Well we're a bit late but here goes lol.
Our gorgeous princess - due on the 23/03/10, born 4 days late on the 27th
.
Thursday the 25th of March -
Had already been cramping for a couple of days and having some BH's. Went to my OH's parents for a few days and on the Thursday afternoon they began to get more frequent. Heading home at about 7 on the Thursday night and i was literally crawling about in the car in pain lol. But typical me as soon as we stepped foot out the car, the pains disappeared and they were gone for the rest of the night
.
Friday the 26th of March -
Had my weekly monitoring and consultant appointment that morning due to being transferred from the CMU because after 3 growth scans they were concerned about babies size - supposedly she was going to be small. Since i was already overdue he decided to give me a sweep - turns out i was already 2cm, fully effaced and very stretchy
. Consultant said he expected baby to be here in no more than 48hours!
Got home from the hospital and a couple of hours later had my bloody show but no pains or cramping for the rest of the night.
Saturday the 27th of March -
Woke up with some cramping and the odd BH but nothing major and everything stopped within an hour.. Was beginning to think the consultant was talking pants! Decided me and OH would go to ikea with my mum - figured the million miles you walk in there would help move things along
. Half way through getting dressed and what i assumed to be BH, started again - just alot stronger than they'd been before but still had no pattern. Finished getting dressed - nice green dress, half decent undies for being pregnant and huge . 10 minutes before we're about to leave and the pain was getting a bit much - there's no way i'd have made it through the door in ikea, nevermind be able to walk around it and out the other side lol.
This was it
! Got the bags in the back of the car, drove to my grandads to drop off my brother and away to the hospital we went.
Got to the hospital at 2pm and the midwife who i'd spoken to on the phone came out and took us in to triage. I was put onto the CTG and she did an internal.. I was 4cm! Was going to take me to the ward, have some food and things since everything was fine but baby decided to make things difficult and there was a teeny dip in her heartrate so at about 3pm off to labour ward we went.
I was starviing! Still don't know why they don't let you eat lol.
Anyway, got to labour ward and got strapped back on to the monitors. Assumed i'd be stuck on my back in the bed but thankfully i was allowed to bounce on the birthing ball.. Think i would've gone mad otherwise!
But because i was sat on the ball the monitors kept slipping so at about quarter past 4 the midwife decided it would be easier to put the little clip on the babies head to monitor her heartrate and i'd be much more free to move about etc. My water's still hadn't broken yet so she had to break them first and then tried to put the clip on - oh dear! She made 3 attempts then finally gave up and got the consultant to come do it, who thankfully got it on first time.
Straight after my waters were broken the contractions became much more intense! They were literally the contractions i'd had before but x100..
Came off the bed and back on the ball for about 40 minutes but the pain was starting to get too much so i decided to lean over the back of the bed.
The midwife obviously noticed it was getting a bit much because she asked for about the 12th time if i wanted some gas and air and after about 10 minutes i finally gave in lol. OH MY GOD.. It's really strange to begin with and i actually didn't quite like it the first couple of puffs because you feel like you're not in control and a bit like you've stepped out of your body and are watching yourself but you can still feel the pain - if that makes any sense lol. But after a few minutes it was working wonders and it just takes the edge off everything.
At about 20 to 6 i was still leaning over the back of the bed when i started to get a massive urge to push - midwife told me to listen to my body and just go with it, so i did.
Then the panic started.. She asked me to get onto my back because babies heartrate was dropping with each contraction and she wanted to check how far down she was. Next contraction came and she could see her head but her heartrate was still dropping with each one so she pushed the emergency button and about a million people rushed into the room! She looked at me and told me i needed to get this baby out now because something wasn't right but it just wasn't happening.. With my next contraction she told me i either had to get her out now or i'd need an episiotomy to help her along but she just wasn't coming.. So out came the scissors - god, i've never been so scared lol. I feel her starting to cut me and next thing i hear is 'Tricia, these scissors are blunt'. Excuse me?! Getting an episiotomy with blunt scissors i'm assuming isn't the best scenario but there wasn't much she could do - they needed my baby out and this was the only way. Next time sharp scissors'd be nice though
lol.
2 pushes after the episiotomy, her head was out (with her hand up at her face - she wasn't planning on making this easy was she lol) and the culprit for the dropping heartrate was found - hear cord was wrapped round her neck and had been tightening everytime i pushed.
Midwife unwrapped the cord and at 17:56 with one more push our baby girl Isabella made her entrance into the world and after being quickly checked by the baby doctors she was brought back to her mummy for much needed skin to skin.
So all in all i was in 'active' labour for 5 hours and it was the most amazing experience in the world. After being terrified my labour'd be completey clinical and restriced because i was under consultant care i was pleasently surprised at the whole thing and can't wait to do it again. Probably helped i had an amazing midwife too though.
And another thing - don't worry too much about growth scans. Yes they are undoubtadly useful, but try not to worry yourself silly because they can be wrong. I had 3 different scans and was told to expect my baby to be around 6lb and she weighed 8lb 9oz!
She's now 3 weeks old and absolutely amazing. Apple of her daddy's eye lol.
