Baby Emily was born on Thursday 8th September 2011 at 7.38PM - 8lb 12oz. I had planned for a home water birth, but had to be transferred into hospital. Sorry the story is so long!
My due date was 1st Sept 2011. I had been contracting since 31st Aug between 1am and 2am but then nothing for the rest of the day.
Sunday 4th and Monday 5th Sept the contractions lasted a bit longer during the early hours of morning, so to try prolong them we went out for a long long walk on Monday. I slept well that night, but had no contractions at all and I had nothing all day Tuesday so I was very very disappointed that the long walk didn’t help!
Wednesday morning I started contracting on and off throughout early morning. At around 6am my contractions woke me and noticed they had a pattern to them, they were coming every 10 minutes and lasting around a minute and a half. At around 8am, my contractions were still regular and My husband and I were debating whether or not he should go to work. We decided he would go early so he could get a decent parking space incase he had to leave work early.
My contractions went on for around 4 hours (about noon) and then completely stopped. They then kicked in again at around 4pm every 5-10 minutes, lasting around 1 minute, this was accompanied by intense lower back pain and pressure in my bum and I just couldn’t get comfy with them. Throughout the night the pain in my back was getting almost unbearable. I tried to have a bath but that didn’t help and then put on my Tens machine and that took the edge off - I guess it gave me something else to concentrate on! During this time, Hubby was nagging me to call the midwife, but I didn’t want to, even though I was in a lot of pain I didn’t want her to come out and examine me to find I was only 1 cm dilated as I would find it really demotivating! And from reading other birth stories, it seemed to be pretty common for first births.
By about 9.45pm I couldn’t take much more of the pain and Hubby called the midwife. It was one that I hadn’t met before, she wanted to speak to me and she said to take some paracetamol and try a bath and hot water bottle and get plenty of rest. I tried to sleep a bit, but I couldn’t handle the pain at all, I just wanted to be rid of the pain and I was even considering asking for an epidural – which before, I was adamant I didn’t want, as the thought of a needle in my back terrified me! We called the midwife again around 11pm or so and she said she would come out to examine me and would take about 45 minutes to get to me.
The midwife arrived just shortly before midnight and told me she needed to examine me. Most of my life I’ve had a terrible fear of internals, so much so I’ve never had a smear, even though I know how important they are. So I was already very very anxious. She took me upstairs to examine me and it was excruciating! It felt like her whole hand was up there and it felt like she was being really rough and that her hand was going to come out my mouth!! She was pushing her fingers up there so hard! I ended up having a panic attack and the midwife couldn’t calm me down. She went downstairs and I lay on the bed for a while trying to compose myself and I was thoroughly embarrassed – almost so much so, I didn’t want to go downstairs and be around her!
When I finally went downstairs she said that my cervix was very high and I was only 1cm dilated. I was so frustrated by this point as I just knew that would happen, I was so ready to give up! The pain in my back was so intense, I couldn’t get comfortable sitting, standing on all fours or lying plus I was so so tired and my bits were now really sore to top it off!
The midwife left at about midnight and told me to get some rest. I tried another bath and then put my tens up high and lay down in bed. The back pain was just excruciating along with the contractions every 10 minutes, I didn’t get any sleep through the night. At 8am we called the midwife again and it was the one I really liked. I said I really couldn’t cope with the pain in my back and I needed something for it. She said to try a shower or hot water bottle and she’d be around in about 40 minutes, then we can see about using the gas and air.
The nice midwife arrived and my contractions were very strong and close together - we stopped timing at this point so not sure how far apart they were or how long they lasted.
The midwife said she needed to examine me again, I told her about the panic attack but she said she really needed to examine me, she did try, but again I had another panic attack and I couldn’t let her go on. She said to try gas and air and to get my husband to hold my hand, so I tried that but I just couldn’t take it. So she didn’t get to examine me at all!
