CupCakeFairy
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Ok, so here goes!
My first contraction was on Thursday night. They were much more intense than the BH I had been experiencing. I'd stayed up all night and contacted the maternity unit a few times as I'd also had fluid leaking from me! I was hopeful! They got me in for an exam and a trace on baby on the Friday morning. They were, by the end of the exam, uncertain if my waters had gone so they told me if contractions picked up to just call again. My contractions decided to die down throughout the day, only a few an hour for most of the day, picking up mainly at night.
I woke on the Saturday morning after a sketchy nights sleep and a few more contractions. It was half five and I was in agony! I was sure these were the 'real deal' but as I'd been at this since Thursday with no real progression, DH and I decided to keep our plans with his parents - an afternoon involving lunch out, a trip to Ikea and afternoon tea in Dobbies! Having contractions in the middle of Ikea was very interesting, especially for other shoppers! I also had a little plug come away while in the garden centre...Nice!
That night I had no sleep at all! I had two baths and a shower and paracetamol every 4 hours! I was convinced I was in labour due to the intensity of the pain, but my contractions would be 5-10 minutes apart for an hour or so and then get to the 2-3 minutes apart for a few hours, we'd get ready to call the mat unit and then they'd go back to being 10 minutes apart. So... I eventually called the unit at some point on the Sunday morning. They got me in, examined me (3cm dilated, so only 'establishing' labour) and sent me home. This was my due date! I was really hoping I'd be one of those lucky women who had a spontaneous labour and delivered naturally on her due date!
I spent an hour or two at home, painfully contracting, and eventually, not being able to keep my food down. At this point I called again and told them that I needed to come in - I was too far away without a car to be in this much pain!
They got me in, and finally admitted me to the labour ward! I laboured in the low dependency part of the unit, without any pain relief for an hour/two hours and then started on the gas and air! That stuff made me a new woman! I was admitted at about 3pm and by 8 pm it was time for a shift change! I had a lovely midwife and student midwife who, at about 9pm, got me into the birthing pool. My one condition was that the gas and air came too!
I must have been in the pool for a few hours, I was getting very strong contractions and by about 11ish I was pushing. So the midwives got me out the pool and examined me. I was only 8cms! Totally gutted! I asked how long they thought it would take to get to 10cms with the intention of staying in the pool...but when they told me 3 hours I told them, and my husband, that I couldn't carry on for another 3hrs (although, now I wish I had!) So a very funny Korean midwife asked if I wanted an epidural... I said I did and before I knew it, I was running (and I'm not kidding, I was literally running!) along to the next room for my epidural! If I knew that would take an hour I may have blinkin' well stayed in the blinkin' pool!
Ok, so now I'm all drugged up and am resting for the first time since Saturday morning - it's now early hours Monday morning! I got to 10cms at 5am but had to wait 2hrs to push due to new procedures!
At 7am I started pushing. My contractions however, stopped... Almost completely! At half past seven they gave me the hormone that got things moving again. At half nine, after two and a half hours of pushing and lots of 'Look at that hair/I can see lots of hair' comments, the new midwife (yes, another shift change ) left the room and came back with what seemed like a gazillion doctors! The obstetrics consultant explained that baby's head was facing sideways and needed to be facing down to deliver. This meant nothing to me! On my next contraction, one of the doctors attempted to turn baby's head - this was my last chance for a natural delivery. This was the point when I noticed there were more midwives in the room and about four more doctors...
Needless to say, the manual attempt to turn baby failed and before I knew it, the consultant was explaining the procedures that would be required to get baby out. This included a forceps delivery but failing that, a section...all were emergency procedures! I was being talked through both procedures and their complications and was given a consent form to sign for the trial by forceps/emergency section all while the epidural drip machine was beeping, a half a dozen doctors floating about the room and my husband nowhere to be seen.
An anaesthetist upped/topped up my epidural... I was so numb, it was very reassuring! Lol! I was then rushed through to the theatre, still not seeing my husband! I thought that if I cried now, that would be me, I'd not be able to stop, so I bit my tongue and stopped thinking!
