CordeliaJ
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Warning - if you are a first time mum, please be warned this isn't a nice story of labour so don't read if you are nervous!
After a very difficult pregnancy and painful contractions from 37 weeks onwards, I thought I might get lucky and have an easier labour - unfortunately, I had no such luck. At 41+1 after my second sweep, I started getting painful contractions on Monday evening that had me on the floor on all fours. I was just about managing through and knew I had only been 2cm at my sweep that day (bishop score 6) that I didn't want to go into hospital unless the pain was physically unbearable. They slowed down through the night, but started again at 5.15am Tuesday morning, but this time even stronger. I waited half an hour before I woke DH because I was really struggling through the pain. He helped me through it until about 7am when I said I couldn't take it anymore. I called triage & they said the contractions should be every 3 minutes (mine were every 3.5 to 4 mins) and I needed to wait at least another hour. So I waited and used my birthing ball & paracetamol to try and get through it (mainly just holding on to the ball for dear life, lol). At 8am I said we had to go in, so we went & got to triage just before 8.30am. They saw immediately how bad the contractions were so sent me straight to the birth centre (I didn't actually make a birth plan because I didn't know what to expect, so decided to see what I needed & when).
The birth centre was lovely & they gave me a nice big room with a big bed & fold out chair for DH & a birthing ball as well. The midwife who looked after me there was hands down the nicest and most encouraging I've met, and I've met lots! She examined me and said I was 3cm so technically she couldn't start the labour process because it isn't classed as 'established' labour until 4cm. She gave me another sweep & said that because my contractions were so strong, regular & close together that she couldn't send me home. She said she would come back in 4 hours to re-examine as I should be progressing by 1/2cm every hour. Well for 2.5 hours I struggled through the pain, practically climbing the walls (actually couldn't sit down during a contraction by this point, I just held onto the walls crying, and puffing my way through) and then she came to bring me some gas & air. Well it didn't really do much, but made me a bit dizzy & confused with something to focus on doing, so that helped a little. At about 1.30pm she came to examine me again and I was still only 3cm! She wasn't happy with the progress so said that in another 4 hours she would break my waters if I still hadn't progressed. I couldn't really handle the pain at this point. She offered me a birthing pool or pethidine, and given that I hate baths & was in too much pain, I opted for the pethidine. It was weird stuff, made me feel drunk & zoned out. I think it probably took the edge off my contractions until she next examined me, but by then I really wasn't holding up well. She checked me and unbelievably I was still only 3cm. She said she needed to break my waters but she was really concerned because my contractions would get worse and they were obviously already bad. She suggested thinking about further pain relief options. I asked her just to break my waters and I'd work out where to go from there. Well she did (no meconium in there at this point, all clear), and 5 minutes later the pain was excrutiating. I couldn't take a second more of the pain and begged her to get me an epidural. She said she knew I'd say that & had already called the anesthetist & got me a room. Somehow how I made the walk over to labour & delivery (not remotely as nice as the birth centre, small & cramped with angry midwives) and waited for the epidural. Turned out the anesthetist was in theatre for another 2 hours...probably the worst 2 hours of my life, I couldn't bear the pain. I was screaming and begging DH to kill me, I kept trying to breathe through it but it was like someone was trying to rip me in half and I almost collapsed/passed out from the pain.
Eventually the anesthetist arrived (no bedside manner at all, clearly couldn't be less pleased to be there let alone deal with a screaming labouring woman). Unfortunately I needed to sit down for him to put the epidural in (and as I mentioned earlier I found it impossible to sit during a contraction, which were now pretty much every minute), so I kept stopping him from doing it every time which made him pissed off of course. Eventually he managed to get the needle in my back but then I wanted to stand up again for the next contraction and everyone was yelling at me & trying to stop me because I'd rip the needles out if I did. It was so hard to stop myself from standing up & waiting for the epidural to kick in during those contractions felt like the end of the world. When the epidural did kick in, I could still feel the contractions but they were the intensity of 2/3 hours earlier, which to be honest was still pretty bad, only now I was bed bound with wires/ivs/needles etc so in some ways it was worse. An hour later a midwife put a catheter in but I couldn't stand it because it stung and hurt so badly every time I had a contraction. She refused to take it out so I told her I was going to rip it out myself, so eventually she had to take it out, got the anesthetist to up the dosage of my epidural, then put a new catheter in after 20 mins. That one didn't hurt half as much so I'm glad she did change it. I carried on this way all night, I don't know how but I could still feel the contractions although for most of this time it was just about bearable but I was getting excessively tired (especially having had sleepless contraction-filled nights for weeks beforehand) and just feeling like I couldn't do it anymore. They checked me just before 9pm & I was 6cm. I didn't get to 9cm until about 1am, they left me for another hour (epidural was at max dose now but at this point I felt like I could feel everything, although I'm guessing it still would've been worse without it), I struggled through the next hour when I finally got to 10cm. I also forgot to say the epidural made me really sick all the way through. Even with 2 anti sickness injections it wouldn't stop, so I couldn't even keep down water during all this time.
