littlekitten8
Mummy of 1
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Ok so I apologise in advance as this will probably end up being a bit of a long one. Quick details first and then I will put the whole saga in writing lol.
Born on 13th October at 18.50.
Weight : 6lb 13ozs.
Length of active labour: 53 hours.
Born by forceps in theatre.
Ok so things actually started on Thursday 8th October when I lost my plug at 2.30pm. Almost immediately had terrible lower back ache and diarrhoea. Phoned the midwife who said it sounded like early labour and could be having the baby in the next 24-48 hours....phoned my mum who came up from Bristol as she was going to be my other birthing partner. Spent all weekend niggling with contractions which would come 5 minutes apart for a few hours and then slow down again. Went for lots of walks and plenty of BD'ing to try to encourage things to speed up a little. Sunday morning I admitted defeat and told mum she might as well go home cos I was sure James wasn't going to be making an entrance any time soon and so she went back to Bristol and I wrote a list of things to do on Monday as Laurie was off work and so we were going to go into town.
Sunday 11th October 15.30ish.
Contractions started at 6 minutes apart and becoming more intense. Timed them for an hour whilst talking to my sister who said she thought this could be it. Phoned mum again to tell her not to let dad take the car to work (he had arranged to borrow my sisters car when I went into labour) as I thought I might be finally going into full labour. She ummed and ahhed about when to come up and finally decided to come up at around 6pm.
Sunday 11th October 21.00
Pains were coming 4 minutes apart so phoned Delivery Suite and was told to come in. Arrived and was examined but told I was only 80% effaced and around 1cm dilated. Could have cried!! The midwife got me to put on my TENS before sending me home. Contractions got closer together and more painful.
Monday 12th October 03.00
Pains were very intense by this point and I wanted something more than TENS for pain relief. Went back to Delivery Suite. Was examined again and still only 1cm! However I was now fully effaced and James's head had fully engaged. Midwife sent me home again and said basically if I had to come back again before in established labour eg 4cm then they would admit me to the antenatal ward. Went home feeling very disheartened and determined I wasn't going back until I absolutely couldn't stand it anymore.
Monday 12th October
Spent the day trying to rest and keep myself occupied. Made cookies lol. Having spent all day contracting at around 5 minutes apart and using my TENS machine I went to bed at around 11pm to try to get some sleep.
Tuesday 13th October
Woke at 00.45 with very intense contractions. Stayed in bed and breathed through them as mum and Laurie were asleep and I didn't want to wake them as none of us had slept much on Sunday night either. By 2.20am I couldn't take it anymore and woke Laurie in tears. Kept feeling like I needed to poo but couldn't go. Woke mum and asked her if she thought the neighbours would mind if I ran a bath! Not exactly sure why I decided I cared but think I was going a bit loopy from sleep deprivation lol. By this point the contractions were coming at around 3 minutes apart, lasting over a minute and I was making noises through them lol. Got into the bath which helped a little but not much. After 10 minutes in the bath I had had enough and laid back on the bed on my left side cos it helped with the contractions. Mum was sat on the side of the bed and after about another 30 minutes I decided I really did need to go to the hospital now so we got ready to go in.
Arrived at Delivery Suite at 5am. Seen by the midwife in an assessment room where there was another woman who was 34 weeks and had some pains. Think I scared the life out of her lol cos by this point the contractions were coming about 2 minutes apart and were very painful. Midwife took one look at me and transferred me straight into a Delivery room. She asked to examine me and I've never whipped off my trousers so quickly in all my life lol. She examined me and said I was 5cm dilated and I was so bloody relieved! Started using the Gas and Air which is amazing stuff. Really took the edge off and let me relax in between contractions. This is where it gets a bit fuzzy for me so will have to give you as much detail as I can remember, filled in by Laurie. Contractions were coming quite close but started to slow down so the midwife got me to change position to be knelt up leant over the back of the bed. That helped to speed things up but was very uncomfortable and so I didn't stay in that position for very long. At the next examination I was 7cm dilated and my waters were bulging which was why I was feeling alot of pressure and feeling like I needed to poo. Not sure how long after this the midwife got me up on the ball and then the contractions really started coming thick and fast and were literally coming 2 together with no break, then like 30 seconds and then another 2. Then 4 contractions came right ontop of one another and I was crying and telling them I wanted off the stupid ball. They finally let me get back onto the bed and examined me and said I had a little lip of cervix still so classed as 9 and a half centimetres. My waters still hadn't gone so they asked if I wanted them to break them which I did cos I was fed up of feeling like I needed to poo! Was the strangest feeling and they flooded the bed and just kept coming all the way til he was born. After they broke my waters the contractions went up even more