Once I was fully numbed (wonderful job, even my boobs were numb ) they got me into position and at this point I started begging for my husband. I didn't understand why he wasn't there! But within minutes, he was all scrubbed up and by my side! Then came the pulling! I still had to push, but because I was so numb, the midwife had to tell me when. First they rotated her head, then they pulled her head out then they pulled her out. At some point throughout this, they also gave me an episiotomy. They handed baby over me to a midwife and off she went to the other side of the room screaming... baby, not the midwife! I think at this point DH and I kissed and he asked me what I wanted him to do... I told him to go to Alba. My only desire for the whole delivery process was to get immediate skin to skin... And it never dawned on me that I'd not get this so after they stitched me up, and moved me back to a proper bed, a kind midwife asked if I wanted skin to skin and loosened my gown and placed Alba on my chest.
We were then wheeled to the high dependency unit and I realised once again that DH was nowhere to be seen! Turns out that he had gone to get changed and had a wee cry of mixed emotions and he text to let family know that Alba was finally here! By the time I saw him again it was 11am and we were both exhausted! But she was here. Alba was safe and here and we were a family.
Alba was here and I'd been wheeled off to the high dependency unit. There was just me in there for a while, but later on I heard someone else. It was quite nice in there, if you ignored the IVs and seriousness of the midwives... Anyway!
This part is sketchy for me as I was still on pain relief and still exhausted! I remember that the midwife kept checking my lady parts and she wasn't happy and that she called the doctor who had assisted/delivered Alba. She wasn't too happy either and hurried off somewhere. At this point the midwife gave a sandwich to DH. What I soon realised was meant to be my sandwich. I bravely asked if they were withholding food from me in case I needed surgery, and a general. I wasn't wrong. The doctor came back and proceeded to add a few more stitches to my cut as that's where they believed all the extra blood was coming from. I had to wait a few hours after the bleeding had stopped before eating in case I needed to be put under a general for further investigation/fixing if the bleeding didn't stop. It did, thankfully, and after a few hours I got tea and toast! Yum!
Although, I was still feeling really sick (I forgot about this... I started throwing up just before seven in the morning and continued to do so up until I was in the theatre - imagine trying to throw up laying flat on your back with your legs in stirrups) so I never finished my toast but really enjoyed my tea - which is very unlike me! Lol!
So now that I was allowed to eat and drink, I drank loads of water! But there was a problem... My catheter bag wasn't filling up. It was about two hours after I'd started drinking and nothing was coming out. They were extremely concerned and had me drink a whole jug of water in front of them to prove that I was drinking. By this point I must have had two or three litres of water and two cups of tea! They got a doctor in and he gave me an ultrasound... I knew something was up as I told the doctor that I needed a pee and I knew I shouldn't cos of the catheter... And again, I was right! The ultrasound showed that my bladder was full to bursting! It turns out that the catheter was kinked! So once that one was removed and a new one replaced, I was on the home stretch to being moved to the ward.
By 9pm, DH and I, with baby Alba in my arms, were moved to my room. I was gutted when I was wheeled into a room with three other women!
Safe to say I had another sleepless night. I also couldn't get Alba when she cried, I couldn't sit to feed her and I couldn't change her And it never helped that there was an extremely unhelpful staff member on who basically told me she didn't understand why I couldn't do these things and the baby next door had to be monitored at all times while her mother slept and left me unable to get baby to latch on and me crying because I felt like I couldn't feed my baby or look after her in any way.
At one point a female staff member came around and politely told me I looked like crap! I gave her the run-down and she was a surprised I was in a ward with other women and asked if there was anything she could do, which there wasnt because Alba was sleeping. I felt totally hopeless until my DH got there the next morning. Alba was to get a baby check over so I told my DH to come directly to the hospital (which he then admitted meant he didnt get me the flowers he was going to buy me) and he made it just in time for us to realise that I could barely walk!
I later asked to be discharged and had various staff members tell me it wasnt a good idea. The consultant came through and I told her that the care and support Id get at home from my husband would be much better than the care I received the previous night! It was go home or have a family room in which DH could stay with me. I told her that no one had checked my catheter until the lovely student had come at 9am and Id begged for it out and Id rather be in my own bed than alone in a hospital with unhelpful staff. She was very hesitant but came by at seven that evening with my discharge papers. I was over the moon! I got all my stuff together as fast as I could and phoned our lift home. And on our way we went
Coming home as a family = Priceless
Well done for making it! Took eight and a half months to complete writing but its there!
