helz81
Mum of 3
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 1,382
- Reaction score
- 0
Ok, thought I'd write my birth story up while it's all still fresh, and raw in my mind....
Ok the labour wasn't particuarly long but the whole story is so bear with me!..
Saturday 31st October, 3 days over due I was getting in the shower when I got up and became aware of aload of slimy mucus falling out of me which I assumed was my plug/show. I began having tightenings that throughout the day were coming every 40 minutes. Went out with hubby and my 6 year old son trick or treating thinking the walking around would help bring it on abit if it was the start of labour. Found the walking uncomfortable,like babys head was banging against my cervix and I was still having tightenings but once we got back home I relaxed infront of Xfactor and the tightenings faded off.
Nothing else happened (apart from still losing lots of the slimy mucus) untill Monday morning when I noticed the mucus had blood streaks through it and it was so heavy,continuously flowing out of me,felt like having a period and just wearing a sanitary pad,yuck!! Then the tightenings returned in the afternoon but no regular pattern. They didn't fade off this time and by 10pm they were happening every 20-30mins. I tried to sleep but just lay there waiting for the next tightening to start. By 4am they had got down to every 6-8 minutes apart but were only lasting 30-40secs so were bearable. I was all ready to ring midwife and let her know what was happening, I was just hanging on untill they were coming every 4-5 minutes but I must have been totally exhausted and dropped off to sleep as the next thing I knew it was time to get up and get the kids ready for school and realised the tightenings had gone!! I got up and was most dissapointed! The muscus loss was still happening, even heavier and I was starting to get abit concerned as to why it had been going on since Saturday and getting heavier!! So I took kids to school then rang midwife to ask her advice. I told her the story so far and she sounded worried,said it didn't sound right and that I should go straight in to be checked over, which made me panic and I got all upset and went straight away. I was examined and found to be 2cm dilated-so all the tightening were at least doing something usefull, and I was told what I thought was my plug/show was infact my waters leaking!!!! I had been due to go to my 41 week appointment the next day for a sweep so I had that done while I was there-the midwife joked that it would be abit mean of her not to do it then, seeing as though I was there. She couldn't tell which way round baby was laying so took me for a presentation scan,which thankfully showed him to be still head down. So...that was my homebirth/water birth out of the window, I had to go straight away to be induced, they were worried about the risk of infection as my waters had been leaking for 4 days!! I got all wobbly again, felt like everything had been taken out of my control and was really scared about having to go into hospital, and I had heard some total horror stories about being induced so that was playing on my mind, also the fact that I had to go into hospital and wouldn't see my other kids (me and my son are very close,I'm lost without him, and I could picture his little sad face when I wouldn't be there to pick him up from school)
Anyway, couldn't do anything about it,just had to focus on meeting baby, so we (hubby had come to meet me) stopped off at home to collect my bags and babys bags (lucky I'd packed my 'just incase I end up having a hospital birth' bags!) I felt a 'pop' inside me as I drove into my street and as soon as I climbed out of the car my waters broke. I ran/waddled up the drive comedy style trying not to open my legs and looking around to see if any of my neighbours had seen me lol then once in the kitchen I took off my trousers and knickers and whoooooossssh it was niagra falls all over the floor! Didn't look atall like I expected waters to look like, I assumed it would be more water like but mine was all slimy and mucusy and oh,it is true,it does smell like sperm!!
I quickly got changed while hubby packed the car up,remembering to fit babys car seat in, god that was a reality check..we were gonna be coming home with our baby!!!
and off we went. I was bricking it about the induction but luckily my contractions started on the way 
I was strapped straight up to be monitored so a decision could be made about wether to leave me and wait for my contractions to become regular and stronger or induce me. I was so uncomfy at that point,stuck in a tiny, pokey, stuffy treatment room, couldnt move off the bed because of the monitoring,soaking wet through as my waters were still gushing! I was examined at 2pm and was 3 to 4 cm dilated and by now the pain was starting to make me writhe around abit on the bed. Midwife brought me some paracetamol and asked if I would like to get on the gas and air. I did think it was a little early to be starting on that,thought if I did,it wouldn't be as effective later on when I would really be needing it but I said yes anyway,midwife said there was no point being in pain! It was ok,took the edge off the pain abit but also made me feel dizzy if I inhaled too much and I got really teary and emotional about not being there at 3.30pm picking the kids up from school. I was convinced that my son would be really upset about me not being there and him having to have to go to my friends house,probably to sleep there too.