Hope everyone is well.x
Our gorgeous princess - due on the 23/03/10, born 4 days late on the 27th
.Thursday the 25th of March -
Had already been cramping for a couple of days and having some BH's. Went to my OH's parents for a few days and on the Thursday afternoon they began to get more frequent. Heading home at about 7 on the Thursday night and i was literally crawling about in the car in pain lol. But typical me as soon as we stepped foot out the car, the pains disappeared and they were gone for the rest of the night
.Friday the 26th of March -
Had my weekly monitoring and consultant appointment that morning due to being transferred from the CMU because after 3 growth scans they were concerned about babies size - supposedly she was going to be small. Since i was already overdue he decided to give me a sweep - turns out i was already 2cm, fully effaced and very stretchy
. Consultant said he expected baby to be here in no more than 48hours! Got home from the hospital and a couple of hours later had my bloody show
but no pains or cramping for the rest of the night.Saturday the 27th of March -
Woke up with some cramping and the odd BH but nothing major and everything stopped within an hour.. Was beginning to think the consultant was talking pants! Decided me and OH would go to ikea with my mum - figured the million miles you walk in there would help move things along
. Half way through getting dressed and what i assumed to be BH, started again - just alot stronger than they'd been before but still had no pattern. Finished getting dressed - nice green dress, half decent undies for being pregnant and huge . 10 minutes before we're about to leave and the pain was getting a bit much - there's no way i'd have made it through the door in ikea, nevermind be able to walk around it and out the other side lol. This was it
! Got the bags in the back of the car, drove to my grandads to drop off my brother and away to the hospital we went.Got to the hospital at 2pm and the midwife who i'd spoken to on the phone came out and took us in to triage. I was put onto the CTG and she did an internal.. I was 4cm! Was going to take me to the ward, have some food and things since everything was fine but baby decided to make things difficult and there was a teeny dip in her heartrate so at about 3pm off to labour ward we went.
I was starviing! Still don't know why they don't let you eat lol.
Anyway, got to labour ward and got strapped back on to the monitors. Assumed i'd be stuck on my back in the bed but thankfully i was allowed to bounce on the birthing ball.. Think i would've gone mad otherwise!
But because i was sat on the ball the monitors kept slipping so at about quarter past 4 the midwife decided it would be easier to put the little clip on the babies head to monitor her heartrate and i'd be much more free to move about etc. My water's still hadn't broken yet so she had to break them first and then tried to put the clip on - oh dear! She made 3 attempts then finally gave up and got the consultant to come do it, who thankfully got it on first time.
Straight after my waters were broken the contractions became much more intense! They were literally the contractions i'd had before but x100..
Came off the bed and back on the ball for about 40 minutes but the pain was starting to get too much so i decided to lean over the back of the bed.
The midwife obviously noticed it was getting a bit much because she asked for about the 12th time if i wanted some gas and air and after about 10 minutes i finally gave in lol. OH MY GOD.. It's really strange to begin with and i actually didn't quite like it the first couple of puffs because you feel like you're not in control and a bit like you've stepped out of your body and are watching yourself but you can still feel the pain - if that makes any sense lol. But after a few minutes it was working wonders and it just takes the edge off everything.
At about 20 to 6 i was still leaning over the back of the bed when i started to get a massive urge to push - midwife told me to listen to my body and just go with it, so i did.
Then the panic started.. She asked me to get onto my back because babies heartrate was dropping with each contraction and she wanted to check how far down she was. Next contraction came and she could see her head but her heartrate was still dropping with each one so she pushed the emergency button and about a million people rushed into the room! She looked at me and told me i needed to get this baby out now because something wasn't right but it just wasn't happening.. With my next contraction she told me i either had to get her out now or i'd need an episiotomy to help her along but she just wasn't coming.. So out came the scissors - god, i've never been so scared lol. I feel her starting to cut me and next thing i hear is 'Tricia, these scissors are blunt'. Excuse me?! Getting an episiotomy with blunt scissors i'm assuming isn't the best scenario but there wasn't much she could do - they needed my baby out and this was the only way. Next time sharp scissors'd be nice though
lol.2 pushes after the episiotomy, her head was out (with her hand up at her face - she wasn't planning on making this easy was she lol) and the culprit for the dropping heartrate was found - hear cord was wrapped round her neck and had been tightening everytime i pushed.
Midwife unwrapped the cord and at 17:56 with one more push our baby girl Isabella made her entrance into the world and after being quickly checked by the baby doctors she was brought back to her mummy for much needed skin to skin
.So all in all i was in 'active' labour for 5 hours and it was the most amazing experience in the world. After being terrified my labour'd be completey clinical and restriced because i was under consultant care i was pleasently surprised at the whole thing and can't wait to do it again. Probably helped i had an amazing midwife too though.
And another thing - don't worry too much about growth scans. Yes they are undoubtadly useful, but try not to worry yourself silly because they can be wrong. I had 3 different scans and was told to expect my baby to be around 6lb and she weighed 8lb 9oz!
She's now 3 weeks old and absolutely amazing. Apple of her daddy's eye lol.
Hope everyone is well
.x