She suggested I get in the pool, so I did. I quite surprised myself as I never thought I’d walk around bottomless infront of someone other than my husband, but at that point I just didn’t care! I am a very shy person and I remember reading that people say you just don’t care, but I always thought that I’d still not be able to do it.
I got in the pool and it did help a bit, but the pain in my back was just so intense I couldn’t get comfortable. It was just the worst feeling ever! I managed the next few hours in the pool on gas and air. In between contractions I would fall fast asleep, it felt almost as if I was losing consciousness!
Another midwife arrived - whom I had never met, I actually never saw her as I didn’t open my eyes the entire time she was with me! I
was floating in and out of it not really aware of what was going on around me. I remembered leaning over the pool and the midwives telling me I need to eat and drink but I really didn’t want to. I knew I should as I didn’t have anything since the night before, I just took sips of water, but even those made me feel sick.
Another midwife arrived - one I had during my appointments and I wasn’t previously keen on, she took over from the one I didn’t know. She was actually very nice and caring during my labour and kept encouraging me to drink, because by this point my contractions were wearing off as I was dehydrated and very tired. She made me a really sweet raspberry leaf tea and it tasted really good!
The Midwives kept telling me I needed to go to the bathroom to pee, but the pain in my back was so bad I couldn’t sit down on the toilet, I tried to pee standing up but I just couldn’t get anything to come out, I couldn’t even feel the muscles that I used to pee! They had to put a catheter in me, which again I found very painful and it seemed to take forever!! I remember them saying they had to examine me again, which struck up another panic attack, but I was also a bit “out of it” and not sure if they managed to or not!! I think I pulled out the midwives hand at one point!
I remember lying on the sofa drifting in and out of sleep/consciousness my husband and the midwives talking about random things! Like how they liked their tea and they were eating my ‘Graze’ boxes which I had ordered a heap of for labour! I remember thinking I hope they don’t eat all my flapjacks! (They did!) Every so often I’d get a mother of a contraction and cry out in pain, the midwive and my husband would rush over me and hold my hand and my midwife would put pressure on my lower back with her hand that felt really really good! I then started to get the urge to push and I screamed that I was needing to push, to my surprise the midwife said ‘that’s ok, just go with it’. I was expecting them to say – don’t push, you’re not ready!! I can’t believe the involuntary noise that comes with pushing! I really never knew I had it in me! That was another thing that I didn’t think I’d do – is make noise, as I thought I’d be too shy and self conscious, but boy did I make some noise!
I got back into the pool and the midwives asked Hubby to monitored babies heart rate after every contraction, which I found really annoying as I had to move position each time! They also constantly checked my pulse and blood pressure - both which were starting to rise quite dramatically. After 2 hours of pushing in the pool and on the sofa, they started talking about transferring me to hospital, because of my rising heart rate and blood pressure and the fact their cut off for pushing was 2 hours. I was very upset by this as I wanted a home birth, so I kept pushing with all my might and I kind of withdrew into myself. I couldn’t believe the noise that was coming out of me, I just could not control it. It was like a primal guttering grunt/scream!
The midwives arranged for an ambulance and just as the ambulance was called, I felt babies head coming down and was shouting to the midwives that her head was coming. During the next contraction the midwives examined me to feel for babies head and started to prepared for delivery there and then as they could see the head of baby. They started to heat up the pool again and I was getting a bit excited thinking I was actually going to have my home waterbirth! I kept pushing for a while longer, but the ambulance arrived and I had to get ready to go into hospital.
I hadn’t really fully packed my labour bag and I was trying to remember what else I needed, but I just couldn’t think! The midwives were hurrying me along and they told me to put a dressing gown on, I kept asking for my bra and underwear but the ambulance crew were waiting, so I had to walk out to the ambulance with a t-shirt and dressing gown and nothing on my bottom half! I felt a contraction coming and had visions of having to hold onto husbands car in the middle of the street and pushing and screaming and I was starting to panic at this thought - Thankfully I managed to make it to the ambulance! (Just as well as my neighbour said she saw me getting into the ambulance!)
