epidural.
I was so upset I really started to panic. She gave me some panadol and a sleeping tablet and left the room only to come back and check on me every hour or so. The sleeping tablet helped me sleep in between the contractions but I woke up every 5 minutes to have the most painful intense contractions Id had so far. At around 9:40am a midwife finally came in and said there was a room ready for me. She also said wouldnt it be nice if there was a little hotel for all the women who arent in established labour to wait in Are you kidding me lady? They still thought I wasnt in real labour yet. I walked to my room and as I got in there I felt like I was pushing. The midwife tole me not to push as I wasnt dilated yet. I thought I needed to poo lol so I sat on the toilet where I knew I was defiantly pushing! I vomited and then the midwife decided to check me. Yep fully dilated, but by this stage I though I was having an epidural and was terrified of the pain of the pushing part. Obviously there was no time for an epi so I knelt over the back of the upright bed and pushed out my baby boy in about 10 minutes! No time for the antibiotics for the prolonged rupture of membranes, which caused my little boy to become very sick but thats a whole other story. (hes fine now)
When I heard the midwife say ok lots of burning and stinging now I was actually think oh this isnt as bad as I thought it would be! Lol I cant believe that was what was going through my head when there was a head coming out of me!
I listened to the midwife when she told me not to push so I only had a first degree labial tear with no stitches woohoo!
About half an hour later I went to the toilet and looked down at my vagina and omg dont do that ladies! My (for lack of a better word) clit looked like a golf ball eww! Very scary but I am happy to say that my vagina looks and feels the same as before pregnancy so yes everything really does go back to normal, in fact my vagina looked worse when I was pregnant than it did a week after birth!
So heres my advice from my birth experience:
- drink lots of raspberry leaf tea
- prepare to manage the pain mentally. Take one contraction at a time, its all in the mind!
- drink ural right after birth and lots of it! The first pee is terrible lol
- Listen to the midwife when she says to push and not to push
- Trust your body, you know best
Thanks for reading, Im happy to answer any questions!