Around 5pm the midwifes had a shift change and I was wheeled to the delivery suite. That was great, nice big airy room with own bathroom and a tv for hubby lol. My midwife was fantastic,really friendly and sympathetic that I'd not got the homebirth I wanted. She quickly got the gas and air set up for me and dimmed the lights. A urine sample showed ketones and this was the reason why my contractions were still abit all over the place so I was practically force drunk a cup of really sugary coffee and jug after jug of water to give my body the energy to fuel the contractions into a regular pattern. I didn't really want to drink anything but the midwife warned me that if I didn't, labour could fail to progress or even stop alltogether. Well it must have done the trick cos after that things seemed to really speed up. I decided I wanted diamorphine so I was quickly given that. I started feeling pain in the top of my right thigh with each contraction aswell as pain in my abdomen so midwife allowed the monitor to be switched off just while I got off the bed and onto the birth ball to see if it would help move baby down quicker. It didn't help the pain. Another midwife was called in and they helped me to the toilet to try have a wee so it might make abit more room for baby as they thought the pain in my leg might be being caused by baby pushing down on a nerve. Couldn't wee, so got back onto the bed and had my bladder emptied by midwife,turns out it was full but babies head was stopping me from being able to empty it. Still the pain in my thigh was there though and both midwifes couldn't understand why. I was examined again at 7pm and was 7-8cm dilated. It all seemed to go by in a daze from there, the pain was extremely intense,very regular..6 contractions in a 10min period! By now I had pain in abdomen and both thighs and slowly making its way round to my left side too, I was screaming so loud with the pain in my legs..had it not have been for that I think I would have managed so much better. I was begging for a C-section, which midwifes ignored. Soon enough the pain of contractions changed to a feeling of massive pressure and I remember each time I felt a pain coming I shouted PRESSURE in an exorsist style voice
I was examined again and wahay I was fully dilated so was told to start pushing when the pressure came again. I remember asking the midwifes if I'd shit myself yet and they both said no. Not sure if they were lying but I didn't really care! I was fantastic at pushing even if I do say so myself, both midwifes and hubby were full of praise for me each time, and when the head started crowning it burned but not half as much as I remember it last time and it didn't last as long. I was asked to stop pushing and pant just for one contraction then after that I was asked to just keep continually pushing, just pause briefly for abit of gas and air then carry on pushing. I remember thinking bloody hell,I'm pushing alot here,just how big is this babies head!!!?? Turns out I pushed him all out in one go..last times I pushed the head out first then the rest of the body!!
The feeling of knowing you've finally done it is amazing!! And the sound of that 1st little cry is just the most beautiful thing to hear!! 9.20pm he arrived into the world, hubby cut the cord and then we had abit of skin to skin time while the placenta was delivered..only 4 minutes later! I was checked over to see if I needed any stitches..nope,not even 1! Just had a tiny graze. Midwife wrapped Ethan in a blanket and passed him back to me for a feed and he latched straight on and suckled for about 5 minutes. He was then weighed and dressed and passed back for more cuddling. I was offered a bath but I started to feel sick so they said to wait for abit more. Then I was violently sick, all the water and coffee I had been made to drink,it all came up,there was 2 containers full!!
Finally had a nice warm bath and changed into fresh pj's and was taken down to maternity ward for the night. Spent most of the night feeding but it was lovely quality time together.