My first contraction was on Thursday night. They were much more intense than the BH I had been experiencing. I'd stayed up all night and contacted the maternity unit a few times as I'd also had fluid leaking from me! I was hopeful! They got me in for an exam and a trace on baby on the Friday morning. They were, by the end of the exam, uncertain if my waters had gone so they told me if contractions picked up to just call again. My contractions decided to die down throughout the day, only a few an hour for most of the day, picking up mainly at night.
I woke on the Saturday morning after a sketchy nights sleep and a few more contractions. It was half five and I was in agony! I was sure these were the 'real deal' but as I'd been at this since Thursday with no real progression, DH and I decided to keep our plans with his parents - an afternoon involving lunch out, a trip to Ikea and afternoon tea in Dobbies! Having contractions in the middle of Ikea was very interesting, especially for other shoppers! I also had a little plug come away while in the garden centre...Nice!
That night I had no sleep at all! I had two baths and a shower and paracetamol every 4 hours! I was convinced I was in labour due to the intensity of the pain, but my contractions would be 5-10 minutes apart for an hour or so and then get to the 2-3 minutes apart for a few hours, we'd get ready to call the mat unit and then they'd go back to being 10 minutes apart. So... I eventually called the unit at some point on the Sunday morning. They got me in, examined me (3cm dilated, so only 'establishing' labour) and sent me home. This was my due date! I was really hoping I'd be one of those lucky women who had a spontaneous labour and delivered naturally on her due date!
I spent an hour or two at home, painfully contracting, and eventually, not being able to keep my food down. At this point I called again and told them that I needed to come in - I was too far away without a car to be in this much pain!
They got me in, and finally admitted me to the labour ward! I laboured in the low dependency part of the unit, without any pain relief for an hour/two hours and then started on the gas and air! That stuff made me a new woman! I was admitted at about 3pm and by 8 pm it was time for a shift change! I had a lovely midwife and student midwife who, at about 9pm, got me into the birthing pool. My one condition was that the gas and air came too!I must have been in the pool for a few hours, I was getting very strong contractions and by about 11ish I was pushing. So the midwives got me out the pool and examined me. I was only 8cms! Totally gutted! I asked how long they thought it would take to get to 10cms with the intention of staying in the pool...but when they told me 3 hours I told them, and my husband, that I couldn't carry on for another 3hrs (although, now I wish I had!) So a very funny Korean midwife asked if I wanted an epidural... I said I did and before I knew it, I was running (and I'm not kidding, I was literally running!) along to the next room for my epidural! If I knew that would take an hour I may have blinkin' well stayed in the blinkin' pool!
Ok, so now I'm all drugged up and am resting for the first time since Saturday morning - it's now early hours Monday morning! I got to 10cms at 5am but had to wait 2hrs to push due to new procedures!
At 7am I started pushing. My contractions however, stopped... Almost completely! At half past seven they gave me the hormone that got things moving again. At half nine, after two and a half hours of pushing and lots of 'Look at that hair/I can see lots of hair' comments, the new midwife (yes, another shift change ) left the room and came back with what seemed like a gazillion doctors! The obstetrics consultant explained that baby's head was facing sideways and needed to be facing down to deliver. This meant nothing to me! On my next contraction, one of the doctors attempted to turn baby's head - this was my last chance for a natural delivery. This was the point when I noticed there were more midwives in the room and about four more doctors...Needless to say, the manual attempt to turn baby failed and before I knew it, the consultant was explaining the procedures that would be required to get baby out. This included a forceps delivery but failing that, a section...all were emergency procedures! I was being talked through both procedures and their complications and was given a consent form to sign for the trial by forceps/emergency section all while the epidural drip machine was beeping, a half a dozen doctors floating about the room and my husband nowhere to be seen.