Midwife told me to wait a further hour to make sure baby was as low as possible in my pelvis. That last hour was crazy with pain & pressure, I felt him pushing my cervix the entire time, it burnt like hell and I wanted to push him out. Somehow I got through that hour & it was time to try pushing. I wanted to push but pushing involves holding your breath and squeezing into your bum, well I was so dehydrated and tired that I couldn't hold big breaths so I was making myself 10x more exhausted with the pushing. I kept trying really hard (think I pooped about 3 times!) but I really felt I wasn't getting anywhere. Every time I felt his head start to come out, it would go back in. The midwife kept telling me I needed to push harder but I was pushing as hard as my body could manage at this point. I told her I could feel that it wasn't working that that he wasn't coming out any further but she just continued trying to get me to push. I was crying & gasping & my husband looked petrified. He kept trying to give me water which I just kept throwing up. After over an hour with his head going back & fourth, the midwife went to get a doctor. The doctor came, took one look at the monitor & said there's a big problem, the baby is in serious distress we need to get him out now. It all happened very quickly and within minutes there were 6 more emergency medical staff in the room. The doctor got the ventouse & asked me to push, it only took one push and her with the ventouse to get his head out, then a second to get his body out. He was born at 4.17am wednesday morning. They put him on my chest for about 2 seconds, but had to take him away. He had been as exhausted and tired as me, distressed from the long and horrible labour, and pooped inside so there was meconium everywhere when he came out (they think it happened during the pushing stage) he had breathed it in from all of his exhausted gasping (poor thing). Not only that but he had the cord very tightly wrapped around his neck, body and legs, so he was completely stuck - everytime I had pushed, the cord had been pulling him back in like he was on reigns. They had to suck the meconium out of his lungs and they were very concerned that it had been too much for him. He is a 9lb 1oz baby and the doctor said that because of his size (and it being my first), and because if the cord being in the way, that there was no way I could've pushed him out by myself. She said it was amazing I got as far as I did, and that usually with an epidural even with ventouse she wouldn't have got him out in 2 pushes, so I was obviously pushing really hard (I think I blood running down my arm from the torn cannula proved that anyway! Lol). She also told me that for me and the fact it was my first, I had an especially bad labour & delivery. She said that he's a very healthy & fit baby, and that he may not have made it through if he hadn't been. Apparently he was on his last reserves at the end and using every bit of fight in him to try and get out, he's a real fighter and he couldn't be more perfect. We named him Oliver Philip Alexander, and he's been such a good baby so far.
I had 2nd degree tearing and had to be stitched up, but I was so out of it I don't even remember the stitching. I was so dehydrated they had to put about 3 bags of fluids into my IV drip, even then I still kept throwing up water until about 9am on weds. Baby is still being monitored so we're still in hospital now, hoping to be discharged sometime today.
I honestly don't know how women do natural childbirth, that was hands down the worst thing I could ever have imagined. I am pretty traumatised and to be honest I'm not sure I could ever do that again. While I love my little boy more than life itself, the thought of doing that all over again petrifies me. I like to think I'm not too much of a wuss when it comes to pain, but that was worse than I ever thought it could be.
Anyway, DH & I are so happy now, I'm not back to normal yet but soon will be and Oliver is doing so well. I'm going to focus on the fact that he's finally here and try to forget the bad stuff.