So here he is...Ethan Lewis Addy, born 3/11/09 at 9.20PM, 8lb 15.5
Ok the labour wasn't particuarly long but the whole story is so bear with me!..
Saturday 31st October, 3 days over due I was getting in the shower when I got up and became aware of aload of slimy mucus falling out of me which I assumed was my plug/show. I began having tightenings that throughout the day were coming every 40 minutes. Went out with hubby and my 6 year old son trick or treating thinking the walking around would help bring it on abit if it was the start of labour. Found the walking uncomfortable,like babys head was banging against my cervix and I was still having tightenings but once we got back home I relaxed infront of Xfactor and the tightenings faded off.
Nothing else happened (apart from still losing lots of the slimy mucus) untill Monday morning when I noticed the mucus had blood streaks through it and it was so heavy,continuously flowing out of me,felt like having a period and just wearing a sanitary pad,yuck!! Then the tightenings returned in the afternoon but no regular pattern. They didn't fade off this time and by 10pm they were happening every 20-30mins. I tried to sleep but just lay there waiting for the next tightening to start. By 4am they had got down to every 6-8 minutes apart but were only lasting 30-40secs so were bearable. I was all ready to ring midwife and let her know what was happening, I was just hanging on untill they were coming every 4-5 minutes but I must have been totally exhausted and dropped off to sleep as the next thing I knew it was time to get up and get the kids ready for school and realised the tightenings had gone!! I got up and was most dissapointed! The muscus loss was still happening, even heavier and I was starting to get abit concerned as to why it had been going on since Saturday and getting heavier!! So I took kids to school then rang midwife to ask her advice. I told her the story so far and she sounded worried,said it didn't sound right and that I should go straight in to be checked over, which made me panic and I got all upset and went straight away. I was examined and found to be 2cm dilated-so all the tightening were at least doing something usefull, and I was told what I thought was my plug/show was infact my waters leaking!!!! I had been due to go to my 41 week appointment the next day for a sweep so I had that done while I was there-the midwife joked that it would be abit mean of her not to do it then, seeing as though I was there. She couldn't tell which way round baby was laying so took me for a presentation scan,which thankfully showed him to be still head down. So...that was my homebirth/water birth out of the window, I had to go straight away to be induced, they were worried about the risk of infection as my waters had been leaking for 4 days!! I got all wobbly again, felt like everything had been taken out of my control and was really scared about having to go into hospital, and I had heard some total horror stories about being induced so that was playing on my mind, also the fact that I had to go into hospital and wouldn't see my other kids (me and my son are very close,I'm lost without him, and I could picture his little sad face when I wouldn't be there to pick him up from school)
Anyway, couldn't do anything about it,just had to focus on meeting baby, so we (hubby had come to meet me) stopped off at home to collect my bags and babys bags (lucky I'd packed my 'just incase I end up having a hospital birth' bags!) I felt a 'pop' inside me as I drove into my street and as soon as I climbed out of the car my waters broke. I ran/waddled up the drive comedy style trying not to open my legs and looking around to see if any of my neighbours had seen me lol then once in the kitchen I took off my trousers and knickers and whoooooossssh it was niagra falls all over the floor! Didn't look atall like I expected waters to look like, I assumed it would be more water like but mine was all slimy and mucusy and oh,it is true,it does smell like sperm!!
I quickly got changed while hubby packed the car up,remembering to fit babys car seat in, god that was a reality check..we were gonna be coming home with our baby!!!
and off we went. I was bricking it about the induction but luckily my contractions started on the way I was strapped straight up to be monitored so a decision could be made about wether to leave me and wait for my contractions to become regular and stronger or induce me. I was so uncomfy at that point,stuck in a tiny, pokey, stuffy treatment room, couldnt move off the bed because of the monitoring,soaking wet through as my waters were still gushing! I was examined at 2pm and was 3 to 4 cm dilated and by now the pain was starting to make me writhe around abit on the bed. Midwife brought me some paracetamol and asked if I would like to get on the gas and air. I did think it was a little early to be starting on that,thought if I did,it wouldn't be as effective later on when I would really be needing it but I said yes anyway,midwife said there was no point being in pain! It was ok,took the edge off the pain abit but also made me feel dizzy if I inhaled too much and I got really teary and emotional about not being there at 3.30pm picking the kids up from school. I was convinced that my son would be really upset about me not being there and him having to have to go to my friends house,probably to sleep there too.
