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Hi ladies 
I'm going to attempt to write my birth story as it's been 1week & a day since I gave birth and it's surprising how quickly you start to forget bits/times/events etc, it all seems a lil hazy (probably all the drugs!)!! Hope I get it all down, if I forget any I'll come back & edit later 
Wednesday 22nd Sept - I had noticed that my hands and feet had been swollen for the past few wks and I did sometimes have dizzy spells, nothing to worrying though. I thought I'd ring my maternity wards day assessment unit for a bit of advice, and the midwife told me to pop in just to b checked over - better to be safe than sorry! I felt daft going in, as if I'd be wasting their time
and very almost didn't go, however Phil (my lovely OH) made me (thank god he did!). The wait was aaaages, but finally got seen by 2 lovely midwives who took my BP and put me on the ETG monitor. Baby's heartbeat was fine, however my BP was 160/99 - it's usually around 110/60 
so they kept checking every 10 mins and it dipped a bit lower, then went back up and this carried on for over an hour. I then gave a urine sample where trace amounts of protein was discovered 
not large amounts but because of my BP they were worried this was the start of pre eclampsia & so I was admitted straight away into the high dependancy unit to be monitored for 24hours.
BP carried on to be ridiculously high and I was told I would more than likely be induced, they feared it would turn into P.E but even if it was just gestational hypertension both me & the baby would be safer if she was delivered. After numerous doctors & midwives chopping & changing their minds
and 5 longs days on noisy wards and without Phil we finally got the go ahead for the propess induction on Sunday 26th!! This was inserted at 5pm and I had to sit and wait for it to start!!
Woke up at 5am on Monday 27th with a few lil cramps, but as I hadn't been for a poo in a couple of days I didn't know if it was just because of that (damn hospital food haha!!) The midwife examined me at 8am and found that my cervix was still very closed and long, so nothing had happened over night... I was GUTTEDD!!! I went for walks around the wards and bounced on the ball for a bit & it seemed to kick things off as the backache and cramping was awful by 12pm, luckily it was visiting hours by then & Phil was there to rub my back and remind me to breathe with the contractions!! I got the MW to do another internal as I was sure something had happened in there... the pain was absolutely horrible... as the labour wa forced the contractions were just back to back and consistently painful, each one getting worse ...I could have died when she said I still hadn't dilated any she proceeded to give me 2 paracetomol and told me (YET AGAIN!) as it was induced labour it was going to hurt this much
My memory starts to go hazy from here as things seemed to happen really fast... the pain became even worse and I just remember feeling like I was going to die, breathing through the pain became impossible and instead of deep breaths, I just screamed and cried!! I was hitting things apparently, shouting HELP MEEEEE!! and Phil was beside himself as he couldn't do anything!! It was now 2.30pm (ish) and the MW agreed to give me a shot of pethadine to help me relax... it was lovely! I instantly calmed down, I was still in pain but they were bearable and the pethadine just made me feel drunk!! I happily tucked into a Snickers, when all of a sudden I was hit by an awful contraction and began to cry again... the pethadine had worn off after only 30mins!!! The MW had told me it would last 2-3hrs The MW seemed confused herself, so she did another internal and discovered I was 4cms dilated already 
& I was rushed down to the delivery suite as things were progressing quickly (I think this was about 4pm(ish!)!!
The pain was again unbearable and the only way I coped through the contractions was to screammmm!!! I was then given gas & air, which was brilliant and took the edge off but begged for an epidural as I really couldn't cope with the pain. Phil also fell in love with the gas & air and did more of it than I did
poor sod, he did well coping with me screaming for hours!!! By 6.30pm the epidural was all set up and I was sat back, smiling, happy, relaxed & excited to meet my baby!! I was a complete different person - I went from a wild, screaming banshee to a nice, modest (very apologetic!!) young lady, sat on her iphone txting & facebooking away 
I highly recommend epidurals, it turned my whole labour experience around!! Even better, I was given a low dosage so I was still mobile, didn't have to have a catheter fitted and could still tell when I was having contractions so I was able to push correctly!