After a very difficult pregnancy and painful contractions from 37 weeks onwards, I thought I might get lucky and have an easier labour - unfortunately, I had no such luck. At 41+1 after my second sweep, I started getting painful contractions on Monday evening that had me on the floor on all fours. I was just about managing through and knew I had only been 2cm at my sweep that day (bishop score 6) that I didn't want to go into hospital unless the pain was physically unbearable. They slowed down through the night, but started again at 5.15am Tuesday morning, but this time even stronger. I waited half an hour before I woke DH because I was really struggling through the pain. He helped me through it until about 7am when I said I couldn't take it anymore. I called triage & they said the contractions should be every 3 minutes (mine were every 3.5 to 4 mins) and I needed to wait at least another hour. So I waited and used my birthing ball & paracetamol to try and get through it (mainly just holding on to the ball for dear life, lol). At 8am I said we had to go in, so we went & got to triage just before 8.30am. They saw immediately how bad the contractions were so sent me straight to the birth centre (I didn't actually make a birth plan because I didn't know what to expect, so decided to see what I needed & when).
The birth centre was lovely & they gave me a nice big room with a big bed & fold out chair for DH & a birthing ball as well. The midwife who looked after me there was hands down the nicest and most encouraging I've met, and I've met lots! She examined me and said I was 3cm so technically she couldn't start the labour process because it isn't classed as 'established' labour until 4cm. She gave me another sweep & said that because my contractions were so strong, regular & close together that she couldn't send me home. She said she would come back in 4 hours to re-examine as I should be progressing by 1/2cm every hour. Well for 2.5 hours I struggled through the pain, practically climbing the walls (actually couldn't sit down during a contraction by this point, I just held onto the walls crying, and puffing my way through) and then she came to bring me some gas & air. Well it didn't really do much, but made me a bit dizzy & confused with something to focus on doing, so that helped a little. At about 1.30pm she came to examine me again and I was still only 3cm! She wasn't happy with the progress so said that in another 4 hours she would break my waters if I still hadn't progressed. I couldn't really handle the pain at this point. She offered me a birthing pool or pethidine, and given that I hate baths & was in too much pain, I opted for the pethidine. It was weird stuff, made me feel drunk & zoned out. I think it probably took the edge off my contractions until she next examined me, but by then I really wasn't holding up well. She checked me and unbelievably I was still only 3cm. She said she needed to break my waters but she was really concerned because my contractions would get worse and they were obviously already bad. She suggested thinking about further pain relief options. I asked her just to break my waters and I'd work out where to go from there. Well she did (no meconium in there at this point, all clear), and 5 minutes later the pain was excrutiating. I couldn't take a second more of the pain and begged her to get me an epidural. She said she knew I'd say that & had already called the anesthetist & got me a room. Somehow how I made the walk over to labour & delivery (not remotely as nice as the birth centre, small & cramped with angry midwives) and waited for the epidural. Turned out the anesthetist was in theatre for another 2 hours...probably the worst 2 hours of my life, I couldn't bear the pain. I was screaming and begging DH to kill me, I kept trying to breathe through it but it was like someone was trying to rip me in half and I almost collapsed/passed out from the pain.
Eventually the anesthetist arrived (no bedside manner at all, clearly couldn't be less pleased to be there let alone deal with a screaming labouring woman). Unfortunately I needed to sit down for him to put the epidural in (and as I mentioned earlier I found it impossible to sit during a contraction, which were now pretty much every minute), so I kept stopping him from doing it every time which made him pissed off of course. Eventually he managed to get the needle in my back but then I wanted to stand up again for the next contraction and everyone was yelling at me & trying to stop me because I'd rip the needles out if I did. It was so hard to stop myself from standing up & waiting for the epidural to kick in during those contractions felt like the end of the world. When the epidural did kick in, I could still feel the contractions but they were the intensity of 2/3 hours earlier, which to be honest was still pretty bad, only now I was bed bound with wires/ivs/needles etc so in some ways it was worse. An hour later a midwife put a catheter in but I couldn't stand it because it stung and hurt so badly every time I had a contraction. She refused to take it out so I told her I was going to rip it out myself, so eventually she had to take it out, got the anesthetist to up the dosage of my epidural, then put a new catheter in after 20 mins. That one didn't hurt half as much so I'm glad she did change it. I carried on this way all night, I don't know how but I could still feel the contractions although for most of this time it was just about bearable but I was getting excessively tired (especially having had sleepless contraction-filled nights for weeks beforehand) and just feeling like I couldn't do it anymore. They checked me just before 9pm & I was 6cm. I didn't get to 9cm until about 1am, they left me for another hour (epidural was at max dose now but at this point I felt like I could feel everything, although I'm guessing it still would've been worse without it), I struggled through the next hour when I finally got to 10cm. I also forgot to say the epidural made me really sick all the way through. Even with 2 anti sickness injections it wouldn't stop, so I couldn't even keep down water during all this time.
