crazydiamond
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On Wednesday 5th January at 10.30pm, the day before the babys due date I was in bed with my partner discussing whether we should put a mattress protector down in case my waters broke. While we were having this discussion I felt my waters pop. I tried to sleep that night but was very excited so I did not get much sleep. In the morning I debated whether to let the local midwifery team know and at 9.30am I phoned them. A midwife came out immediately and despite my reluctance due to the possibly of infection performed an internal check and sweep with the aim of getting things started. I had not had any contractions and she considered it was necessary to phone the hospital to book me in for an induction if labour was not established by midday the next day which I was not happy about especially as only the hind waters had broken and NICE guidelines give 96 hours leeway for induction for premature rupture of membranes.
Following her visit my partner and I decided the best thing to do would be to relax and we went out for lunch and had a long walk. In the afternoon after returning home my partner lit a fire and we snuggled up on the sofa and burnt Clary Sage and I drank Raspberry Leaf tea.
At around 16.30 I started to feel mild contractions but stayed fairly active and used my TENS machine and rocked backwards and forwards on my birthing ball. At 19.00 my partner decided to start setting up the birth pool. He then discovered that it did not have a pump and made a last minute trip to Halfords 10 minutes before it closed to pick on up. Unfortunately they only had a manual one and he spent the next two hours getting very hot and sweaty pumping it up. At 8pm I called the hospital to request that they sent out a midwife as the contractions had got much stronger. The midwife arrived at around 9pm and gave me an internal exam which confirmed I was 1-2cm dilated and my cervix was soft. She stayed for a couple of hours and told me to take paracetamol and to try to get some sleep.
I was not able to sleep as by then my contractions were stronger and I got in the birth pool. We requested that another midwife came out at around 3am and she confirmed that I was 3 cm dilated before she left. I remained in the birth pool and at 7am called for a third midwife who arrived at 8am. By the time she arrived I was completely exhausted having not slept for 2 days and did not feel I was making any progress.
This midwife took a very relaxed attitude and helped me to rest by getting me some additional gas and air and suggesting that I went to bed for a little while. She spoke with the hospital (who had wanted me to be induced and were now very keen that she should break my forewaters whilst only partially dilated) and helped buy me some more time. By midday thanks to her relaxed approach I had recovered some strength but my contractions had almost stopped and I was still only 5cm dilated. I tried more Raspberry Leaf tea, Clary Sage and also nipple stimulation. The later immediately produced very strong contractions and I soon became 9 cm dilated. I then agreed that the midwife could break my forewaters and I got in the birthing pool at around 5pm. I did not really experience transition and the second stage was very quick as I think by then I just wanted to meet my baby and pushed very hard using gas and air.
Baby James was born in the pool at 5.50pm on Friday 7th January, a very healthy little boy weighing 9lb 2oz with agpar scores of 9-10. Despite his size I did not tear badly and only needed 3 small stitches I think thanks to perennial massage, the softening effect of the pool and the lack of coached pushing which meant that I could time the pushing to suit my body. I caught James as he emerged and held him for a few minutes while in the pool until the chord had stopped pulsating and was cut by my partner.
I had wanted a natural third stage however unfortunately on leaving the pool I fainted and the midwife felt it was safer to give me syntometrine to speed up the delivery of the placenta. The placenta was delivered 5 minutes later while I was lying on the floor next to the pool. Because my blood pressure and pulse were low I was also put on a on a drip. Blood tests confirmed my iron was very low and I was prescribed iron tablets. When I later felt strong enough to move the midwife helped me to establish breastfeeding. The midwifes stayed with us to around 11pm to help clean up and to give me three stitches.
Overall the birth was more painful and drawn out than I had anticipated however it was well worth every minute and went pretty much to plan. I only narrowly escaped the need for a transfer to hospital and a catalogue of interventions thanks to the brilliant efforts of the midwife who remained with us throughout the birth. My partner and I enjoyed our first night at home with our new baby who is really well and sleeping and feeding brilliantly. I was initially a bit shaky due to lack of sleep, food and blood loss but recovered well in the comfort of our home.
Following her visit my partner and I decided the best thing to do would be to relax and we went out for lunch and had a long walk. In the afternoon after returning home my partner lit a fire and we snuggled up on the sofa and burnt Clary Sage and I drank Raspberry Leaf tea.
At around 16.30 I started to feel mild contractions but stayed fairly active and used my TENS machine and rocked backwards and forwards on my birthing ball. At 19.00 my partner decided to start setting up the birth pool. He then discovered that it did not have a pump and made a last minute trip to Halfords 10 minutes before it closed to pick on up. Unfortunately they only had a manual one and he spent the next two hours getting very hot and sweaty pumping it up. At 8pm I called the hospital to request that they sent out a midwife as the contractions had got much stronger. The midwife arrived at around 9pm and gave me an internal exam which confirmed I was 1-2cm dilated and my cervix was soft. She stayed for a couple of hours and told me to take paracetamol and to try to get some sleep.
I was not able to sleep as by then my contractions were stronger and I got in the birth pool. We requested that another midwife came out at around 3am and she confirmed that I was 3 cm dilated before she left. I remained in the birth pool and at 7am called for a third midwife who arrived at 8am. By the time she arrived I was completely exhausted having not slept for 2 days and did not feel I was making any progress.
This midwife took a very relaxed attitude and helped me to rest by getting me some additional gas and air and suggesting that I went to bed for a little while. She spoke with the hospital (who had wanted me to be induced and were now very keen that she should break my forewaters whilst only partially dilated) and helped buy me some more time. By midday thanks to her relaxed approach I had recovered some strength but my contractions had almost stopped and I was still only 5cm dilated. I tried more Raspberry Leaf tea, Clary Sage and also nipple stimulation. The later immediately produced very strong contractions and I soon became 9 cm dilated. I then agreed that the midwife could break my forewaters and I got in the birthing pool at around 5pm. I did not really experience transition and the second stage was very quick as I think by then I just wanted to meet my baby and pushed very hard using gas and air.
Baby James was born in the pool at 5.50pm on Friday 7th January, a very healthy little boy weighing 9lb 2oz with agpar scores of 9-10. Despite his size I did not tear badly and only needed 3 small stitches I think thanks to perennial massage, the softening effect of the pool and the lack of coached pushing which meant that I could time the pushing to suit my body. I caught James as he emerged and held him for a few minutes while in the pool until the chord had stopped pulsating and was cut by my partner.
I had wanted a natural third stage however unfortunately on leaving the pool I fainted and the midwife felt it was safer to give me syntometrine to speed up the delivery of the placenta. The placenta was delivered 5 minutes later while I was lying on the floor next to the pool. Because my blood pressure and pulse were low I was also put on a on a drip. Blood tests confirmed my iron was very low and I was prescribed iron tablets. When I later felt strong enough to move the midwife helped me to establish breastfeeding. The midwifes stayed with us to around 11pm to help clean up and to give me three stitches.
Overall the birth was more painful and drawn out than I had anticipated however it was well worth every minute and went pretty much to plan. I only narrowly escaped the need for a transfer to hospital and a catalogue of interventions thanks to the brilliant efforts of the midwife who remained with us throughout the birth. My partner and I enjoyed our first night at home with our new baby who is really well and sleeping and feeding brilliantly. I was initially a bit shaky due to lack of sleep, food and blood loss but recovered well in the comfort of our home.
Glad you were able to have the birth experience that you wanted 