The ambulance ride was very bumpy, I asked to lie on my side and was allowed to. I kept having to push every 2 minutes and I Just couldn’t control the noise I was making! The urge to push is just incredible and you can’t fight it.
The hospital is only 10 minutes away, but the ride felt like it was going on forever, plus it was about 5.30pm so right at rush hour! They didn’t put the sirens on.
When we arrived at the hospital the ambulance crew asked if I wanted to stay on the bed and I said yes, so they wheeled me along the corridor to the labour ward - I opened my eyes once and felt immediately travel sick, so kept them closed for the duration of being wheeled. I got to the labour ward and my contractions and pushing urge were coming even harder and closer, I was on the bed leaning against the back of the bed which was upright. I kept pushing and felt baby come down some more. I remember a midwife saying my Husband better hurry as he’ll miss the birth and I was panicking as I didn’t want him to miss it. 2 seconds later he walked through the door.
I was given gas and air and it was fantastic!! So much stronger than the stuff I got at home. I got very drunk and remember grinning like a cheshire cat and saying ‘this is goooooood stuff!’ everyone had a good laugh! The my own midwife said that they would have to complain to the people that gives them their supply as obviously it wasn’t very good. lol! My midwife then had to leave and I was quite upset as I would have loved her to deliver baby! I told her so too.
The doctor came in and said I needed to get a drip to rehydrate me and to get antibiotics as my temperature was very high. I’ve always hated the thought of having needle in my hand and I remember saying ‘no’ but they thought I was saying no because of the contraction, so she put the needle in my hand anyway! But it actually wasn’t bad at all! I hardly felt a thing! So I’ll have nothing to fear if I have it done again!
After about an hour and a half of pushing on all fours, I was told to lie on my back so they could strap some monitors to me. I really didn’t want to go on my back, but apparently baby’s heartrate was increasing, so I had to. I pushed on my back for a bit, then they put my legs into stirrups and tried various widths and heights with those. With each push I had to pull up my thighs which I found so difficult and just couldn’t do it. The pain in my back was so bad and lying on my back made it worse. I kept asking if I could go on my side, but they wouldn’t let me because of baby’s heart rate. They also kept covering me in cold flannels and had a fan on me as they kept saying I was far too hot, however I was feeling very cold and I was physically shivering!
After more pushing, they started talking about getting the Doctors in as baby was coming out a bit further but going straight back up even further! I was getting very frustrated and exhausted by this stage. I had visions of epidural, forceps, c-section etc and really didn’t want any of them, so it gave me the incentive to push even harder. Babies head was then starting to come out further and not slide back up. They then said they would have to do an episiotomy, at this point I wasn’t caring I just wanted to have baby out!
I got the local anaesthetic injections down below and they were fine - not really painful at all. I did about 2 more pushes and baby’s head started to emerge, oh my god the pain! I didn’t think I could feel any more pain than the back ache I was having! It also felt like I was splitting in half up to my clitoris!! I found it very difficult to push through, but I somehow managed and baby’s head came fully out - what a relief!! The midwife asked if I wanted to feel it and I did and pulled away my hand as it felt so weird! She moved my hand to baby’s ear and it was just a really really strange– it kinda freaked me out. Lol!
On the next contraction baby started coming out further then the midwives started hauling baby out when I was having no contractions and I wasn’t pushing and it was very painful! But baby then came out - the relief after baby was out was intense - no more pain! It just completely vanished, they announced it was a girl and she was crying her little lungs out. I was so stunned I couldn’t even comprehend that there was a baby on me, they kept telling me to look at her and asking if I was ok. Even though I had carried this baby for 9 months and knew I was having a baby, I just couldn’t fathom that I actually had a baby! I then burst out crying, I guess out of exhaustion and relief and just overwhelming emotion. I slowly started to come to my senses and comprehend that I just had a baby! The feeling of love started to come and I just couldn’t stop looking at her, she was crying constantly.