My waters were broken by the MW at 7.30pm and the internal showed I was fully dilated I could feel the pressure and sensation of needing a poo and wanted to push, but the MW instructed me to wait a whole HOUR to allow baby's head to descend that was frustrating & hardwork, and the longest hour of both mine & Phil's lives!!! We literally sat and watched the clock tick down each minute!! As soon as it hit 9pm I started to push... with one big push the baby's head was just crowning! The midwife and Phil were in so much shock, they couldn't beleive it!! I can just remember the excited look on Phil's face as he shouted ''She's got hair, she's got hair!!!'' Madness!! I then had to wait for the next contraction which took ages to come and then finally it did and I gave 2 more almighty pushes and her head was out with the first, and her whole body with the 2nd!!! Amaaaaazing!!! She was born at 9.13pm, my whole labour was 4.5hours long, however they made me wait an hour to push!! Apparently that's not a bad labour for my first 
From what Phil tells me & my recollection, I just kept saying ''Oh my god, oh my god!'', Phil was just jumping around saying how beautiful she was, he was kissing my head telling me how well I'd done and how much he loved me
and she was put straight on my chest for skin to skin 
The rest is a blur!!! We had delayed cord clamping, and then Phil cut the cord. I remember saying how small she looked and then when she was finally weighed, checked over & dressed we were told she was only 2480kgs (5lb 7.5oz) and was classed as low birth weight but she seemed perfect and healthy! They say this could have been down to pre eclampsia, but I was never diagnosed with it and I don't really think the doctors themselves knew what was going on!!
Because of her weight & her initial reluctance to feed and then low blood sugar level we were kept in until Wednesday 29th and getting home with her that night was bloody amazing!!!
If you made it this far well done!! I know it's been a long one, and not very detailed but I honestly don't remembe rmuch thankfully Phil took lots of pics so at least I have memories in the form of photos!!
So without further adieu, let me introduce my absolutely gorgeous daughter Amber Rose absolutely tiny but perfect in every way!!
(1st pic - an hour old, 2nd pic - 1 day old, 3rd pic - 4days old, back at home , 4th pic - daddy kisses, 5th pic - evil daddy dressed her in her 1st football kit - not impressed!!) xxx
I'm going to attempt to write my birth story as it's been 1week & a day since I gave birth and it's surprising how quickly you start to forget bits/times/events etc, it all seems a lil hazy (probably all the drugs!)!! Hope I get it all down, if I forget any I'll come back & edit later Wednesday 22nd Sept - I had noticed that my hands and feet had been swollen for the past few wks and I did sometimes have dizzy spells, nothing to worrying though. I thought I'd ring my maternity wards day assessment unit for a bit of advice, and the midwife told me to pop in just to b checked over - better to be safe than sorry! I felt daft going in, as if I'd be wasting their time
and very almost didn't go, however Phil (my lovely OH) made me (thank god he did!). The wait was aaaages, but finally got seen by 2 lovely midwives who took my BP and put me on the ETG monitor. Baby's heartbeat was fine, however my BP was 160/99 - it's usually around 110/60 so they kept checking every 10 mins and it dipped a bit lower, then went back up and this carried on for over an hour. I then gave a urine sample where trace amounts of protein was discovered not large amounts but because of my BP they were worried this was the start of pre eclampsia & so I was admitted straight away into the high dependancy unit to be monitored for 24hours.BP carried on to be ridiculously high and I was told I would more than likely be induced, they feared it would turn into P.E but even if it was just gestational hypertension both me & the baby would be safer if she was delivered. After numerous doctors & midwives chopping & changing their minds
and 5 longs days on noisy wards and without Phil we finally got the go ahead for the propess induction on Sunday 26th!! This was inserted at 5pm and I had to sit and wait for it to start!!Woke up at 5am on Monday 27th with a few lil cramps, but as I hadn't been for a poo in a couple of days I didn't know if it was just because of that (damn hospital food haha!!) The midwife examined me at 8am and found that my cervix was still very closed and long, so nothing had happened over night... I was GUTTEDD!!! I went for walks around the wards and bounced on the ball for a bit & it seemed to kick things off as the backache and cramping was awful by 12pm, luckily it was visiting hours by then & Phil was there to rub my back and remind me to breathe with the contractions!! I got the MW to do another internal as I was sure something had happened in there... the pain was absolutely horrible... as the labour wa forced the contractions were just back to back and consistently painful, each one getting worse