An anaesthetist upped/topped up my epidural... I was so numb, it was very reassuring! Lol! I was then rushed through to the theatre, still not seeing my husband! I thought that if I cried now, that would be me, I'd not be able to stop, so I bit my tongue and stopped thinking!Once I was fully numbed (wonderful job, even my boobs were numb ) they got me into position and at this point I started begging for my husband. I didn't understand why he wasn't there! But within minutes, he was all scrubbed up and by my side! Then came the pulling! I still had to push, but because I was so numb, the midwife had to tell me when. First they rotated her head, then they pulled her head out then they pulled her out. At some point throughout this, they also gave me an episiotomy. They handed baby over me to a midwife and off she went to the other side of the room screaming... baby, not the midwife! I think at this point DH and I kissed and he asked me what I wanted him to do... I told him to go to Alba. My only desire for the whole delivery process was to get immediate skin to skin... And it never dawned on me that I'd not get this so after they stitched me up, and moved me back to a proper bed, a kind midwife asked if I wanted skin to skin and loosened my gown and placed Alba on my chest.
We were then wheeled to the high dependency unit and I realised once again that DH was nowhere to be seen! Turns out that he had gone to get changed and had a wee cry of mixed emotions and he text to let family know that Alba was finally here! By the time I saw him again it was 11am and we were both exhausted! But she was here. Alba was safe and here and we were a family.
Alba was here and I'd been wheeled off to the high dependency unit. There was just me in there for a while, but later on I heard someone else. It was quite nice in there, if you ignored the IVs and seriousness of the midwives... Anyway!
This part is sketchy for me as I was still on pain relief and still exhausted! I remember that the midwife kept checking my lady parts and she wasn't happy and that she called the doctor who had assisted/delivered Alba. She wasn't too happy either and hurried off somewhere. At this point the midwife gave a sandwich to DH. What I soon realised was meant to be my sandwich. I bravely asked if they were withholding food from me in case I needed surgery, and a general. I wasn't wrong. The doctor came back and proceeded to add a few more stitches to my cut as that's where they believed all the extra blood was coming from. I had to wait a few hours after the bleeding had stopped before eating in case I needed to be put under a general for further investigation/fixing if the bleeding didn't stop. It did, thankfully, and after a few hours I got tea and toast! Yum!
Although, I was still feeling really sick (I forgot about this... I started throwing up just before seven in the morning and continued to do so up until I was in the theatre - imagine trying to throw up laying flat on your back with your legs in stirrups
) so I never finished my toast but really enjoyed my tea - which is very unlike me! Lol! So now that I was allowed to eat and drink, I drank loads of water! But there was a problem... My catheter bag wasn't filling up. It was about two hours after I'd started drinking and nothing was coming out. They were extremely concerned and had me drink a whole jug of water in front of them to prove that I was drinking. By this point I must have had two or three litres of water and two cups of tea! They got a doctor in and he gave me an ultrasound... I knew something was up as I told the doctor that I needed a pee and I knew I shouldn't cos of the catheter... And again, I was right! The ultrasound showed that my bladder was full to bursting! It turns out that the catheter was kinked! So once that one was removed and a new one replaced, I was on the home stretch to being moved to the ward.
By 9pm, DH and I, with baby Alba in my arms, were moved to my room. I was gutted when I was wheeled into a room with three other women!
Safe to say I had another sleepless night. I also couldn't get Alba when she cried, I couldn't sit to feed her and I couldn't change her And it never helped that there was an extremely unhelpful staff member on who basically told me she didn't understand why I couldn't do these things and the baby next door had to be monitored at all times while her mother slept and left me unable to get baby to latch on and me crying because I felt like I couldn't feed my baby or look after her in any way.
At one point a female staff member came around and politely told me I looked like crap! I gave her the run-down and she was a surprised I was in a ward with other women and asked if there was anything she could do, which there wasnt because Alba was sleeping. I felt totally hopeless until my DH got there the next morning. Alba was to get a baby check over so I told my DH to come directly to the hospital (which he then admitted meant he didnt get me the flowers he was going to buy me) and he made it just in time for us to realise that I could barely walk!
I later asked to be discharged and had various staff members tell me it wasnt a good idea. The consultant came through and I told her that the care and support Id get at home from my husband would be much better than the care I received the previous night! It was go home or have a family room in which DH could stay with me. I told her that no one had checked my catheter until the lovely student had come at 9am and Id begged for it out and Id rather be in my own bed than alone in a hospital with unhelpful staff. She was very hesitant but came by at seven that evening with my discharge papers. I was over the moon! I got all my stuff together as fast as I could and phoned our lift home. And on our way we went
Coming home as a family = Priceless
Well done for making it! Took eight and a half months to complete writing but its there!