My Husband cut the babies cord and then we were asked what I wanted for third stage – I wasn’t bothered, so they just gave me the injection, within 5 minutes or so, my placenta came out. I asked to look at it and it was just amazing! I couldn’t believe the size of it! The life source for my baby – it would’ve been good if we had remembered to take a photo or got to feel the weight of it.
Another midwife came in to stitch me up, the local anaesthetic for that was very painful – there was several injections around the area and I felt every one! It was weird being stitched up, I kept expecting to feel pain, but I never felt anything except pulling. That’s the first time I’ve ever had stitches! After I was stitched up we were left alone while
the midwife got us tea and toast. I tried to eat the toast as I was starving, but I guess with going so long without food (almost a day and a half!) eating made me feel really sick. The midwife asked how I wanted to feed Emily, I still hadn’t decided but said I’d give breastfeeding a go, she helped me breastfeed Emily, she latched on straight away and she fed for about 45 minutes. I was taken through to the shower – which felt great, but I was worrying about the blood going all over the floor! I was trying to mop it up but it just kept coming out! So I apologised to the nurse and then we headed off to the labour ward.
My first night alone in the ward was very scary, as I have had no previous experience with babies. I tried to breastfeed through the night but found it very painful. Emily cried the whole night and everyone else’s babies on the ward was silent, I heard people huffing and tutting. I was getting very embarrassed and felt so helpless! We got discharged on Friday Evening (9th). But due to some feeding problems we were readmitted by the midwife on the Saturday night, Emily then became Jaundiced and had to be under the lights. We finally got home again on Monday 12th Sept.
One month on and I’m finally getting around to posting this! I’m now back to breast feeding – it’s still painful for the first 2 minutes then bearable after that. We still have to supplement with Formula, as after being on each breast she’s still hungry! Emily still doesn’t settle at nights and she tends to have a very fussy time between midnight and 3am, so I’m now staying up til 3am and then I sleep on and off (feeding every 3-4 hrs) until noon! Not ideal, but hopefully it will change soon! I love Emily to bits and I just can’t think what I did with my life before having her!
I'll post some pictures shortly
My due date was 1st Sept 2011. I had been contracting since 31st Aug between 1am and 2am but then nothing for the rest of the day.
Sunday 4th and Monday 5th Sept the contractions lasted a bit longer during the early hours of morning, so to try prolong them we went out for a long long walk on Monday. I slept well that night, but had no contractions at all and I had nothing all day Tuesday so I was very very disappointed that the long walk didn’t help!
Wednesday morning I started contracting on and off throughout early morning. At around 6am my contractions woke me and noticed they had a pattern to them, they were coming every 10 minutes and lasting around a minute and a half. At around 8am, my contractions were still regular and My husband and I were debating whether or not he should go to work. We decided he would go early so he could get a decent parking space incase he had to leave work early.
My contractions went on for around 4 hours (about noon) and then completely stopped. They then kicked in again at around 4pm every 5-10 minutes, lasting around 1 minute, this was accompanied by intense lower back pain and pressure in my bum and I just couldn’t get comfy with them. Throughout the night the pain in my back was getting almost unbearable. I tried to have a bath but that didn’t help and then put on my Tens machine and that took the edge off - I guess it gave me something else to concentrate on! During this time, Hubby was nagging me to call the midwife, but I didn’t want to, even though I was in a lot of pain I didn’t want her to come out and examine me to find I was only 1 cm dilated as I would find it really demotivating! And from reading other birth stories, it seemed to be pretty common for first births.
By about 9.45pm I couldn’t take much more of the pain and Hubby called the midwife. It was one that I hadn’t met before, she wanted to speak to me and she said to take some paracetamol and try a bath and hot water bottle and get plenty of rest. I tried to sleep a bit, but I couldn’t handle the pain at all, I just wanted to be rid of the pain and I was even considering asking for an epidural – which before, I was adamant I didn’t want, as the thought of a needle in my back terrified me! We called the midwife again around 11pm or so and she said she would come out to examine me and would take about 45 minutes to get to me.