...I could have died when she said I still hadn't dilated any she proceeded to give me 2 paracetomol and told me (YET AGAIN!) as it was induced labour it was going to hurt this much My memory starts to go hazy from here as things seemed to happen really fast... the pain became even worse and I just remember feeling like I was going to die, breathing through the pain became impossible and instead of deep breaths, I just screamed and cried!! I was hitting things apparently
, shouting HELP MEEEEE!! and Phil was beside himself as he couldn't do anything!! It was now 2.30pm (ish) and the MW agreed to give me a shot of pethadine to help me relax... it was lovely! I instantly calmed down, I was still in pain but they were bearable and the pethadine just made me feel drunk!! I happily tucked into a Snickers, when all of a sudden I was hit by an awful contraction and began to cry again... the pethadine had worn off after only 30mins!!! The MW had told me it would last 2-3hrs The MW seemed confused herself, so she did another internal and discovered I was 4cms dilated already & I was rushed down to the delivery suite as things were progressing quickly (I think this was about 4pm(ish!)!!The pain was again unbearable and the only way I coped through the contractions was to screammmm!!! I was then given gas & air, which was brilliant and took the edge off but begged for an epidural as I really couldn't cope with the pain. Phil also fell in love with the gas & air and did more of it than I did
poor sod, he did well coping with me screaming for hours!!! By 6.30pm the epidural was all set up and I was sat back, smiling, happy, relaxed & excited to meet my baby!! I was a complete different person - I went from a wild, screaming banshee to a nice, modest (very apologetic!!) young lady, sat on her iphone txting & facebooking away I highly recommend epidurals, it turned my whole labour experience around!! Even better, I was given a low dosage so I was still mobile, didn't have to have a catheter fitted and could still tell when I was having contractions so I was able to push correctly!My waters were broken by the MW at 7.30pm and the internal showed I was fully dilated
I could feel the pressure and sensation of needing a poo and wanted to push, but the MW instructed me to wait a whole HOUR to allow baby's head to descend that was frustrating & hardwork, and the longest hour of both mine & Phil's lives!!! We literally sat and watched the clock tick down each minute!! As soon as it hit 9pm I started to push... with one big push the baby's head was just crowning! The midwife and Phil were in so much shock, they couldn't beleive it!! I can just remember the excited look on Phil's face as he shouted ''She's got hair, she's got hair!!!'' Madness!! I then had to wait for the next contraction which took ages to come and then finally it did and I gave 2 more almighty pushes and her head was out with the first, and her whole body with the 2nd!!! Amaaaaazing!!! She was born at 9.13pm, my whole labour was 4.5hours long, however they made me wait an hour to push!! Apparently that's not a bad labour for my first From what Phil tells me & my recollection, I just kept saying ''Oh my god, oh my god!'', Phil was just jumping around saying how beautiful she was, he was kissing my head telling me how well I'd done and how much he loved me
and she was put straight on my chest for skin to skin The rest is a blur!!! We had delayed cord clamping, and then Phil cut the cord. I remember saying how small she looked and then when she was finally weighed, checked over & dressed we were told she was only 2480kgs (5lb 7.5oz) and was classed as low birth weight
but she seemed perfect and healthy! They say this could have been down to pre eclampsia, but I was never diagnosed with it and I don't really think the doctors themselves knew what was going on!!Because of her weight & her initial reluctance to feed and then low blood sugar level we were kept in until Wednesday 29th and getting home with her that night was bloody amazing!!!
If you made it this far well done!! I know it's been a long one, and not very detailed but I honestly don't remembe rmuch
thankfully Phil took lots of pics so at least I have memories in the form of photos!!So without further adieu, let me introduce my absolutely gorgeous daughter Amber Rose
absolutely tiny but perfect in every way!!(1st pic - an hour old, 2nd pic - 1 day old, 3rd pic - 4days old, back at home
, 4th pic - daddy kisses, 5th pic - evil daddy dressed her in her 1st football kit - not impressed!!) xxx
x
xx