in pain so I asked for an epidural and was told it was a little late for that ( I don't remember that bit lol). She examined me after rupturing the waters and the lip had gone so I started to push. After an hour of pushing in various positions and getting nowhere the midwife called the registrar in but he didnt come for half an hour. Carried on pushing while we were waiting for him to come and the midwife said she would have expected him to be born cos the pushing was good but he just wasn't coming down. Registrar arrived and examined me. He said James was in the wrong position and I had 2 options. I could carry on pushing for another hour and hope he turned, or we could have an instrumental delivery. I was too tired by this point after 52 hours of labour and almost 2 hours of pushing so I opted for the help. He said they could either do it with a local into the vagina or an epidural. Having done it all so far on gas and air I didn't want an epidural so opted for the local. While they were preparing the theatre James's heart rate was dropping with contractions so they were monitoring me. Got taken to theatre at 17.50 and had the local put in. They put my legs up in stirrups and when the consultant examined me I was in alot of pain so the anaesthetist asked me about a spinal block instead of an epidural. Found out afterwards that basically the consultant bollocked the registrar for wanting to do it without spinal as if they hadn't been able to get him out quickly I would have needed a c-section. The anaesthetist got me sat on the edge of the table and one of them was inserting cannulas while the other one inserted the spinal. I totally panicked at this point cos it was the oddest feeling having the spinal take effect. They led me back on the table again and got my legs back into the stirrups. I was asking the midwife if I would go numb cos I could still feel pins and needles in my legs and she pointed out that they had already got the forceps in and turned James! The registrar then said to me that when they told me I was having a contraction that I needed to push. After 2 pushes they said his head was out and I just said 'Really? That was quick!" Another 2 pushes and he was on my stomach. He had the cord around his neck and his arm. He started to cry and it was the best sound ever but they took him to the resuscitaire and Laurie went and clamped and cut his cord. Then they brought him back to me and put him on my chest while they delivered the placenta and stitched me up. Was just the most amazing feeling and he just lay there looking at me. Went back to the Delivery Room and my mum just burst into tears. The midwife came and weighed him and put him on my breast and he just latched and fed for 40 minutes! Then she said that it was a good job he was born when he was because he was starting to be starved of oxygen. Luckily he is fine and although he took a while to pink up he is now none the worse for wear. I lost almost a litre of blood and my Hb dropped from 12.8 to 10.1 so am now on iron and narrowly avoided a transfusion. Had to stay in til Thursday afternoon but we are now home and he is feeding well.
Born on 13th October at 18.50.
Weight : 6lb 13ozs.
Length of active labour: 53 hours.
Born by forceps in theatre.
Ok so things actually started on Thursday 8th October when I lost my plug at 2.30pm. Almost immediately had terrible lower back ache and diarrhoea. Phoned the midwife who said it sounded like early labour and could be having the baby in the next 24-48 hours....phoned my mum who came up from Bristol as she was going to be my other birthing partner. Spent all weekend niggling with contractions which would come 5 minutes apart for a few hours and then slow down again. Went for lots of walks and plenty of BD'ing to try to encourage things to speed up a little. Sunday morning I admitted defeat and told mum she might as well go home cos I was sure James wasn't going to be making an entrance any time soon and so she went back to Bristol and I wrote a list of things to do on Monday as Laurie was off work and so we were going to go into town.
Sunday 11th October 15.30ish.
Contractions started at 6 minutes apart and becoming more intense. Timed them for an hour whilst talking to my sister who said she thought this could be it. Phoned mum again to tell her not to let dad take the car to work (he had arranged to borrow my sisters car when I went into labour) as I thought I might be finally going into full labour. She ummed and ahhed about when to come up and finally decided to come up at around 6pm.
Sunday 11th October 21.00
Pains were coming 4 minutes apart so phoned Delivery Suite and was told to come in. Arrived and was examined but told I was only 80% effaced and around 1cm dilated. Could have cried!! The midwife got me to put on my TENS before sending me home. Contractions got closer together and more painful.
Monday 12th October 03.00
Pains were very intense by this point and I wanted something more than TENS for pain relief. Went back to Delivery Suite. Was examined again and still only 1cm! However I was now fully effaced and James's head had fully engaged. Midwife sent me home again and said basically if I had to come back again before in established labour eg 4cm then they would admit me to the antenatal ward. Went home feeling very disheartened and determined I wasn't going back until I absolutely couldn't stand it anymore.
Monday 12th October
Spent the day trying to rest and keep myself occupied. Made cookies lol. Having spent all day contracting at around 5 minutes apart and using my TENS machine I went to bed at around 11pm to try to get some sleep.