The midwife arrived just shortly before midnight and told me she needed to examine me. Most of my life I’ve had a terrible fear of internals, so much so I’ve never had a smear, even though I know how important they are. So I was already very very anxious. She took me upstairs to examine me and it was excruciating! It felt like her whole hand was up there and it felt like she was being really rough and that her hand was going to come out my mouth!! She was pushing her fingers up there so hard! I ended up having a panic attack and the midwife couldn’t calm me down. She went downstairs and I lay on the bed for a while trying to compose myself and I was thoroughly embarrassed – almost so much so, I didn’t want to go downstairs and be around her!
When I finally went downstairs she said that my cervix was very high and I was only 1cm dilated. I was so frustrated by this point as I just knew that would happen, I was so ready to give up! The pain in my back was so intense, I couldn’t get comfortable sitting, standing on all fours or lying plus I was so so tired and my bits were now really sore to top it off!
The midwife left at about midnight and told me to get some rest. I tried another bath and then put my tens up high and lay down in bed. The back pain was just excruciating along with the contractions every 10 minutes, I didn’t get any sleep through the night. At 8am we called the midwife again and it was the one I really liked. I said I really couldn’t cope with the pain in my back and I needed something for it. She said to try a shower or hot water bottle and she’d be around in about 40 minutes, then we can see about using the gas and air.
The nice midwife arrived and my contractions were very strong and close together - we stopped timing at this point so not sure how far apart they were or how long they lasted.
The midwife said she needed to examine me again, I told her about the panic attack but she said she really needed to examine me, she did try, but again I had another panic attack and I couldn’t let her go on. She said to try gas and air and to get my husband to hold my hand, so I tried that but I just couldn’t take it. So she didn’t get to examine me at all!
She suggested I get in the pool, so I did. I quite surprised myself as I never thought I’d walk around bottomless infront of someone other than my husband, but at that point I just didn’t care! I am a very shy person and I remember reading that people say you just don’t care, but I always thought that I’d still not be able to do it.
I got in the pool and it did help a bit, but the pain in my back was just so intense I couldn’t get comfortable. It was just the worst feeling ever! I managed the next few hours in the pool on gas and air. In between contractions I would fall fast asleep, it felt almost as if I was losing consciousness!
Another midwife arrived - whom I had never met, I actually never saw her as I didn’t open my eyes the entire time she was with me! I
was floating in and out of it not really aware of what was going on around me. I remembered leaning over the pool and the midwives telling me I need to eat and drink but I really didn’t want to. I knew I should as I didn’t have anything since the night before, I just took sips of water, but even those made me feel sick.
Another midwife arrived - one I had during my appointments and I wasn’t previously keen on, she took over from the one I didn’t know. She was actually very nice and caring during my labour and kept encouraging me to drink, because by this point my contractions were wearing off as I was dehydrated and very tired. She made me a really sweet raspberry leaf tea and it tasted really good!
The Midwives kept telling me I needed to go to the bathroom to pee, but the pain in my back was so bad I couldn’t sit down on the toilet, I tried to pee standing up but I just couldn’t get anything to come out, I couldn’t even feel the muscles that I used to pee! They had to put a catheter in me, which again I found very painful and it seemed to take forever!! I remember them saying they had to examine me again, which struck up another panic attack, but I was also a bit “out of it” and not sure if they managed to or not!! I think I pulled out the midwives hand at one point!
I remember lying on the sofa drifting in and out of sleep/consciousness my husband and the midwives talking about random things! Like how they liked their tea and they were eating my ‘Graze’ boxes which I had ordered a heap of for labour! I remember thinking I hope they don’t eat all my flapjacks! (They did!) Every so often I’d get a mother of a contraction and cry out in pain, the midwive and my husband would rush over me and hold my hand and my midwife would put pressure on my lower back with her hand that felt really really good! I then started to get the urge to push and I screamed that I was needing to push, to my surprise the midwife said ‘that’s ok, just go with it’. I was expecting them to say – don’t push, you’re not ready!! I can’t believe the involuntary noise that comes with pushing! I really never knew I had it in me! That was another thing that I didn’t think I’d do – is make noise, as I thought I’d be too shy and self conscious, but boy did I make some noise!