Around 5pm the midwifes had a shift change and I was wheeled to the delivery suite. That was great, nice big airy room with own bathroom and a tv for hubby lol. My midwife was fantastic,really friendly and sympathetic that I'd not got the homebirth I wanted. She quickly got the gas and air set up for me and dimmed the lights. A urine sample showed ketones and this was the reason why my contractions were still abit all over the place so I was practically force drunk a cup of really sugary coffee and jug after jug of water to give my body the energy to fuel the contractions into a regular pattern. I didn't really want to drink anything but the midwife warned me that if I didn't, labour could fail to progress or even stop alltogether. Well it must have done the trick cos after that things seemed to really speed up. I decided I wanted diamorphine so I was quickly given that. I started feeling pain in the top of my right thigh with each contraction aswell as pain in my abdomen so midwife allowed the monitor to be switched off just while I got off the bed and onto the birth ball to see if it would help move baby down quicker. It didn't help the pain. Another midwife was called in and they helped me to the toilet to try have a wee so it might make abit more room for baby as they thought the pain in my leg might be being caused by baby pushing down on a nerve. Couldn't wee, so got back onto the bed and had my bladder emptied by midwife,turns out it was full but babies head was stopping me from being able to empty it. Still the pain in my thigh was there though and both midwifes couldn't understand why. I was examined again at 7pm and was 7-8cm dilated. It all seemed to go by in a daze from there, the pain was extremely intense,very regular..6 contractions in a 10min period! By now I had pain in abdomen and both thighs and slowly making its way round to my left side too, I was screaming so loud with the pain in my legs..had it not have been for that I think I would have managed so much better. I was begging for a C-section, which midwifes ignored. Soon enough the pain of contractions changed to a feeling of massive pressure and I remember each time I felt a pain coming I shouted PRESSURE in an exorsist style voice
I was examined again and wahay I was fully dilated so was told to start pushing when the pressure came again. I remember asking the midwifes if I'd shit myself yet and they both said no. Not sure if they were lying but I didn't really care! I was fantastic at pushing even if I do say so myself, both midwifes and hubby were full of praise for me each time, and when the head started crowning it burned but not half as much as I remember it last time and it didn't last as long. I was asked to stop pushing and pant just for one contraction then after that I was asked to just keep continually pushing, just pause briefly for abit of gas and air then carry on pushing. I remember thinking bloody hell,I'm pushing alot here,just how big is this babies head!!!?? Turns out I pushed him all out in one go..last times I pushed the head out first then the rest of the body!!The feeling of knowing you've finally done it is amazing!! And the sound of that 1st little cry is just the most beautiful thing to hear!! 9.20pm he arrived into the world, hubby cut the cord and then we had abit of skin to skin time while the placenta was delivered..only 4 minutes later! I was checked over to see if I needed any stitches..nope,not even 1! Just had a tiny graze. Midwife wrapped Ethan in a blanket and passed him back to me for a feed and he latched straight on and suckled for about 5 minutes. He was then weighed and dressed and passed back for more cuddling. I was offered a bath but I started to feel sick so they said to wait for abit more. Then I was violently sick, all the water and coffee I had been made to drink,it all came up,there was 2 containers full!!
Finally had a nice warm bath and changed into fresh pj's and was taken down to maternity ward for the night. Spent most of the night feeding but it was lovely quality time together.
So here he is...Ethan Lewis Addy, born 3/11/09 at 9.20PM, 8lb 15.5