Tuesday 13th October
Woke at 00.45 with very intense contractions. Stayed in bed and breathed through them as mum and Laurie were asleep and I didn't want to wake them as none of us had slept much on Sunday night either. By 2.20am I couldn't take it anymore and woke Laurie in tears. Kept feeling like I needed to poo but couldn't go. Woke mum and asked her if she thought the neighbours would mind if I ran a bath! Not exactly sure why I decided I cared but think I was going a bit loopy from sleep deprivation lol. By this point the contractions were coming at around 3 minutes apart, lasting over a minute and I was making noises through them lol. Got into the bath which helped a little but not much. After 10 minutes in the bath I had had enough and laid back on the bed on my left side cos it helped with the contractions. Mum was sat on the side of the bed and after about another 30 minutes I decided I really did need to go to the hospital now so we got ready to go in.
Arrived at Delivery Suite at 5am. Seen by the midwife in an assessment room where there was another woman who was 34 weeks and had some pains. Think I scared the life out of her lol cos by this point the contractions were coming about 2 minutes apart and were very painful. Midwife took one look at me and transferred me straight into a Delivery room. She asked to examine me and I've never whipped off my trousers so quickly in all my life lol. She examined me and said I was 5cm dilated and I was so bloody relieved! Started using the Gas and Air which is amazing stuff. Really took the edge off and let me relax in between contractions. This is where it gets a bit fuzzy for me so will have to give you as much detail as I can remember, filled in by Laurie. Contractions were coming quite close but started to slow down so the midwife got me to change position to be knelt up leant over the back of the bed. That helped to speed things up but was very uncomfortable and so I didn't stay in that position for very long. At the next examination I was 7cm dilated and my waters were bulging which was why I was feeling alot of pressure and feeling like I needed to poo. Not sure how long after this the midwife got me up on the ball and then the contractions really started coming thick and fast and were literally coming 2 together with no break, then like 30 seconds and then another 2. Then 4 contractions came right ontop of one another and I was crying and telling them I wanted off the stupid ball. They finally let me get back onto the bed and examined me and said I had a little lip of cervix still so classed as 9 and a half centimetres. My waters still hadn't gone so they asked if I wanted them to break them which I did cos I was fed up of feeling like I needed to poo! Was the strangest feeling and they flooded the bed and just kept coming all the way til he was born. After they broke my waters the contractions went up even more in pain so I asked for an epidural and was told it was a little late for that ( I don't remember that bit lol). She examined me after rupturing the waters and the lip had gone so I started to push. After an hour of pushing in various positions and getting nowhere the midwife called the registrar in but he didnt come for half an hour. Carried on pushing while we were waiting for him to come and the midwife said she would have expected him to be born cos the pushing was good but he just wasn't coming down. Registrar arrived and examined me. He said James was in the wrong position and I had 2 options. I could carry on pushing for another hour and hope he turned, or we could have an instrumental delivery. I was too tired by this point after 52 hours of labour and almost 2 hours of pushing so I opted for the help. He said they could either do it with a local into the vagina or an epidural. Having done it all so far on gas and air I didn't want an epidural so opted for the local. While they were preparing the theatre James's heart rate was dropping with contractions so they were monitoring me. Got taken to theatre at 17.50 and had the local put in. They put my legs up in stirrups and when the consultant examined me I was in alot of pain so the anaesthetist asked me about a spinal block instead of an epidural. Found out afterwards that basically the consultant bollocked the registrar for wanting to do it without spinal as if they hadn't been able to get him out quickly I would have needed a c-section. The anaesthetist got me sat on the edge of the table and one of them was inserting cannulas while the other one inserted the spinal. I totally panicked at this point cos it was the oddest feeling having the spinal take effect. They led me back on the table again and got my legs back into the stirrups. I was asking the midwife if I would go numb cos I could still feel pins and needles in my legs and she pointed out that they had already got the forceps in and turned James! The registrar then said to me that when they told me I was having a contraction that I needed to push. After 2 pushes they said his head was out and I just said 'Really? That was quick!" Another 2 pushes and he was on my stomach. He had the cord around his neck and his arm. He started to cry and it was the best sound ever but they took him to the resuscitaire and Laurie went and clamped and cut his cord. Then they brought him back to me and put him on my chest while they delivered the placenta and stitched me up. Was just the most amazing feeling and he just lay there looking at me. Went back to the Delivery Room and my mum just burst into tears. The midwife came and weighed him and put him on my breast and he just latched and fed for 40 minutes! Then she said that it was a good job he was born when he was because he was starting to be starved of oxygen. Luckily he is fine and although he took a while to pink up he is now none the worse for wear. I lost almost a litre of blood and my Hb dropped from 12.8 to 10.1 so am now on iron and narrowly avoided a transfusion. Had to stay in til Thursday afternoon but we are now home and he is feeding well.
i'm so pleased you are both ok xxxxxx