I got back into the pool and the midwives asked Hubby to monitored babies heart rate after every contraction, which I found really annoying as I had to move position each time! They also constantly checked my pulse and blood pressure - both which were starting to rise quite dramatically. After 2 hours of pushing in the pool and on the sofa, they started talking about transferring me to hospital, because of my rising heart rate and blood pressure and the fact their cut off for pushing was 2 hours. I was very upset by this as I wanted a home birth, so I kept pushing with all my might and I kind of withdrew into myself. I couldn’t believe the noise that was coming out of me, I just could not control it. It was like a primal guttering grunt/scream!
The midwives arranged for an ambulance and just as the ambulance was called, I felt babies head coming down and was shouting to the midwives that her head was coming. During the next contraction the midwives examined me to feel for babies head and started to prepared for delivery there and then as they could see the head of baby. They started to heat up the pool again and I was getting a bit excited thinking I was actually going to have my home waterbirth! I kept pushing for a while longer, but the ambulance arrived and I had to get ready to go into hospital.
I hadn’t really fully packed my labour bag and I was trying to remember what else I needed, but I just couldn’t think! The midwives were hurrying me along and they told me to put a dressing gown on, I kept asking for my bra and underwear but the ambulance crew were waiting, so I had to walk out to the ambulance with a t-shirt and dressing gown and nothing on my bottom half! I felt a contraction coming and had visions of having to hold onto husbands car in the middle of the street and pushing and screaming and I was starting to panic at this thought - Thankfully I managed to make it to the ambulance! (Just as well as my neighbour said she saw me getting into the ambulance!)
The ambulance ride was very bumpy, I asked to lie on my side and was allowed to. I kept having to push every 2 minutes and I Just couldn’t control the noise I was making! The urge to push is just incredible and you can’t fight it.
The hospital is only 10 minutes away, but the ride felt like it was going on forever, plus it was about 5.30pm so right at rush hour! They didn’t put the sirens on.
When we arrived at the hospital the ambulance crew asked if I wanted to stay on the bed and I said yes, so they wheeled me along the corridor to the labour ward - I opened my eyes once and felt immediately travel sick, so kept them closed for the duration of being wheeled. I got to the labour ward and my contractions and pushing urge were coming even harder and closer, I was on the bed leaning against the back of the bed which was upright. I kept pushing and felt baby come down some more. I remember a midwife saying my Husband better hurry as he’ll miss the birth and I was panicking as I didn’t want him to miss it. 2 seconds later he walked through the door.
I was given gas and air and it was fantastic!! So much stronger than the stuff I got at home. I got very drunk and remember grinning like a cheshire cat and saying ‘this is goooooood stuff!’ everyone had a good laugh! The my own midwife said that they would have to complain to the people that gives them their supply as obviously it wasn’t very good. lol! My midwife then had to leave and I was quite upset as I would have loved her to deliver baby! I told her so too.
The doctor came in and said I needed to get a drip to rehydrate me and to get antibiotics as my temperature was very high. I’ve always hated the thought of having needle in my hand and I remember saying ‘no’ but they thought I was saying no because of the contraction, so she put the needle in my hand anyway! But it actually wasn’t bad at all! I hardly felt a thing! So I’ll have nothing to fear if I have it done again!
After about an hour and a half of pushing on all fours, I was told to lie on my back so they could strap some monitors to me. I really didn’t want to go on my back, but apparently baby’s heartrate was increasing, so I had to. I pushed on my back for a bit, then they put my legs into stirrups and tried various widths and heights with those. With each push I had to pull up my thighs which I found so difficult and just couldn’t do it. The pain in my back was so bad and lying on my back made it worse. I kept asking if I could go on my side, but they wouldn’t let me because of baby’s heart rate. They also kept covering me in cold flannels and had a fan on me as they kept saying I was far too hot, however I was feeling very cold and I was physically shivering!