Midwife told me to wait a further hour to make sure baby was as low as possible in my pelvis. That last hour was crazy with pain & pressure, I felt him pushing my cervix the entire time, it burnt like hell and I wanted to push him out. Somehow I got through that hour & it was time to try pushing. I wanted to push but pushing involves holding your breath and squeezing into your bum, well I was so dehydrated and tired that I couldn't hold big breaths so I was making myself 10x more exhausted with the pushing. I kept trying really hard (think I pooped about 3 times!) but I really felt I wasn't getting anywhere. Every time I felt his head start to come out, it would go back in. The midwife kept telling me I needed to push harder but I was pushing as hard as my body could manage at this point. I told her I could feel that it wasn't working that that he wasn't coming out any further but she just continued trying to get me to push. I was crying & gasping & my husband looked petrified. He kept trying to give me water which I just kept throwing up. After over an hour with his head going back & fourth, the midwife went to get a doctor. The doctor came, took one look at the monitor & said there's a big problem, the baby is in serious distress we need to get him out now. It all happened very quickly and within minutes there were 6 more emergency medical staff in the room. The doctor got the ventouse & asked me to push, it only took one push and her with the ventouse to get his head out, then a second to get his body out. He was born at 4.17am wednesday morning. They put him on my chest for about 2 seconds, but had to take him away. He had been as exhausted and tired as me, distressed from the long and horrible labour, and pooped inside so there was meconium everywhere when he came out (they think it happened during the pushing stage) he had breathed it in from all of his exhausted gasping (poor thing). Not only that but he had the cord very tightly wrapped around his neck, body and legs, so he was completely stuck - everytime I had pushed, the cord had been pulling him back in like he was on reigns. They had to suck the meconium out of his lungs and they were very concerned that it had been too much for him. He is a 9lb 1oz baby and the doctor said that because of his size (and it being my first), and because if the cord being in the way, that there was no way I could've pushed him out by myself. She said it was amazing I got as far as I did, and that usually with an epidural even with ventouse she wouldn't have got him out in 2 pushes, so I was obviously pushing really hard (I think I blood running down my arm from the torn cannula proved that anyway! Lol). She also told me that for me and the fact it was my first, I had an especially bad labour & delivery. She said that he's a very healthy & fit baby, and that he may not have made it through if he hadn't been. Apparently he was on his last reserves at the end and using every bit of fight in him to try and get out, he's a real fighter and he couldn't be more perfect. We named him Oliver Philip Alexander, and he's been such a good baby so far.
I had 2nd degree tearing and had to be stitched up, but I was so out of it I don't even remember the stitching. I was so dehydrated they had to put about 3 bags of fluids into my IV drip, even then I still kept throwing up water until about 9am on weds. Baby is still being monitored so we're still in hospital now, hoping to be discharged sometime today.
I honestly don't know how women do natural childbirth, that was hands down the worst thing I could ever have imagined. I am pretty traumatised and to be honest I'm not sure I could ever do that again. While I love my little boy more than life itself, the thought of doing that all over again petrifies me. I like to think I'm not too much of a wuss when it comes to pain, but that was worse than I ever thought it could be.
Anyway, DH & I are so happy now, I'm not back to normal yet but soon will be and Oliver is doing so well. I'm going to focus on the fact that he's finally here and try to forget the bad stuff.
) 'what are you talking about, those are not accelerations, this baby is in severe distress and we need to get him out immediately!'