After more pushing, they started talking about getting the Doctors in as baby was coming out a bit further but going straight back up even further! I was getting very frustrated and exhausted by this stage. I had visions of epidural, forceps, c-section etc and really didn’t want any of them, so it gave me the incentive to push even harder. Babies head was then starting to come out further and not slide back up. They then said they would have to do an episiotomy, at this point I wasn’t caring I just wanted to have baby out!
I got the local anaesthetic injections down below and they were fine - not really painful at all. I did about 2 more pushes and baby’s head started to emerge, oh my god the pain! I didn’t think I could feel any more pain than the back ache I was having! It also felt like I was splitting in half up to my clitoris!! I found it very difficult to push through, but I somehow managed and baby’s head came fully out - what a relief!! The midwife asked if I wanted to feel it and I did and pulled away my hand as it felt so weird! She moved my hand to baby’s ear and it was just a really really strange– it kinda freaked me out. Lol!
On the next contraction baby started coming out further then the midwives started hauling baby out when I was having no contractions and I wasn’t pushing and it was very painful! But baby then came out - the relief after baby was out was intense - no more pain! It just completely vanished, they announced it was a girl and she was crying her little lungs out. I was so stunned I couldn’t even comprehend that there was a baby on me, they kept telling me to look at her and asking if I was ok. Even though I had carried this baby for 9 months and knew I was having a baby, I just couldn’t fathom that I actually had a baby! I then burst out crying, I guess out of exhaustion and relief and just overwhelming emotion. I slowly started to come to my senses and comprehend that I just had a baby! The feeling of love started to come and I just couldn’t stop looking at her, she was crying constantly.
My Husband cut the babies cord and then we were asked what I wanted for third stage – I wasn’t bothered, so they just gave me the injection, within 5 minutes or so, my placenta came out. I asked to look at it and it was just amazing! I couldn’t believe the size of it! The life source for my baby – it would’ve been good if we had remembered to take a photo or got to feel the weight of it.
Another midwife came in to stitch me up, the local anaesthetic for that was very painful – there was several injections around the area and I felt every one! It was weird being stitched up, I kept expecting to feel pain, but I never felt anything except pulling. That’s the first time I’ve ever had stitches! After I was stitched up we were left alone while
the midwife got us tea and toast. I tried to eat the toast as I was starving, but I guess with going so long without food (almost a day and a half!) eating made me feel really sick. The midwife asked how I wanted to feed Emily, I still hadn’t decided but said I’d give breastfeeding a go, she helped me breastfeed Emily, she latched on straight away and she fed for about 45 minutes. I was taken through to the shower – which felt great, but I was worrying about the blood going all over the floor! I was trying to mop it up but it just kept coming out! So I apologised to the nurse and then we headed off to the labour ward.
My first night alone in the ward was very scary, as I have had no previous experience with babies. I tried to breastfeed through the night but found it very painful. Emily cried the whole night and everyone else’s babies on the ward was silent, I heard people huffing and tutting. I was getting very embarrassed and felt so helpless! We got discharged on Friday Evening (9th). But due to some feeding problems we were readmitted by the midwife on the Saturday night, Emily then became Jaundiced and had to be under the lights. We finally got home again on Monday 12th Sept.
One month on and I’m finally getting around to posting this! I’m now back to breast feeding – it’s still painful for the first 2 minutes then bearable after that. We still have to supplement with Formula, as after being on each breast she’s still hungry! Emily still doesn’t settle at nights and she tends to have a very fussy time between midnight and 3am, so I’m now staying up til 3am and then I sleep on and off (feeding every 3-4 hrs) until noon! Not ideal, but hopefully it will change soon! I love Emily to bits and I just can’t think what I did with my life before having her!
I'll post some pictures shortly
